Heading out EP16 in three weeks. I have my eye on making it to GeBe. Does anybody have any input if I would be better off going up to LLC first then over to GeBe? Seems most people do the loop in this direction. I would prefer to go up through Oyster, Rocky, Green, to GeBe, then work back down LLC. I just am unsure how the water levels will be in all the connecting rivers and the direction of flow?

My wanting to go this way is primarily due to concerns of possible high winds on LLC. My wife is not the strongest paddler, and if it’s getting rough, I’m going to be giving all I have to keep us in the right direction. My thinking is that the winds will be more likely to be blowing out of the West. Ha! Yeah, I know, there isn’t much predictability when it come to BW winds or weather. Any help in making my route as smooth as possible would be much appreciated.

Well, you're right about the predictability of the wind. Otherwise there's no real advantage one way or the other under normal conditions, so I don't see any reason not to go clockwise.

Good to know, I just figured if the water levels are low and it’s an upstream paddle it might be more work. I don’t know anything about the flow of these rivers. Just read a post where people were debating taking the Oyster river all the way to Nina Moose or to take the portage from Agnes. I’ll probably stick with the Portage on that one.

I can't recall any reason not to go clockwise if that is what you prefer. The Oyster river flows from Oyster south toward Nina Moose, but its not a strong current. The river out of GeBe flows north toward LLC, and also is a fairly slow, weedy river. Others may have current info on water levels. Regardless, wind has more potential to be an added effort than the current in either river. I think some people find the Oyster River easier to come down than go up simply because it's harder to find the mouth of the river heading north than coming south. I've looked for it and missed it twice, but others have succeeded. Also the portage is always there if needed.

Just got out Sunday. Went counter clockwise and paid for it. I'd say check the weather before you leave. Make sure winds aren't going to come out of the east. Or no heavy winds. We did Boulder Bay, Fish Stakes Narrows, Gebe, Oyster, Agnes and out. We were considering coming down oyster river on the way outbut decided to stay last night on agnes. Couldn't really find river coming north, it willbe paddling through reeds at the beginning of youcan find it. I plan to post a trip report by the end of the week. But if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for the info guys! EasyFisher I’m curious on how many days your trip was? I’m taking 7 days, thought that should leave at least a few layover days. I really want to spend some time fishing Ge Be. What did you think of Ge Be? And did you fish it? So I’m guessing you ran Into West or NW winds? What stretch was the worst, where you make the turn to the West through FSN?

You can easily do that route in 7 days with a couple layover days.

We did an 8 day trip. It can easily be done in 7. We planned for 3 layovers. One on LLC, Gebe, and Oyster. We went boulder bay 1st day, FSN the second day and encountered a NW wind. It was worst through FSN. The wind scared us that if we took our layover there and got another windy day we wouldn't make it to Gebe. But it was glass on day three and four. So we traveled 3 days in a row, but wish we should have laid over on LLC. Thought it had the best fishing. We would have been fine, we just chose to paddle LLC on the windiest day. Gebe was nice, we really liked it. we had the lake to ourselves, stayed for a layover. Didn't see anyone for 30hrs. Gebe was a bass lake in my opinion. We caught lots of SMB on Gebe to include some really nice ones. You just have to weed though the small ones. Slip bobber and leech was the way to go for bass. The pike were big, we didn't catch one under 30" on Gebe so we couldn't keep any for dinner. We tried slip bobbers, bottom bouncers, jigs, jigging raps, couldn't catch a walleye. Found them during the day in about 30ft of water on the graph but wouldn't bite even when we went back in the evening. We were also fishing just after a minor cold front, maybe you'll have better luck. We caught the 40" pike on Gebe trolling a fire tiger deep husky jerk. Had a fat 32" destroy a jigging rap. And also caught multiple other 32-33" pike trolling lures during the day. Definitely try to get the northern central site. It was the nicestin the lake with plenty of tent pads. The one by the rock chairs might be nice if you only need one maybe 2 tent pads, it looked like you would be sleeping right on the water. Also go see the rock chairs, they are cool and actually comfy. The pictographs on Rocky lake were easy to find but nothing to brag about. But I'd stop to see them real quick on your way in. There is a few huge boulders on the western peninsula (you won't miss them) the pictos are on the cliff just south of the boulders.

Thanks for the great report! I’m a little bummed to hear you didn’t get any Walte ro on Ge Be. That is mainly what I’m after. Amazing how they can seem to shut down. Did you guys try any deep cranks like a Taildancer and get it ticking off of the bottom? Sometimes you just need to aggravate them into a strike. Not that I’m some walley pro, I’m still trying to get proficient at catching them myself. Would have thrown the same thing in front of them as you guys did. But if I wasn’t getting a bite that might be my next step. Maybe I’ll try to spend more time fishing LLC. That will be up to the wind though. I’m sure there will be some early and late windows where the wind calms. Thanks again for all the info.

