Quetico Spring Fishing with Adam Macht

I just got back from a week-long trip into Quetico.  We did some exploring but spent the bulk of the trip fishing on Argo and McIntrye.  The lake trout fishing was fantastic.  Our best success came trolling crank baits that dove 15’ – 30’ (my favorite was the Rapala Deep Diving Tail Dancer).

A lure with a white or silver flash seemed to be most effective.  I had good response with a Norman Shad lure as well.  There were times throughout the trip that a jig with a 4” white minnow (artificial) was very productive.  We had plenty of fish to eat!  Interestingly, in one of the fish we caught to eat, it’s belly was full of flying ants (I should have taken a picture!!).  I had never seen this before.  They must have been coming to the surface to pick the ants off the water.  It was unique, and might explain why the bite was a little slower that day.

Argo Lake 

Foggy Morning on McIntyre

Morning on Argo

Solo sunrise on McIntyre

Overall, the trip was great.  We had great campsites on Argo and McIntyre, and the only canoe we saw was a family of 4 with 2 small kids.  It was so quiet and peaceful, and it is always fun to spend a week with good friends in Quetico.  I hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful wilderness up here!

Adam Macht

Piragis Outfitting

800-223-6565

SPRING WEEK IN QUETICO

Spring Trout Trip              

When four adult, slightly past middle age, guys, get together for a camping trip you know there will lots of jokes, jabs and jabbering.  The great thing about a boyz trip to the Quetico for lake trout is the chance to be little boys again or a primitive hunting party or some combination thereof.   At these ripe ages there less bragging and less muscle testing and a lot more dependence of each other and modesty, the result of what little wisdom that has been gained over so many years.  All for the better to have more fun,  take fewer portages and prepare a few good meals that men have garnered from years of watching their wives. 

This was a laid back, no worries about catching a lot of fish and happy to be out, kind of trip we did last week to the fabled North Bay of Basswood Lake in Quetico Park.   It was the week before fishing opener in Minnesota and two weeks before the same in Ontario.  Lake Trout is the only species that we could keep that were in season.   When we caught a smallmouth bass and a walleye, both handsome specimens, they had to go right back in the lake.   The lakers were playing hard to get on us.  We trolled a lot of water at different depths and saw some great scenery, absorbed too much solar radiation on the hands, ears and nose but rarely had to reel up lunker lakers.   Actually, there were no lunkers caught last week.  The bay was cold and calm most of the 5 days we were there but she was pretty stingy with the red fleshed trout. 

When a lake trout was landed it was meant for the pan and the meals were exceptional.   I made a first for me; trout tacos.   It was just snap decision while hiking the isles of Zup’s grocery in Ely the day before the trip to buy cole slaw mix and dressing and some real big soft taco shells.   I just breaded strips of trout cut off the filets and fast fried them laying them in the taco with some fried cubed potatoes and onion topped with juicy cole slaw.  It seemed to be a hit among the four men cooking around the campfire.    One of my chums for another trout dinner baked his filets over the fire in aluminum foil with butter and onions; another big success story for the guys.   We spent time contemplating how much water to use for oatmeal and whether or not the pork loin over the fire was cooked enough or if a little pink was now ok to serve America’s other white meat.   With the occasional sip of box wine from a plastic bag details of cooking were more easily worked out.  

Perhaps the most solemn moment of the trip was the scattering of the ashes of one of our fathers who passed away recently.  Jack was a friend to all, a great hockey coach and a bit of an old curmudgeon but renowned for his unique expressions and liberal use of language that would be bleeped out on TV.   Not that Jack was on TV but he a star to those of us who knew him.  If you knew Jack you always smiled when his name was mentioned.  He did some fishing up north and he loved to visit Ely with his wife Ann to see what their son was doing now to live the life of a modern entrepreneur woodsman.  Like father, like son, Steve managed to scatter a few choice words in every conversation we had last week.  It’s a loose group when the men that are still boys at heart, make a trip to the woods to catch lake trout in spring.   Enjoy the photos and come up soon. 

Quetico Canoe Trip May 17-24

Though I am lucky enough to get into the Boundary Waters many times throughout the summer, I get just one big trip a year.  In the spring, a group of outfitting guys and I head to a remote spot in Quetico and then paddle back to the Ely area.  This year’s crew was Wade and his dog Paula, Vidmar aka BLD aka Born to Rest, Brandon, and me and my dog Agnes.  Planning for this year’s trip began about 362 days (give or take) prior to our departure.  (We spend the last day or two of our trips starting to plan the next one.)  I believe we were floating down Agnes Lake last spring when we decided we wanted to venture into the rarely used Cache Lake in the northeastern part of Quetico.

