Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Mudro to Crooked tips in late May
|
Author | Message Text | ||
bombinbrian |
I have come back both ways. Coming back up to LBWF you are against a current and if you have a south wind it sucks. The wind funnels through there and will wear you out. If water levels are still low, going up the Horse River will also really suck. Going South out of Crooked is ok, except for that portage to Gun. While most say its not bad, what everyone fails to mention is its uphill for at least half, if not 2/3-3/4 of the way. I'd still go this way versus back up the rivers. |
||
plander |
Walleye below Lower Basswood Falls and where you find flowing current as you head north to Crooked. Minimal people once on Horse River although the campsites below Basswood Falls tend to fill up early and people will spend a few days there fishing. After that you won’t see many people until you get to Boot or Fourtown as you head south out of Friday Bay. Day trip to Curtain Falls and fish below them for Walleye. Two years ago (May 2019) we were on a portage between Friday Bay and Gun heading south and two young guys and dog passed us moving swiftly. They had a day pack....and nothing more gear wise. They said they started at EP23 early that morning and were planning on getting back there and exiting that evening. |
||
pastorjsackett |
Big/Little Current produce fish. Lower Basswood kicked out some, but not what we expected. We stayed at Wednesday, then on our last night in we dropped down to the falls and found a great campsite. It cut a significant amount off our last day paddle which was good because it was straight down rain the whole way. I'm hooked on Crooked now. |
||
newy21 |
|
||
analyzer |
I agree, the mile portage was really one of the easier ones. It's very flat, and darn near a bike path. I liked the peninsula fire pit on the campsite at the north end of gun, although that site may not be big enough for 6 people. We liked the campsite by lower basswood falls too. Caught a nice pike right from Camp. I'm not sure you understood what SNS meant by 1.5 portaging. 1. A,B,C grab a bag and gear each, and go all the way across. 2. DEF grab a bag and gear and carry half way across the portage, and return to beginning to grab canoes. 3. ABC return 1/2 way, and grab the bags/gear that DEF left at the half way point, and carry it the rest of the way across the 2nd half of the portage. 4. DEF walk the full portage with the canoes. So any given portage, each person walks 1.5x the portage under load, and only half a portage without load. |
||
Noslen |
|
||
Bushman |
I would never attempt that again. The reason? Campsite availability. |
||
plander |
|
||
Blatz |
|
||
Jeffrey Bushman |
There is great walleye fishing below Lower basswood falls. If you can make that your first night stop you'll get good afternoon and evening fishing and you won't be as tired trying to make it up to Wednesday or Thursday bay. The second day you could head right up in between Thursday and Friday Bay. The biggest factor will be wind as you can get blown off those big bays rather quickly. Crooked lake is way too cool to just blow through it in my opinion. As far as the coming out of Friday Bay on the return Loop that portage isn't hard. It has one uphill section but it's not really steep. The little lakes after that aren't much to see and we just blow right thru those. Gun lake is nice but also clear so the fishing can be tougher but it's a nice lake. We camped there last year for 2 days. Fourtown has good fishing but can get crowded. |
||
mmrocker13 |
Out of the three ways we've gone in and out (fall/basswood/crooked); horse up thru LBF; or thru gun toward Friday... I hated the Friday trip. Personally think it's the worst (we are single portagers, and quick movers. NOt novices at all, either). We went out that way once, and I prob wouldn't do it again. My preference is a loop in thru Fall with a tow, then out thru horse and pop out the river (or slog out it, like last year :D) and have our car moved to the Mudro EP lot, but in and out of mudro is almost the exact same, time-wise, for us. A horse apiece (heh heh), except with the tow you do have that mile long portage with gear. It's an easy walk, but long (says the moron who slipped, turtled herself with a 90lb pack, and tore her ACL/MCL :D on that same portage :p But it really IS easy.) We can do either and be at our site by early afternoon if we get on the water around 8ish. It does take longer if the river is low, though. Last year coming out was a bit of a slog (we had also planned on staying on horse, but it was full, so patience was a bit thin :D) Fish-wise (we are usually up later in the season--late summer early fall)... we've never found LBF to be super awesome (although the two sites right there are great), but if you get up to the pictos and bounce that stretch of tall cliffs, it's always been productive for us on that end. Up W-Th way, we like Jane current (watch out for the field of rock bass), and Big/Little Current (plentiful walleye, but have always been smaller 12-16 range, typically). There are a couple of flats near the island site in thursday that are productive, as well as the northern border straight out from the site. For walleyes, we've never found a better spot than crooked...which is why we go there all the time :D good volume and good size. BUT i will say... we also discovered that the crappie fishing is excellent, and I know this may be heresy...we prefer eating crappie to walleye. So...if you get bored with the willies, a few fat crappies is a nice changeup. |
