I'm making the trip to Jean Lake this year in early June and have never been to this part of the park. In the past, we always stayed to the less traveled parts of the park - lakes William, Brent and Conmee.

What can I expect to be different related to crowds, bears, fishing, campsite availability? We mainly fish for smallies, but will fish walleye or trout. Is anyone interested in giving up a little known honey hole?

There's been some comments lately as to how little use the Q is getting. I paddled through Quetico Lake and Jean, then places south last year. Never saw anyone except at bottlenecks between lakes. All of northern Q is a beautiful place and there is much less traffic than you might expect.

Campsite availability is always not a problem. I remember very nice campsites on Burntside south of Jean I didn't fish it as I was just passing through. You will like the place.

Now since I told you all of this, you should join the forum as a member. Much to learn.. much to learn....

done

quote earlsrib: "done"

Cool! Enjoy. Glad you're here.

Tom

We spent a night on Jean a number of years ago. The fishing was excellent and I wish we had had more time there. Big smallmouth and lots of 'em. Burntside is another fish factory. The whole lake is a honey hole. Good Lord did we catch fish! The back side of the island with the signature campsite was especially good to us.

Welcome to the site and thanks for joining! This part of the Q experiences very little pressure (both human traffic and fishing). Jean has so many fishing spots, as the previous posts noted, that you'll not be disappointed - just find any submerged rock pile, mid-lake hump or any of the numerous points. Basic fish / lake reading applies.

To address your conerns:

Crowds - very low
Bears - not likely to bump into one
Fishing - quintessential Q
Campsites - probably over 50


Not to worry - Jean is a can't miss. One of our favorites. Enjoy your trip...

AdamX

I have caught smallies, walleye, pike, and lakers on Jean.
There are just about any type of campsite you can imagine on Jean, It is a big lake so even if there are other campers, you will see little of them. I will not tell you where but there can be awesome Lake trout and brookie fishing in the area.

While I didn't see a bear on Jean, I did see a sow and cub on Burtside (one lake south of Jean). But that was several years ago ... saw them along the shoreline on the NE side of the lake, but no evidence of them anywhere around our camp on Burntside. (Where the bears were would be an easy traverse to Jean from Burntside.) On the otherhand, I saw a large male black bear, twice, on Suzanette (not far from Brent). I even followed him down the portage between Suzanette to Burt.

Compared to lakes like Brent, I'd think you'd see quite a bit less traffic on Jean than what you've experienced further south. The last time I was on Jean (which included a layover day), I only remember seeing but one other canoe paddling through on the way to the portage to Yeh. Technically, I guess we were on Little Jean when we saw them ... around a couple of islands on Little Jean just outside Jean. I remember catching a large walleye in that area.

dd

This is what happened to me on Jean Lake.......

Sea wolf

As I stood at the edge of the island campsite, the full moon
slowly drifted downward over the western tree line as the
sun began to illuminate Jean Lake on its early morning
climb. My soul was full of mixed emotions. A day every
Quetico dreamer dreads, it was time to depart and head back
to so-called civilization.

I had just spent the past week with three of my best friends on this lake.
We'd paddle to our campsite in one day from Beaverhouse
Lake and had stayed there for the duration of our trip.
This group didn't want to be put through
the same rigors of past trips. My typical wilderness
adventures begin with the Meadows Lake portages heading
towards Agnes Lake. My friends didn't want to portage or
be too adventurous; they wanted to fish.

When staying in only one location, there doesn't seem to be as many opportunities to
experience the wonderful environment surrounding Quetico Provincial
Park. I enjoy viewing nature and the the optimal way is to keep on the move.
It's been said "be careful what you wish for, you might just get
it". We were finally going to travel, but not in the direction my heart and soul wanted to proceed. It was time to leave our island paradise. The canoes were packed up, the
coffee and granola had been consumed, so we pushed off on
our initial leg of four miles on Jean Lake towards the Conk
Lake portage. Terry and I cruised in the Kevlar canoe, while
Tom and Bo piloted the aluminum canoe.

About half way down the lake we spotted something swimming out in
the middle. Each of us begun taking turns guessing.
"It's a loon"
"No, it's too large"
"Maybe it's a bear?"
"No, it's not that big"
"Maybe it's a bear cub?"
"That's possible"
No one had binoculars and the only real way to determine the species was to paddle towards it. It was several hundred yards away and the canoe race was on.
The Kevlar, being the sleeker of the two, pulled away for the victory.
When we were finally close enough to realize what it was, I turned and yelled back
towards the other canoe, "It's a wolf ! ".

