chaga wrote on Feb 20^th, 2011 at 9:54pm:


Sorry, I did mean Chippewa - and thanks for the input on the campsite.
I like catching something a little bigger than hammer handles!  Last time we visited, I caught a 38" Northern and my husband caught one just slightly smaller.  That was totally awesome!  Biggest fish I've ever caught.  Is there good fishing on Gun, Bullet, or Moosecamp?

I always thought the campsite on Nikki looked attractive though I've never stopped to check it out. The travel from Gun to Friday is a wonderful paddle.

If you meant Chippewa, pictures can be deceiving!
I stayed at that site on my first BW trip, it was the most fantastic campsite I had ever seen, our own lake all to ourselves and lots of hammer handle pike. Strange how you remember certain things.
This year was our 10th year in a row anniversary trip so we figured we would take the same route. If it had not been pouring rain I would have never stayed at that site on this trip. Two terrible tent pads, you have to sit 2 feet from the fire and those stinkin' hammer handle pike. The lake is beautiful and
all traffic passes through the very end so it wouldn't bother you.
Jeff

Wow!  Beautiful photos pajeff.  Makes me even more excited for our trip!  I can already hear the loons...
Fishing is pretty high on our list of priorities, but so is a good place to swim and a relatively private setting.  We like to go in and set up a "base camp" so to speak, learn the lake (for fishing), and take day trips out to explore other areas and lakes.  It looked like this area provided good opportunities for all that.  The Cherokee lake campsite looks nice - does that lake get heavy traffic passing through?  How about swimming - any good rock ledges there or in nearby lakes?
Don't know how I'm going to manage waiting until the end of July....

Many years ago I traveled from Wagosh to Jackfish Lake (long enough ago that the portages were still on the maps). The route was rugged and the trails were faint. We camped at Pakwene on an old designated site that had been destroyed by  what had to be a tornado, pitching tents in a tangle of huge downed white pines. We never found a portage between Maingan and Jackfish- just pushed on through. Jackfish and the unnamed lake towards Wednesday Bay were beautiful.

Here is a link to photos from this year Friday Bay to Mudro.
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Kingfisher summed it up well, mostly pike, the campsite pix is Chippewa, beautiful lake but poor site. I would suggest pushing on to Crooked if fishing is a priority.

Thanks for the information.  Did you happen to go east, into the PMA?

Welcome to QJ!
Wagosh lake is a relatively shallow fertile lake. It has lots and lots of smallish northern pike and real easy to catch. The water has significant algae in the summer so much so that you would not want to drink it unfiltered and then a good prefilter would be prudent or you'll clog your main filter quickly.
The one campsite on the lake is pretty good. It has a nice high view of the lake but that means hauling all your stuff up there too. It's really only about 20' above the water. Swimming wasn't so good from this campsite because as soon as you went in the water you stirred up a bunch of sediment. Still my wife and I had a nice stay here for one night in 2007.
The campsites on the other small lakes between Friday Bay and Wagosh did not seem as nice.

Hello!  We're looking forward to a trip to BWCA this July.  Unfortunately, it's been 10 years since we last visited, so we are VERY excited to be coming back! 
Has anyone been to Wagosh lake or any of the small lakes in that area?  DNR website doesn't seem to have lake maps and/or fishing info for those smaller lakes.  Any input about the area would be helpful - portages, best campsites, photos of the lakes, etc. 
Also our vintage BWCA map shows trails from Wagosh to Jackfish lake to the east...I can't find any newer info; is that trail still there?  I know that the area is part of a PMA, but didn't really find any other information. 
BTW, I really appreciate all of the knowledge and experience shared on this forum; I've learned a lot just from browsing through the forum topics.  It's a pleasure to join this forum!