My son (9) will be making his first trip to the BW next year. He claims his priority will be small mouth fishing. (We will see. Chasing bugs, throwing stuff and swimming will likely be high on the list as well) We were going over maps of where to go the other day when he spotted Weird Lake. He immediately wanted to go there. So, what can you tell me about it?

It looks like manageable portages all the way from Baker and lots of paddling, but it should be all small water. Is it all deep enough to paddle or will we be lining the canoe a lot? How much flow is there to the Temperance River? Also, what about beaver dams?

What can you tell me about the small mouth fishing? We will be going in June.

Thanks.

Weird isn't much of a lake. The route is fine, easy portages. The Vern River isn't considered passable, so you are sort of limited to going north or south. If you got to Weird and the campsite was taken, you are looking at a longer portage to Temperance.

I think there are many lakes and locations that would be about as easy and far more interesting, with more options.

keep going to South Temperance.....

We camped on Weird in June of 1992 on our long trip and stayed two nights because I loved it so much. Saw more moose there than we have ever seen ANYWHERE!! A cow with twin calves, three other cows at different times , and a huge bull moose.

Of course I realize that that was many years ago, and I also must say that we don't fish.

So, what can any of you tell me about the fishing from South Temperance all the way to Baker. Are there enough smallies to be worth a look?

The route from Baker to weird is very simple.
Stayed on Kelly and fished all three lakes between baker and weird. We had success but they weren't jumping in the boat.

I'd divide my time between South Temperance and Brule. Easy trip east to Brule, fish the western bays around the islands and maybe venture as far as Cone bay area. North Temperance is worth a look also.

My bro and I went up that way fall of 2010 from baker. We just passed through weird lake on day one up to north temp. The temperance lakes, are the real gems in the area in my opinion. Brule is great too if you venture that way. Fishing was sub par all the way through to north temp. And was spotty the whole trip. We did catch a couple smallies on north temp and a northern on south temp that day though. I don't believe weird lake has much to fish for, in its shallow water. The campsite looked ok and you would have the area to your self so that's nice. It does look like a "moosy" lake and area. There is little flow in the temperance river, probablly due to the many beaver dams you will have to navigate on the way.

If entering from Baker up through Kelly, consider going west into Burnt and smoke. Portages aren't to tough and smoke has some pretty good small mouth fishing with an occasional wally. Burnt has some good small mouth up until Aug, it is kind of shallow in most spots. One of our favorite trips is into smoke, with day trips to Burnt, Fire and Sawbill from there. All have good fishing early in the season a good campsites.

Weird is just too weird for me, lol. Hey its Friday.

Smoke is kind of like a highway lake, a good number of people cross it from sawbill to burnt but not that many stay there.

Check the Minnesota DNR website to see what kind of fish are in there.

Unfortunately, most DNR reports are very old. Better idea to check with your outfitter once you've selected your base.

According to books I've been reading it's not an ideal lake to pull water for drinking.
I too want to check out Weird L., then onward to Brule to camp a night...or two. Furtman's fishing guide claims it to contain pike, yellow perch and walleye. 6 ft depth, on average.