BWCA Trip Report - Crooked Loop July 2017 Boundary Waters Trip Reports
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01/07/2019 10:54AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
New Trip Report posted by bdeck37

Trip Name: Crooked Loop July 2017.

Entry Point: 24

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Driftless
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01/07/2019 12:24PM  
Awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!
flynn
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01/07/2019 03:18PM  
Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)

Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?
01/07/2019 04:11PM  
flynn: "Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)


Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?"

Thank You!
We are either thinking of going back to Crooked this summer or heading east to SAK. I haven't really made up my mind yet. I loved Crooked but want to see something new. We haven't been east of Fall Lake yet so SAK seems interesting.
flynn
distinguished member (385)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/07/2019 04:37PM  
bdeck37: "
flynn: "Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)



Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?"

Thank You!
We are either thinking of going back to Crooked this summer or heading east to SAK. I haven't really made up my mind yet. I loved Crooked but want to see something new. We haven't been east of Fall Lake yet so SAK seems interesting. "


All around Knife is an awesome area. Both NAK and SAK are great, with SAK having some islands. If you hang in SAK, you'll have all the major fish species covered, but you can head into Kek through Eddy for some dedicated laker fishing and see Eddy Falls while you're at it. If you can, I highly recommend pushing up to Cherry for a day trip. I posted a trip report a week or two ago if you want to know more about the area.

I highly recommend a visit to Knife, taking a tow from an outfitter on Moose Lake. It saves you nearly an entire day of travel. Getting from Birch to Knife took both of my groups this summer 4 hours on the dot, double portaging and paddling about average speeds (~3mph), and stopping for a snack at the Carp rapids/falls. The Knife side of the Big Knife Portage (like 75rods lol) is gorgeous and is a great spot to have a quick lunch.
01/07/2019 04:53PM  
flynn: "
bdeck37: "
flynn: "Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)



Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?"

Thank You!
We are either thinking of going back to Crooked this summer or heading east to SAK. I haven't really made up my mind yet. I loved Crooked but want to see something new. We haven't been east of Fall Lake yet so SAK seems interesting. "



All around Knife is an awesome area. Both NAK and SAK are great, with SAK having some islands. If you hang in SAK, you'll have all the major fish species covered, but you can head into Kek through Eddy for some dedicated laker fishing and see Eddy Falls while you're at it. If you can, I highly recommend pushing up to Cherry for a day trip. I posted a trip report a week or two ago if you want to know more about the area.

I highly recommend a visit to Knife, taking a tow from an outfitter on Moose Lake. It saves you nearly an entire day of travel. Getting from Birch to Knife took both of my groups this summer 4 hours on the dot, double portaging and paddling about average speeds (~3mph), and stopping for a snack at the Carp rapids/falls. The Knife side of the Big Knife Portage (like 75rods lol) is gorgeous and is a great spot to have a quick lunch."

I'll check out your trip report! I was thinking of entering at snowbank and getting a tow across it. Do you know if it would be faster than Moose entrance? Eddy Falls and Kek are both on the itinerary if we do that route. Was SAK busy or few people?
flynn
distinguished member (385)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/07/2019 05:25PM  
bdeck37: "
flynn: "
bdeck37: "
flynn: "Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)




Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?"

Thank You!
We are either thinking of going back to Crooked this summer or heading east to SAK. I haven't really made up my mind yet. I loved Crooked but want to see something new. We haven't been east of Fall Lake yet so SAK seems interesting. "




All around Knife is an awesome area. Both NAK and SAK are great, with SAK having some islands. If you hang in SAK, you'll have all the major fish species covered, but you can head into Kek through Eddy for some dedicated laker fishing and see Eddy Falls while you're at it. If you can, I highly recommend pushing up to Cherry for a day trip. I posted a trip report a week or two ago if you want to know more about the area.


I highly recommend a visit to Knife, taking a tow from an outfitter on Moose Lake. It saves you nearly an entire day of travel. Getting from Birch to Knife took both of my groups this summer 4 hours on the dot, double portaging and paddling about average speeds (~3mph), and stopping for a snack at the Carp rapids/falls. The Knife side of the Big Knife Portage (like 75rods lol) is gorgeous and is a great spot to have a quick lunch."

I'll check out your trip report! I was thinking of entering at snowbank and getting a tow across it. Do you know if it would be faster than Moose entrance? Eddy Falls and Kek are both on the itinerary if we do that route. Was SAK busy or few people?"


Going through Moose will definitely be faster, or the same speed. Reaching SAK in a day through Snowbank would be tough, going through Boot>Ensign>Vera>Knife. I have heard one of the Boot portages isn't exactly easy, and the Vera portages aren't anything to scoff at either. My estimate on PP is showing 2 hours longer than coming from Birch, which comes in at ~3.5h double portaging w/ 10min loads and 3mph/2mph paddle/portage (actually took us 4h), and the Snowbank route coming in at ~5.5h with the same settings (might take closer to 6-6.5h). And that's just to reach Robbins Island (the anvil shaped one) on Knife, let alone the SAK. I think getting to SAK with that route would realistically take 9-10h of travel. It took my friend and I something like 7h45m from Birch start to SAK campsite (9:30am to 5:15pm).

