I'm planning my 2022 return to Quetico, and I can't find too much information on these two lakes. I've read that they both have all four species (LT, Northern, Smallies, Walleye) and that Sark may tend to have darker fish with slower growth rates. How does the fishing reputation compare for each lake roughly? We like catching all species, but have a preference for walleye and lake trout fishing.

It looks like Sark has one nice camp and Keefer has a couple nice ones. If we have the energy we may push on through to Kahshahpiwi, but I wanted to know what our options might look like if we decide to pull up short for the day. We'll have a couple new guys on the trip, so I want to make sure to try not to make every day a death march. Don't tell them I said that ;)

Sark: Caught northerns in the big west portion of Sark. No fancy camping spot even though a good sized lake.
Keefer: Walleye in the northern narrow area. Yes, the good camping site is midway down the wide area toward the SE side of a modest island.
Fun and unusual experience: The water was high and going northbound on the short creek portage from Kash to Keefer; thought we'd try to paddle through this short steep creek; got stuck half way down and pulled on through. At the bottom of the portage bottom drops off really fast, so cast a few from the shore; a feeding frenzy of smallmouth bass! Lots of fun! I think the branches we knocked loose in the creek attracted them. (Have tried same spot since with little success).

We were there for a night during a brutal early-June heatwave a few years ago, temperature in the mid-90's, and spent most of the time hunkered down in the shade on a very nice, 5-star campsite on an island in Sark. It was too hot and sunny for such a clear water lake and we only fished it for a few hours. Only decent fish we caught was a remarkably dark lake trout we caught in a bay on the west side early in the morning (not the narrow bay that extends to the northwest). I know there are nice bass and walleyes in there.

Just a head's up for planning, a fire ripped through the area this last summer. Looks like Cutty may have gotten hit harder then Sark. Or maybe not, hard to tell. But the fire may have affected the campsite selection on either lake.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I've read through the fire thread with the great map showing burn severity that you posted, Minnesotian. Pretty interesting to consider. I'm hoping some of the area especially around Ted Lake and the far northern part of Kawnipi don't look as bad as they do on the map - hard to tell

I forgot about the RABC program being shut down for the time being, so I actually think we may end up doing our first trip out of Atikokan through Nym in 2022. Will be fun to be on all new water! Planning on heading through the Deux Rivieres area and down through Russell/Keats and out through Lonely/Walter/Jesse area.

Springer2 - I've seen that picture of that trout you've posted here - incredibly dark!