Hey everyone, looking to get some opinions on a few route options for this year (am open to other suggestions as well). We've only been on a few trips thus far in the 4 night range, but are looking to go for a bigger trip this year as time always goes too quickly once we're out there. It will most likely just be 2 of us this year but have our gear down enough by now to single portage, so we can move pretty quick on travel days. We're still working on the dates but it will be somewhere between late June and the end of July.

Fishing is our biggest priority, so we have base camped in the past. With this year's trip most likely being 8 days and 7 nights (or if needed 9&8), we are expecting to use a few campsites for a few nights each allowing us to get in deeper and explore some areas beyond just day trips from our lone base camp. We also are willing to go pretty hard on the first and last days (especially on the first day) so we can maximize our time fishing and at the camps and not have to do as heavy of travel days in the middle.

I've been looking at the following options:
Option 1: Moose Lake EP loop. Possibly start with the tow in the morning to save time and get as far into knife as we can on day 1. Work our way down near Eddy falls/lake, switching camps once or twice as we day trip and fish around on the lakes in that area. Probably set up final camp on or near Ensign for the end of the trip so we can paddle out without being held to the timeline of a tow home.
Option 2: Mudro Lake EP loop 1. Head up through boot, gun, etc.. on first day to Friday Bay area. Work our way fishing through Friday, Thursday, Wednesday and eventually the lower basswood falls area. With a camp or 2 setup throughout there. Finish our loop out through Horse River and Lake.
Option 3: Mudro Lake EP loop 2: Head up through gun and the beartrap river to get to Iron Lake. Work our way fishing through Sunday, Saturday, and Friday and eventually leave through Papoose to Gun, etc... (this one seems a bit more of a traveling trip than the others - would a loop up to Iron/Crooked from Moose River North be better? We're fine leaving the way we came instead of a loop if needed)

With any of these would you also suggest reversing the direction of the trip?

I think with all of these options we'd have a long couple of days of travel, but would be able to spend most of our time once near the border fishing from a couple of base camps with a smaller travel day or 2 in between to the new campsite and new area to see and fish. These are also areas well known for their fishing so don't think we'd be disappointed there (the best afternoon of fishing we've ever had was towards the west side of Crooked Lake).

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback! Have really enjoyed reading through the forums while planning previous years trips.

We went in Moose River North this year and were camped in between Boulder Bay and Tiger bay on the Island site in Lac la Croix.
We were on the entry portage trail before the sun came up. Walking in the almost dark. A few minutes earlier and we would have needed flash lights.

I think we were at camp by 3PM and that was three of us in a Wenonah Seneca 19'6". My father is 68 years old. We double portaged everything and spent a considerable amount of time searching for an available campsite.

For fishing this are was really good even considering it was the end of July.
We caught all of our fish while trolling around exploring different areas.

Dad caught a 38" pike in Boulder Bay near the short portage to the boulder river and our trip up to Never Fail Bay and the pictos produced a lot of walleye and smallies. Good fishing but can be a tough area as it is really busy that time of year and campsites were all full. Plus we battled the wind on one of our days.

The Mudro Loop we did in '18 and while we didn't spend a ton of time fishing we did catch plenty for a couple dinners. Our best fishing was when we stopped to check out Table Rock and we waded out about knee deep and casted crankbaits out. We caught pike, walleye and northern all from that one spot. We did not fish Friday Bay as we were passing through at that point.
We were hoping to get a site on Moosecamp lake but they were all full so we took Moosecamp River down to Fourtown and all of Fourtown was full as well.
Again another very crowded area when you are south of Crooked.

For '20 I am hoping to get back to Crooked and spend some more time up there exploring and fishing. Love that area. Trying to work some Quetico into that trip as well but the logistics of Prairie Portage and the cost of a tow out of Crane Lake are working against me.

You could go in Moose River North thru Agnes to Boulder River/Bay. LLC Then to Iron. Curtain Falls to Crooked Bays and out Mudro. Prevailing winds would be at your back across Crooked as you head east. Plenty of good fishing time on this route with seven nights.

Head for any of the huge border lakes.

I've heard the Q is fished out so stay away from there.

If you want smallies, then Ensign & Crooked are great.

However since Ensign is so easy to get to, has lots of campsites and is known for the fishing, it will almost for sure be populated by lots of other people. It is your easiest route.

Moose River entry can get you up to Agnes in about 4.5 hours. Known for walleye, it also has some good smallie action. You can travel north and then go east to Iron (also good walleye) and over to the bays of Crooked. Base on Crooked for a few days and fish for the plentiful smallmouth it is known for.

You can enter at Moose River & exit at Mudro. Or if you don't have 2 vehicles or will be getting any shuttle help, then in & out at Mudro works too. Mudro permits go faster than many other entries, so if you choose it, get your reservation in on the first day in the first 10 minutes it opens!

Thanks for the suggestions! I think we're leaning entering at Moose River N and pushing for Iron on day 1, then exploring Crooked some more. Still undecided if we'll loop to Mudro or double back to the same EP. If we double back we may head over to Oyster on the return for the final night or 2 to shorten the exit paddle a bit. I've heard it's a nice lake/portage in and has okay fishing as well.

Oyster is nice & good for lake trout & smallmouth.

The time of year you are going should be good for the smallies. Lake trout can be caught, but challenging since they will be way down on the bottom to escape the heat.