Stu Osthoff’s Top 5 Boundary Waters Fishing Hotspots

By Stu Osthoff

Part of the fascination of wilderness canoe country fishing is the hundreds of lakes out there to explore and make your fishing dreams come true. Big fish are caught on small obscure lakes every season and therein lies much of the appeal of backcountry angling. But if I had to coach FRIENDS supporters on where to narrow down their search for top BWCAW fishing prospects, this is my advice.

1. CROOKED LAKE

(Access through Mudro Entry, Fall Lake/Basswood, Moose River/Iron or tow boat out of Crane Lake/Lac La Croix).

This border lake was my top destination during the COVID years when Quetico was shut down to Americans. If I had to catch a 22” smallmouth, 42” pike and 30” walleye, Crooked would be my top choice for trophies of all three species.

While I have never seen or heard of a lake trout being caught in Crooked, we have taken trophy walleye and pike in every corner of this truly special piece of trophy-class wilderness water. Lots of great campsites- get one and base camp- fishing a different direction every day.

Crooked is a “flowage lake” with multiple pinch points of current. This is dark tannin-stained water that is shallow in Sunday/Saturday/Wednesday Bays, with moderate depth in Friday Bay and deep (100’) in Thursday Bay.

For big smallmouth, I like Friday Bay best and along the border west to Saturday Bay.

For bass, #1 lure/presentation is Rapala Bluefox Vibrax Spinner- #5, gold. Runs 3-10’ deep – throw to shoreline structure—boulders, sunken logs/trees, weed-lines, inlet streams and rocky points. For topwater action- River2Sea Whopper Plopper Size 90 is the bass/pike surface bait that has made all others obsolete on my trips.

For walleye, start with those areas with current — especially in May/June, then move to offshore reefs in July. For walleye, can still use live bait (leeches/nightcrawlers) in BWCAW. Top artificial presentations are ¼ oz. long-shank yellow jigs featuring soft-plastic bait keepers- dress with Berkley Power Bait Paddle Tail 4” minnows (yellow or blue). I don’t like the snag-fest of jig fishing so I cast and troll the Rapala Shad Dancer #7 in perch or Firetiger (Shad Raps/jointed #7 are good too but the new Shad Dancer gets 3-4 feet deeper- a big advantage when needed).

For Pike we catch most of our 2-3-foot pike casting for bass on the Vibrax and Whopper Plopper but take most big “Gators” on walleye jigs (though we often get broke off on these too).

2. BASSWOOD LAKE

(Access through Moose Lake (EP 27), Fall Lake (EP 24) or Mudro/Horse River (EP 23) entry points.

Basswood is another big border flowage lake, and for quick easy access with minimal portaging, Basswood is as good as it gets for great BWCAW fishing .The eastern and western thirds of this lake are still open to 25 horsepower fishing boats and fishing pressure is higher here. But canoe anglers who head to the paddle-only mid-section from Basswood River outlet around U.S. Point can find good camps, solitude and outstanding fishing for all four Grand Slam species.

I especially like the west end and right off U.S. Point for walleyes and smallmouth.

While most of the best lake trout water on Basswood is on the Quetico/Canada side- there is some deep trout water right off U.S. Point. Lots of 40”+ pike are taken all over Basswood Lake every season. Like Crooked, Basswood is a top producer of top-end smallmouth and walleye too.

3. LAC LA CROIX

(Access through Moose River/Agnes, Little Indian Sioux River North and tow boat out of Crane Lake).

Renowned for its monster lake trout, La Croix is my best bet for trophy BWCAW lake trout. Get the Mckenzie special contour map (113) to pinpoint the deeper water trout basins. My top two trout spots are north of Lady Boot Bay and along the border across from Hilly Island. Over the past three years on my Grand Slam Guide Service trips, the BWJ Klos Boys Lipless Crankbait has been a total game-changer for canoe country lake trout. Easy to fish and no trolling needed. Just drop this 1 oz. wonder lure to the bottom and slowly lift/fall – vertically jig it — while letting the canoe drift with the wind over the target trout water. (You want to cover the water both vertically and horizontally so I don’t fish trout in dead calm conditions). 

