My wife and i would like to plan our first trip to bw together. Neither of us has been there since trips with our parents a long time ago. We would to go for 5 or 6 days. We love to fish and are not afraid to work to get to a nice spot. I'm just asking for some good advice on time of year or place for a couple of rookies.

If you want your first trip back to be enjoyable, go in Sept.
As for where...you're going to get tons of suggestions. You may want to base the "where" on other things to see and do. Are you a Gunflint Trail person, or an Ely person? Do you need an Outfitter?
There are lots of options...seclusion, wildlife, pictos, waterfalls...
Maybe narrow your search a bit and see where that leads. Also, do you need to know about obtaining permits?
Throw some more thoughts at us and let us throw some more back at you. Sounds fun!

Thank you for responding so quickly. We didnt mean to be so vague. Like i said we have both been to bw but have never planned our own trip. Seclusion would be nice. Waterfalls would be wonderful. Fishing is a must. We would like to do some hiking as well. We are not sure if we should park ourselves in one nice spot or move around. I think we will have to exit the same way we enter because we will be driving ourselves up there. We should have most or all of our own gear. As far as permits go, i was going to apply through the website provided but i am not sure how the lottery works. I hope we're not too late to get what we want. My wifes first trips were through Grand Marais and mine were through Ely, so maybe Isabella or Tofte? Thanks again for all your help and i'm sure we will talk again.

Hey markieVI, if you don't already have them, try to pick up the books by Robert Beymer, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Vol I & II. They're invaluable for people starting out on their own.

If you already own them or know about them just ignore me. :)

The place that immediately comes to mind that fulfills all your criteria is the Little Indian Sioux entry point. Some river paddling, Devil's Cascade, lots of good fishing lakes in the area. But that's just one good entry point among many.

We almost always go in May or September to try to minimize the skeeter annoyance effect.

I'll also vote for September - first half of the month is lovely, still warm - nights are getting shorter - water levels are usually seasonally low, so that would eliminate some river routes. Just about no bugs, the water is still warm.... and far fewer people.

Routes - the Beymer books are the gold standard for describing loops - but our Route Guide makes for interesting winter reading as well - see the link to the left.

Keep up posted!

Hiking, fishing, waterfalls...go in ep14 (Little Indian Souix). Go up to Shell Lake (good fishing), check out Devils Cascade, and do some hiking on the Souix Hustler Trail. Some rivers, some smaller lakes...it's a nice area. You could go out of Ely or the Crane Lake area. You could go in the lottery (ep14 is popular in summer) but if you do choose Sept, you can probably get your permit post lottery if you're not hard line on your entry date.

Okay, I'm a relative "newbie" myself (5 BWCA trips total) but if fishing is your highest priority, then wouldn't a spring trip be more productive?

My wife and I have always gone in late August/early September. We love the weather and lack of biting insects but the fishing hasn't been the best for me.

drought, we've gone frequently over Labor Day & had some excellent fishing outings, including our best ever in 2000. This past year we went in late Sept/early Oct & caught my biggest pike ever.

July to mid-August are normally the slower months for fishing for me. May & September would be my first two choices for fishing, plus there's usually fewer folks around during those times.