Trying to get our schedules to match so we can meet before the trip is nearly impossible.  Brandon was in southern MN going to school and Vidmar lives about an hour away from Ely.  We weren’t all together as a group to plan until the day we left for our trip.  Luckily for us, Vidmar is our food guy, and no joke, he starts packing/planning for our food in January.  This is how he acquired the nickname “BLD,” short for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.  The rest of the logistics are easy, but it is really nice not to have to worry about the food.

We had arranged a driver to take us east of Atikokan to French Lake.  At the last minute he was unable to take us.  A few hours of panic and a bunch of phone calls later I was able to get one of our new staff Pat to drive us north.  Our crew met Pat at 10:30 on May 16 to depart for Canada.  We loaded up two Minnesota II’s and packed the van full of our gear and fishing rods.  After adding a few last minute incidentals we were all set to go.  Two dogs, our crew of four, and our driver Pat were on our way north.

After an uneventful drive we made it to the French Lake area where we camped outside of the park.  The drive took a little over 5 hours so Pat stayed with us for the night.  He is one of the new guys in outfitting, so it was nice to have him along and get to know him a little better.  We cooked some brats and shared some stories.  This was our first time together as a group so we discussed our route and our plan for the trip in a little bit more detail as we sat next to the campfire.

The morning came quickly.  We waved goodbye to Pat and hit the water.  We put in on French Lake and headed for Baptism Creek.  We had a beautiful morning to paddle.  There was only a slight breeze and it was cool on the lake.  Our first day was definitely going to be the most challenging day of the trip.  We had roughly 12 miles to travel, including a 795 rod portage. 

Loaded and ready to go!

Navigating the Baptism Creek was difficult; there were a bunch of confluences in the river and it was nearly impossible to tell where we were on the map.  To add to our difficulty, neither map set showed all of the little channels running off of the main waterway.  Our best means of navigation was simply to pay attention to our direction of travel.  We knew we had to head south so we did our best to keep the sun on our left shoulder.  It was difficult to tell, though, since the river meandered so much.  We could, however, tell that our general direction of travel was south, and that is the way we wanted to go.  At one point, we took a wrong turn, but realized quickly that the sun was in our face, not to our left.  We turned around, and found the right path, losing only about 15 minutes.

After a few hours of navigating the river, slogging our way along, we made it to Baptism Lake.  We paddled through and found the short portage over to Trousers Lake.  The paddle across Trousers was quick and easy, unlike the next portage.

We got to the most southern point of Trousers Lake and found the 795 rod portage into Cache Lake.  At this point it was a little after 1:00 and we decided to break for lunch (mostly to lighten the packs a little).  Vidmar broke out his world famous blueberry bagel with salami and cheese sandwiches.  We sat and ate with great anticipation, not knowing what the portage had in store for us.

We finished lunch and each grabbed a pack.  The dogs had their packs on and were thrashing around with one another, not knowing about the arduous task ahead.  Wade was the machete man and Brandon had a saw.  It wasn’t 40 rods when we ran into our first deadfall.  Brandon took care of it.  We trudged our way along, clearing the trail as we went along.  Brandon and Wade did an awesome job clearing the path.  A little over one hundred rods in, I decided to head back and grab a second load.  (I felt it would be more productive than watching those guys clear the trail.)  Vid and I went back and grabbed another load to give our trailblazers a bit of a head start.  Eventually, we came to a creek that ran across the portage.  Based on the map we determined that we must be about half way across.  At this point, we decided to get all of our gear to the creek.

Agnes and Paula all packed up!

The creek was not half way!  I think it was just wishful thinking on our part.  We continued along, clearing the trail and hauling the gear for what seemed like hours—it was hours.  The sand flies were out and were only a minor inconvenience to me, but poor Agnes had red welts all over her belly.  Eventually, exhausted, we saw water.  We were still about 30 rods away (which doesn’t sound like a lot, but at this point seemed insurmountable).  I grit my teeth and pushed ahead.  I was relieved to finally get to the lake, but my joy was short lived, as I turned right around to go back for my second load.  I walked back to the creek and threw a canoe on my shoulders and walked what must have been about 500 rods to the lake.  Needless to say, we took a short break at the landing when we arrived.  The dogs caught a much needed nap while we rested.

Once we regained enough strength to get the canoes back in the water, we headed for our camp site on Cache Lake.  The wind was howling.  We found a decent spot on a point and set up camp.  The site was not great, but we were too tired to worry about it.  We ate dinner, started a fire, and each found a comfy spot to unwind (from which we hardly moved for the rest of the night).  We were happy to be done with the longest portage of the trip, but first thing in the morning, we had a 765 rod hike out of Cache Lake.

Brandon, Vid, and I trying to muster a smile after a long day.  Yes, we were as tired as we looked, and so were the poor dogs.

We got up in the morning with intentions of fishing for a bit on Cache Lake.  After some deliberation, we decided against fishing.  It took us about 4 hours to do the portage the day before and this one was not too much shorter.  We thought it would be best to just get a move on—plus we decided we would rather spend more time fishing on Kawnipi once we got there.  It was a quiet morning; everyone was a little tired and a little sore, and not really looking forward to duplicating what we had done the day before.

