Scout group doing a 4night/ 5 day trip in mid July. There is some interest in building in a layover day in the middle of the trip. We plan on going in on Lizz on Thursday morning and could be in any of these lakes after the 2nd day of traveling.

This is a totally new area for me (I did one trip out of Brule and went as far as Winchell). Any feedback on these three lakes or really anything about this particular area would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

of the 3....Gaskin has the best campsites, scenery, and fishing.

It is a pretty easy first day from Poplar to Gaskin through the Lizz Lake entry, so I would choose Omega as an easy 2nd day goal. Omega is also at a crossroads of sorts, so it would make a good layover lake for exploration of nearby lakes you didn't pass through to get there.

We base camped on Gaskin for 4 nights last year in mid July. Definitely not a difficult first day - we made it to camp in under 2.5 hours launching from Rockwood Outfitters. The scenery and campsites, as cowdoc mentions, were beautiful on Gaskin. We managed to get the Mondale site for the week which was awesome, although the site on the west peninsula by the islands looked terrific too. The fishing on the other hand was pretty rough. We fished heavily on Gaskin, Pillsbery, Allen, and a bit on Henson and didn't have much luck anywhere. Most of the other groups we ran into were also struggling that week in the area with the exception of 1 couple we spoke to on Pillsbery who said they had good luck on Omega the day prior. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Gaskin but to inspector13's point, Omega might make more sense for a day 2 destination.

Thanks for the feedback. You guys are hitting on some of the same thoughts I had. Gaskin seems like there are more options for campsites and I hear it mentioned more often regarding fishing. Omega does seem like it would have some cool little day trips but I have not seen it come up very often on fishing discussions. It does seem like a good day 2 destination.

Based on those that have been in that area that time of year, could we expect significantly less people on Omega? Seems like it could be the case.

In the end it could be a decision we make on the fly...see how that first day is going and plan accordingly, but it would be nice to have a starting point for planning.

Omega is a great lake, but the problem is the number of campsites, 2 or 3 I believe. One site 592 is great and could easily accommodate your group. It's also a known, highly coveted site as well. So it may not be available. The other sites on Omega I haven't been to but have herd they're not so great.

But Winchell is just a portage away too if omega doesn’t work.

Winchell has some great camp sites but I suspect not great fishing in mid July. You can burn some time keeping scouts busy by climbing to the top of the Winchell cliff for the great view, and/or, climbing up the waterfall that is further east of the big cliff.

On Omega the 592 site is a great one. Faces west so you get the sunsets, rocks for jumping into the water/swimming. Winchell also has a number of decent sites as a backup. A few are very nice. I have never seen that lake full.
Last time I was up that direction was mid-July in 2017. We saw 3 groups on Winchell. One stayed, and the other 2 were passing through. No one was on Omega and Henson. We were there July 17 - 21.
There is a small bay on the southern shore of Winchell at the far West end. Good SM fishing.

I have been through there twice, 2006 and 2008. Once we stayed at the northern campsite on Omega facing east and did real well catching medium (22-25) inch pike. Lots of fun. No bass to be found in that area that I know of. I have not found any.
The other year we stayed on Hansen in the middle, south shore on a site also facing east. More of those medium pike. If I went that way again I would try to go south into the "otto lakes" and see what they offer, never been there.
These are quiet lakes. I think they are very pretty and peaceful.
If you want Bass, go to crossbay or han on the west end or horseshoe or caribou to the east.

Gaskin

Might depend on how big your group is... Henson and Omega have smaller sights. Beautiful, quaint lakes though and lightly traveled. Gaskin definitely has the better, bigger campsites . Want some water sized pike, try Otto lakes. There are SMB in Omega and Henson, just gotta find them