I've never been in the area, but it seems like the SAK gets all the love (and attention, and bears, and fishing pictures). We're slowly debating places for our next trip and this was an idea. Paddle/tow up Moose to the border and then into Knife. Stay along the border and check out that part of Knife and continue into Little Knife and maybe loop the smaller lakes in that area (Amoeber, Topaz, Cherry, Hanson, and back out through SAK and back the way we came).

Will the fishing still be good, looks like quite a few of those are laker lakes. Is the north arm still good for smallies, walleye, etc? Same goes for those smaller lakes? Less traffic? Still busy....Thanks in advance!

When are u going? If you set up camp in the far east of SAK, the loop u are contemplating is only 10 miles. Would make a good day trip, just a thought.

I did this route but through SAK back in early-mid September. Fishing was not good during that time, only fish during the trip was a nice 18" smallie while trolling on "NAK". While I liked the views of SAK, I thought Little Knife and NAK were beautiful with the burn on the Canadian side and just a nice long stretch of water to paddle and troll. Saw lots of loons! Not too many sites up there though so you may end up pushing to Ottertrack late in the day. Cherry was absolutely gorgeous and I would definitely go back. Both campsites are awesome; even though the narrows campsite is talked about most of the time, the other site to the southwest has beautiful views and is quite expansive. I can absolutely recommend staying there for at least 1 night. Going through Gijikiki/Rivalry/LotC/Lunar is reportedly not a cakewalk so a day trip from NAK/SAK and back will likely eat up almost a full day. Still worth doing though, it really is beautiful. I wish I had done a loop up through Gijikiki, maybe in the future. I have read the horror stories about the Cherry-Hanson portage and I'm in no hurry to give it a shot, but it certainly is a decent way to get back to the SAK.

If you do decide to go up there, note that the Knife-Amoeber portage is on the northwest side of that sort of bay area; my Fisher map has it on the southeast but let me assure you (after over an hour of investigating 3 false portages!) it's on the west side. There is a sweet looking campsite right on a point/peninsula in that bay but we didn't check it out. That portage kinda kicked our butts after getting a little tired of looking for it - some decent elevation changes. Had to take a 10 min break after double portaging to drink water and eat a snack and catch our breath. After that it's smooth sailing with easy portages and easy paddling whether you're going into or coming out of Amoeber.

Thanks, time frame is probably June at this point but that's still up in the air.

Is the fishing of the NAK similar to SAK? It seems like that's what it's famous for and if I can dodge the crowds and nuisance bears I'll do it.

I was through there in mid June of this year. We stayed at the campsite on the point just north of Amoeber NAF portage......we stayed there because we didn't find the portage where the map showed and we were tired out....lol Found it easy the next day. A word of caution, we did the same thing (tow up Moose to the portage) Made it to Dorthy's Island before 11:00 but had a hard head wind all the way from there to Amoeber. Made a long hard paddle through some small whitecaps. Now my brother is 280 in the front of the canoe and I am 200 so we really plowed through instead of riding over waves. Beautiful there though. We had no issues with bears. Didn't even see one. Fishing was not real good. Smallies had gone off the beds with just a few males left guarding but not real interested in biting. Just chasing it away. We just had bad timing. week before and a week later it was all good fishing from what I have heard on this board.

I wish I knew more about the area. I'm going to try to learn more about it at 'Copia this spring.
Headed in 14 June.

Its an awesome area. Some of the portages are tough but doable. I was through there in September.