Cache Lake

We paddled across Cache Lake and found the portage.  We loaded up the dogs, each grabbed a pack, and started where we left off the day before.  This time Wade was the ax man, I had the machete, and Brandon was still using the saw.  About 100 feet in, we hit our first deadfall—not a good omen.  It was no match for Wade’s ax.  He took care of the big stuff with the ax, and I cleared the smaller stuff away with the machete.  For the giant, or hard to reach trees and limbs, Brandon used the saw.  It was slow going, and we cleared a ton of stuff from the trail, but we were making progress.  At one point, we decided to sit and take a break.  Vidmar broke out some granola bars and some cookies—good old BLD!  We were burning a ton of calories and the sugar was definitely important to keep us going.  We continued ahead and stopped at what we determined must be at least halfway.  The previous day, having more left than we anticipated, was mentally exhausting.  So this time, we were sure we were at least halfway.  We headed back and brought the rest of the gear to our checkpoint, where we took another breather.  It was back to trail clearing, as we continued forward.  Eventually, we saw water.  By this point, I was wiped, but the sight of the water was rejuvenating.  I went back for my last load and finished strong.

There were a few black flies on the portage.

Overall our crew did great.  I was glad I was with such a great group of guys, otherwise, these long portages would have been torturous.  In the end, the portages themselves were not difficult; they were just long.  We were happy they were over, but also glad that we had challenged ourselves to do them.  They were beautiful walks through the woods, and it was neat to be the first people up there for the year.  If you are feeling like a challenge, the trails are clear for you!

Now that the hardest part of our trip was behind us, we were looking forward to continuing on.  The long portage took us to Lindsay Lake.  It was a short paddle across the lake where we came to a short 6 rod portage.  At this point, the last thing we wanted was another portage, but we mustered up the strength to go the short distance into McKenzie Lake.

We paddled for a little over an hour and found a nice campsite on a big island.  It was early when we set up camp, but we were tired from the last two days and were right about where we wanted to be, so we decided to call it a day.  We got camp together and gathered some firewood.  It was pretty warm and I was filthy from the portage so I jumped in for a short swim.  The water was freezing, but it felt great to rinse off.  By now it was dinner time.  Wade started a fire, while I warmed up some chili Vid had made.  It was heavy to carry, but so worth it.  Man was it good!  We quickly cleaned up camp and found our spots for the evening.  It was beginning to get dark and it looked like there may be some rain in the distance.  As we sat, the stars came out.  We could see a storm to our south and another one to the north, but overhead, it was clear.  Vids headed off to bed, but Brandon, Wade and I stayed up for a while looking at the stars overhead and watching the storms in the distance.  It was a great evening and very relaxing—much needed after the tough start to our trip.

The water temp was in the low 50's.  It was cold, but felt great.

Wade making a few casts on McKenzie Lake.

We slept in.  We needed to catch up on some rest, and we didn’t have too far to go.  We wanted to get from our spot on McKenzie Lake to the southern part of McKenzie Bay of Kawnipi.  We left camp at 11.  There was a steady breeze in our face, but nothing too difficult.  We pushed ahead, did the half mile portage into Kawnipi and continued paddling south.  We found a great campsite on a big island just before you leave McKenzie Bay.  It was up on a high rock and there were at least 4 well made fire pits.  Big red pines covered part of the island, while cedars covered the other part.  There were a ton of tent pads, a nice flat rock to cook on, and just about everything you could dream of at a wilderness campsite.  It rivals the campsite on Montgomery Lake if you are familiar with that one.

Campsite on McKenzie Bay of Kawnipi

Once we had camp set up, Brandon, Wade, the dogs, and I went out to fish for a while.  We tried the islands near our campsite.  We picked up a couple of small northerns and a few decent walleyes, but the fishing wasn’t great.  We stayed out for a little over an hour and headed back to camp to start dinner.  It looked like it was going to rain later in the evening so Brandon and Wade set up our tarp, while Vids and I started campfire pizzas.  The pizzas are a treat on trail, but they are time consuming.  Just as we were finishing supper it started to sprinkle.  We set up a second tarp to give us a little space in anticipation of a heavy rain.  As we sat comfortably under the tarp, we decided that we were going to take the next day as a layover day to fish.

It rained all night and continued to rain into the morning.  We stayed nice and dry in our tent, and I would have stayed in there all day, but the dogs were up.  I got up, took the dogs out, and started some water for breakfast.  Eventually everyone climbed out of the tents.  We stayed dry under the tarps for a while, but as my dad always says, “If you are waiting on rain, you will never go fishing.”  The fish weren’t going to catch themselves so we hit the water.

Wade with a nice walleye on the first cast.  Notice the blue tinted fin.

