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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 16 - Moose/Portage River (North of Echo Trail)

Moose/Portage River (north) entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by La Croix Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 27 miles. Access is a 160-rod portage heading North from the Echo Trail.

Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
A favorite route offering many trip options and memorable things to see including;

World Class fishing for all four BWCA Species
Pictographs
Soaring granite hills and cliffs
Small lakes
Small rivers
Tumbling rapids and waterfalls
Wildlife, including Moose
Vistas from high points across the region if you're willing to climb. Rating Easy to Moderate. Day One. Get to EP16 off of the Echo Trail early. The initial portage is long, but well worn and smooth, sloping gently downgrade to the launch area. Load your canoe and head North. You'll be paddling with the slight current on this narrow winding river. The water is clear and make sure to tell the bowperson to watch for looming rocks!

Oyster agnes LLC

by chadwick
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 06, 2007
Entry Point: Moose/Portage River (north)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:

Day 1 of 7


Wednesday, June 06, 2007 Today we got up bright and early. We spent the night sleeping in the car in The parking lot of The Great Outdoors in order to get bait and be on the road as soon as possible. It got unbelievably cold last night. After buying our 1 1/2 lbs of leeches we were on our way to the entry point. After the drive, on which we saw numerous deer and grouse we made it to the Entry point. The first thing that happened was we bumped into CatfishKeith, for the first of several times on the trip. A very nice guy, He came to fish bass mostly. The route down the river was uneventful, a nice easy paddle. The one thing that struck out was we noticed that the mayflies were begining to hatch- Bad news for us walleye guys.

While on the river we saw lots of deer- a pattern that would continue for the rest of the trip. We bumped into our first and only rangers after paddling all the way up the oyster river. The lady checked our permit and told us of the oncoming storm and pointed out the one site that was ocupied- the one we wanted. It was right next to the deepest part of the lake and throwing smelt off the campsite for lakers. We found a site with a sandy beach and camped there. As soon as camp was set up it started to rain. I threw out a line with a smelt on it and got one bite. I made a dinner of rice and beans, Maybe I should say TRIED to make a dinner of rice and beans. It came out burnt and under done. We went to bed early and waited out a big thunderstorm

 



Day 2 of 7


Thursday, June 07, 2007 Today we got up with the sun for a little lake trout fishing. It was cloudy and the day had intermittent sprinkles. We did one drift in front of the opening to the big bay and landed a single laker. He was taken on an orange and silver little Cleo jigged under the boat.

Since we had our lunch fish and the wind was kicking up on the main lake we went to do some pike fishing. I quickly proceeded to catch a pike around 38 inches on a fire tiger chatter frog. We also caught a few smaller ones as well.

After we went back to camp and cooked up our laker lunch- panfried in my moms secret recipe- it started to rain. We threw out some smelt from camp with no luck. At around dusk my friend gut hooked a smallmouth and we ate him for dinner with pasta on the side. Lake trout is much better in my opinion.

 



Day 3 of 7


Friday, June 08, 2007

It was very windy today. We packed up camp and headed to Agnes for some walleye fishing. On Agnes we dealt with some big white caps.We had to grab a camp that I liked with the exception of one problem. There was a strong fishy odor in the camp. I walked down the trail to the latrine, and literaly less than 60 feet away from both the campsite and the latrine were over a dozen big rotting smallmouth carcases right in the middle of the trail. I cleaned these up only to come across another 6 or so later the trail, this time even closer to the tents. What a bunch of lazy slobs these last campers were. After making camp we fished around camp and caught some small fish. Once dusk came around we ventured out and my friend caught a very nice walleye which we caught and released. We also caught 3 other small eyes. I finished my BWCA grand slam today- walleye, trout, pike and smallie- I also caught a few bonus fish including the crappies, a perch and rock bass. We thought that this lake might not be a bust after all. Boy was I wrong. I think we ate Mac and Cheese this night.

 



Day 4 of 7


Saturday, June 09, 2007

With better expectations after last night, we were once again disappointed with Agnes. Big white caps kept us stuck in the far Back Bay the whole day. We caught one eater walleye around 14 inches and a very big crappie which I released. We also caught lots of pike, none over 20 inches. Once it calmed down we headed for camp, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back out. I caught one big crappie which we added to the stringer, and one the way back to camp picked up another small eater walleye- enough for dinner. The rest of the day was uneventful The strong fishy odor persisted, I assume I must have missed a few carcases.

 



Day 5 of 7


Sunday, June 10, 2007

Today we left Agnes for hopes of better fishing on LLC. Here we found much better fishing. We caught numerous decent pike and a few walleyes. We also got into a school of crappies. We ate a meal of 2 walleye and one small gut hooked pike today. we made a fire tonite and roasted marshmallows. we had a very nice campsite on boulder bay. I picked up a good amount of tin and cans from the fire pit though and brought them home. Also, the previous campers decided it would be a good Idea to cut down some green pine trees to try and burn instead of just walking back and getting dead wood. the trees couldnt have been cut down more than 4 days ago.

 



Day 6 of 7


Monday, June 11, 2007

Last night some animal was walking around our campsite, a deer most likely. The dog didnt seem to mind it. We also had a firefly in our tent which was prety neat. We fished all day today with no where near the luck we had the first day on LLC. We ended up eating a pike for dinner with a side of fried potatoes and onions. We bumpd into catfish keith for the last time today, and talked fishing for a little while. HE said he say a cute chick stringer a 5lb smallie. Sad.

 



Day 7 of 7


Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Today we packed camp and made for Nina Moose lake. On the portage out we met someone who had their leeches stolen on agnes- this is the 3rd person who we talked to who had their leeches stolen from them.we arived at the lake to discover a mayfly hatch was going on, and the walleye fishing wasnt any good, and there was wind kicking in so we decided to leave a half day early. we paddled out the river about 3/4 the way up we came face to face with a beautiful cow moose standing inthe middle of the river. By the time I got my camera out she had decided to move on. We got into ely and got some burgers at the DQ. I called my mother and learned someone had broken into our house the day we left. and stolen a few cameras, a couple hundred in cash, and took a 6 pack of beer out of the fridge and left it sitting by the basement door, all while my mother and sister were asleap in the house.- Kids these days-

 


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