I am struggling a bit with my August trip this summer. I had originally planned to go to WCPP and have already made considerable preparations but now I am thinking of heading back to the Q.

Burt is my ultimate destination but I am thinking of spending several days on Agnes. I hear very little "buzz" about the fishing on Agnes and I see very few campsites as well. Any hints and pointers would be much appreciated.

As per the route out of the north end of Agnes over to Kash.......pretty straightforward? Done easily in a day? Should I get an early start? Any campsites on the north end of Agnes or on the smallish lakes in between? My older maps show very little in the way of campsites in that northern region of Agnes (as in zero) or the smaller lakes. Might make for a long day to go from mid Agnes where my map shows a camp site to Kash. Better to start in the northern end of Agnes if there is a site.

Caught LT all over the North part of Agnes last Fall. Caught some decent SMB also while looking for eyes.

The north end of Agnes is my destination in May. I'm going for lake trout which we had some luck with last time I was there. There were several nice campsites on this island, Google Maps link

Not sure about the route to Kash from there.

I've only fished Agnes one trip on the way to Kawnipi and back in the middle of June of 2014. We did ok trolling for Lake Trout around the islands in the northern part of the lake. Nothing fantastic, just average or so. We casted around some islands on the way back from Kawnipi on our way to the S-chain a few days later and only picked up one smallmouth.

I won't pretend to teach the Master Tangler about fishing, but I always prefer lakes with more shoreline variation than Agnes. It just seems like too much water for fish to be spread out in to me. Or maybe I'm just making excuses for doing worse than average the couple times I've fished there ;)

I am unclear when you say the northern route out of Agnes to Kash. If you mean up to Kawnipi and over and down it is more than one day, at least for me.
If you mean what I call the Trant Lake Cutoff then it is a straight forward day.
Or, do you mean the Hurlburt Payne route? The campsites on the Hurlburt Payne route are indeed slim pickings.
I am headed the same way in mid August on a solo. Up Agnes, into the NW corner of Kawnipi and then down the chain of lakes to Sark, Kash, etc.
There are a few sites on Agnes I like. But am curious as to where your exact route might be. And, of course, would be happy to share the location of a couple of my favorite sites provided you are not there when I come through!

cburton103: "I've only fished Agnes one trip on the way to Kawnipi and back in the middle of June of 2014. We did ok trolling for Lake Trout around the islands in the northern part of the lake. Nothing fantastic, just average or so. We casted around some islands on the way back from Kawnipi on our way to the S-chain a few days later and only picked up one smallmouth.


I won't pretend to teach the Master Tangler about fishing, but I always prefer lakes with more shoreline variation than Agnes. It just seems like too much water for fish to be spread out in to me. Or maybe I'm just making excuses for doing worse than average the couple times I've fished there ;)"

Yes this seems to be the general consensus...........rather average fishing for rather average sized fish. But of course with a large lake like Agnes there has to be a strong population of behemoths about. I was through once and it was a very hairy ride with huge whitecaps and no place to get away with the steep banks. I felt fortunate to have escaped. Clear water if I remember correctly? Might be a tough nut to crack in August without bait. 4 days of trolling will teach me much about that body of water, maybe its a sleeper.

GraniteCliffs: "I am unclear when you say the northern route out of Agnes to Kash. If you mean up to Kawnipi and over and down it is more than one day, at least for me.
If you mean what I call the Trant Lake Cutoff then it is a straight forward day.
Or, do you mean the Hurlburt Payne route? The campsites on the Hurlburt Payne route are indeed slim pickings.
I am headed the same way in mid August on a solo. Up Agnes, into the NW corner of Kawnipi and then down the chain of lakes to Sark, Kash, etc.
There are a few sites on Agnes I like. But am curious as to where your exact route might be. And, of course, would be happy to share the location of a couple of my favorite sites provided you are not there when I come through!"

I checked out another site which shows campsites (the name of which seems to be forbidden fruit) and there are a plethora of sites on Agnes despite my Fisher showing only a single mid lake dot. I am intending to scoot through Hurlburt which looks to be the most direct way to Burt where I am hoping to put some time on. Mid lake Agnes would make for a potentially dicey day but if I can start at the north end of Agnes should be a breeze.

Granite I am paddling a Bell solo black Carbon with a Loomis logo on the front. Send up a smoke signal.

I have spent quite a bit of time on Agnes, and it's not my favorite lake (I do much prefer the north end...fewer people by a long shot). It does have everything you might hope to catch, and there are plenty in there to keep one busy, but invariably I have better luck, on average, both for size and numbers, elsewhere. I do keep hoping to encounter a tanker LT in there (they *have* to be in there, right?!?), but the size never is what I'm hoping for.

It IS a nice place to basecamp. Dack is fun. Bird and Anubis are fun. Kawnipi is fun. Reid is fun. Murdoch is fun.

But I dunno, for my money (and I know you're spending yours, not mine) there are better places to hang out if you're chasing fish and solitude. Just my .02.

Why are you fixated on Agnes? It’s a rather indirect way to Burt and that’s a better trip. Burt was good fishing back in the day. Agnes is fished out, too deep and sterile. It may never recover.