A dog's eye view of canoeing on our layover day after the rain broke.

Vids is not much of a fisherman, so he stayed behind and hung out at camp.  We had two dogs and three guys in a Minnesota II.  It worked great, but was a bit of circus until the dogs settled in.  (Brandon, being the new guy on our trip, got defaulted to being the duffer.)  Wade picked up two nice walleyes first thing.  Shortly after, Brandon hooked up with a big fish.  He fought it for a bit, his drag screaming.  At this point, we hadn’t seen the fish yet, but narrowed it down to a monster walleye or a big pike.   Finally, Brandon got the fish to come up to the surface.  Being in the middle of the boat, he couldn’t see it—just the expressions on our faces.  Our jaws dropped and Brandon knew he had a big one on.  All we could see was the head of a real nice pike slowly rising from the depths.  Brandon guided the beast to Wade, who was able to release the fish in the water.  We didn’t take exact measurements, but it was definitely over 40” and at least 15 pounds (if I had to guess I would say 44” and around 20 pounds).

After the chaos settled down and the dogs relaxed, we continued fishing as it continued raining.  We had some spotty luck all day, catching a few walleyes and bunch of small pike.  It wasn’t the best fishing that we ever had, but we did catch a nice stringer full of walleye.  By late afternoon the rain stopped.  We were still a ways from our campsite, but we made a small fire to warm up and dry off the best we could (this is okay in Quetico, not the BWCA though).  We fished our way back to camp and met up with Vidmar who had been napping all day.  Brandon and Vids made dinner while Wade and I gathered some firewood and started the campfire.  We settled into camp and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Vids watching us paddle back to the campsite.

A calm evening after the rain on McKenzie Bay.

Vids and I standing next to the fire.

We were up relatively early the next morning, ate breakfast and broke camp.  We paddled east on Kawnipi towards the Falls Chain.  Kawnipi is an incredible lake.  It has many beautiful rock cliffs and is surrounded by an extremely healthy forest.  It was a beautifully sunny day and there was a gentle breeze in our face.  This is the first time in 4 days that we saw other people.

Wade and Vids paddling on Kawnipi.

Brandon and I paddleing on Kawnipi.  It was a gorgeous day!

When we made it to the eastern most part of Kawnipi, the start of the Falls Chain, there is a small waterfall.  We stopped at the base of the falls and made a few casts.  Brandon and I both hooked up with nice smallies.  There is nothing like catching a double of 18” smallies!  We pulled over to the portage and continued fishing.  Wade, Brandon, and I caught football sized smallies one after another for about an hour.  Meanwhile, Vids took a nap—hence the nickname Born to Rest.  He is one of the only guys I know who would sleep while we caught huge smallies one after another, but that’s the beauty of the Boundary Waters; there is something for everyone out there.

Wade with a fat smallie.

We continued up the Falls Chain.  There were a bunch of people camped in the area and I can’t blame them.  It is absolutely beautiful.  We fished at the base of each falls when we came to them, but didn’t really have too much luck—nothing like the falls going into Kawnipi.  We made it to Saganagons and set up camp on a nice island with some huge red pines and spent the evening relaxing.

The next morning we got up early headed for the Man Chain.  We went from Saganagons to Slate, Fran, Bell, Bit, a small lake with no name and then into Other Man Lake.  There was a light rain most of the day and a modest wind, but it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.  Other Man Lake was an emerald green color.  I have never seen a lake that was so distinctly green.  It was pretty incredible.  We continued along the Man Chain, huge rock walls on both sides.  There were not too many great campsites along this stretch.  The high rock walls didn’t leave much room to put a nice campsite.  I am not much of a cliff jumper but I imagine if you are into that sort of thing you would be able to find a couple of spots in this area.  The three portages from Other Man Lake to This Man Lake were very neat.  There were a ton of cedars trees and big chunk rocks near high rock walls.  I would have to say these are some of the neatest and most scenic portages I have ever been on.  We found a decent campsite on the western end of This Man Lake where we set up for the night.

The green water of Other Man Lake.

A portage on the Man Chain.

Brandon and Vids cooking at our campsite on That Man Lake.

The next day our target was to get as close to the border as possible so we would have a short paddle out.  We moved into Sheridan Lake and passed a couple of campers on a nice high campsite overlooking the lake.  We continued on to Carp Lake.  We did the portage from Carp to Birch when we ran into a group of college kids.  Their stuff was laid out on the rocks, soaking wet.  It wasn’t raining, though it looked like we were going to get some soon, so they obviously went into the drink.  They didn’t say much, but did mention that they had a problem and asked if we had any advice for them.  There is a channel that runs from Carp Lake into Birch Lake.  They were headed north and instead of taking the portage tried to line their canoes up the river.  I am not sure exactly how, but one of the aluminum boats got away from them and got wrapped around a rock in the river.  The bow and the stern were full of water and the boat was bent nearly in half.  They tried, but were unable to unwedge the boat from the rocks. 

