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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: EP14 Early Spring

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n8roar

01/04/2025 11:25AM

Long time traveler, potential first trip up EP14 and Little Indian Sioux North. We have a seasoned group of six(3 canoes)

Few questions:
1. Best campsites for six on upper/lower Pauness.
2. Is devils cascades flowing in lower P lake or dumping out toward loon Lake.
3. With the walking trail will it be crowded?
4. How is fishing on Pauness? Also looking for big pike for sport and walleye for dinner
What about fishing river up to loon Lake and loon lake itself?
5. Best inexpensive camera/GoPro/phone App to take night sky star pictures.

Any additional trip advice.

Thanks in advance!
N8roar

egknuti

01/04/2025 05:07PM

I’d make an effort to camp on Shell, Heritage or Lynx. This will provide you with better options for fishing. All three lakes are excellent walleye lakes. Shell would be your lake for trophy pike. This area can be busy, but you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a nice site. There are a couple of good sites on Lynx and many on Shell. If you stay on Pauness you’ll be disappointed with fishing. Devil’s Cascade flows into Loon but I haven’t fished Loon. Loon will have boat traffic.

n8roar

01/05/2025 08:23AM

Thanks everyone! Good info. Keep the info coming. Any thoughts best way to get pics of the night sky

Deeznuts

01/05/2025 05:13AM

I've done the EP a few times and it's my favorite. If you make the push to Hustler you will have quite a secluded trip. With 2 long portages on either side not many people venture that way. You could do lynx the first day for your walleye and then Hustler the second. Hustler is a great lake for pike and is not heavily fished like you may find closer to the EP. The fishing on the pauness' never really panned out for me but the site on the point across from the shell portage (#43) was one of the bigger ones I found and would easily accommodate a group of your size.
Depending on how far you wanted to travel, if you're basecamping, if you want to move every day. We did a few 50+ mile loops through there and covered a lot of ground, but it's definitely hard to fish if you're moving all

YetiJedi

01/04/2025 09:56PM

Egnuti is right and I second the comments.

Here are a few thoughts on specific campsites.

Site 38 on Upper Pauness is your best option and site 36 is probably a close second. Site 37 would work. The other two would not work, IMHO.

Site 43 on Lower Pauness is the best bet for your group. I haven't been in the other campgrounds but you can read the reviews on this site to get an idea.

Loon has a number of good options but you will be dealing with motor boats.

Fishing on Pauness has always been slow for me. Maybe a little better on Loon but I only fished that lake when I'm paddling through.

As Egnuti noted, much better fishing on Lynx, Heritage, and Shell. You'll find several reports on this site with tips and suggestions. I've always caught fish on these three lakes - two different trips and fishing several days each time. No trophies for me...yet!