If you're trolling, using a leader will have essentially no effect on your catch rate for any species.  The fish does not have time to size up the bait.  The fish either commits to a strike or loses the opportunity to feed on a seemingly easy meal.

The Chrismar map is an excellent map for locating portages and seeing the entire park but if you will be on confusing lakes with lots of points/islands, or if you just would like to look at your map without squinting, pick up either McKenzie or Fisher maps that will give you a lot more detail, including some of the campsites in the area. 

If the McKenzie/Fisher maps disagree with the Chrismar on the location of a portage, it's been my experience that you should trust the Chrismar to be correct.  McKenzie's have topographical lines which are an additional aid to navigation. 

No map I've ever found has lake contours for the Quetico.

solotripper wrote on Aug 1^st, 2011 at 10:17pm:


i've had the less expensive steel leaders from basspro fail 2 years in a row. last year it was the snaps, so i replaced them with upgraded snaps. This year a swivel broke on a 6# pike. That's no protection. After that incident all the leaders came off and had no prob with the 10# braid. If going with a leader, I'd  use a better quality one, or make your own with something like 20# powerpro as stated above (this is my path for next year).

   
I would put in a vote to try some 8# flouro. I believe we did much better with it then when using braided line overall. I meant to buy some 6# mono for jigging walleyes but was talked into the flouro instead.

Last time out after about five days of fishing I can't say that we lost one lure, and we had the best walleye fishing that I can remember, although I don't do as well fishing as most on here. That was a first for me, especially considering we C&R a few nice pike along the way. Probably a fluke though. I do like to check the line and retie my knots often.

You should probably go with the heavier gear and some type of leader if specifically targeting the NP though.

The above posts address your other questions. As for maps, as stated above, there aren't any contour maps of Quetico lakes (apparently its a Canadian national secret)

Thanks all for your input, I appreciate it.

Hopefully I will catch some nice fish and post some pictures.

At the risk of further exhausting an already exhausted topic, I want to mention how surprised I was at the number of walleye caught while using leaders (steel) this past June.  I always assumed a wire leader would prevent walleye bites, and maybe it does result in less strikes, but it's definitely not the deal breaker that I had thought.

Boubiche wrote on Aug 1^st, 2011 at 8:18pm:


Now that "newbies" are all paying customers now I believe I should probably curb my sarcasm from here on out - damn.   

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I use a Titanium leader when/if I fish intending on catching pike. As we all know NP seem to be most everywhere and many have lost costly lures when they bit thru the mono sans leader.
I found that when fishing for Waldo/Lakers that I received some degree of protection from NP by using a leader made out of the 20# Braid I use on my heavy trolling rod.
Not as good as a real dedicated leader, but way better than mono alone.
I keep a eye on it if I'm catching the unintended NP, and at the first sign of fraying, I replace.
20# Power Pro is the equivalent of 4-6# mono, and has a very soft hand. I'm no fishing expert by any means, but I don't think the Waldos/Lakers know the difference

PhantomJug wrote on Aug 1^st, 2011 at 7:27pm:


Thanks for the correct answers, you got me on the previous ones ...

Welcome aboard!

Boubiche wrote on Aug 1^st, 2011 at 6:21pm:

Barbless or crimped barbs before use.

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At last check, deep-six the carcass.

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I'd go titanium leader for large pike (steel tends to get twisted into knots).  I don't use a leader for walleye.

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I'm not aware of any source for depth contour maps for Quetico.

dd