We entered the BWCA at Sawbill, the busiest EP we've used. The wife and I attempt to enter a different entry point each trip. We encountered a lot of traffic and began paddling around 9:30am. We had a group four (two couples).

Paddled to the short portage on the edge of Sawbill leading into Smoke hoping to find a base campsite. If no campsites were available we planned to portage over to Burnt. This portage was a bit difficult to find as it is tucked far into the bay, not visible from the main lake. The portage was also very busy with two groups heading out as we were heading in. It was fairly flat and simple which we managed to single portage. We entered Smoke with low expectations of finding a campsite given all the traffic we've seen. To our surprise we checked three campsites which were all open. We picked a campsite on the east shore for our base-camp.

Fishing was OK, I've had better and I've had worse. We kept 5 walleyes Thurs for a meal. Friday the fish were not biting and only managed one small throwback. After the rain Saturday we managed to get out fishing and bagged a few more eater walleyes. We also caught a mixed bag of bass and northern which were all released.

We had great weather Thurs and Friday, rain Saturday morning until about 1-2pm. We saw a lot of traffic, fishing and canoeing (searching for campsites). Overall it was a great trip with a lot of laughs (as usual). Given the amount of traffic we encountered, it is highly unlikely we'll be using this EP in the future.