Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Remote lakes
|
Author | Message Text | ||
Sparkeh |
Speckled: "Sparkeh: "We stayed at the only campsite on Town lake a couple years ago. We caught a couple 30 plus inch pike in there. Found a rough portage up to cash. The maps on this site show portages from cash to gunstock, cleft and jay lakes. Seems like a pretty isolated area and I bet there are some big fish in them waters. " I did take a walk up to cash lake but did not fish it. It looks nice. No rice that I can remember. Cash is in the burn area but gunstock, cleft and jay are not. To me it looks like that area may have been an old route to long island lake from town. Maybe abandoned after the fire? |
||
Friedguy |
|
||
Dan Cooke |
|
||
Michwall2 |
|
||
Speckled |
Sumpet Lake seems to fit the bill. There's a portage marked on the maps, a quick look at google earth, makes me question how you'd get up that creek to the portage, but interestingly enough it kind of looks like a portage landing on google earth where the map shows it and I could see where you'd finish the portage on the other end...but like who would go there and why? The DNR surveyed it in 1991 - nothing but minnows. I might go there. Maybe jump out of work early some spring day. I kind of want to see the rock feature just to the east of the lake as well. It looks like about as straight of line as you'll find in nature. |
||
cyclones30 |
|
||
cyclones30 |
|
||
papalambeau |
|
||
egknuti |
marsonite: "egknuti: "There's a lake south of Shell Lake called Dogfish Lake. One of my old maps shows a portage from Shell. I thought I found it once, but the trail petered out and I wasn't ready to bushwhack the rest of the way. I'd like to get in there to catch some Dogfish. " What was your route in. I’d be interested in skiing to the lake. |
||
airmorse |
There is actually a campsite on it, but I doubt it has been used. |
||
JLand |
cyclones30: "From west to east.....Jackfish, Sedative (huh?) and Barto all are decent sized lakes off any real routes that sound like fun " Sedative Lake has had visitors but the nearby Solitude Lake I have found no evidence of anyone getting in there in decades |
||
Deeznuts |
fairmatt: "Rangeline and Batista We hiked up there with rods in 2021. Fishing from the campsite we didn't have much luck other than a few small yellow perch, but I have been dreaming of making a week of it and hiking a canoe up there one day. 2023 we did contentment, brigand, and pageant. Getting to brigand was a challenge and we saw no sign that anyone had been through there in a while. Getting down to pageant from there was damn near impossible. Will never go to pageant that way again. Hiking the souix Hustler was way easier. Sometimes these lakes are unexplored or very rarely visited for a reason. I always wanted to check out Auchagah lake right off LLC. I had asked about it in the forum before but no one had been, and the water is some of the bluest in the area (via Google maps satellite images). Wouldn't mind making the bushwack to see what's going on. |
||
redbeardcanoeworks |
I'm interested in Wolfpack lake west of Little Pauness. Looks like a tough spot to get to. |
||
papalambeau |
|
||
soundguy0918 |
|
||
egknuti |
|
||
sns |
|
||
egknuti |
Kendis: "Ferne Lake north of the Perent River. Access from EP 25 Isabella Lake or EP 26 Hog Creek." I used to fish Ferne Lake before the Pagami Creek Fire. The portage was about a mile and was often difficult to follow, but It's a great little lake with good walleye fishing. I have not tried to get there since. I like to try but I usually fly solo and would prefer to have a partner for the bushwhack. |
||
airmorse |
|
||
fairmatt |
Understandably, it seems few have put an extended effort in fishing either of these lakes. Rangeline has a depth map and it looks interesting. |
||
timatkn |
The one I really want to get too is BakeKana near Wisini. My wife and I had this all planned out one year…We were approaching the creek to start the adventure and for whatever reason she just decided she wasn’t up for it…The creek form Wisini was a jumbled mess it looked to be a long trip. I had dreams of a lake filled with lake trout. It is small but has the elevation around it to possibly be a trout lake. We even had a PMA permit in case we wanted to camp on it. We’ll see…maybe someday? I think part of the reason Sara balked is it was an 8 day trip that rained for 10 days :) T |
||
egknuti |
marsonite: "egknuti: "marsonite: "egknuti: "There's a lake south of Shell Lake called Dogfish Lake. One of my old maps shows a portage from Shell. I thought I found it once, but the trail petered out and I wasn't ready to bushwhack the rest of the way. I'd like to get in there to catch some Dogfish. " Yes, the SHT did cross at Elm Portage and went to another trailhead if I remember correctly. Those winter logging roads I have been on, but some years ago the Forest Service bulldozed the road (not sure why). I'll see if I can find another way there-maybe before the snow melts. |
||
TreeBear |
JackpineJim: "Has anyone been to Saddle Lake, northeast of Boze Lake?" I haven't yet. I put it on a future "bushwhack route options" list as a possible route via the waterfowl chain to Mahlberg. The whole Louse/Frost/Lady Chain area is really unique for how much space/how many lakes there are without a route or PMA. |
||
rmp46 |
|
||
marsonite |
