I'm planning a trip in early September. While doing my research I stumbled upon a few lines about the Pitfall Primitive Management Area. In fact, I am not sure yet how to get authorization yet, but before I spend a lot of time I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about whether a day or two side trip into the Pitfall PMA would be worth the effort? Also, any tips or other information about the PMA area and gaining access would be appreciated.

I'm not familiar with the Pitfall Primitive Management Area, what lakes are in it?

I have read a couple of stories of trips to other Primitive Management Areas, and they sounded wild and interesting, they have no improvements and are like Quetico.

I found this on the Seagull Outfitters website:

"The names of the lakes in the Pitfall Lake PMA are: Link, Gift, Bullfrog, Midas, Fish, Faith, Nawakwa, Cup and Pitfall Lakes."

It looks as if the easiest access to the Pitfall PMA is through Hanson Lake, which is in between South Arm Knife Lake and Ester Lake.

The portages still exist for most of those lakes. The area got burned really bad by the Cavity Fire. It's best to pick up your regular permit from a Ranger Station and then they will write you in a little book for that PMA and give you a permit slip for the PMA. Pitfall PMA
You only need the permit if you are going to camp overnight in the PMA. There used to be campsites in there...one one Nawakwa, 2 on Fish and some others.

We did that last year. Watch out for the portage going into Knife, it's a doozy. Up hill both ways, Mud, roots to trip over & for an added bonus a tree down in the middle of the portage blocking the way. One of the lakes in the Pitfall PMA Don't remember which one sorry gave up these in about a 1/2 hour of fishing. It was fishing like I've never seen before. Cast reel in a fish, unhook, Cast reel in a fish, unhook, Cast reel in a fish, unhook, you get the picture. The big one is a 4 pounder I caught. You can seen the rain behind us in the picture. Fried em up on the spot Yum YUM. lake to face 45 min tops

You need a permit for anything overnight. We got one but we forgot the bulldozer at home to make a site to camp in. It was a covered. high grass & trees. No where to put a tent. So we paddled around, fished, eat & Left. Snakecharmer has a trip report on it I believe.

Are those smallies on that stringer, Wolf??

Backpacker magazine did a nice article on Pitfall.

Here is the link:

backpacker article
We also have a private forum for PMAs open to everyone = PMA Paradise.

There is some info there on Pitfall and other PMA stuff.

Here is a link to a specific PMA Paradise thread for Pitfall:

PMA Paradise Link

I will second the fishing back there,if my memory serves me well the is a small water fall in-between Gift and Fish lakes where, like Wolf, it was cast and catch. tom

Rob, the PMA Paradise threads are excellent! But I can't find a way to comment and I'd like to - we're going to make a go at a couple areas of Mugwump the end of this month. I see it's listed as "private" so perhaps not for everyone to post or reply in?

N'er mind, just figured it out!

A couple years ago we went all the way back to Nawakwa and it was a whole day for not much. The last portage to Nawakwa was brutal. I caught 1 23 inch pike and the other 3 canoes (7 people) caught none. We didnt catch anything in Gift or Fish, one guy got a couple smallies and a couple smallish pike in Link around the island. Didnt see any wildlife (other than typical loons) back there either. Looked good for moose though.

It was a really hot day and it was right after the fire but...

Curious. Did you approach it from Seagull- or SAK-side? Looks like a remote, tough challenge to take on but may be worth the effort if you could camp in there (if there are areas that look like they might accommodate a tent or hammock).

Ohh. Necro-posting. I'll look forward to responses. Cowdoc and fishguts are familiar handles but not sure who else is still here. Guess those portages msy have overgrown more since 2011.

Well, I don't know about necro :), but I'm just curious if anyone has made it into the actual Pitfall lake and what route they used? Looks like a bugger to approach from just about anywhere. Campsites? These might be none or never existed. So, I'm looking forward to anyone checking in on this and putting forth any intel.

Update the link to the backpacker magazine article. The previous link leads to a generic backpacker page on the website.

The Paradise PMA thread is very helpful as well with old maps and some additional portaging info!

We did a day trip into the Pitfall PMA about 10 years ago. This was shortly after the Cavity Lake fire torched the area. We didn't fish it hard, but caught some smallish pike as I recall. Here is a pic of the landscape around Fish Lake at that time. I would imagine it has greened up some since then.

I have been there solo with canoe and fished for 4 days. Message me if your interested in more.

Hey Michael - we're planning on hitting Link (from Hanson), Bullfrog and Gift - not sure about Fish Lake. Any tips on fishing them, portages, etc? Heading up in mid-July.