Tips on fishing are worth about a dime per dozen. Lucky for most of us, ‘cause there seems to be a tip for every fishin’ hole, in every weather condition, for every type of game fish in America! Why does it have to be so confusing? It doesn't! ”Tips” are just that - just something to try when your way isn’t working. So read through this list, remember a third of them, and try two or three. Who knows ... one of them might just work.
  

Getting ready to go

• A Minnesota fishing license is required for the Boundary Waters Canoe area (US side), and an Ontario angling permit is required for Quetico Provincial Park.  In Minesota, the age where a license is required is 16, in Ontario it is 17.  Licenses may be purchased here at the base for BWCA trips, and/or at the Park Ranger Station when entering Quetico.  The license which most of our clients purchase in either area is for seven days, and costs $25.
  
   

• If you’re heading to the north country for a fishing trip, you are going to spend a couple of hundred dollars on transportation, outfitting, licenses and permits. For most, a highlight of the trip will be fishing. If this is the case, get NEW line on your reel. That doesn’t mean “new last summer” or “only used twice over the last three months”. And be sure to go to a dealer that sells LOTS of line. You don’t want something that has been sitting on the shelf for six months.

• God only gave you one pair of eyes. Protect them on the water. Invest in a good pair of polarized sunglasses. They will not only help protect your eyes, but will also give you better visual penetration into the water.

• Keep your mosquito repellent and plastic worms out of your tackle box or at least in a special separate compartment. Both of these items contain lacquer solvent and when in contact with any metal, plastic, or wood lure, it has a tendency to soften the paint. The paint will never harden again.

• There’s no excuse losing a fish because of a dull hook. A small stone or file should be used to keep hooks needle sharp.

• Many fish are lost to faulty knots. Learn to tie good knots. Usually the box your fresh line came in (above !) Will have an instruction sheet. Practice until you are sure they will hold.

The Area

• For the most part, the lakes in the BWCA are darker than Quetico Park. The water color comes from tannin, the same thing that makes tea brown (it has nothing to do with iron in the water). Be sure not to confuse “dark” with “muddy”. Contrast is important when selecting lures: too much difference between a lure and its’ surroundings and a fish will figure something is wrong with this picture. In general, use darker lures in darker water, and lighter lures in water that is more “tap-water” clear.

• The rule stating that everything that goes up must come down does not apply to fishing lures caught in trees. Avoid long cast toward the waters edge when overhanging trees are a factor.

• In rivers, most game fish are best attracted to your lure when it is presented in a down stream manner duplicating natural food presentation.
   

In General

• Be versatile. Don’t get into a rut or hung up on one technique. What “works at home on largemouth” isn’t the way you fish walleye in the north country. The locations and lure recommendations we make are based on information as fresh as we can possibly have. In many cases, it is what was producing on those lakes just the last day or so. We want you to catch fish!

• Don’t fish any lure in one spot more than 10 casts. If it hasn’t worked by then, change, and let the fish tell you what they want.

• Proper canoe positioning can play a large role in success or failure of wilderness fishing in the north country. The distance between you and the fish is very important. If you’re too close, you will spook the fish more often than catch them. If you are too far, your accuracy in placing the lure can be hampered.

• When top water fishing, do not set the hook until you actually feel the fish on the lure. Don’t jerk on sight or sound. Just keep working the lure toward you.

• Be patient! Fish don’t always hit a lure just because it’s there. They go thru cycles and have schedules like people. If you know you are in a good fish-producing area, patience can pay off.

• Be quiet! Sound travels through the water much better than through air. Avoid all unnecessary noise in the canoe.

• Fish love to hold on structures and irregular features under water.

• Carefully release, immediately and unharmed, any fish you do not intend to eat. Preservation of our fishing resources is necessary even here in the north country.

• Whether you catch anything or not, look around you - and enjoy it for what it is - the only lakeland wilderness in the world!