Anyone been through Anchor Lake, between Sunday and North Bay?

Thinking of going through there with the family on our mid August trip and looking for some different scenery. Wondering what the portages are like.

Those are not the easiest portages around. It has been a long time since I was there so my memory has faded. On the Sunday end there is a portage on both sides of the creek. Check both sides to see which one is being used the most. One of the portages on the north end had a muddy section. My son had some good bass fishing on the east end of anchor.

I did some research on Anchor a few years ago, here's the info I came up with:


2004: Never camped on Anchor but traveled through the area. I don't have a map with me but I remember the portage from North Bay being on the SE side on a big sand beach. The first portage leads to a shallow stained unnamed lake loaded with bass, small and large.I also remember being loaded with mud and having to wash my pants/boots before getting to those bass. Could have caught bass all day but for some reason when the fishing is too easy we moved on.,The next portage leads into Anchor Lake which has deep, clear water. Much of the shoreline dropped verticle. I got the feeling this is a very deep little lake. Probed for trout as we paddled across but caught none. We made the portage to Sunday Lake much harder than it should be by canoeing too far up the southern channel/river and missing the start of the portage. Instead of going back to look for the portage, we bushwacked it until we met up with the portage. Big mistake. I remember the portage was long but nice with big open areas and it skirted a beaver pond or two.

2004: Anchor: It can be a bit tricky going through there, with some swamp-marching and creek-dragging. I've heard Anchor holds trout, but I have not caught any, even though I camped in there in May, twice. We caught a 10 pound pike but never saw a trout, and that's what we were after. We also caught some small mouth.
There is a nice campsite on the southern penninsula, east of the portage to Sunday Lake. I rebuilt the fire place there twice....so take care of it, please.

2007: I've base camped on Anchor a few times with my bro-in-law and his 5 kids, in May. Both times we were snowed on. We caught bass and some nice pike. The lake does have a nice campsite on it.We saw mink & moose in there.

2001: I made a day trip from Sunday to anchor and to the portage to North bay. The next we went from North bay down to anchor. I have some advice on this route, don’t go this way. Bad mud sucking portages.

2007: I continued on across Sunday to the portage to Anchor lake. The landing point was pretty rocky with a a lot of trees. There wasn't a very discernible path. While in Q in Sept., 06, 2 members of our group went to Anchor and reported it as a nice lake with decent smallmouth. The portage was rocky and went up an incline through the woods for a little ways before coming to a marshy field. When I cam out of the trees and saw the clearing I was pretty happy, it looke pretty easy. After about 200 yeards I went back and grabbed my all my gear. Shortly after passing my previous turn around point things got wet and muddy. Basically I was walking up the left hand side of a marsh. After Reaching the clearing, this is what I saw looking towards Anchor (a marsh). Things looked better than they were. Every 10-15 steps I would sink in the mud. As I tried to veer off to the left I was cut by scraggly bushes that scratched me pretty well. If I went too far right, mud. The mud showed lots of animal tracks. Once I got to the end of the marsh, the trial disappeard as it began an incline into more trees. After stumbling through the brush like a drunken moose, I decided the map was wrong and the trail must traverse the stream. I walked across a shallow running stream and sure enough, a trail!. Another 50 yards found me at water's edge. Portage time was about 20 minutes. I dumped the gear and went back for the canoe. Return trip to canoe was about 12 minutes. I think the portage was made for people several inches shorter than me. While going through the marshy section a sank thigh deep twice. One time I had to put the canoe down to free myself. After 25 minutes my canoe was in the same location as my gear. Total portage time, 1 hour. The entry point into Anchor is in the back of a narrow finger that extends from the main lake. After putting the canoe in I immediately had to get out and haul it over a down tree ( on the return I realized the real entry point was beyond this tree, I should have stayed on the trail for twenty more feet, live and learn! Anchor was a nice lake with decent smallmouth. What I liked the most about it was the sense of accomplishment in getting there along with the sense of isolation while there. I don't how many of you have been there, but it certainly felt off the beaten path.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds interestng! Might have to save it for a solo trip though.

Passed thru Anchor on way to North Bay. The south entrance- I could see it was not used much. We walked in the meadow a quite a ways(this was September so water was down),at that time I thought the portage was easy,except for the length. Looked like a nice campsite on the point. Tried fishing but caught nothing. Seen different Quetico books talking about lake trout in there,but like us I never heard of any body catching any there. I know northern pike have been caught.