![]() The American side lies on the Superior National Forest, and is called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. From there we pressed in to the heart of the Quetico Provincial Park, which is the Canadian sector of the jointly administered wilderness area of 2.75 million acres (yes, you read that right) on the Minnesota-Ontario border. We flew directly from Schiefelbein’s docks on White Iron Lake near Ely, to Canadian Customs and then on to the Hilly Island ranger station. He pressed me for my top priority and when I said it was to catch a lot of truly large smallmouth bass on a fly rod, he promised to send us to “the best place in the world.” Of all the outfitters I contacted in Ely, Schiefelbein had been the most eager to custom-tailor our trek, rather than simply rent me a tent and a canoe. Even here, that kind of pressure will take its toll. You can’t send every party to the same spots, he added, half apologetically. I had stumbled on to a place where Jerry McKinnis (ESPN) and other television fishermen go for their big-fish footage. Now you’ve got my last secret, Schiefelbein said. Without hesitation, he called it within a quarter mile. Guess where I got my biggest fish? I asked. It weighed four and three-quarters pounds on the had scale, the largest bass of the trip by a few ounces and barely shy of the five-pound mark I had aimed for.īack in Ely, I was prepared to astonish our outfitted, John Schiefelbein, with news of the catch: He hadn’t marked this bay on the fishing charts he’d prepared for our trip. Jeff paddled over and pulled the stalk loose from the bottom the fish went into the open water to finish its fight. I had just gotten the fish on the reel when it bulled back into the cover and wrapped the leader around a single tough reed. This time I was hooked to something strong, which made a run down a hallway of clear water and jumped to the surface.ĭad, it’s a huge smallmouth! said Jeffery, charitably omitting any commentary on its non- “northern pike” -ness. Then it happened again, an operatic strike that seemed to open a bucket-sized hole in the water. Jeff suggested that there ought to be a statute of limitations on our rule that the person in front of the canoe stayed there until he landed a fish.įor 15 gloomy minutes we pressed on across black water stippled every yard or so by a green stalk. Voracious feeders, I alibied, but highly inaccurate on the strike. I spoke of Dahlberg’s genius in creating a fly so irresistible to this inland barracuda. A few minutes later, there was another explosion. It was quite an impressive discourse for a newcomer to North Woods fishing, and Jeff thanked me by paddling the canoe while I cast my Diver among the reeds.Ī half hour before dark I had a strike as abrupt as a gunshot and just as violent. So I concluded, let us abandon the rocky areas where we had taken so many bass and go into the grassy lair of a grim and grand-fatherly pike. ![]() Perhaps he did not know, I added, that the legendary Bob Dahlberg had originally tied the diver for northerns. I showed him an imposing Dahlberg Diver tied on a #2 hook, a big yellow number I had held in reserve during all the days when the smallmouth bass insisted on smaller flies. This spot, I said to him, offered the vast, reedy shallows where we might take a truly large northern pike, a fish to double the eight-pounder he’d taken on the second day. ![]() So after we made camp on a piney plateau overlooking this inviting expanse of water, I spoke learnedly to Jeffery of our prospects. We knew this would be our last evening of serious fly-fishing.Ĭome morning, we faced a run of hard paddling and portaging to meet our outfitter at Mudro Lake on the Minnesota side of the border. My 17-year-old son, Jeffery, and I arrived at this remote place on the ninth evening of an 11-day trip through Quetico Provincial Park. If you start from Ely, Minnesota, two days of industrious paddling should get you on the US-side of the bay. From the Canadian ranger station on Lac La Croix, it is possible to reach this part of Crooked Lake in four or five days by canoe, with time out for fishing. In northwestern Ontario, not far from where the Tuck River empties into Crooked Lake, there is a large shallow bay of 1,000 acres or so which straddles the US-Canada border. Youth Group Canoe Trip Important Information. ![]() High Adventure Canoe Trips for Boy Scout Troops.How to pick the right canoe outfitter for a canoe trip. ![]()
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