The BWJ Klos LCB is THE ONLY lake trout lure my clients and I use anymore, and we catch and release hundreds of 24-36” lake trout each season, all on the Klos.

La Croix is also primo smallmouth water, with lots of chunky 20” bass all along the rocky shorelines. Never Fail Bay has been an early season hot spot (check the map- there really is such a place) and then all-around huge Coleman Island is great smallmouth action later in June/July. (Hint- almost nobody fishes the north side of Coleman (nearly 10 miles of shoreline) because there are no good campsites.)

Camp in Fish Stake Narrows and day trip both directions around Coleman. Walleyes have been a struggle for me in La Croix but others do well here. Lady Boot Bay has been my most consistent walleye spot.

4. KNIFE LAKE  

KNIFE LAKE (Access through Moose Lake entry or Saganaga Lake off the Gunflint Trail).

Knife Lake is yet another big border/flowage lake with good Grand Slam prospects. I rank it among the very best BWCAW lake trout lakes for both quantity and quality. Chances for three- foot lakers are very real here for those who stick to drifting the trout holes with the BWJ KLOS LCB’s.

Again, stop trolling for canoe country lake trout, vertically jig the Klos.

Knife is super-clear deep water but harbors an outstanding smallmouth fishery. Lot’s of 18-22” bass but they are more spotty than Crooked/Basswood/Lac La Croix. When you find active good bass, stick to that area for the day.

Walleyes are a challenge on Knife but they are there for those dedicated to jigging and trolling. (Note: Saganaga Lake is another top Grand Slam BWCAW lake, but I am not personally familiar with it. It has proven a consistent trophy producer and would be a great trip for those looking for a basecamp fishing trip with minimal portaging).

5. INSULA/ALICE/THOMAS LAKE ROUTE

(Access through Lake 1,2,3,4, Snowbank Lake or Moose Lake).

Notice the common theme of my top four BWCAW fishing destinations above are all big, border water flowage lakes. In my 45 years of canoe country fishing, big water means more big fish. These lakes provide far more water than one can fish in the typical week-long BWCAW trip and they offer that trophy potential which is my main fishing goal.

There are days when the wind can keep you windbound in camp on big water but when manageable in a canoe, the fishing is often outstanding. For those looking to avoid big water and willing to do more portaging, this central BWCAW loop is excellent for walleye and lake trout. I don’t consider it prime smallmouth water but in the last 20 years or so, they have started to take hold and spread around in this locale. Insula is tops of the three for numbers of eating sized (15-20” walleyes) although I have friends that regularly catch and release 28”+ walleyes here.

The southern half of Insula was torched by the 2011 Pagami Fire so plan to camp and fish the northern half. From here, move on to Alice Lake which has less structure than Insula but the walleyes are there. (Both Insula and Alice are relatively shallow, less than 30-feet deep).

Thomas Lake is a deep lake trout lake with big fish potential and surprising numbers of walleye for a trout lake.  Fraser and Sagus Lakes, just to the northeast, are money for eater sized walleyes too.

This is the short version of where I would plan a serious BWCAW fishing/canoe trip in 2025.

As publisher of Boundary Waters Journal for the past 39 years, we have published hundreds of super-in-depth canoe country fishing articles. For example, the current Spring 2025 issue of BWJ features a 12-page article I wrote completely devoted to how/when/where to fish the Vibrax spinner. This is the kind of exclusive deep-dive into all things canoe country fishing you get by subscribing to Boundary Waters Journal.

I guide seven 10-day wilderness canoe fishing trips each season and each fall issue contains a detailed write-up of my Grand Slam trips — there is no better resource for learning this fascinating wilderness canoe country fishing game than the Boundary Waters Journal.

Good luck to all of you out there this season, play smart, be safe and please, please, please- handle those big fish with minimal stress and release them to thrill another angler some- day.

To Subscribe to Boundary Waters Journal, purchase the BWJ KLOS trout lures, or for information on taking a Grand Slam Guide Service trip with me in the future, go to www.boundarywaterjournal.com or call 218-365-6184.