Hello there,

Just need a little clarification on the border routes. We are planning a route that involves taking the Basswood River up to Crooked, stay a couple days on Crooked and carry on to Iron. I have looked into the RABC permits and wanted to see if we could go without. Are we able to travel the Basswood River without the permit as long as we are staying on the US side? Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks.

If you are just traveling through, and don't stop to sightsee, and don't fish, you can travel lakes and portages on the Canadian side of the border. It is only for travel though.

Actually, it’s ok to sightsee and fish on Minnesota side with proper Minnesota license and BWCAW permit. You are going downriver to Crooked and Iron. You can portage on both sides of the border. You don’t need a RABC for border travel.

flynn: "If you are just traveling through, and don't stop to sightsee, and don't fish, you can travel lakes and portages on the Canadian side of the border. It is only for travel though."

Ditto. If traveling from Basswood Lake to Crooked for example there's at least one portage on the Canadian side. If you just use it as portage you're good. Don't camp, fish, or maybe even stop for lunch while on portage(s). Same for Bottle portage from Iron to LLC

old_salt: "Actually, it’s ok to sightsee and fish on Minnesota side with proper Minnesota license and BWCAW permit. You are going downriver to Crooked and Iron. You can portage on both sides of the border. You don’t need a RABC for border travel."

I thought it was a given you can sightsee and fish on the Minnesota side - I was only talking about what you're allowed to do on the Canadian side.

I was answering Colby. Not criticizing your answer.

I suppose doing the portage around lower basswood falls your technically in Canada. I don’t think anyone is going to throw you to the wolves if you take a rest and maybe take a picture of the falls. Some “rules” you’ll hear are ones interpretations... fishing? Don’t do it! Make sure your in the US for that... such as up off of Friday bay there is a great island campsite. It’s on the border and I believe a border marker is on the back side. Use caution where you fish. That said... at Curtain Falls there is a spot you can go down half ways on the portage. Great fishing! I think old Zup’s had something there once upon a time. Fishing and camping is what you need to avoid on the Canadian side.

Awesome, thanks for the information everyone! Looking forward to getting up there. It will be our first trip in the NW region of the BWCA. Excited to say the least. Look out trophy walleye.

I understand your concern, nobody wants to get busted/fined if avoidable. This has been discussed at length many times on the board. By treaty, you can use any portage along the border route without needing “papers”. No RABC or passport required. Canadians can use portages on the American side and Americans can use portages on the Canadian side. No extra permits or paperwork needed. I believe the treaties are the Paris Treaty of 1783 combined with the Webster Ashburton treaty of 1842 (both treaties are valid and honored by US and Canada) and they stipulate that you must use the portages for “travel” purposes only. No camping or fishing on them. Bottle portage from LLC to Bottle and Iron lake is a prime example, as are multiple portages along the Basswood River. Take note though, some spots have a portage on both sides of the border (Curtain Falls does) and in those cases I would stay on the American side. You have nothing to worry about.

Tony

nctry: "I suppose doing the portage around lower basswood falls your technically in Canada. I don’t think anyone is going to throw you to the wolves if you take a rest and maybe take a picture of the falls. Some “rules” you’ll hear are ones interpretations... fishing? Don’t do it! Make sure your in the US for that... such as up off of Friday bay there is a great island campsite. It’s on the border and I believe a border marker is on the back side. Use caution where you fish. That said... at Curtain Falls there is a spot you can go down half ways on the portage. Great fishing! I think old Zup’s had something there once upon a time. Fishing and camping is what you need to avoid on the Canadian side. "

Great spot! Have fished there for hours before. That was Zup’s boat landing. They would shuttle people up to that spot via boat, disembark there and hop in a trailer pulled by a Jeep up to the top of the falls and around the corner to where Zup’s resort was located. Quite the operation they had up there. Thise Rock “stairs” leading down to the water are the last remnants from that place. One time while there we found the old trailer rotting away in the woods not far from the portage.

anthonyp007: "

nctry: "I suppose doing the portage around lower basswood falls your technically in Canada. I don’t think anyone is going to throw you to the wolves if you take a rest and maybe take a picture of the falls. Some “rules” you’ll hear are ones interpretations... fishing? Don’t do it! Make sure your in the US for that... such as up off of Friday bay there is a great island campsite. It’s on the border and I believe a border marker is on the back side. Use caution where you fish. That said... at Curtain Falls there is a spot you can go down half ways on the portage. Great fishing! I think old Zup’s had something there once upon a time. Fishing and camping is what you need to avoid on the Canadian side. "

Great spot! Have fished there for hours before. That was Zup’s boat landing. They would shuttle people up to that spot via boat, disembark there and hop in a trailer pulled by a Jeep up to the top of the falls and around the corner to where Zup’s resort was located. Quite the operation they had up there. Thise Rock “stairs” leading down to the water are the last remnants from that place. One time while there we found the old trailer rotting away in the woods not far from the portage. "

I'll be passing through this way on an EP16-23 trip this summer - I don't know much about Curtain Falls but plan to hit it and we love fishing...so there is a hike down spot at Curtain Falls where you can hike down and fish legally with MN license? If you don't mind, can you elaborate? Sounds cool!

