Ely: A great escape
Every once in a while the stars align and I am able to get out of town and relax. Last week, I had three days to disappear and I chose to head up to Ely and get a taste of the Boundary Waters. I only had three short days, but it was three days well spent.
Oddly enough I had never been to Ely. After my recent visit, I have no idea why. Now, I want to focus on trying to get there once a year as long as I can.
Ely is one of the gateways into the Boundary Waters and it is a route traveled by many in Minnesota each summer. That was apparent at our first stop in Ely. As you enter town on U.S. Hwy. 169, one of the first stops you have to make is Babes Bait, Tackle and Canoe Rental. We stopped there to pick up a canoe, bait and other tackle. As I walked through the shop I came across a guest book that customers sign. I couldn’t help but notice that people from everywhere find their way through town, as the list of places included Colorado, Indiana, Florida, California, Japan and London, England to name a few. The list was long — and was just from this year.
From my front door it took me just over 4 hours to get to Ely. That is nothing compared to the lengths that others have traveled. I think it is starting to add up. For 30 years, I have taken for granted the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a worldwide destination, is basically in my back yard.
I imagine that the next thought going through your head, as it was the same thought I was having, “but gas is four bucks a gallon!” Yes that’s true but we took a car which gets 33 miles to the gallon and left our trucks at home. I also left the boat at home and picked up a canoe at Babes. We camped at Fall Lake Campground for only $25 per night and bought all our food at the grocery store in town. The trip cost less than a typical weekend on Mille Lacs for me and was over twice the distance.
It was a short trip but it was enough time to relax and spend some time on the water and in the wilderness. Unfortunately for us the fishing was a bit slow but we did manage to catch walleye, crappies, smallmouth bass, northern pike, largemouth bass and trout. I guess we were told it was slow by Ely standards.
Besides the fishing it was just great to be outdoors. As we canoed off into Fall Lake from the campground, the possibilities were endless. The wilderness out there is so big that one could literally disappear and never be seen again. There are places that no man or woman has ever gone. As we were limited by time we only made one portage into the next lake which was Newton Lake. Along the way we met others that were coming out of the BWCA after being in there for a week. This particular group we encountered was from Colorado. It is their yearly trip to the BWCA, with 16 guys and eight boats packed in every year for a week to get lost in the wilderness. No showers, no phones, and no electricity — just the essentials to survive.
As we discocvered, the Boundary Waters and the town of Ely is a diamond in the rough and it is right here at home. The people are friendly, the scenery is beautiful and the fishing can be fantastic. Take the drive and you’ll understand what I mean.
For more information on Babes Bait, Tackle and Canoe Rental, check out their website at
www.babesbait.com.
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Wow I have been busy. I spent a few days up in the Ely area last week and when I came home I had a lot of work waiting for me so I haven't had much time to even write a report. I do tonight though!
First of all I need to thank Russ from Babes Bait and Tackle. Great bait, great info and a great canoe. He also took us out for a few hours to White Iron where we could of sat and caught walleyes all day long. They were a bit on the small side so we started moving and looking for bigger fish but just found more small ones and a nice 12 crappie. Focused in on where we got the crappie hoping for more but could not get another one to go. By this time the wind was howling and some rain was moving in so we hung it up and went into town for a great pizza at.....Wise Guys Pizza. Mmmm
We tried leeches on white iron but the ticket was minnows fishing the bottom very slowly.
Our camp was on Fall Lake at the state campground. What a nice place! The first night there we fished out of a canoe for smallmouth and caught a few with two nice fish measuring 18inces. The rest were small and I got bit off by a northern at the edge of the boat. We also made the portage into Newton but caught nothing there. It was really nice out there.
We caught some trout on Miner's Lake right on the edge of town. Also caught some small bass but the trout were fun. On the last day we fished Shagawa? I think that is the correct spelling. We were fishing for smallmouth and only managed one. The fishing was a little slow. We had raing moving in and out and the weather could not of been more unstable. I'm blaming in on that because we talked to a lot of people with great reports from the days before us.
All in all it was a great trip and the Ely area is incredible. I cannot wait to get back up there!!!!
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