Back to Basswood Part 1 | Winter Camping and Ice Fishing for Lake Trout in the BWCA 2023
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- #bwca #icefishing #wintercamping
In part 1 we head back to Basswood Lake for more Winter Camping and Ice Fishing for Lake Trout in the BWCA for our second trip of 2023.
Having been the week before, we knew the big trout might be biting and the travel conditions would be fantastic. On day 1, we depart from Moose Lake around 8am to start the long 8 mile hike to our winter camping and ice fishing spot on Basswood Lake. On the way, we run into sticky snow that slows us down, but we still make great time, taking about 3.5 hours to reach our destination.
We are privileged to see a pack of wolves when we arrive - roaming the shoreline of Basswood Lake. Two jet black juvenile wolves are patrolling the shoreline looking for food while the rest of the pack can be heard howling in the distance. It is a surreal moment we will never forget.
We immediately start fishing upon arriving at our destination. Even though day one doesn't bring any lake trout, we do manage to catch two decent pike and lose another - possibly a lake trout. We take the evening to set up camp, including our Snowtrekker Tent and Kni-Co stove. This long day in the boundary waters is capped off with a gorgeous sunset to complete the perfect day!
Great videos! I want to do this someday in the near future. Keep posting videos!!! I just subscribed!!
Thank you!!
Travel conditions look great now that the snow machine has finally pulled back! How much ice are you seeing up on basswood?
This was mid-January and there was 14+ inches on basswood. After the cold spell we've been having the last two weeks I'm guessing its 18+ now. Plenty of good ice
Which entry point did you guys access in from?
Moose
What is the purpose of the strings that hang off the end of your sleds?
Good question! The sleds don’t have a built in break, so it’s for lining the sled down steep hills. One person to steer and one to break. If those sleds get out of control on a downhill they don’t stop until they hit something hard enough to stop them.
Sounds like they finally made a decision not to mine the boundary waters, or at least, the permit has been taken off the table for 20 years.
Yup! Huge first step towards permanent protection. Just got back from an Ely city council meeting where the decision was made to send an opposition letter to the Biden administration 🙄 still work to be done, indeed
@@therealfarwater Well, glad you are on the good side of the fight. Not that I doubted it! And involved, thanks for that. The best argument against it, other than that it is a Chilean company who would make all the money, is that mining provides a 20 year span of jobs. A mine can’t go on forever. So the argument of “jobs” is unsustainable. Those jobs would last less than a half of a generation. And I think Ely has had to recover from a lost economy once… if I’m remembering the history correctly. Those unsustainable jobs would have consequences that could last hundreds or thousands of years. Anyhow.. don’t mean to get to deep on it here. But thanks again for showing up to those sorts of things and having a voice for your incredible and unique back yard.
@@therealfarwater Well, glad you are on the good side of the fight. Not that I doubted it! And involved, thanks for that. The best argument against it, other than that it is a Chilean company who would make all the money, is that mining provides a 20 year span of jobs. A mine can’t go on forever. So the argument of “jobs” is unsustainable. Those jobs would last less than a half of a generation. And I think Ely has had to recover from a lost economy once… if I’m remembering the history correctly. Those unsustainable jobs would have consequences that could last hundreds or thousands of years. Anyhow.. don’t mean to get to deep on it here. But thanks again for showing up to those sorts of things and having a voice for your incredible and unique back yard.
Does Piragis rent out those new high country tents and do they come with a floor? Second question is how did you like it.
Yup! Brand new to the fleet so I was testing it out for our winter outfitting manager, Tim. I was skeptical at first, because I love the outfitters and have been using them for years, but it won me over almost immediately. The square shape (we had the 13x13 mega crew) is a huge improvement over the rectangular. There is more room to move around, more headroom to stand and theres plenty of room for 3 or 4 cots inside. If you went without cots, this could easily sleep 5+ people. That square shape also allows for more space around the stove for cooking/stacking wood. It's a huge upgrade in terms of live ability.
@@therealfarwater my group just upgraded from a basecamp to the 13 x 13 mega crew. Glad to hear it is an improvement! A lot more volume to heat though. What size stove did you use? We have the Alaskan but haven't field tested yet.
@@abogucki1 Yep, that would be the one downside, the extra volume. On this trip it never got below 10 degrees at night, so we actually brought the smaller Kni-co stove we generally send out with our smaller shortwall 2-3 person snowtrekkers. If it was a super cold trip, I would have brought the larger stove, the same that we use for our outfitter
Are you able to get to basswood through the same route during summer? Or do would you take a different route?
Technically, yes, but I would not recommend it. You'd save time and energy by going around through Prairie Portage. About halfway through that portage from Found to Manoomin you run into a swampy/boggy/beavery dam area that is flooded during open water season. It's likely that you'd have to get in and out of the boat (or wade waist-deep) a few times until you're back on solid ground. It's only about 2.5 miles longer if you go through Prairie Portage, but all of that is paddling and one short easy portage (32 rods) at PP.
@@therealfarwater thank you sir.
@@therealfarwater thank you!
You on that fancy instagram?
Yup! Eric_in_ely