It was about midday and we only had a couple more miles to go so we offered to help.  We got a long, strong pine pole and used it as a lever to try to pry the boat off the rock.  At first, it didn’t seem like we were making any progress.  I worked the lever back and forth until exhaustion and was able to move the boat enough to drain some of the water out.  Brandon took over for a while, and then Wade.  Finally, we were able to free it from the rock.  We had positioned Vids downstream to catch the canoe after we got it off the rock.  Vids snagged the boat and held it in the stream.  Brandon and I waded out there to help him haul the boat out of the water.  We carried it through the woods and took it down to the Birch Lake end of the portage.  The boat never took the original form, but we were able pop it back into floatable shape.   Where the boat was bent it had cracked and would definitely leak.  At this point, it started raining.  Before they could go anywhere, we had to stop the holes from leaking.  Duct tape would not stick because of the rain, so we had to come up with another solution.  We took a few plastic bags and stuffed them in the holes, along with, believe it or not, bubble gum.  We then taped all the way around the boat and stuck the duct tape to itself.  Finally, I had a strap that we wrapped over the duct tape to help hold it tight.  We put the boat in the water and there was only one small leak where one of the rivets on the bottom had popped out—nothing a sponge wouldn’t take care of.  We couldn’t believe that the tape, bags, gum and strap were able to make that boat float, but it did.  They had a satellite phone and called for someone to come help them get out.  We made sure they made it to a campsite and wished them luck.  They were very thankful and happy to have a boat that floats again.  This is a nice reminder that the portages are there for a reason.  Thankfully, they made it out ok and no one got hurt.

Literally patching the hole with bubble gum.  We couldn't believe it worked.

Meanwhile, it had been raining the whole time.  Soaked, we continued paddling on Birch towards the nearest campsite on the Canadian side.  We found a decent spot, set up a tarp, and tried to get out of the rain.  No one really felt like cooking so we had a mish-mash of snacks, GORP, and crackers for supper.  We spent most of the evening huddled under the tarp trying to remain somewhat dry and talking about where we were going to go for next year’s trip.  The rain never quit, and wet, we headed into the tents for the night.

We woke up early the next morning to a steady rain.  Still wet from the night before, we paddled the Moose Lake Chain, against a steady wind, back to my truck that was there waiting for us. 

Overall, we had an outstanding trip, traveling roughly 60 miles by boat and about 8.75 miles by land (not including the fact that we double portaged).  The only negative part of the trip was that we had to come home, but there is always looking forward to next year’s trip—maybe the Darky and Argo area.  If you are going on a trip this summer I hope you have as much fun as we did!  If you can’t make it this summer, it’s never too early to start planning for 2013.

Our crew on our last morning in Quetico.

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.  I would love it if you would share your trip with us.  Either comment below or shoot me an email. 

Pleasant Adventures,

Adam

2011 Spring Quetico Trip: Beaverhouse to Moose Lake

Like many of you, I am starting to look forward to next year’s Boundary Waters trips. Realizing that my next canoe adventure is still roughly six months away, I thought it might be fun to share my 2011 trips with you. It is my hope that after reading, you will share your 2011 adventures with us. Enjoy!

I get out into the wilderness many times each summer, but the trip I look forward to most is the Quetico trip I take in the spring. This year Zane, Wade, and Vidmar (aka BLD) from the outfitting crew, Josh a good friend of Wade’s, and I made up our motley crew. The plan was to get a ride up to Beaverhouse Lake and paddle our way back to our parked car at the Moose Lake landing.

May 21, 2011

We met at 6:00AM by the outfitting barn at Piragis. We are lucky to have a couple of great friends who were willing to drive us the 4 or so hours that it takes to get up to Beaverhouse and then another 4 hours back home. Of course we made it worth their time, but their generosity doesn’t go unappreciated.

I am not sure what time we got to Beaverhouse. I was too excited to remember look at the clock in the van, and a watch is one thing I don’t carry with me when I am escaping into the woods. We made the short portage to the lake, said goodbye to our drivers, and hit the trail.

It was overcast, cool, and we had a pretty strong wind coming from the east. Paddling south from the put-in to the ranger station was a bit of challenge as we had a crosswind pushing us the whole way. We made it to the ranger station without incident, got the necessary permits and payments taken care of, and then were off to the heart of the Quetico wilderness.

We like to fish, but our route requires us to move a fair distance each day. The first day is usually a travel day, and this time was no different. It had to be a little after noon when we left the Ranger Station. Our plan was to get onto Quetico Lake and travel as far east towards Jean Lake that we could.

By now, the wind was whipping out of the east directly into our faces. Zane and I were in a Minnesota II and we were doing all we could to keep up with the other guys who were in a Minnesota 3. That extra paddler in a Minnesota 3 makes a big difference, especially paddling in the wind. Slowly, but surely, we made our way east. We paddled until the sun began to sink behind us in the western sky. We found a really great campsite on an odd shaped peninsula and decided to set up our first camp.

