New to forums. Have always picked a destination and just paddled it and lived through some interesting stuff by doing it that way. I have 27 trips into the Boundary Waters through the Ely side and now my buddy George and I decided it's time to launch from the east side.

Planning our first Gunflint Trail Canoe Trip. Big Sag to Granite River to Devils Elbow area. We love to fish and base camp and should be hitting it around the 3rd week in June. What can we expect for water levels, current, fishing pressure and camping sites? Campsites by the Elbow seem to be several, but are they usually hard to get? Fishing forecast and techniques are helpful too.

Any info is helpful. Thanks

You've come to the right place. Welcome!

Click on the little journal under my name and check out the trip report called "The Little Brothers Trip" to see a trip report for that exact destination.

Best advice I can give you is head to the southwestern elbow of the lake and take a campsite near that area. The first campsite from the point is nice. If you leave early enough in the morning you shouldn't have a problem getting one in that area. Very near that point there is a tiny rocky island. Fish around that island, especially the south side of it, and if you're in the right place at the right time you'll find the walleye. Blue Rapalas worked well for us but they also hit on jigs and minnows, and be quiet because they spooked pretty quickly after we had caught 2. Troll the shorelines for northern pike. There are some QUALITY bass in the moving water of Devil's Elbow - my brother did really well with just a bobber and rubber worm at the very end of June.

Current is not bad at all. It will be 2 portages from Big Sag, the first is on the west side of the falls and descends a steep rock face at the very end, so be careful. The second portages is on the east (Canadian) side to portage around Horsetail Rapids. We had to wet foot it up the rapids for a while to the portage landing, no big deal, just watch your footing.

We took a tow boat from Seagull Outfitters one way to the falls on the first day and had maybe a 2 hour paddle to our campsite. Without the tow boat I'd say about 5 hours with portages, 4 if you were fast. Navigating Sag is easy on that end of the lake, just follow the Sag Corridor up to the point and follow the shoreline to the falls.

I have it on good authority that James Bay in Big Sag also has walleye and pike in it, never tried that myself.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Welcome to bwca.com!

It's a bit dated and comes at Devils Elbow from the south but, Here's some information .

For current water levels /conditions give a nearby outfitter a call a week or two before your trip. All of the Gunflint Trail outfitters should be able to answer your questions when that time comes.



Saganaga Falls

SaganagaJoe,
I read your whole journal of the "BrothersTrip" and found it enlightened me on several things. You mentioned your campsite locations, but I'm still a little fuzzy on the exact sites you used. Was your first site exactly due west from Devil's Elbow? And was the island site north of Sag Falls on the very first island or was it on a named island? You noted seeing a cabin and flag pole to the east of the island site, was the flag pole on Oskemonton Island? My map shows the 2 portages on the east (Canadian) side for Sag Falls and Horsetail Rapids, is this correct? Thanks WisconsinRon

Paul - I am hoping to do your route in early June and I had posted last month (Granite River - Larch Creek (EP 80)) and it was recommended that I should try starting at Gunflint Lake instead. But I was intrigued by the Larch Creek entry pics. Have you done the trip from Gunflint Lake as well, and if so which do you prefer? Where did you put in?

I'm in your same shoes. My first trip will be going the 3-4 week of June. Water levels will be key if your going the Gunflint Lake entry and by the sounds of it Larch Creek can also be real interesting if the water is low. So I think June is better than Later in the year.

I was mostly looking for info on campsites and fishing between Sag Falls and Gneiss Lake. If it's not that good of an area, we want to switch our destination to somewhere else, maybe Alpine Lake or Otter Track Lake area.

quote plexmidwest: "Paul - I am hoping to do your route in early June and I had posted last month (Granite River - Larch Creek (EP 80)) and it was recommended that I should try starting at Gunflint Lake instead. But I was intrigued by the Larch Creek entry pics. Have you done the trip from Gunflint Lake as well, and if so which do you prefer? Where did you put in? "

I have not started at Gunflint, but I'd also recommend starting there. It's more paddling & portaging but, the water levels are more predictable. I've always had good luck navigating Latch Creek but, I've heard stories to the contrary. Beaver activities are key. I'm not saying don't use Larch but, if you do, be proactive and call a week or two before your trip to check on water levels. Of course with the record rainfall Minnesota had this year maybe it won't be an issue?

