Have August 2021 trip with priority on fishing and like most people, we prefer not competing for campsites -- would appreciate advice? Either 1)Taking Tow to Basswood River then portage/paddle into Crooked or 2) Taking Tow to Snow Bay LLC and paddling east toward Lady Boot Bay. Have 8 days on water, but since we want to fish most of the time from 2 to 3 base camps, we prefer not to spend too many days travelling. I read that Crooked and BW River have excellent fishing (not sure about early August) but can campsites can get crowded due to limited options. I also see our route requires a few portages, including the 1 mile portage. Last year, we did LLC for the first time from Snow Bay to just north of Lady Boot Bay and found fishing a bit underwhelming. Not sure if that was because we were new to the lake and had hot weather and lots of wind or if LLC can be less than stellar for fishing. Last year was our first BCWA trip, but we have always found excellent fishing on our Quetico CA routes in the past so hoping to get better experience this try.

You will not be able to get a tow to the Basswood river as that is beyond the motor zone. Both areas have very good to excellent fishing and are scenic, but are very popular. Early August is probably the slowest fishing for most species as the water is about as hot as it will ever get, but can still be pretty good. You will have to fish deeper and concentrate on morning and as a second choice evening fishing. The Basswood river is especially popular and can be tricky to find a campsite at times, but is beautiful.

Yea, just like someone else asked not long ago...getting a tow on Basswood won't get you all the way to the falls. But heading for crooked actually puts you closer to the extremely popular Mudro entry. So you're getting a permit for a farther away EP, paying for a tow, just to do a long but easy portage to get closer to a busy EP. Crooked is great and the river and falls are too. But it's august, you'll see more people in that area I think than the northern reaches of LLC.

Fishing August isn't easy. Whatever you do, enjoy you've got the opportunity and can get a tow....esp the Snow Bay one

For the Basswood route... from where you can get dropped off at the top of Jackfish Bay (on Basswood) its about 5 hours to the campsites (these are good but often times are occupied) below Lower Basswood Falls. It's another 2-3 hours to some good 4 star sites on Crooked, when you start heading west. The sites heading north from LBWFs are questionable until you get at least past Wednesday Bay. And don't forget there are lots of folks heading to this stretch either via the route you propose...or from the Mudro (8 permits a day from EP 22/23).

A tow to Snow Bay is great but as you know it takes a while to paddle to Lady Boot. I took that tow (Anderson's)/trip last August and my fishing experience was similar to yours.

A route to consider to get into the southeastern section of LLC, Iron and Crooked is to head in via EP 16 (Moose River North) if you can get a permit on the date you want. You can get onto Iron on the first day is you can move quickly. Alternatively, you can stop on LLC (Boulder Bay, etc) and fish that area for a day or two and then head into Iron (via Bottle Portage). Boulder Bay is beautiful and doesn't feel big like some sections of LLC. Day trip into Crooked, Sunday Bay and Saturday Bay from Iron, if not camp on Crooked. I've alway had good luck fishing walleye at the base of Curtain Falls. The portages on this route are all relatively short (< 90 rods) on this route except for the 1/2 mile one at from the parking lot. Several great campsites on the islands around Boulder Bay area. And I'm guessing you would see few people on this route once you get past Agnes, certainly less than the Lower Basswood Falls route.

As for fishing on the border lakes LLC, Iron, Crooked are all great and I wouldn't say one lake is better than the other as far as fishing goes. That said, August is always going to be tough fishing regardless, certainly not as good as the May-July timeframe.

Thank you for advice, it is greatly appreciated. Depending upon permits availability, we have flexibility for dates and routes between late July up until late August. If certain dates within that period make a meaningful differences for fishing or crowds we would love to hear all input. Our early/mid July fishing on LLC last year was disappointing, and since weather was a bit of a factor we wound up a little short of Lady Boot Bay area. Am I interpreting your input correctly for our date options -- Crooked would likely be more crowded vs the east end of LLC, but we are likely to experience better fishing in Crooked?
I welcome any additional advice or input on the travel. LLC has the big water paddling, whereas it seems any route to Crooked does involve interesting rivers but decent amount of portaging and potentially high level of campsite competition. When Crooked does have a high level of campsite usage, does it still feel like you are running across many other fishing parties, or can it still feel pretty remote of others fishing?

oldwinter: "Thank you for advice, it is greatly appreciated. Depending upon permits availability, we have flexibility for dates and routes between late July up until late August. If certain dates within that period make a meaningful differences for fishing or crowds we would love to hear all input. Our early/mid July fishing on LLC last year was disappointing, and since weather was a bit of a factor we wound up a little short of Lady Boot Bay area. Am I interpreting your input correctly for our date options -- Crooked would likely be more crowded vs the east end of LLC, but we are likely to experience better fishing in Crooked?
I welcome any additional advice or input on the travel. LLC has the big water paddling, whereas it seems any route to Crooked does involve interesting rivers but decent amount of portaging and potentially high level of campsite competition. When Crooked does have a high level of campsite usage, does it still feel like you are running across many other fishing parties, or can it still feel pretty remote of others fishing?"

Read my previous comment...but Crooked never feels crowded, at least thats been my experience, the sites are spread out quite a bit once up on Thursday Bay and heading west beyond that.

I agree that Crooked never feels crowded and is top notch fishing. This is probably due to the fact that campsites aren't particularly numerous, it is a very large lake, and it has a lot of islands that shield the view from others . Also, it is difficult to get there in one day which thins people out a bit.

LLC can be challenging to fish. If you are going to target anytime after the 4th of July, I would switch to big spoons, tail dancers, deep diving shads and troll deep - like 25-45'. Likely, most fish will be suspended out over deep basins chasing the big baitfish like cisco and whitefish. I had a buddy who went in August last year looking for lake trout and caught walleyes as deep as 40'. LLC can also be challenging/dangerous in the summer due to weather. If there is any wind at all, is it challenging to travel and even more challenging to fish. I would pick smaller water that time of year.

Crooked is a great option, but also a big body of water and you would likely have to fish deep to find walleyes, too. If you are headed for Crooked, I would try to get an entry permit for Mudro.

If you are looking to avoid crowds, consider getting a tow to Jackfish and heading for US point well outside the motorized area on Basswood. The fishing is always outstanding on Basswood and you wouldn't have to portage once to get up there. If the weather is bad, you have that western shoreline all the way down to Washington Island that should be sheltered from a west wind.