Vidmar, our food guru, aptly nicknamed BLD (short for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), started getting the fixings dinner together, while I built him a cooking fire. Zane worked on setting up our tent, while Josh and Wade looked for more firewood. Camp gets set up so smoothly when everyone pitches in.

We had just enough twilight to finish our dinner of steaks, potatoes, and cookies without our headlamps. I am not sure if it was the long day or Vidmar’s food packing expertise, but steaks have never tasted so delicious. After eating, we got a small fire going, cleaned up the dishes, and discussed our travel plans for the next day. It was an early night. We traveled a long ways, considering we started the day back in Ely.

May 22, 2011

I was up with day break. It was cool and overcast, but it didn’t look like any rain was in the mix. I could hear Vidmar stirring around in his tent, but everyone else was sleeping. I started boiling some water for coffee, and shortly after, Vidmar came out of his tent and started getting breakfast together. Slowly the rest of the crew emerged from their tents. Everyone grabbed a little coffee (except for me, I don’t drink coffee) and a quick breakfast.

We started to tear down camp and before we knew it, we were all loaded up and back into our canoes. After our evening discussion about the route, we decided this was going to be a travel day as well. We wanted to get as close to the Sturgeon Narrows as we could. We were not in a hurry, but the main focus of the day was moving.

From our campsite, we continued east and then south towards Conk Lake. We took the short portage into Conk, which was a small lake, but very interesting. It is almost separated into two smaller lakes by a marshy area. We didn’t investigate the west side of the lake as we wanted to continue moving. From Conk, we took another short portage into Jean Lake.

Jean Lake was beautiful. We had it all to ourselves, but we were not in explorer mode. We kept pushing east from Jean into Little Jean Lake. From Little Jean, we took the short portage into Yeh Lake. We stopped here and had a quick lunch of cheese, sausage, and crackers.

The portage out of Yeh Lake is a little difficult to find. It is actually located a little bit further south than it appears on the map. We were not the only ones who had trouble finding it. We could see a spot on the shoreline where many people have landed their boats by mistake.

The portage from Yeh into Lonely Lake was a little challenging. It was 300 rods and there was a little bit of elevation change, some swampy areas, and overall, quite difficult. It was worth it though. We saw some really huge white pines along the way and it was a beautiful walk through the woods. People often fret about the portages, but I always try to remind them to enjoy the walk through the woods. It’s a nice break from sitting in the canoe and the trails go through intensely beautiful natural areas. It really is one of my favorite parts of a canoe trip.

Once on Lonely, we head east, and then south to Lonely Creek, and from there onto the north part of the large body of Sturgeon Lake. By now, it had to be after dinner time as we were all getting hungry and tired. There would be no more portaging for the day so we got our fishing poles out to see if we could add some fresh fish to dinner. We fished our way east and a little south towards the campsite on the north side of Scripture Island. I caught a couple of small pike that were not worth cleaning and Zane caught a few small smallmouth bass, again too small to clean. Our boat made it to the campsite without anything for dinner. About 10 minutes behind us was the rest of the crew with two medium sized Lakers! I knew they would be good on the fire. Wade caught one and Josh the other.

It wasn’t the best site, but we were able to make due. It was a big sloping rock, but once you made it up the rock a ways there were a few nice spots to pitch a tent. Just as the night before, we each took a chore or two upon ourselves to get camp set up quickly. I grilled the Lakers and Vidmar prepared the rest of dinner. Josh, Wade, and Zane got the tents set up, gathered some fire wood, and set up a tarp because it looked like it was going to rain. Exhausted, we ate and sat by the fire for a while. Just as it began getting dark, it started to lightly rain, which meant it was time for bed.

May 23, 2011

There was a light rain for most of the night, just enough to make the ground damp when I walked out of the tent in the morning. Vidmar was already up with his tent mostly down. Wade and Josh were stirring and Zane quickly made his way out of the tent. Everyone seemed to be energized by the cool morning air. We quickly got breakfast and coffee, took down camp and hit the water. The sun was still low in the eastern sky as we paddled away from our campsite.

Today was the day we were looking forward to for exactly 364 days, since the last time we were in this part of Quetico Park. We were headed mostly north and a little east through Sturgeon Narrows and into Russell Lake. We had some of the best fishing I can remember through this stretch the year before.

We left camp fishing poles armed and ready. We had no real destination for the day; we were just going to ‘fish’ our way along and get however far that took us. We started fishing almost immediately. I was trolling an F-11 black and silver Rapala. I had a chartreuse and orange jig tipped with a pearl twister tail on my other rod for casting. Zane was spot casting for smallies with a sinking worm on a wide gap worm hook.

