BWCA Day 3- Jackfish Lake

We awoke the third morning to low clouds and mist. Not the most comfortable weather to be in, but we hoped it would clear by mid-day. As we finished breakfast, we studied the maps for the best route into Jackfish lake.
"Looks like a moderate portage out of this bay here, into Wabasons Lake, then a short portage into Jackfish. Hopefully we'll be able to find the trail and there won't be too many trees across it," I said, folding the maps.

We readied the canoes and took off. By 8:30 am we were paddling into the back of a bay looking for a noticeable trail. After some searching we found it. Chase and I scouted ahead on the trail to find several downed trees and large puddles of mud to slow our travels. I pulled out my leatherman saw and went to work. Many small trees and bushes needed clearing. Another set of boot tracks told us we weren't the first people to hike this trail this year. A fresh set of moose tracks over top of the human tracks also told us it had been some time since the last humans were in here. The trail would be difficult, but do-able. 

We began the portage. It was slow going and we had to make momentary stops to adjust our grips and rest our arms, but soon we were at Wabason's Lake. 

Wabason's was small and before we knew it, we were at a beaver dam marking the creek that flowed out of Wabason's and into Jackfish. I looked at my map again to confirm we were in the right spot. Sure enough, a faint trail could be seen ahead. I parked the canoe and began walking the trail. I only made it a short distance and found a bunch of large trees blocking the trail. My Leatherman saw was no match for those. There must be another way... I looked down the hill toward the creek. If we could just get to that creek we could paddle down it into the main lake... I saw a do-able path and began cutting limbs that would interfere. In short order we had a way down to the creek.

I walked back to where our canoes were parked to find almost everyone fishing and pulling in small pike left and right. 
"Ok, I've got a path that'll work. Follow me." I said, grabbing one end of a canoe.

My make-shift path worked and soon we were launching the canoes on the small creek channel that meandered into a beaver swamp, opening up into Jackfish Lake. As we came around a corner we saw a large pine tree that had fallen all the way across the channel blocking the opening into Jackfish. As luck would have it, a small opening at the end of the tree made passage around the tree possible. We cut several branches to aid our departure later in the day, but we had made it to Jackfish! 
"Let's hope all that work was worth it!" Jordan said, shaking his head.
"That was quite the adventure," Camron responded.

Together in the two man canoe, Wallace and Camron took the east side of the lake and the rest of us took the west. Immediately, Wallace hooked up with a scrappy pike. Camron quickly followed up with another. In less than 10 minutes they had brought numerous pike to the boat and every cast was getting chases or hits. Jordan tagged a nice pike and we were on the board. As the lake opened up, the hoots and hollers of Camron and Wallace faded as we paddled further and further apart. Chase began to pick up a few fish as well. Jackfish was not disappointing us!

So far the fish had been small-ish. The lake was fairly large, so we knew there had to be some monster in here somewhere. It was wonderful knowing we had the entire lake to ourselves. The mist continued to fall, but the low cloud ceiling had to be helping the fishing. Topwater flies were producing lots of fish. There's nothing like the explosive takes of pike on topwater; they put bass to shame!

We worked our way into a large shallow cove, catching pike almost every cast. A small rock island sat in the middle of the cove. After fishing most of the water on the edges, we paddled out to the rock island. Jordan and Chase were catching small pike nearly every cast. I made a cast well beyond an isolated rock. Immediately, I connected with a fish, only this one was different than the rest. It was not acting like the babies we'd been catching all morning. This fish just started swimming to the right. I heaved back on the rod and felt powerless to control this fish. Then it surged to deeper water pulling line out of the reel.
"Guys, this is big fish!" I exclaimed with a huge smile. 
After a long fight and dancing with the small net, we landed the big fish. No doubt my largest pike ever! We didn't measure it but it had to be close to 3 feet. 

Sure enough, down its throat you could see the tail of a small pike. We set the beast free and continued fishing. 

Camron and Wallace had worked their way into a large cove with a couple large rock islands. It was nearly lunch time, so we paddled that direction to meet up with them. We all enjoyed our lunch on a rock island while taking turns casting and catching pike. We had caught countless pike and the day was only halfway through. Determined to see another monster pike, we split again after lunch and paddled toward some promising water. Once again, we found catching pike was no problem. 

I even caught a small yellow perch in one of the bays; no doubt a nervous fish! The pike were so aggressive that most of them would swallow our 6 inch flies, leading to several bleeders that ended up on the stringer. Pike are very delicious so we didn't mind bringing several back to camp for dinner. 

By 4 pm, we had had our fill of scrappy pike and it was time to make the paddle back to camp. After all, we still had 2 portages to accomplish on the way. Once back at camp, we enjoyed a dinner of beef stroganoff and freshly fried pike. I made a few casts with the spinning rod at camp and stumbled into a small walleye. A fluke catch for sure.

As the sun set, we planned our remaining 2 days. We would spend the morning paddling back to Basswood Falls, where we'd stop for lunch. Then the afternoon would consist of making our way back up the Horse River; fishing along the way of course! Then we would stay the night at Horse Lake and fish our way back to the launch spot the following day. Hard to believe the trip was already half over. I fell asleep dreaming of more monster pike. 

Photo's credit: Chase Christopher