Fisher48: "(Apologies if you've already read this...posted it yesterday and I think it was taken off/I deleted it somehow)
Hello Everyone,
I'm a soldier based in Colorado and I'm planning a "Victory Trip" for my son and I this June. It's called that because a few years ago he overcame a life-threatening disease that hospitalized him for several months. Now a strong teenager, this 2-week father/son trip is his victory! He just ran his first marathon so he's fully up to the physical challenges of a huge trip.
Spending two full weeks fishing the Crooked Lake area in mid-June. We're both experienced pike fisherman and also enjoy smallmouth. REALLY want him to tangle with a 40-inch northern - would much rather catch just one huge gator than dozens of small ones.
I'm flexible on changing but right now the plan is to enter at Mudro, work our way up through Tin Can, Horse, and the Horse River to Basswood Falls. Will work Crooked from East to West on Crooked. We have 2 solid weeks so plenty of time to fish/travel a long route.
Couple of questions here...and let me thank you in advance for any input you may have!
1. What specific areas of Crooked would you recommend for big pike? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday bays?
2. Any specific campsites you'd recommend on Crooked?
2. Exit options: Would you recommend exiting through Friday via Chippewa/Gun/Fairy/Boot/Fourtown route or come out further east via Iron, Sunday lake/Beartrap River/Beartrap Lake route? I like the thought of this route because we wouldn't have to paddle back east from Curtain Falls (which we want to see). But I'm reading about current on the Beartrap River. We'll go with whatever route (exit Friday Bay or the Falls) has the best pike fishing on the way back to Mudro. Any lakes on either of those 2 routes particularly good fishing? If the Curtain Falls route is clearly better for fishing than Friday Bay and Beartrap has a strong current, I could, of course, reverse my entire route (enter Crooked by Curtain Falls and exiting down by Basswood).
THANK YOU!
"
Original post is still up, located in 'Trip Planning' forum....cheers!