In early Sept, we passed taken campsite after taken campsite... it wasn't until we got properly into SAK, where it opens up after that long channel, that we found an open site. We only saw two or three canoes the following morning but it definitely wasn't what I would call isolated. I have also read about bear prevalence in SAK, but thankfully we did NOT see any on the south campsite of the big central island on SAK (with 3 sites). Decent site but no view of the water. I would expect to see some people, depending on when you go.

If you head up to Cherry you'll probably see less people due to the Hanson and Gijikiki portages. Make sure to check out Lake of the Clouds if you actually do go up there - I've heard it's incredible, and am sad I didn't make a point to get up there. If you're up there on a day trip starting around 10am, you should be able to go from SAK to Cherry to LOTC and back to SAK before 5pm for sure, fishing along the way.
01/07/2019 07:28PM  
flynn: "
bdeck37: "
flynn: "
bdeck37: "
flynn: "Thanks for sharing! I was bummed to hear about your stopping a little early as I have read how good the fishing is on Crooked and I would want to get there ASAP. At least you guys got to slay the fish for a little while! Last September, between my friend and I, we caught a single fish while trolling on Knife on a travel day (big smallie). 1 fish in 6 days. Fishing wasn't the focus of the trip but you better believe if I go to Crooked, I'm gonna expect to catch quite a few more... :)





Awesome stuff. Where/when are you thinking of going for your next trip?"

Thank You!
We are either thinking of going back to Crooked this summer or heading east to SAK. I haven't really made up my mind yet. I loved Crooked but want to see something new. We haven't been east of Fall Lake yet so SAK seems interesting. "




All around Knife is an awesome area. Both NAK and SAK are great, with SAK having some islands. If you hang in SAK, you'll have all the major fish species covered, but you can head into Kek through Eddy for some dedicated laker fishing and see Eddy Falls while you're at it. If you can, I highly recommend pushing up to Cherry for a day trip. I posted a trip report a week or two ago if you want to know more about the area.



I highly recommend a visit to Knife, taking a tow from an outfitter on Moose Lake. It saves you nearly an entire day of travel. Getting from Birch to Knife took both of my groups this summer 4 hours on the dot, double portaging and paddling about average speeds (~3mph), and stopping for a snack at the Carp rapids/falls. The Knife side of the Big Knife Portage (like 75rods lol) is gorgeous and is a great spot to have a quick lunch."

I'll check out your trip report! I was thinking of entering at snowbank and getting a tow across it. Do you know if it would be faster than Moose entrance? Eddy Falls and Kek are both on the itinerary if we do that route. Was SAK busy or few people?"



Going through Moose will definitely be faster, or the same speed. Reaching SAK in a day through Snowbank would be tough, going through Boot>Ensign>Vera>Knife. I have heard one of the Boot portages isn't exactly easy, and the Vera portages aren't anything to scoff at either. My estimate on PP is showing 2 hours longer than coming from Birch, which comes in at ~3.5h double portaging w/ 10min loads and 3mph/2mph paddle/portage (actually took us 4h), and the Snowbank route coming in at ~5.5h with the same settings (might take closer to 6-6.5h). And that's just to reach Robbins Island (the anvil shaped one) on Knife, let alone the SAK. I think getting to SAK with that route would realistically take 9-10h of travel. It took my friend and I something like 7h45m from Birch start to SAK campsite (9:30am to 5:15pm).


In early Sept, we passed taken campsite after taken campsite... it wasn't until we got properly into SAK, where it opens up after that long channel, that we found an open site. We only saw two or three canoes the following morning but it definitely wasn't what I would call isolated. I have also read about bear prevalence in SAK, but thankfully we did NOT see any on the south campsite of the big central island on SAK (with 3 sites). Decent site but no view of the water. I would expect to see some people, depending on when you go.

If you head up to Cherry you'll probably see less people due to the Hanson and Gijikiki portages. Make sure to check out Lake of the Clouds if you actually do go up there - I've heard it's incredible, and am sad I didn't make a point to get up there. If you're up there on a day trip starting around 10am, you should be able to go from SAK to Cherry to LOTC and back to SAK before 5pm for sure, fishing along the way."

Thinking I may just stick with Crooked the more I think about it. Thanks for all your help!
flynn
distinguished member (385)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/08/2019 10:26AM  
Haha, happy to help! I really loved the Knife area though, glad I went twice last year. It's worth the push, if not next year, some year.
PaddleAway
distinguished member(980)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/08/2019 11:33PM  
Great trip report. That walleye day sounds amazing & believe me, you'll recall it for the rest of your life. Our 'day' like that was almost 20 years ago & I remember all the details like I'm watching it now.

Nothing like spending some time in this place.
Guest Paddler
  
01/09/2019 12:02AM  
PaddleAway: "Great trip report. That walleye day sounds amazing & believe me, you'll recall it for the rest of your life. Our 'day' like that was almost 20 years ago & I remember all the details like I'm watching it now.


Nothing like spending some time in this place. "

Oh I agree! It's still very vivid in my memory!
 
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