Iron Lake

Iron Lake covers 1,962 acres in the La Croix district, sitting right on the international border in the northwest corner of the Boundary Waters, with Lac La Croix and Quetico Provincial Park just beyond it. It's reached by a multi-lake corridor off the Stuart River, which keeps it more remote than most lakes this size in the wilderness.

The lake's edge is broken up and irregular rather than running in long, even stretches, folding it into enough bays and points that it paddles bigger than its acreage suggests. It drops to 64 feet, but a strong current running through the lake keeps it mixed instead of settling into the warm-on-top, cold-below layers most deep lakes get in summer. The shoreline itself runs mostly boulder and ledgerock, with weeds confined to a few shallow bays.

Walleye are what Iron Lake is known for, holding up well without any stocking program behind them, and northern pike here tend to run larger than average. Cisco fill out the cold water underneath both, and because the lake's current keeps it stirred up all summer instead of settling into distinct layers, fish spread through the water column rather than holding at one depth.

A long, demanding portage guards the route onward to Lac La Croix, which keeps casual traffic off Iron Lake even though it's a sizable, open lake in its own right. Ten campsites are spread around the shoreline.

Iron Lake suits paddlers after solid walleye and pike fishing well off the beaten path rather than a quick stop, given how far in it sits and the work required to go any farther.