We paddled slowly, trolling the shoreline. When either Zane or I picked out a good spot I slowed us and he worked the area for smallies. Meanwhile, I would toss my jig down to the bottom. We did this for almost an hour, slowly making our way up into the Sturgeon Narrows, when finally, I had a strike. It was a small pike, but it was the first fish of the day. The ice was broken.

We caught a few fish as we passed through the Narrows. The channel between Russell Lake and the Narrows produced a couple of walleyes, but the current was moving much faster than it had in years past so it didn’t produce quite like we had hoped. We stopped for lunch on at a spot where we could fish into a deep hole with a little current running through. We devoured some GORP, jerky, cheese, crackers, and sausage and were able to pull a couple of decent sized walleyes out of the hole.

At this point we had a decision to make. We wanted to camp on Montgomery Lake at some point during this trip. It was not a priority, but if possible, we wanted to check it out. From where we were, and where we needed to get to make it out on time, we either needed to push for Montgomery right away, or we would have to skip it as it would not work logistically. After a bit of discussion, we decided to go for it.

This changed our fishing strategy a little, as we now had a pretty good distance to travel over the afternoon. Rather than ‘fishing’ our way along, we now decided to only try for walleyes, and only as we approached spots that we couldn’t pass up.

If you look at the map, in the area between Russell and Montgomery, part of the Poet’s Chain, the lakes are separated by a significant elevation change and a series of waterfalls. These falls are where we would focus our fishing.

This is one of my favorite spots in the wilderness. It is absolutely gorgeous. The falls are incredible. You are complete secluded. The fishing is superb. I do not have the words to adequately describe it.

First was Chatterton Falls. We pulled about a dozen good sized walleyes, a couple of 4+ pound smallies, and a couple of pike out of there. Next, after taking the difficult portage from Russell to Chatterton, was Split Rock Falls. Here again, we pulled up a bunch of great walleyes and couple of smallies. Then, it was over the portage, into Keats, another breathtakingly beautiful lake. Between Keats and Shelley Lake was Snake Falls and Have a Smoke Portage.

If you have never been here before it is something you definitely need to check out. There is a big rock, overlooking the eastern half of Keats. It is the perfect spot to relax with a great view of the lake and have a smoke, hence the name. We thought it appropriate to take a break and enjoy some cheap cigars. The view was stupendous, the company fantastic. It is moments like that these that make our time in the wilderness so special.

We could have stayed there for hours, enjoying the view, and catching fish from underneath the falls, but the sun was sinking in the sky and we still had a few miles to go. We finished our cigars, packed the fishing poles away, and made our way across the portage into Shelley Lake. Shelley Lake is a narrow loop around a large island. It is very interesting and beautiful. We stayed to the north of the island and headed directly for Montgomery Lake.

We found the short portage. By this time it was just starting to get dark. We were on Montgomery Lake, but the campsite we were looking for was not on the map, and none of us had been there before. We had a good idea of where it was, but it would not be easy to find in the dark. Zane and I paddled ahead to try and find the site. We searched and searched but could not find it. We found a few spots that might work, but we heard there was a fantastic spot on one of the islands. Finally, while there was still a little bit of light left, we saw what looked like a pile of rocks for a fire, high up on a rock overlooking the lake. We pulled over and Zane hiked up the side of the rock. Sure enough, this was the campsite. He pointed me around the island to a better landing where he met me. We signaled the other boat and they made their way over.

The campsite was incredible. There were two fire pits. One was high up on the rock, 30 or so above the water, overlooking the beautiful Quetico Lake. On the rock, there was enough room to cook dinner and relax next to the fire. It was a bit of a climb to get to the overlook. At the base of the overlook was a huge flat area with some really big white pines and enough space for a bunch of tents. Flat areas were separated by stands of trees. It was almost like each tent had its own ‘room’. Though there was all of this space, Zane and I decided to set our tent up on the top of the high rock. There was just enough space to squeeze our tent in up there. We had a dinner of campfire pizzas, enjoyed the evening for a while, and then hit the hay.

May 24, 2011

Again, I woke up with the birds, as I seem to do while I am on trail. The view from the tent was outstanding. The morning rising up over the lake, from our vantage point was incredible. We quickly cleaned camp and said goodbye to the best site I have ever stayed at.

This was another day of fishing our way along. We just wanted to get to a nice campsite on Kawnipi, which was only a few miles away. Zane and I were on the lake a little before the other guys and it did not take us long to find the walleyes. I tossed my jig along the high rock where our tent was set up, and sure enough, first cast, I caught a medium sized walleye. Then Zane caught one; then I did again. By the time the other guys were on the water, we have pulled in a half dozen or so really nice walleyes right off the campsite. They found a spot nearby and caught a bunch themselves. Within an hour we had already had a great day’s worth of fishing. We fished until the bite stopped and then continued on to the south part of Montgomery where we took a rather difficult 90 rod portage into Kawnipi.

