Oyster Lake

Oyster Lake covers about 763 acres in the La Croix district of the Boundary Waters, in the interior lake country west of Ely reached from the Echo Trail's entry points. The lake splits into two basins, one large and deep, one smaller and shallow, joined into a single body of water.

The deep basin drops to 130 feet, among the deeper water in this part of the wilderness. Its shoreline is rocky and falls off fast into that depth, which leaves little room for weeds to take hold along the edge. The lake layers into warm and cold water through summer, but enough oxygen reaches the bottom that fish have room to spread through most of the water column instead of being pinned to a narrow band.

Lake trout are what Oyster Lake is known for, holding in that cold, oxygenated depth most of the year. Northern pike here grow faster than the regional average, and rock bass and white sucker work the shallower water near shore. Cisco and burbot fill out the rest of the fishery, mostly as forage in the cold depths below the trout.

A long, difficult portage in from Hustler Lake is the toughest way onto Oyster Lake. Shorter carries from other directions keep the rest of the lake easier to reach.

Seven campsites are spread around the shoreline, with enough separation between the two basins that a group can usually find privacy.

Oyster Lake suits paddlers after lake trout in genuinely deep, cold water, set well into the interior rather than along a well-traveled corridor.