Sorry about the misspelling of Merriam in my previous post. Any discussion regarding fishing and campsites would be greatly appreciated.

I don't have much info for you....I have paddled through there on the way to Kett. It is quite scenic and I think it gets very little traffic. You will hear boats in the distance on Basswood on the US side. I didn't get out and inspect any campsites, but I saw several potentially very nice looking sites as I paddled by.

Is the cut off portage still there and usable?

AmarilloJim: "Is the cut off portage still there and usable?"

As of about 2015 yes.

Camped one night there a couple of years ago. It’s mostly bass and laker water. The site we used was very nice. Limited selection of sites.

Only passed through, the eastern side of Little Merriam looked to have a couple of decent sites. I stopped and fished some of the reefs on the eastern side. Pulled in 17-19” smallies one right after another, sometimes 2-3 were trying to attack my lure while I reeled in the one I hooked. That was mid-day on a hot sunny August day—-probably be hard to reproduce that but there are definitely Smallmouth there.

T

Not a lot of campsites there, but a good one is on the eastern shore of Big Merriam (the western part of the bay). It's right across from the three islands in the middle of the bay. Look for a pair of tall trees that look like goalposts. They are easy to spot once you know what you're looking for.

As you found Little Merriam has some great bass fishing. Pretty good place for a windy day also, since it's a bit protected. There's also a nice reef in the middle of the far eastern part of Little Merriam where bass, pike, and walleye hang out.

If it's not that windy Bayley Bay has some good fishing too including both largemouth and smallmouth. I don't think I've ever caught a largemouth on Basswood beyond Bayley Bay until the back of North Bay or Ranger Bay.

The nice thing about those parts of quetico is on the Minnesota lakefinder the topo maps show the lake depths. There are reefs all over the place the unfortunate part is you can’t use live bait. But if smuggling a couple nightcrawlers over the border is the worst thing you do in life then so be it.

Frankie_Paull,

Can you supply a LINK to the Minnesota Lake Finder website that shows the depth contours of Basswood. I found the Minnesota Lake Finder home page and found Basswood but I can not find depth contour.

Thanks

I spent a bit more time on the Minnesota Lake Finder Link and found the Basswood depth maps that extend into Quetico.

Wally13: "I spent a bit more time on the Minnesota Lake Finder Link and found the Basswood depth maps that extend into Quetico. "

My email is Fpaull84@gmail.com email me and we can talk more in-depth.

Frankie_Paull: "

Wally13: "I spent a bit more time on the Minnesota Lake Finder Link and found the Basswood depth maps that extend into Quetico. "

My email is Fpaull84@gmail.com email me and we can talk more in-depth. "

This is getting pretty deep.

old_salt: "

Frankie_Paull: "

Wally13: "I spent a bit more time on the Minnesota Lake Finder Link and found the Basswood depth maps that extend into Quetico. "

My email is Fpaull84@gmail.com email me and we can talk more in-depth. "

This is getting pretty deep."

Let’s just hope I don’t got over the deep end.

old_salt: "

Frankie_Paull: "

Wally13: "I spent a bit more time on the Minnesota Lake Finder Link and found the Basswood depth maps that extend into Quetico. "

My email is Fpaull84@gmail.com email me and we can talk more in-depth. "

This is getting pretty deep."

Let’s just hope I don’t got over the deep end.