We're considering renting for the first time, and since we have an odd number we were considering spreading out into three canoes instead of a tandem and a solo. A 3-person canoe is not an option for us at this time.

My concern is if everyone is going to enjoy the solo. Things like everyone keeping up, trying to troll, and the amount of portaging we are going to do (a lot). Is it better to get the tandem and a solo so we can rotate who gets which canoe, or is having a solo canoe that much better, including with portaging?

For background, we typically double portage with an aluminum tandem. my buddy and I each have our own pack plus a food pack. First time across are the packs, second time 1 guy has the canoe and the other has the food pack and rods. My secondary concern is throwing off our portage routine.

We're going to Wine out of Sawbill.

I have been following your decision making on this trip with interest.

My interest is that we just did the Louse River through Wine Lake last fall. I think I remember that you want to do a day trip down the Louse to Bug and then back to Mesaba and south through Duck to Zenith and back to Wine.

Ok. Here goes. When you leave Wine for Mug there is a very steep down to Mug Lake. Slippery rock face and all. Once on Mug, you will want to paddle to the west end to see if the waterfalls are running. In spring they are likely to be. The portage from Mug to Poe Lake is a tricky little pull over. Leaving Poe toward Louse Lake the portage is a rock garden. All the way. If the water is up, parts will be submerged. Louse Lake is a just a short paddle. Then the rock garden starts again from Louse Lake to the Louse river. In the middle of this portage, you will come upon a beaver pond. The portage is about 8" of trail along the edge of the pond. The dam was blown out when we went through. A little ways down stream from the dam, the portage disappears. If the water is low, you may be able to find it, but we would not risk walking down that rocky stream bed with the trees that were fallen over and covering the overhead some. We had to bushwhack the 200 feet or so to find the portage again. All through brush in rock jumble footing. Not fun. Once back on the portage it was not far to the river the rest was relatively easy. Think there is one larger beaver dam to pull over to get to Bug Lake.

So the question here is what do you want to carry over those 2 portages? Some kind of day pack with food and survival gear is a given. What fishing are you going to do that day? Yes? Some fishing gear to carry then. Then the choice is 2 or 3 canoes? I have one canoe and we rented a solo. Would 3 solos have made this easier? Not for us as we were carrying all our camping gear. We were able to allow one person to rest each portage. (Double)

Me, I would do the tandem and one. (One less carry.) But, I would not be overly worried about the 3 solos either. The solos at Sawbill can be very light and you can still carry a lighter pack with them. You won't be on any lake large enough that anyone could reasonably get lost if you lost sight of them. Or if they struck out on their own to find other fishing grounds.

Hope this thinking out loud helps you.

Have a great trip!

Unless all 3 of you are experienced and confident fishing from a solo canoe, I would go with the tandem. Reeling in those big Wine lake trout in the wind while trying to keep your canoe from running into shore can be very frustrating the first few times and I'd hate for it to ruin someone's trip. That's a long portage too and 3 canoes are heavier than 2 most of the time.

I love the Northstar Northwind Solo and I really want to try out a Seliga. Those are the two I would rent from Sawbill. If you're going through Sawtooth I would go with a Basswood tandem and a Northwind Solo, just my $0.02.

One solo trip into that area years ago. The falls, both were flowing, a bed of wild iris blooming at the base. Fantastic campsite on wine. The portages will weed out all but the dedicated. Worth it.
One advantage of the solo is the ability to explore different areas but the area you are visiting doesn't support that. And if anyone in the group has no solo experience there is that learning curve, especially when moving from aluminum to Kevlar. And with the portages I would go light in boat and pack. Hope that helps.

This does help, thank you. All 3 of us have experience but not with solos.

My plan is to do the loop clockwise, starting and ending at Wine, all in one daytrip without bringing the fishing gear. That way we are carrying only the canoes, some food, water bottles/filter, and the paddles on the day trip. I want to be able to go fast and a tandem and a solo is less canoe and might help here.

We will be fishing on Wine and that is a good point about catching fish while managing the canoe. We do also tend to have the person not catching the fish grab it with the net, so that would be another learning curve there.

I'm starting to like the idea of going with the tandem and solo, largely because we can just rotate who gets the solo. That way we can all get some experience with it and any person can go out fishing at any time. I'm glad I asked though, I assumed that the argument was going to be pushing in the other direction.

I had to make this exact decision last year for a group of three (myself + two friends), so I can share how it played out.

For context, I fish/canoe a lot. 30–40 solo day trips a year in all kinds of water, plus I've been on about 10 BWCA trips including a solo. I’m very comfortable controlling a solo canoe, even in wind, and fishing out of it all day.

My two friends are a different story. They both have BWCA trip experience (one with 7 trips, the other 3), but outside of those trips they barely fish or canoe—maybe once or twice a year (when I get them out of the house). One of them had already tried a solo in 2023 and swore he’d never do it again because of how hard it was to control in the wind. Then in 2024 he went back to a tandem and missed the independence, so in 2025 he decided to give solo another shot. The other guy agreed to try a solo for the first time after we convinced him it’d be great.

On paper, 3 solos sounded awesome.

In reality, it didn’t quote go that great - and portaging wasn't the issue.

I spent the trip doing exactly what I wanted—fishing hard and thoroughly enjoying the complete freedom in nature. The other two… struggled. The late-season wind was a huge factor. After a couple frustrating attempts trying to control the canoe and fish at the same time, they mostly just stopped trying. Even on calmer days, if the fish weren't biting easily, they didn't have anyone to discuss it with and being more casual about fishing in general, they became discouraged quickly. They ended up spending a lot more time in camp than expected.

I think there are two big things people underestimate with this decision.

First, solo canoeing—especially while fishing—is a learned skill. It’s not just “one person instead of two.” Boat control, wind management, positioning… if you don’t already have that dialed in, it can be frustrating fast.

Second, and honestly just as important, is personality. I love fishing solo. That’s my ideal day. But both of these guys are more social and more casual about fishing. For them, being alone in the wind and struggling, not having someone to talk things through with, no one to celebrate the nice catches with, just wasn’t enjoyable. In a tandem, all of that changes and more sociable type people just enjoy the experience more.

So yeah—3 solos sounded great in theory, but it ended up reducing the enjoyment for 2 out of 3 people in the group.

If I could do it again, I’d go solo + tandem without hesitation, or at least put the less experienced (or more social) guys together.

If everyone is experienced and truly enjoys fishing solo, then 3 solos is awesome. But if that’s not the case, a tandem in the mix makes a big difference.

I think you are right to do the tandem with the solo.

If it were me, and I confess that there are not many of me, I would do the solo in a 10 foot sit in kayak with an adjustable rod holder. You'd need a removable yoke for portaging. But fishing from a kayak is so much easier than a solo canoe. It handles the wind better than any canoe and is much more fun to fish out of low to the water.

Whenever we have odd numbers of people, we bring the kayak. We put all the gear in the canoe. The kayak is a fun workout (not any more than a solo canoe, I'd guess), but unless the canoe is really hauling, it keeps up pretty well. If it were a touring kayak, it'd be faster than the canoe easily, but they don't fish well, imo, and they're typically heavier and longer and don't portage well.

I did a solo from Sawbill last year in my 10 foot kayak west up the Lady Chain Lakes, then east across the Louse to Mesaba (the Louse was way over flood stage - 4.5 portages totally under water), and from Mesaba back down to Sawbill. 39 single portages in 4 days/3 nights. Great fishing, a real mix of weather, lots of paddling and lots of wildlife - an unforgettable trip...