8 hard-earned lessons for fishing a backcountry lake you’ve never seen before

#6  CHOOSE YOUR CREW WELL

Remote waters are usually pretty forgiving, so not everyone has to be an experienced angler. What’s more important is a crew of people who are game for an adventure into the unknown, with the life skills, temperament and attitude to be good team members. You’ll be together for a week, often in close quarters, so you need people who stay good-natured when the fish aren’t biting or the weather turns ugly.

I’ve known both Wes and Mark for more than 30 years. That kind of history isn’t a prerequisite, but it means we already knew each other’s strengths and, let’s say, quirks. Complementary skills are also handy. A software engineer turned executive, Wes has a ferocious mind for taking in information and creative problem solving. I’ve also come to think of him as the unofficial morale officer on our trips. Plus, he loves to clean, which gets him a ticket on any of my adventures. As well as his map skills, Mark is a camper and paddler—the type who kneels in the canoe instead of sitting on the comfy bench—and was a natural on the outboard. Even better, both Wes and Mark are patient and good-natured (or at least more than me), and I knew they’d keep chins up if conditions got rocky.

#7  COMMIT TO YOUR HOT SPOTS

This is a variation on the age-old fishing wisdom of “don’t leave fish to find fish.” It’s the hardest principle for me to follow. On my home waters and in lower-stakes fishing conditions, I’m afflicted by wanderlust. I often leave a hot bite to see what’s around the next bend or point. But on early backcountry trips, I spent too much time exploring, and not enough with a bait in the water.

Since then, I’ve gradually, but firmly, come to see the wisdom in finding your spots, and working them hard. Exhibit A was that wild evening of our triple header, where we drifted a small area over and over. We found it by trolling, came back and had some success jigging, then fished it hard that evening. This appraoch may have been topographically dull, but the action was superb.

In fact, that evening was when we decided we’d found our spots and would stick to them: the island and a couple of other jigging spots, plus a handful of trolling routes. So, that’s what we did, and the fish kept coming, even as an appalling heat wave settled in, which, we later heard, shut down the action at other nearby lakes. We did spend some time fishing ever-larger lures and jigs looking for trophies, but after an hour or two, defaulted back to steady action over glory.