Gillis Lake

Gillis Lake covers about 616 acres in the Gunflint district of the Boundary Waters, in Cook County northwest of Grand Marais. It sits well into the interior, several lakes removed from the nearest entry points, in a stretch of exposed Canadian Shield bedrock country.

The lake is built differently than most of its neighbors. A mean depth of only 16 feet hides a hole that drops to 180 feet, and just a sliver of the basin, under 15 percent, is shallow enough to count as littoral water. What shoreline there is tends to be bare rock, and the water runs clear enough to see down 17 feet.

Lake trout are the reason to fish Gillis, and they're nearly the only reason. The population sustains itself without stocking, and most fish run 15 to 20 inches, with some pushing past two feet, though growth is slow in water this cold. White sucker are common as forage, yellow perch and burbot turn up only occasionally, and neither walleye nor smallmouth bass are present at all.

Seven campsites ring the lake. Short, easy portages, each under 30 rods, connect Gillis to French, Bat, and Fern lakes on three different sides, and a longer 88-rod carry leads out to Crooked Lake, so it functions as something of a hub for parties working through this corner of the Gunflint district.

Gillis Lake suits an angler after lake trout in cold, clear water more than a paddler looking for a lot of shoreline to explore, since so little of the lake is the shallow water that draws other fish.