Planning on doing this route Sept. 7-13. We are flexible on routes with the goal of finding productive fishing areas. Should we consider a different route? Concentrate on other or specific lakes? Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can provide!

Leto, first off, welcome to the board. There are lots of Q paddlers on here so it's nice to see your question. There is also a Quetico Aficionados forum located at the bottom of the main forums page. You may want to check that out as well.

As for the Man Chain, I've only been through there once and we were bucking headwinds the entire way so we weren't able to do any fishing. However, I've heard good things about those lakes. To boil it down to the bottom line, find reefs, humps and points, do some jigging or casting and walleyes are sure to hit. Sorry I can't be more specific than that.

The Man Chain is one of my favorite areas, and been through there 10 times. All provide decent fishing. My best success is with large red/white heavy spoons at the ends of small inlets.

Thanks Jackfish and Eyedocron. we plan on stocking up on bunch of lures and have decided to only spin fish, keeping fly rods home. Do you think we should try another loop or stay on the man chain but hit some near by lakes? i have read that northern's and bass can be good in man chain, but walleye are not as productive? Thanks!

If you are going up the full Man Chain, don't neglect to spend a day fishing Bell Lake.

Might consider going up to Bell, layover there, then head back down. That way you can really enjoy the Mans with only 7 days to spend. (Paddle the creek on the way down, instead of the portage between two of the Mans -- I forget which ones.) --Goose

Thanks for the guidance. Is it worth heading over to blackstone or should we just stay on the main loop? Any lure suggestions? If we wait to buy stuff up there - we are going out through Seagull outfitters - will there be a good selection? Again, thanks for the help!

Been to Blackstone a couple of times. Remote, but little fishing success. Only three ways in and out, none of them especially easy.

Thanks for the info - very helpful. here is our tentative route
Cache Bay-Slate-Fran-Bell-Other-This-That-Emerald-Plough Ottertrack. we will be on the water for 6 nights, 7 days. any thoughts? would you suggest a camp schedule night by night? which lakes should we focus our fishing time on? do you think we would have time for a day off fishing, if so which lake would you recommend? all of your help has been extremely valuable!

I won't presume to give you a campsite schedule, but if it were me, having camped on Bell, I'd want to stay there again. Also, you don't list Carp Lake and it is well-known as a good fishing lake. --Goose

Bell does appeaer to have some good camp sites. Could that be our first night if we start off the morning at Cache Bay or would it be a stretch to make it there? I keep hearing very positive things about Carp. Sounds like we need to put it on the route. If we want to take a day off and just fish, which lake would you recommend? Thanks

Just finished my first trip to Quetico and did the Man Chain with my 12 year old son. He worked his tail off but was of somewhat limited assistance in portaging, setting up camp, etc. so I would call it a solo and a quarter with gear for two men. Sitting on my deck now, drinking a beer and smoking a "victory" cigar. Paddled and portaged about 63 miles according to the GPS with fishing miles included. We left Hook Island and did the counter clockwise loop.

If it were me, I would just do the "traditional" loop and skip Carp and Sheridan unless you feel really fresh when you get down that end. particularly if you are expecting some rain days. There is enough to see and do on the Man Chain that you shouldn't feel cheated.

We traveled ever day except we spent 2 nights on Emerald.
Our speed while paddling was between 3 and 3.5 mph and except for one day had relatively light winds.

Big challenge for us is I had to triple portage (except for last day when packs were lighter) which was time and energy suck. Outfitter did a great job but we had way too much food and, along with 60L bear barrel and ton of excess kitchen equipment we were given, extra packs were a bit too heavy for my son. Canoe was a 17 ft SR. Although I'm 47, I think I'm in somewhat decent shape (went for 10 mile run a couple days before trip)

Day 1 - We stopped on Slate around 3 PM because we were exhausted and a little stressed from realizing what we got into to.. Good things because it started to pour around 6 pm and rained hard through the night. With two adults, it shouldn't be a problem to make it to Bell.

Day 2 - Portage to Bell was a mud bath due to heavy rains during the night and after sliding down rock face (you'll see), mud was so wet I sank to my crotch and had to dig myself out repeatedly -- tie your shoes tight. Portage entry is somewhat obscured by tree branches. Camped on Other Man at about 7 pm because portage was so difficult. Would not be bad if it were dry.

Day 3 - Needed a low travel day so camped on That Man around 2 pm.

Day 4 and 5 - Started off around 10:30 and made it to Emerald by 2:30 pm or so. Needed more fun and less travel and so stayed on Emerald for two days. Great choice. Rained most of the night last night.

Day 6 - Left around 8:30 am and traveled up to the far end of Ottertrack to have an easier paddle to Hook Island the next day. WARNING: The maps (at least mine) and GPS show the portage to Plough from Emerald on the north side of the stream from Emerald. This is wrong. After spending an hour and half scrambling up hills and though brush because I heard the portage was rough and "knew" the trail was on the North side of the stream, when I gave up and went back to the canoe in utter defeat , I noticed the opening south of the stream. I guess I had too much information. This portage was a dream for us compared to the Bell portage even though it is about a 3rd of a mile and we tripled it although many complain about it.

Day 7 - Left around 7:30 am and made it to Hook at 10:30 with a pretty stiff head wind on Sag. GPS roughly shows a little over 6 miles of travel during this period with double portages on Monument Portage.

Water was damn cold but weather was great except for long rains on two nights. our fishing time was cut due to our other issues and my exhaustion but I'm not sure you can follow "typical" fishing patterns this year due to weird weather but get some advice from others on this. Personally - I would fish shallower than usual for August. Who knows what September will bring.

If I was going back tomorrow with an adult partner, I would travel to Bell on night one and perhaps spend two days there, camp next two days on the Man Lakes, 2 nights on Emerald and then final night on Ottertrack. This would give you plenty of fishing time and build a little cushion for weather.

Don't want to appear to be a know at all but now you have my thoughts. Have fun. Please send me a personal message when you are done and let me know how it went for you.

Brian

Brian, thanks for the detailed info on your trip. I like your recommendation on maybe spending 2 nights at Bell and 2 nights at one of the Man lakes. We definitely want to optimize our fishing times and that approach should work. Are the camp sites easy to locate through out the loop? Not sure we can pass over Carp. I continue to hear that the fishing there is very good? What were the conditions like at Silver Falls? Sounds like you had a couple muddy portages! Which outfitters did you run your trip through? Sounds like they did a good job supplying you with everything.

Awesome you got to do the trip with your son. If all goes well on this trip, that is my plan for next summer.

I will definitely let you know how our trips goes. Thanks

Camp sites were very easy to find. Silver Falls wasn't a problem. We used Seagull and thought they did a really nice job.