I did a trip end of June going Clockwise. We ended up going through agnes and the portage to the Oyster river. I think the big advantage to counterclockwise is going down the Oyster instead of trying to find it out of the Moose. The portage from Agnes to Oyster was IMHO the toughest on the trip, and then you had to walk on the grass bog to get into the river! My cousin said that wasn't so bad after we got going, but he would let me carry my portage pack out on the bog, I'm a little bit heavier than him. I mentioned to him that people always say "that wasn't so bad" after narrowly averting disaster/death! But it is a fun trip. we had good fishing on LLC, and caught lots of small bass on GeBe - stayed on the peninsula campsite (119) by the portage to the north. I thought it was a nice sight, but a bit of a ways from the deeper water. Have a good trip!

trailcheif: "Thanks for the great report! I’m a little bummed to hear you didn’t get any Walte ro on Ge Be. That is mainly what I’m after. Amazing how they can seem to shut down. Did you guys try any deep cranks like a Taildancer and get it ticking off of the bottom? Sometimes you just need to aggravate them into a strike. Not that I’m some walley pro, I’m still trying to get proficient at catching them myself. Would have thrown the same thing in front of them as you guys did. But if I wasn’t getting a bite that might be my next step. Maybe I’ll try to spend more time fishing LLC. That will be up to the wind though. I’m sure there will be some early and late windows where the wind calms. Thanks again for all the info."

Deep husky jerks is the deepest we used on Gebe. I didn't want to loose my taildancers before getting to Oyster and fishing for lake trout. The deep and regular husky jerks seemed to get deep enough for the walleye on LLC. The walleye seemed a bit shallower on LLC.

That makes sense. Bigger body of water the walleye probably found more favorable water temp shallower on LLC. What depths were you getting them? 15-25’?

About 15ft.
http://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=trip.report_view&sel_trp_id=5197

I just posted a detailed trip report if you'd like to read. It's a little long.

Thanks! I will read it for sure! I’m in that go mode for my trip so I’m taking all the info in a can.

Clockwise is better in my opinion. Gebe to gebe Creek portage alone makes it worth while carrying loads down hill. I would definitely take the river. I did it in the middle of the night a few weeks back. Water was great level. Once on lac la Croix I think the wind is better for you if it's going to be an issue. Seven days gives you options. We've caught our biggest smallies on pocket... Oyster is mostly a lake trout lake with a few good campsites. Maybe a side trip to iron lake if not catching walleye anywhere else. If walleye is your goal with a loop trip. I'd go up through Agnes and lac la Croix to iron down to Stewart and take the dalgreen river route back to lac la croix and out. Just my thoughts...

Have done the loop CCW. Have exited LLC through Agnes several times. It is the strong N-S winds that made things difficult. On LLC, its a long pull between the Agnes portage and Fish Stake Narrows (FSN), therefore simply tiresome. The wind out of the south one afternoon that made LLC difficult, made Agnes impassable due to wave height on the north end. When coming up Agnes from the south with a strong tail wind, you won't realize how quickly the waves build until your out in the middle of it, beware.
E-W winds are not so much an issue as you will fight this for any length of time only between FSN and Lady Boot Bay, also on Oyster.

nctry: " If walleye is your goal with a loop trip. I'd go up through Agnes and lac la Croix to iron down to Stewart and take the dalgreen river route back to lac la croix and out. Just my thoughts..."

nctry,
Seriously considering this route. I know of Iron offers good fishing . Is it a busy lake? Will finding an open site this time of year be tough? Is it better to paddle up to the bottle river, or take the long portage shown on the map that cuts straight to iron? Is there a specific lake you would spend more time on over others. Stewart looks like it could be a gem.

My group of 7 in 3 canoes did this same route June 17-23 in clockwise direction. We took the Oyster Creek/River route from Moose River North up to Oyster. It is rather obvious where the creek should be in the big confluence area full of tall grasses but the main creek channel is past the area you can see. So you have to find the biggest little channel you can to get back to the larger creek channel. You might have to get out, standing on grass clumps, and pull through in some spots but it is only about 20 or 30 yards back to the main creek channel. The currents are really not any factor. With all the twists and turns in the creek, I don't know if we saved any time not taking the portage from Agnes to Oyster Creek/River. It took us 5 hours from the parking lot at EP 16 to a campsite on Oyster, with single portaging the portages. Our odometer reading that day was right at 12 miles. The second day we got through Oyster, Rocky, Green, Gebe, and into Lac La Croix and camped at a site close to where Pocket Creek enters LLC. The third day we found a great campsite on Tiger Bay and stayed there two nights. The fifth day we headed down to Nina Moose and camped on a site there, and got to the exit portage in about one hour the next morning. We did the trip in 5 days and a couple hours on day 6, but with 7 nights you could lay over for two nights in two or three places. Water levels were fine in Oyster, Gebe and Pocket Creeks. Fishing was good everywhere.

Doing the same loop. Approximately how long would it take to do a day trip over to Curtain Falls and back at a moderate pace during a layover day on Lac La Croix, provided we get a campsite in the Tiger Bay area? Thanks!

We headed in at Moose River N, aimed at Agnes, on Sunday July 29 this year. Water on the rivers was about as high as I have ever seen for this time of year. Still, there was no real discernible current while paddling on any of this god-awful twisting stretch.

The Slide
Nina Moose River

My group took this same day trip from our Tiger Bay campsite to Curtain Falls and nearby Rebecca Falls through Bottle Portage. The excursion was 14 miles and took us about 7 hours including about an hour lunch break at Curtain Falls and about 30 minutes at Rebecca Falls. They were both beautiful falls.

My group took this same day trip from our Tiger Bay campsite to Curtain Falls and nearby Rebecca Falls through Bottle Portage. The excursion was 14 miles and took us about 7 hours including about an hour lunch break at Curtain Falls and about 30 minutes at Rebecca Falls. They were both beautiful falls.

The Bottle Portage from LLC to Iron Lake is always very muddy, but there is an upper trail that avoids some of the mud but has more elevation change. If you take the lower route, be sure your shoes are tied tight. One of our guys lost one in the muck and never could find it. He finished the portage in his socks.