egknuti: "marsonite: "egknuti: "There's a lake south of Shell Lake called Dogfish Lake. One of my old maps shows a portage from Shell. I thought I found it once, but the trail petered out and I wasn't ready to bushwhack the rest of the way. I'd like to get in there to catch some Dogfish. " It's been a few years, but I believe I entered from the gravel pit on Range Line Creek off the Echo Trail. Now the map shows the Sioux Hustler Trailhead there...I don't think it was back then. Didn't it used to cross the Indian Sioux at Elm portage? Anyway, I bushwhacked to Woksapiwi Lake and then followed the creek downstream. There were some big beaver dams which made travel pretty easy. I can't remember too much about getting to Woksapiwi but I think the swamp was pretty good travelling. Might have even followed some old winter logging roads. There is a small creek flowing out of Dogfish into Woksapiwi creek which I followed up to the lake. The fire grate was on the left of the outflow. I wonder if it's still there? I believe I then bushwhacked to Shell and took the portage to Pauness. Like I said, this was on crusted spring snow--pretty ideal conditions. Interesting that Woksapiwi has an Native name. It was completely surrounded by bog. Funny they would even name it. |
||
TreeBear |
Dan Cooke: "Been to State lake portaging a Wenonah Whiter Water II and caught a perch. I know of others that have skied in from Winchell. I would like to check out a few of the smaller lakes in that area like Red Eye. I have also Portaged into Tremble and Whiteacre with a solo canoe. The challenge is always a mental game of is the work involved- worth it. " RedEye remains one of the lakes I most want to visit. I have always considered it the highest named lake in the state (unsure if that's totally true, but from what I have seen of the maps, it's the only one above 2k elevation.) I also really want to see Bear between Vermillion and Phantom. The "abandoned" routes fascinate me (as do the abandoned campsites.) That side of the boundary waters also has loads of old logging garbage which can be disheartening at times, but is also a good history lesson. North of Bear, there are a few pine plantations visible. There's also some beaver dams on that creek that, when measured on the airphotos, clock in at 3, 4, and even as high as 7 hundred feet long. I kinda want to see that. My third candidate of strange buswhack lakes I want to see in my lifetime: Canuck. It's that little swampy pond underneath Moose Mountain. Not a lot of water to go around, but who can argue with the topography? As for lakes I feel are unvisited. There is a lake sometimes referred to as Acorn sometimes referred to as Cliff's Pond. It sits, buffered by miles of swamp, west of Manomin and north of Wind. I've always wondered if the folks who named it ever laid eyes on it. And for formerly maintained routes that may not see people ever again, I am tossing Screamer into that list. Long portages to Fishdance and Maniwaki. No real reason to visit other than trying to get from Maniwaki to Fishdance. Bet it's been decades since it has had a visitor (Pagami didn't help.) |
||
Dan Cooke |
|
||
scat |
|
||
TomP |
|
||
TreeBear |
Thrasher (below Thrush) is in the 2070s as is Red Eye. Abita is in the 2050s I think? Lake of the Clouds, so often touted as the highest (for some reason), Is nearly 600 feet below at about 1500 ft in elevation. Ironically, Lake of the clouds is actually well below Gabi in elevation. It's just really prominently perched above Knife. |
||
JackpineJim |
|
||
Kendis |
|
||
egknuti |
|
||
Speckled |
|
||
Mocha |
wonder if red eye is even accessible since the red eye fire? |
||
Dan Cooke |
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/lake.html?id=16019100 Thrush (16019100) ID: 16019100 County: Cook Near: Grand Marais Border Water: No Sentinel Lake: No Size and Depth Area: 14.95 acres Littoral Area: 6.2 acres Shore Length: 0.62 miles Maximum Depth: 48 feet Fish Species: brook trout, lake trout, brook stickleback, fathead minnow, finescale dace, Iowa darter, northern pearl dace, northern redbelly dace Terms and Conditions of Use Fishing Regulations: General » Inland Waters » Special Fishing Regulations: This lake has special fishing regulations that differ from statewide or border water regulations for those species identified below and take precedence. Regulations listed below are currently in place. Visit the fishing regulations page for links to upcoming regulations for specific lakes. Trout: Catch-and-release only. Artificial lures and flies with a single hook only. Use and possession of bait prohibited. Closed to winter fishing. |
||
RatherbeDuffing |
My question is... does anyone has a lake in mind that they have never heard/read getting to in the BWCA? |
||
marsonite |
egknuti: "There's a lake south of Shell Lake called Dogfish Lake. One of my old maps shows a portage from Shell. I thought I found it once, but the trail petered out and I wasn't ready to bushwhack the rest of the way. I'd like to get in there to catch some Dogfish. " I skied there years ago on crusted snow. Interesting thing was there was a fire grate and a latrine dumped in the shore, like the USFS dumped them there by plane and intended to go back and create a campsite. Guessing they never did. Always meant to bushwhack there and try the fishing. |
||
AceAceAce |
|
||
YetiJedi |
|
||
quark2222 |
I posted about Ranger Lake about 10 years ago, and no one could ever find the portage to it. Thus, it is a bushwhack, I guess. Tomster |
||
Sparkeh |
|
||
Speckled |
Sparkeh: "We stayed at the only campsite on Town lake a couple years ago. We caught a couple 30 plus inch pike in there. Found a rough portage up to cash. The maps on this site show portages from cash to gunstock, cleft and jay lakes. Seems like a pretty isolated area and I bet there are some big fish in them waters. " Hopefully - that's always been the thought on my mind when I partake on some crazy adventure into some remote area...more often than not, there's a reason those portages or trails got abandon. Maybe 3 out of 50 remote lakes or streams i've crawled into, has there been anything worthwhile catching. More often it's choke full of tiny northern, wild rice or creek chubs. |