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scobec
member (8)member
  
07/21/2018 07:41AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Next week we are doing the Iron-Crooked-Roland-Argo-Minn-McAree loop. When we did this before, we could not find a good campsite on Minn. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, we did catch smallies on Dark River where it enters Minn, but couldn't find fish anywhere else on Minn. So any suggestions on fishing Minn would also be appreciated.

Thanks,

Scobec
 
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07/21/2018 11:54AM  
Never been there (yet) but 7V and 5Z look pretty good on another site's map. Search around and you'll find it. I don't know if those sites are on McKenzie but one is located at the portage to Darkwater river and the other is on a peninsula, southern shore, facing north. The bay to the southwest of this site leads to McAree.
dentondoc
distinguished member(1097)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/21/2018 01:31PM  
I used the island site 7B for several days on a trip 3 years ago. I see that "other site" lists it as a 2*, but I'd rate it as higher. We only had 2 tents on it, but it could serve more than that. It did have a large blow down across it, but it only obscured a minor portion of the site. (We did use the root ball as a wind break for cooking on a few days.) Fishing was fairly decent around that campsite and we scored Walleye and Smallies on close by shore lines and around the islands.

I think 7V could be a good site, but when I made a lunch stop there on the same trip, there were a few blow downs that mostly obscured the site. I pass by the site this year (on my first day of the trip ... Black Robe portage to Darkwater Lake), but didn't stop on Minn.

dd
07/21/2018 02:05PM  
I can’t help with Minn, but if you are thinking of going to McAree I have some fantastic fishing spots that I found last week. Walleyes and Lake Trout. Also caught many Northerns , although I was not targeting them. Pretty incredible fishing adventure!
07/21/2018 05:50PM  
walllee: "I can’t help with Minn, but if you are thinking of going to McAree I have some fantastic fishing spots that I found last week. Walleyes and Lake Trout. Also caught many Northerns , although I was not targeting them. Pretty incredible fishing adventure!"


Please share :)
scobec
member (8)member
  
07/21/2018 06:13PM  
We will be spending a day on Mc Aree, so I would appreciate any fishing info.
07/22/2018 08:37AM  
HighnDry: "
walllee: "I can’t help with Minn, but if you are thinking of going to McAree I have some fantastic fishing spots that I found last week. Walleyes and Lake Trout. Also caught many Northerns , although I was not targeting them. Pretty incredible fishing adventure!"



Please share :)"
My trip to McAree was really a second choice. My original plans were to be towed to Twin Falls, paddle up the Maline , to Poohbah Creek, then basecamp for a week . Poohbah is my go to lake for trophy fish. A couple days before I was to enter the area received substantial rain that swelled the Maline that made paddling against the current near impossible, not to mention dangerous. Mark at Zupps resort which handled my tow suggested McAree for fishing so that is where I went. I spent the first Two days fishing the mid section of the lake with moderate success . Caught fish, but not up to my Quetico standards. The third day I ventured up to the north end , and spent the next 4 days hammering the Walleyes. All the fish were caught close to Black Robe portage. About 75 yards from the portage ther is a reef in the middle of the bay. It is very visible and easy to locate. Fish the edges of the reef. In this location the fish were mostly in the 14 foot depth range, although the whole bay held fish. From this location straight east of there about 100 yards is a very small island, more of a rock pile with a few trees growing out of it. Fish around this “island”. Concentrate in the 14 to 20 foot depths. This is where the biggest Walleyes were caught. The entire area from here , to the tip of the big island a hundred yards further east was also fantastic. This area is 20 feet deep and held Walleyes every day. The big island also had fish all around it. I fished the first drop off as I slow trolled around the island. 14 to 17 feet seemed to be the magic depth. The Lakers were caught in tha 60 foot water off the east end of the big island I mentioned above. I trolled at a good speed with a 2 ounce Northland bucktail jig , blue and white color. Drop it to the bottom, reel up 4 cranks and troll. I only fished Lakers for an hour, and caught 3. The Walleyes were all caught using 1/4 oz. white jigs tipped with a 4 inch white twister tail. Hope this helps!
07/22/2018 09:26AM  
Here’s a map with a visual
scobec
member (8)member
  
07/22/2018 09:59AM  
Thanks a lot. This is great info
07/22/2018 10:07AM  
scobec: "Thanks a lot. This is great info"


+1!
jphares44
senior member (54)senior membersenior member
  
07/24/2018 09:44AM  
We've stayed on site 5Z the last few years for a couple nights on our way out of the park. It's a pretty decent elevated site that can easily accommodate 2 tents, has a pretty nice fire pit, and a few log benches for seating. Always a little challenging for us to find a really good spot for the tarp, but we tend to figure something out. For smaller groups, site 5P is pretty nice and is close to good fishing. The island site, 7B, is great for larger groups and is also close to good fishing. With that one, you may just want to collect firewood and find a spot to go #2 elsewhere, though. I know it doesn't have very good reviews, but we like it. It seems like a good wind always comes through there and helps knock the bugs down a bit.

As far as fishing, we've caught walleye and some nice smallies all around the cluster of islands on the southern portion of the main basin (close to site 7B). If you troll from the most westerly of those islands, across the main basin heading towards the other island site to the north (site 74) there's a mid-lake reef that we've done really well on.

Fishing near the Darky River outlet always produces fish. Also, the pinch-point between the large island and mainland point on the western side is great fishing. I believe there's a reef there as well. In fact, fish all around that big island. We picked up some nice smallies on the adjacent pinch-point to the west and near the smaller island just north/northwest of the big island.

Hope that helps! Have a great trip!
Josh

jphares44
senior member (54)senior membersenior member
  
07/24/2018 10:23AM  
After all that, I figured I should just take a page from walllee's book and post a pic that is marked. Did this from memory, but should be fairly accurate.

scobec
member (8)member
  
07/26/2018 08:45PM  
Thanks everyone.
 
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