Terry and I quickened the pace to have a better
view before it reached shore. I didn't want the wolf to
panic, so I stayed about 10 yards out away from it.
It was mystical staring eye to eye with a wolf
and not having fear of the canine. We snapped a few
pictures as the other canoe approached and then moved out of the
wolf's path. The four of just watched in amazement as
the wolf swam to shore, jumped up on rock ledge, shook off
the lake water, looked back at us one last time and
disappeared into the thick woods. Maybe my
wish to travel wasn't so bad.

Cool wolf story Mike.

That is a neat story and perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime encounter!

I guess it's the luck of the draw, but when I went through there a couple of years ago, paddling from Quetico to Burntside, we saw two groups on Conk, two groups on Jean (one big noisy group) and on Burntside there was only one other group but they spent the entire day fishing and chattering within hearing distance of our campsite.

I was there two years ago. My second favorite lake now behind Kawnipi.
I rarely go back to a lake but am planning to go back to Jean this year in June and base camp with a group of six. Four adults and two boys. The last trip was in early July and the fishing was great for eyes but so-so for bass and I had an avid bass angler with me. I was only on Jean for two days so this time I plan to cover much more of the lake. You don't need my hidey holes. AdamX has the right idea. In early July there was minimal traffic and all were moving through. Not so on Quetico Lake. It was fairly busy by Quetico standards. Especially near the Beaverhouse portage so don't be discouraged if you see traffic there.

quote Thwarted: "I was there two years ago. My second favorite lake now behind Kawnipi.
I rarely go back to a lake but am planning to go back to Jean this year in June and base camp with a group of six. Four adults and two boys. The last trip was in early July and the fishing was great for eyes but so-so for bass and I had an avid bass angler with me. I was only on Jean for two days so this time I plan to cover much more of the lake. "

If you are not having any luck on Jean with Smallies, you might make the hop over to Burntside and head up to the northeast end of the lake. You'll find a point at that end of the lake and on the southeast side of the point there is an underwater ledge close to shore. I was in there once on a June trip and absolutely hammered them there ... not large fish, but continual action for a couple of hours until we moved on.

dd

quote dentondoc: "

quote Thwarted: "I was there two years ago. My second favorite lake now behind Kawnipi.
I rarely go back to a lake but am planning to go back to Jean this year in June and base camp with a group of six. Four adults and two boys. The last trip was in early July and the fishing was great for eyes but so-so for bass and I had an avid bass angler with me. I was only on Jean for two days so this time I plan to cover much more of the lake. "

If you are not having any luck on Jean with Smallies, you might make the hop over to Burntside and head up to the northeast end of the lake. You'll find a point at that end of the lake and on the southeast side of the point there is an underwater ledge close to shore. I was in there once on a June trip and absolutely hammered them there ... not large fish, but continual action for a couple of hours until we moved on.


dd"

The most fun I ever had fishing topwater for smallmouth was on Burntside (Budside) on a June trip. I'm not a big smallmouth guy, but it was a blast.

quote ZaraSp00k: "I have caught smallies, walleye, pike, and lakers on Jean.
There are just about any type of campsite you can imagine on Jean, It is a big lake so even if there are other campers, you will see little of them. I will not tell you where but there can be awesome Lake trout and brookie fishing in the area."

Brook trout?

quote PeterJonas323: "

quote ZaraSp00k: "I have caught smallies, walleye, pike, and lakers on Jean.
There are just about any type of campsite you can imagine on Jean, It is a big lake so even if there are other campers, you will see little of them. I will not tell you where but there can be awesome Lake trout and brookie fishing in the area."

Brook trout?"

Not saying they aren't there, but I have never seen one on Jean before.

Jean is the honey hole.

We had excellent smallmouth fishing on Jean in June. Of course, we also got rained in with 5 inches over 24 hours and the bugs were awful, although not as bad as on Tanner which should be avoided like cholera.

The quickest grand slam I ever had in Quetico was on Jean.

We were on Jean last September, had some of the best SMB fishing of my life. Here's one:

Has anyone run or lined the old logging shoot coming out of Jean recently?

quote AmarilloJim: "Has anyone run or lined the old logging shoot coming out of Jean recently?"

We did that last June. It was fast enough that we walked our Kevlar canoes through the curve going down & most of the way going up. No problems with that.

quote AmarilloJim: "Has anyone run or lined the old logging shoot coming out of Jean recently?"

I did that once, back in the 90's. Though I confess I thought it was a creek and didn't realize it was a logging chute. It was fast enough to be nerve wracking with a loaded boat, but also kinda fun. Did it downstream, never tried walking upstream in it.

quote AmarilloJim: "Has anyone run or lined the old logging shoot coming out of Jean recently?"

both ways in 2013 and 2014, no problem