Thoughts on a father/son (14 yo) 4-5 night trip late July trip out of Ely for me and my son. This will be his first trip and my second (my 1st was a loop from Missing Link, through Tuscarora, Little Sag, Gabi, Gillis and out through Brandt) and I’m interested in your thoughts considering the following priorities:

Option to do a loop or base camp with day trips.
Good swimming lakes.
Walleye/SM fishing opportunities, but we are casual fishermen.

I was thinking EP 14 (Little Indian Sioux North) would work as a base camping trip staying on Lynx/Heritage or as a loop through Agnes, Nina Moose, exiting EP 16 (Moose/Portage River north), if water levels are reasonable. We will be travelling early and looking for site(s) around lunch on days we travel.

Other than entering through Ely, we can be flexible with EPs and routes…are there other EPs and routes I should consider?

EP14 is a fun entry point! Some cool little lakes in the area, with good walleye fishing. It will be a lot easier than your Missing Link trip lol those are some rough portages.

GatorMikeSTL: "
I was thinking EP 14 (Little Indian Sioux North) would work as a base camping trip staying on Lynx/Heritage or as a loop through Agnes, Nina Moose, exiting EP 16 (Moose/Portage River north), if water levels are reasonable. We will be travelling early and looking for site(s) around lunch on days we travel.
"

EP 14 to Loon for 2 nights (as long as you don't mind hearing a few motors here and there), Loon over to Lynx or Little Shell for 2 nights , and last night on one of the Pauness Lakes for an easy last day out is a simple loop that gets you through a variety of lake types and fishing opportunities. Or reverse of the loop as well. If you don't have to worry about a quick exit, spending the last day on Shell would be better than going to either of the Pauness Lakes, but we have a long drive so we've always opted to get closer to the exit on our last day.

You get one harder portage at Devil's Cascade (Lower Pauness to Loon) and a longer portage from Loon to Heritage, enough time to go check out Beatty Portage on Loon if you want, sand beaches on the east end of Loon if you desire, good fishing on Loon, Lynx, Shell or Little Shell for bass, pike, and walleye. Shell can be busy and the Pauness Lakes are simply a means to get to all the rest, but its a good loop overall. I believe my son was 14 when we did this loop as well.

I have my notes and photos somewhere at home (one of the few trips I didn't write a trip report about) and can share other info if you're interested.

You could also consider the Kawishiwi triangle...lots of good exploring to do through there.

naturboy12: "

GatorMikeSTL: "
I was thinking EP 14 (Little Indian Sioux North) would work as a base camping trip staying on Lynx/Heritage or as a loop through Agnes, Nina Moose, exiting EP 16 (Moose/Portage River north), if water levels are reasonable. We will be travelling early and looking for site(s) around lunch on days we travel.
"

EP 14 to Loon for 2 nights (as long as you don't mind hearing a few motors here and there), Loon over to Lynx or Little Shell for 2 nights , and last night on one of the Pauness Lakes for an easy last day out is a simple loop that gets you through a variety of lake types and fishing opportunities. Or reverse of the loop as well. If you don't have to worry about a quick exit, spending the last day on Shell would be better than going to either of the Pauness Lakes, but we have a long drive so we've always opted to get closer to the exit on our last day.


You get one harder portage at Devil's Cascade (Lower Pauness to Loon) and a longer portage from Loon to Heritage, enough time to go check out Beatty Portage on Loon if you want, sand beaches on the east end of Loon if you desire, good fishing on Loon, Lynx, Shell or Little Shell for bass, pike, and walleye. Shell can be busy and the Pauness Lakes are simply a means to get to all the rest, but its a good loop overall. I believe my son was 14 when we did this loop as well.


I have my notes and photos somewhere at home (one of the few trips I didn't write a trip report about) and can share other info if you're interested."

Heading into loon sounds interesting and I’d love to check out the Beatty portage. I hadn’t really considered Loon due to the motors, but I don’t know what to expect on a motor lake and maybe worth it. This is helpful to my understanding of the area. thank you!

dogwoodgirl: "You could also consider the Kawishiwi triangle...lots of good exploring to do through there."

Thank you! I will definitely take a look!

GatorMikeSTL: "
Heading into loon sounds interesting and I’d love to check out the Beatty portage. I hadn’t really considered Loon due to the motors, but I don’t know what to expect on a motor lake and maybe worth it. This is helpful to my understanding of the area. thank you!
"

The vast majority of the motorboats come in from the far west and turn north to Beatty Portage, so if you’re not on that line (and generally you wouldn’t be as it’s mostly Canadian waters), it’s just a couple overnight permits/fisherman that will be around. They tend to camp on the eastern side in and around East Loon Bay as those sites have sand beaches to pull up to, but of course can fish pretty much anywhere. It’s never been an issue for us on 3 different trips into Loon.