I have done the trip 2x and I would recommend starting at Gunflint and heading to Big Sag. That way you'll be going with the current. I have had luck fishing the devils elbow for eyes and the narrows between the elbow and Devils Elbow lake for smallies. The campsite by the narrows in Devils Elbow Lake is a nice campsite. The portages aren't bad and it's scenic with rapids and waterfalls.
For better fishing I would take Big Sag to Red Rock to Alpine and into Seagull.
You have a chance to catch the Grand Slam and we have had good luck fishing Seagull, and Red Rock. I hear their are a lot of eyes in Alpine also.

quote WisconsinRon: "SaganagaJoe,
I read your whole journal of the "BrothersTrip" and found it enlightened me on several things. You mentioned your campsite locations, but I'm still a little fuzzy on the exact sites you used. Was your first site exactly due west from Devil's Elbow? And was the island site north of Sag Falls on the very first island or was it on a named island? You noted seeing a cabin and flag pole to the east of the island site, was the flag pole on Oskemonton Island? My map shows the 2 portages on the east (Canadian) side for Sag Falls and Horsetail Rapids, is this correct? Thanks WisconsinRon"

I put a picture of my map above on an earlier post and marked the exact spots on Maraboeuf. Highly recommend the site and the fishing spots.

As I recall the Sag Falls site was north on the very first island, unnamed. As best as I can tell the cabin was on Friend Island or on the shoreline very near there, NE of the site.

The Sag Falls portage is on the west side of the falls. There reportedly is a portage on the Canadian side but it is more difficult. The Horsetail rapids portage is on the east side of the rapids. I can tell you this with 100% certainty.

quote Captn Tony: "I have done the trip 2x and I would recommend starting at Gunflint and heading to Big Sag. That way you'll be going with the current. I have had luck fishing the devils elbow for eyes and the narrows between the elbow and Devils Elbow lake for smallies. The campsite by the narrows in Devils Elbow Lake is a nice campsite. The portages aren't bad and it's scenic with rapids and waterfalls.
For better fishing I would take Big Sag to Red Rock to Alpine and into Seagull.
You have a chance to catch the Grand Slam and we have had good luck fishing Seagull, and Red Rock. I hear their are a lot of eyes in Alpine also.
"

I'll take the other side here to say that the current is not strong enough in Maraboeuf Lake to make a noticeable difference when you're paddling.

Fishing is good in Alpine Lake right in front of Jasper Falls and in the bay just north of the falls. The eyes reportedly come up in the bay by the falls to feed at night and would be doing that in June.

Say Captn Tony, were you catching the walleyes right in the elbow or just in front of it? We got some monster bass right in the elbow in the moving water.

SaganagaJoe ,

Super thanks for this latest response and I missed the earlier map - very thankful for that too. And also thank you for the info on Alpine fishing! Any of that kind of info is priceless to me as it saves a lot of paddling all over and back & forth to locate fish and good decent campsites.

I am very versed in the Fall Lake thru Pipestone into Basswood Lake and Falls area, also Mudro thru Fourtown to Crooked Lake via Horse River, also Moose Lake thru Birch to Knife Lake all the way to Otter Track, also Lake One thru Insula into Alice Lake and south into Fishdance, also Snowbank Lake thru Disappointment to Ima Lake, plus more. I know all the best fishing spots and a ton of info on great campsites. So if you ever need assistance with those areas, don't hesitate to call on me.

It is also wonderful that you and your family keep a wonderful relationship with the Great Spirit in the Sky and each other. His presence, protection and peace are always there.

Thanks Ron, I appreciate it. Say, do you have an e-mail address? I'm interested in knowing the fishing spots you have found on Ottertrack Lake. Click the little envelope under my name to send me a note - no rush.