||
razinCO |
|
||
TuscaroraBorealis |
Paddling with Padres - A spiritual Exodus adventure |
||
AmarilloJim |
|
||
newy21 |
1st night stay in the bunkhouse, then the plan is to go from Mudro to Crooked in a day through the horse river route and make basecamp just past Wednesday bay. Seemed nice and scenic, not a ton of portages, and water could be high in the river at the time. I saw a lot of people on here recommending the loop and come back through Friday Bay and hit that nasty 1-mile portage. Is there actually some strategy for doing this other than a change of scenery on way back? I mapped both online and the route through Friday bay takes almost an hour and a half more time (I know they are estimates). Just want to know if there is a reason to do this because none of us have done a mile portage yet, maybe we will break our exit journey home into two days or something (usually what we do). Not looking to pay for a tow so please don't suggest...haha. The next tips I need help with are fishing. My main draw to this lake is the walleye fishing which is our number 1 target. We have had good luck with Alice and Thomas in the past, but heard Crooked is amazing in May. I know it really depends on when the walleye spawn/weather, but is this a good time to get some good action (May 22nd-30th)? We were also planning maybe to go after memorial day the following weekend (4th-12th) but not sure. Is earlier better on this lake from your guys' experience? The final thing, are crowds going to be a huge issue at this time? I know this is a popular route, but even in late May? Would this make the week after memorial day weekend better? Just not sure on that end. Thanks for the help guys and go pack go!!! (yes Vikings fans I need your help too) |
||
seekadventure |
As far as fishing, we didnt fish the east side so i cant help you there, and i primarily was after smallmouth. Fishing was really slow the week we went (low 90's all week, in june?!). However, I had good success near the island campsite on the north end of friday bay (site 1871, also where we basecamped) drifting through the narrows and the point on the island across from the site. Walleye's for dinner every night. beware of the monster of the deep that lurks over there |
||
newy21 |
plander: "Some pics of my marked up maps of the area " Wow-thanks for sending this over! We will use it as a guide |
||
ericinely |
Fishing Report Crooked Lake BWCA May 2020 |
||
newy21 |
ericinely: "Here's my write up for that same exact trip in May 2020. We crushed the walleyes for 4 days in late May (especially on Wednesday Bay). We wanted to spend as much time fishing Friday Bay and didn't want to paddle back against the current on both the Horse river and Crooked, so we took the route with the mile portage. Wednesday Bay upstream likely wouldn't have been too terrible, but with the super low water levels the Horse River upstream would have been really tough/frustrating. Don't fear long portages, they always bring you to areas where there are fewer people. Be a little smarter packing, and on the way out it shouldn't be too difficult to single-portage. Thanks for the advice-I actually already came across your report online and I think that sealed the deal for me in which route to go haha. Glad to hear that portage isn't that bad, it will be better now that we have grown into smarter campers of course. Hope the water levels aren't too bad. |
||
ericinely |
|
||
sns |
Even for strong young bodies, that's a long day one. Possible, but seekadventure's comments on those pullovers are a bit concerning. You would gain considerable time if you can pull off 1.5 portaging. I would expect good crowds either timeframe. |
||
newy21 |
|
||
newy21 |
seekadventure: "We did that exact route last summer. There was 6 of us and we double portaged everything. If you plan on double portaging i think it would be too tall of a task to get all the way to other side of Wednesday bay. On day one we ended up camping on site 1546 where the horse river spills in to the basswood river. We were there in mid June and the river (and surrounding lakes) were down a good two feet. This resulted in an additional ~10 pullovers on the horse river. I think the rumor going around (at the time) was a new beaver damn choked off the inlet of the mudro chain (i could be wrong). Maybe get an update on water levels right before you go and plan accordingly, we definitely were shocked. I would suggest to have a backup plan or a sight picked out near basswood falls for day 1, it will give you more time to appreciate them. From just north of wednesday bay, it would absolutely be a two day trip back through the fourtown loop route. The mile portage is actually quite easy, outside of the length. its pretty flat and well worn, almost like a maintained hiking trail. That is crazy with those temps! We will try to hit multiple bays the week we are there then make our way to our 2 day trip down through Friday. Maybe take a campsite near friday. |
||
cyclones30 |
|
||
tbro16 |
I double portaged in on the horse and made it to Basswood falls in 10 or so hours. Again, solo, so you guys should make better time. On the way back I took the other route through gun and boot. Had a REAL stiff wind in my face the whole trip, made it an absolute miserable day of paddling. Took about 14 hrs and I was as exhausted as I had ever been. |
||
SurlyDude |
One big thing to keep in mind is how quickly those permits go, if you aren't flexible on entry day take no chances and be in there first thing to book. |
||
SurlyDude |
|