We spent the entire day fishing Kawnipi. It was fantastic. We fished the western edge of the lake. It was a series of channels that ran to the west of Rose Island. We caught big walleyes, big smallies, even a couple of nice pike. Some of the walleyes we were catching had a blue tint to them. They are a separate sub species of walleyes that are only located in a few lakes, Kawnipi being one of them.

We fished until dark and then found a great campsite on a small island just south of Rose Island. We had a great evening trading fish stories. Since we did not travel too far, we made a nice fire and stayed up late into the night. The stars were incredible. The sky was absolutely full of the shinning little diamonds, and the Milky Way was as bright as I have seen. Great day, great fishing, great friends, great sky, it was really an extraordinary day.

May 25, 2011

We got an early start, and again, got on the water ASAP. The fishing was so good the day before that we decided to fish our way off of Kawnipi. Wade, Josh, and Vidmar found a good hole for walleyes. Zane and I didn’t have as much luck, but we did manage to catch a couple of nice walleyes and I pulled in a really nice smallie.

We puddle-jumped our way from Kawnipi south towards Agnes Lake. Agnes can be treacherous on a windy day, and a bear to paddle if you are going against the wind. By some stroke of luck, believe it or not, the wind was actually at our backs today. It seems like the wind is always in your face when you are paddling, but I can say that on this day we had a tailwind. Needless to say, we were very excited we would not have to fight the wind all the down Agnes.

As we came to the north end of Agnes, we noticed that the wind was in our favor. Jokingly, Zane suggested we make a sail and drift south down the lake. We laughed for a minute, and then started seriously considering it. Josh was the first to decide to go for it. He started latching some branches together and attaching his tent footprint as the sail. Zane and I, not to be outdone, did the same with a couple of modifications. It got a little competitive and of course, we decided to race our way down the lake.

At this point the wind must have been blowing steadily from 10-15 mph. Wade, Josh, and Vid jumped out to an early lead. Zane and I had to stop a couple of times to make a few minor modifications, which put us a little behind. After a couple of trial and errors, we finally had it. The wind carried us down the lake. We cruised past the other boat. Zane was in front holding the sail and I was ruddering from the stern. Zane’s paddle never touched the water. Those of you who have paddled Agnes know what a feat that is.

It took us what seemed like about an hour and a half or so to get from the north end of Agnes all the way to the portage for East Lake. It was such an amazing experience. When the wind gusted, it felt like it was going to carry us off the water. I do not necessarily recommend this mode of travel, as there were a few times we nearly went in the drink, but it surely was an experience to remember, so much so that I named my pup, who I bought shortly after the trip, Agnes.

We made our way to East Lake, and wanted to set up camp, but it was taken. The only reason I mention this is that these were the first people we had seen since the Ranger back on Beaverhouse, pretty incredible. We continued to Jeff Lake where we decided to set up shop for the night. It was another amazing day on the water.

May 26, 2011

Another beautiful early morning. We cleaned up camp and hit the water. We fished a little in the morning, with little luck, except for one pretty good smallmouth. We made our way from Jeff into a small puddle, then through the mud, into a creek that led us into West Lake. We paddled the long skinny lake until we hit the portage for South Lake. From South, we headed into North Bay. It was a little bit windy, but we made it across the bay no problem. From North Bay we continue south toward Burke Lake.

We wanted to get the site on the biggest island, as it is just astounding. Zane and I were ahead so we booked it for the island. Unfortunately it was taken, but we were able to find a nice spot back to the north. We reached our campsite around mid-afternoon, set up camp and fished during the evening. No luck, but was still fun. Around supper time, we headed back to camp for dinner, a campfire, and to discuss our trip. This was our last night in the wilderness. The time always seems to go so fast while I am in the wilderness.

We stayed up late by the fire, but eventually retired for one last night in the Quetico wilderness.

May 27, 2011

During the middle of the night, I hear “HEY!” and then shortly after “HEY!” It was Vidmar. I responded, asking if everything was okay. He yells back that he heard a large animal nearby. I grabbed my headlamp and jumped out of the tent. Meanwhile, Josh, Wade, and Zane slept soundly. By this time, Vidmar was out of his tent. He thought he heard a bear or a deer or a moose, but wasn’t sure. We walked around for a while and made some noise. That was the last we heard of whatever it was. Back to bed.

We took our time getting out of camp, since it was our last day in the wilderness. Eventually, we made our way south into Bayley Bay, through Prairie Portage, and down the Moose Chain, back to my truck that was waiting for us.

Another fantastic trip was in the books. In all, we caught hundreds of fish, saw some of the most beautiful, pristine natural areas left, and had just an extraordinary time. Exhausted, on the car ride home, we already started talking about the 2012 trip. It sounds like we will be going in on the north side of Quetico through Baptism Creek and coming down and out Moose Lake via the Man Chain. Can’t wait!