Joe - I'll throw my 2 cents in for Ottertrack. I am pretty familiar with the western part of Ottertrack and have camper on three of the Little Knife portage sites and site number 2 on the map. Also stayed a couple nights on Gijikiki #4.
The best fishing I have found is through the channel west & north of Little Knife Portage (B), and the falls (A), The falls has been hands down great for us. I came across a video on youtube of some guys that fished this area and will see if I can add the link.
The best campsite for us was #1, and #2 is another favorite. #3 was pretty small and a tough canoe launch but nice view. We stayed on #1 last May and it was a spacious site that had everything to offer.
We also had good lick fishing the rock reef extending north from the #2 camp (walleye), and caught a 27.5" walleye in the bay 20' out from camp shore. D is another small bay that we caught a ton of smallies in as well as a few pike, right at the Gijikiki portage entrance. #4 camp on Giji was small and somewhat overgrown, but we had fun wading in the shallow of the sandy north shore catching unlimited rock bass.
There is allot of structure to fish for smallies between camps 2 &3 as well.
We did not fish the narrows to the east on Ottertrack. There is also a rock reef extending from the shore north about halfway between C & D that we trolled for walleye, you will easily see this from shore.
On the youtube video at about 2 minutes in they are in area B and A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIMb8I7tgeg

My son and I did the Granite River trip in 2015, and this year we spent 6 days on Red Rock, Alpine and Jasper/Ogish, 2 nights each spot.

From a fishing standpoint, (though we went 3rd week of July both years), we found Red Rock/Alpine/Ogish to be much more productive. SaganagaJoe is right about the walleyes on Alpine at Jasper Falls. Pike and Smallmouth also very cooperative on these lakes, despite being the middle of summer. Also plenty of good campsites on these lakes. Breaking camp just every other day let us maximize fishing time and let us "learn" the lakes a little bit. My son nailed this walleye right from shore on Red Rock:

Thanks Johndku,

Great info to know! What is the aesthetics situation in that area from the burn that occurred years earlier? Which areas were untouched by the fire and don't show the scars from it?

First, I apologize for the Yankees hat my son is wearing, we're from Cleveland area but the Yankees were his little league team.

80% of Red Rock untouched by the fire, only the very south end shows some prior burn activity.

Alpine and Jasper got hit pretty good, but recovering nicely. You can tell you're in a prior burn area there, but campsites didn't seem to get hit as hard and still had enough trees that I had no problem hanging hammocks. Aesthetically it's different, but not unattractive. You just see more rocky terrain and less trees. Alpine has nice island campsites, and on Red Rock we stayed at the site on the west shoreline, about halfway down the lake, (just north of the islands). That site had a nice flat rock area to fish from right in front of the campsite, that's where the picture is from.

Most of Ogish was untouched, only the northern part had some burn. If you pull up the area on google maps and click on the satellite view, you can see the difference pretty well between burn and non-burn areas. I wouldn't let the burn discourage you from this area. I think the burn also helped the blueberry growth, but in June you'll be too early to harvest.

Wonderful info johnkdu! We just need to make your son a Green Bay Packers fan - HA!

Burned areas don't bother me, but my long time canoeing partner likes the pristine wilderness and grumbles some when faced with char. We've camped on Lake Four where it was burnt worse from the Pogami Creek Fire and still had a great trip. Thanks for the heads up on the campsites too.

I still think I'll take my Grandson there first and when I show George the fishing photos from that trip, he'll be all in! When we go out, we base camp and finger out to other lakes and we are usually on the water for 9-10 days.

Johnkdu,

How was the fishing and campsites between Sag Falls and Gneiss Lake? Any specifics you can throw my way? This is where George and I will go this June.

Our best luck there was in the narrow passage where the Granite River flows into Maraboeuf, and around the cluster of 3-4 islands just south of the same narrow passage. Lot of smallies and a few eater walleyes. From Maraboeuf up to Sag Falls we didn't get to fish much, we had an 11:00 a.m. tow from Sag Falls back to the outfitters and had to paddle into a big wind.

If you go further south on this route, we also had some good bass and pike fishing at the bottom of, and a little downstream of Little Rock Falls.

Again, thanks for info, John!

Really appreciate that, John, thanks a lot!

Hey John,
Thinking about heading in that way 3rd week of June this year. How busy is that area and what are the chances of all campsites being full then? We are coming in from Sag.

What/where would you recommend we go to camp if they are full? Appreciate any help you could offer.

David

Not sure how busy it will be in June, but we had not problems finding sites in July.

This might help you though. I asked Debbie, who runs/owns Seagull Outfitters, before out trip on how hard it would be to find an open sight, and her response was that as long as you tripped before the last week of July, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a sight.

I can't remember the exact reason she gave us, I think it had something to do with kid's little league, summer soccer season, etc. (this part is just a guess based on my memory) ending in July, freeing kids up to trip with parents afterwards, and that most Boy Scout trips are in August.