I'm planning my first solo for this spring and am looking at one of the Poplar lake entries. I've done almost all my trips out of Ely or Tofte so am not familiar with this area at all. Any suggestions for a loop out of a Poplar? I'm thinking 5 days and would like to do some walleye or trout fishing on the trip.

Thanks.

A couple of years ago I did a fall solo with a Lizz Lake exit to Poplar. I actually entered at EP #50, Cross Bay. I stayed at Rockwood Outfitters located right on Poplar Lake the night before my entry. I had them shuttle me to EP #50 and when I exited through the Lizz Lake entry, I just paddled across Poplar to Rockwood.

You can read my 2012 trip report for more details on the route.

There are several options for entering off of Poplar and a couple of options after entering through Lizz. I'm sure Rockwood's website would give you some route ideas, as well as the guidebooks. It's been discussed pretty thoroughly here and a search should yield some good information and ideas.

I can't really tell you much about the fishing, though, so I'll leave those specifics to those who are more knowledgeable there. A lot also depends on how much you want to travel and how you feel about the portaging.

The walleye fishing in meeds lake, horseshoe and vista are supposed to be pretty good.

I believe Misquah and winchell have trout, so does little trout lake and ram, but that takes you through some tough portages in the Misquah hills.

Lizz is the most popular entry point in the area and most people go that route. I entered on Meeds, but you start your trip with a long (but easy) portage which isn't ideal. I went to Gaskin day 1, then Caribou and out. 2 nights, 3 days.

Depends on how much you want to paddle in a day. Short, medium, long loop options. Each can start by heading fo Gaskin. Short loop from Gaskin, head for Pillsbury/Meeds. Medium loop from Gaskin, head to Winchell, Omega, Henson, Meeds. Long loop from Gaskin, head thru Winchell and/or Omega to Kisk, Long Island, then back thru Banadad and Rush/Skipper.
2 years ago we went in Lizz....spent 2 nights on Gaskin....then a short day to Winchell and spent a lot of time exploring the cliff and waterfall....next day went thru Omega, Henson, Pillsbury, Meeds, and spent 2 nights on Caribou. It was a shorter milage trip but we spent 2 days fishing on 2 decent fish lakes.

Thanks all.

I'm leaning towards the medium loop option suggested by cowdoc. I was thinking of going in through Meeds and going the opposite direction and exiting through Liz. Is there any advantage to going one direction or the other on this loop?

maybe less people going in on the longer Meeds portage. Lizz entry can get a little crowded at times. Wind is not an issue too much on those lakes.