Scottimm- Fishing is good at the bottom of the falls just a few yards from the portage landing. Lots of luck with W-SMB-NP in that spot. I usually toss a slip bobber with jig and a leech in the outflow from the falls (you’d have to cast really far to reach Canadian waters), and watch it drift down in front of you and drop like a rock! Half way up the portage there’s the landing (easy to spot side trail leads right to it), same exact thing there. The reason for the slip bobber is to keep from getting snagged on all the jagged rocks through there. It still happens occasionally, but less so then usual. I’ll bet shallow rapalas word work at this spot too, never tried it though. Beautiful area, could spend a whole day there...

Tony

While we are on the subject, I thought it might be a good idea to remind people that according to Quetico office even if you have an RABC and a Canadian fishing license, you still should not fish or travel on the Canadian side unless you also have either a camping permit, a day use permit(which must be picked up the day before or the day of use at appropriate office) or a yearly vehicle permit. I hear a lot of talk on here about only needing an RABC and a fishing license to sight see and fish. Also, to be truly legal, you would need to have a passport to report back in to US customs upon your return.This of course does not pertain to regular travel along the border and use of border portages on either side, which is allowed.

mgraber: "While we are on the subject, I thought it might be a good idea to remind people that according to Quetico office even if you have an RABC and a Canadian fishing license, you still should not fish or travel on the Canadian side unless you also have either a camping permit, a day use permit(which must be picked up the day before or the day of use at appropriate office) or a yearly vehicle permit. I hear a lot of talk on here about only needing an RABC and a fishing license to sight see and fish. Also, to be truly legal, you would need to have a passport to report back in to US customs upon your return.This of course does not pertain to regular travel along the border and use of border portages on either side, which is allowed."

Very good point. I aways wondered if you needed a Quetico permit in addition to Canadian angling license when fishing the Canadian sidenpf border waters. It would be nice to know, I’ve always avoided fishing the Canadian side because I usually have live bait with me and/or I didn’t want to bend the barb back on hooks and/or I had no Canadian license. Thanks.

Tony

anthonyp007: "Scottimm- Fishing is good at the bottom of the falls just a few yards from the portage landing. Lots of luck with W-SMB-NP in that spot. I usually toss a slip bobber with jig and a leech in the outflow from the falls (you’d have to cast really far to reach Canadian waters), and watch it drift down in front of you and drop like a rock! Half way up the portage there’s the landing (easy to spot side trail leads right to it), same exact thing there. The reason for the slip bobber is to keep from getting snagged on all the jagged rocks through there. It still happens occasionally, but less so then usual. I’ll bet shallow rapalas word work at this spot too, never tried it though. Beautiful area, could spend a whole day there...


Tony"

Thanks Tony! We're planning on spending 2-3 days on Iron before heading over to Crooked, so that might make a great day fishing trip. I don't think I'm bringing live bait, will have to try my luck with artificials. Have not had problems doing so in the past. Can't wait!!

mgraber: "While we are on the subject, I thought it might be a good idea to remind people that according to Quetico office even if you have an RABC and a Canadian fishing license, you still should not fish or travel on the Canadian side unless you also have either a camping permit, a day use permit(which must be picked up the day before or the day of use at appropriate office) or a yearly vehicle permit. I hear a lot of talk on here about only needing an RABC and a fishing license to sight see and fish. Also, to be truly legal, you would need to have a passport to report back in to US customs upon your return.This of course does not pertain to regular travel along the border and use of border portages on either side, which is allowed."

What sucks about this is, if you'll be along the border for the entire time (like hanging around LLC/Iron/Crooked), but you don't know which days you'll want to/be able to cross the border to fish (even if it's just on the other side of a border lake and no portages deeper into Q), then you have to buy day permits for every single day of your trip, on top of the Ontario fishing license and RABC. At that point, the cost is such that you might as well just do a Q-only trip, because the cost is only marginally higher for overnight, and I sure as heck don't want to waste a hundred bucks because I only fished in Canada for 3 out of 8 days.

Not to mention, you still have to visit the ranger station to pay for the day passes, so literally everything would be the same if you were to do overnights, you just pay an extra $5/day or something on top of what you would pay for day use passes. I see no point in going through all of the trouble to pinch your barbs and pay all that money if you won't be fishing in Canada every single day. It just makes no sense. Might as well just do full overnight Quetico instead. :/

flynn,Yeah, I totally agree, I wish they could make it easier somehow. I also wish there was some way to enter the Q from the southwest other than paddling all the way to LLC station or paying big bucks for a tow.