MT, when will you enter?

old_salt: "Why are you fixated on Agnes? It’s a rather indirect way to Burt and that’s a better trip. Burt was good fishing back in the day. Agnes is fished out, too deep and sterile. It may never recover."

The man, the myth, the Legend, Old Salt.............Fixated? Not really. I have been the usual ways to Burt from Moose lake several times and I usually like to see new water.......and I usually like to fish new water. I have 24 days or so, why not spend 4 days on Agnes and check it out is my thinking. Like Carmike said there HAS to be some tankers in there.......but if he couldn't catch them then I might have a tough go of it. But as I often like to say "You don't know until you go".

I will plan to fast troll deep diving Cranks on light line along the 28ft contour around most of the shoreline looking for reaction bites from walleye. They are there and there has to be small pods of whoppers scattered about. I don't look for lots of fish anymore..........I didn't drive 2 days to get on a school of eaters.

Maybe a guy should jig huge plastics for the big lakers? I am thinking of something like a big white Bondy Bait. I have seen pics of huge lakers caught on that lure. Most of the winky lakers would probably leave that lure alone. I also want dearly to fish the Shimano Butterfly jigs which I think the big 4 would be very susceptible to in August (if I can just keep the pike from nipping them off.......pike love jigging spoons and usually nip them off........Butterfly jigs arent exactly cheap).

Granite I am not so sure when I am entering. I have not even got my RABC permit or applied for an entry date yet. If I had my way it would be on the 3rd of August that I would be at Prairie. Not such good logistics for a guy who likes to plan things out a year in advance LOL. Its been so long since I have been to the Q I cant even remember how to apply anymore.........WCPP you just drive up and lay down your cash ;-)

If you can find them, I am sure a Big Bondy bait would be an incredible choice. I can't think of many things I'd rather have. :)

mastertangler: Granite I am not so sure when I am entering. I have not even got my RABC permit or applied for an entry date yet. If I had my way it would be on the 3rd of August that I would be at Prairie. Not such good logistics for a guy who likes to plan things out a year in advance LOL. Its been so long since I have been to the Q I cant even remember how to apply anymore.........WCPP you just drive up and lay down your cash ;-) "

Granite is a rock. I think you probably meant to say " Granted " :)

carmike: "If you can find them, I am sure a Big Bondy bait would be an incredible choice. I can't think of many things I'd rather have. :)
"

I have a pearl colored one I like but it has yet to catch a fish. Of course I'm not as lucky as you and don't get to fish all the time so it has only seen the water for an hour or two. When I get bigger I want to be like Carmike.

QueticoMike: "

mastertangler: Granite I am not so sure when I am entering. I have not even got my RABC permit or applied for an entry date yet. If I had my way it would be on the 3rd of August that I would be at Prairie. Not such good logistics for a guy who likes to plan things out a year in advance LOL. Its been so long since I have been to the Q I cant even remember how to apply anymore.........WCPP you just drive up and lay down your cash ;-) "

Granite is a rock. I think you probably meant to say " Granted " :) "

Nope, Granite is short for GraniteCliffs who I think would be sort of neat to have a meet and greet either in Ely over a steak or on the water.

I feel cheated here in Florida........No copia for me as I always have an event that weekend........no wing nights with other canoeing addicts.......and when I try and get with Quetico Mike he always says "Um, i'm busy that day but maybe next week" LOL.

mastertangler: "

QueticoMike: "

mastertangler: Granite I am not so sure when I am entering. I have not even got my RABC permit or applied for an entry date yet. If I had my way it would be on the 3rd of August that I would be at Prairie. Not such good logistics for a guy who likes to plan things out a year in advance LOL. Its been so long since I have been to the Q I cant even remember how to apply anymore.........WCPP you just drive up and lay down your cash ;-) "

Granite is a rock. I think you probably meant to say " Granted " :) "

Nope, Granite is short for GraniteCliffs who I think would be sort of neat to have a meet and greet either in Ely over a steak or on the water.


I feel cheated here in Florida........No copia for me as I always have an event that weekend........no wing nights with other canoeing addicts.......and when I try and get with Quetico Mike he always says "Um, i'm busy that day but maybe next week" LOL. "

OH.....that makes more sense now. I read that line and thought he must be thinking granted. Didn't dawn on me that someone you were replying to was actually named Granite....haha :)
Can't go fishing this week either, the river is 10 feet above normal. Snowed Monday, tornadoes and flooding rain on Tuesday, windy and flurries on Wednesday and just plain cold today again with temps 20 degrees below normal. Temps will be at least 10 degrees below normal for the next week or so. Doesn't bother me too much since I need to get my shoulder better anyways and shouldn't be thinking about fishing. With my dislocated shoulder rehab I won't attempt to canoe until I get to Ely in the late spring. But if you want to try fishing sometime next month, it's not on a Wednesday, and the river looks good, I will show you some places we might be able to wade or fish from shore.

My pronoun was unclear. By "them," I meant the trout, not the lure. :)

But yeah, sitting over some big fish with a Bondy? Sounds about as good as it gets. There's a lot of water in that lake, so I always assume my lack of big fish is because I just haven't found them. The fish, that is. :)