Going in at Beaverhouse you should make Burntside on day 2 or 3. There’s some nice sites there and good day trips too. Fishing is good for all 4 major species. If you scroll through the trip reports you can find one I did from 2018. Jimbo also has a write up of this 2018 trip in the fall 2019 Boundary Waters Journal.

C30, IF you end up going in via PP (you'll have to get RABC's of course) and are looking to shave weight, there's a outfitter on Moose Lake that rents out some carbon fiber Savage River canoes.  They're about 10 lbs less than a comparable Kevlar - think 35lbs.  There is also a ton of great areas to access from there, as Bill mentioned and no border crossing hassles.  Getting into Agnes is a bit of work, but once on it, like Pickerel, very long, lots to explore, great fishing and you have Louisa Falls.  Getting into Sarah is a long haul with a lot of in/out of the canoe portaging and usually a two day commitment from PP for most parties.

pd

cyclones30 wrote on Jan 14^th, 2020 at 9:48pm:


  You haven't said how many days your going for or did I miss that?

  Going in a BH, then Quetico lk east can be easy or a slog depending on if the winds are at your back or in your face. Same on Jean which runs basically West-East and doesn't have a lot of places to duck out of the wind, you just run close to shore the best you can.

Lock in how long you want to go for, how much you want to paddle vs fish and get everyone on board with what you decide.

Once that's decided your route will more easily fall into place. You could spend 2 weeks circling Q lake if your serious about fishing alone. You have the main body PLUS the West Bay area and the Northern arm.

So many campsites/places to fish you won't know where to stay your first time visiting.

When you come out of the Quetico River and look down EAST down the lake on a clear day, you still can't see the end of it. A big LONG lake with plenty of little bays to explore/fish if you're so inclined.

Thanks for all the replies so far. Wherever we end up we'll rent Kevlar canoes. Otherwise we have all our own gear. My parents are in their low 60s so if we all go we can still handle up to moderate portaging. We've done 80 mile loops in the BW as recent as 5 years ago but I'm not sure I want this trip to be quite as strenuous.

If Quetico, Jean, etc are the first layer of lakes to check out on that corner, what's the next set farther in to head for? Sorry for all the questions, just excited for the trip and want to make the most.

Westwood wrote on Jan 14^th, 2020 at 6:39pm:


Westwood makes a good point.  Personally, I've encountered far fewer problems at the Pigeon River crossing vs. International Falls.  Crossings there, in fact, have been near uniformly speedy, at least as far as my experience goes.  However, I once spent the better part of 5 hours at the International Falls crossing way back when!  Of course, that was 20 years ago. I haven't seen the like of that - or anything near it - anytime since.

By timing your border crossing for quite early in the morning (if you MUST cross during the weekend) or by crossing on a weekday (admittedly, this is easier for us retirees to manage), you can most likely alleviate this concern.

Jimbo   

One thing to consider if you enter on the north side of Quetico is crossing the border.  As I was reminded last June crossing at the International Falls border on Saturday morning can mean a two hour line.  The line is long because people check into resorts on Saturday morning.  I assume the Pigeon River crossing would have the same issue.

Cyclones30,

As the others have indicated, you have lots of great choices.  IF your Mom goes along, I'd be inclined to go with the recommendations re: options on the northern tier of lakes in Quetico as they typically involve less work to access them. 

I, myself, have a strong bias for that NW corner that BC & ST have already commented on.  However, the NE side should not be overlooked.  You can paddle & explore Pickerel Lake for days and still not see it all.  While there may not be as many pictographs or high cliffs, there are probably more sandy beaches and family-friendly campsites.  Also, there is hardly anywhere you can go within the entire north side where all four species of fish are not present. Re: Pickerel Lake, you can enter via one portage from a Nym Lake permit.  It's even easier access from French Lake (no portage) or Stanton Bay (just the haul from the parking lot down to the bay) on a Pickerel Lake permit.  If you use Stanton, however, you would need a local outfitter to shuttle you in.  Non-resident parking is NOT permitted.

One heads-up... Pickerel Lake can become mighty surly in a strong west wind.  Whenever I enter from the far east end, I do it EARLY in the morning before afternoon breezes kick in.  While this should be somewhat of a consideration everywhere, it can be particularly important where those long, broad west-to-east reaches of big Pickerel Lake come into play.  Many folks prefer to access the lake from Stanton Bay for that very reason.

There are lots of great campsites and beaches all around Pickerel.  In late August and especially into September the people are mainly gone and the water is still quite warm for enjoyable swimming.

When you get down to planning for whichever area of Quetico you decide to venture into, feel free to solicit members on this board for campsite and fishing recommendations.  The fish can become a bit more "scattered" later in the season but some of the veterans on this website can certainly help improve your odds of locating and landing them.  Likewise, should you require outfitting assistance in the form of shuttles or equipment, we can likely come up with good suggestions, based upon where you choose to enter the park.

Good luck!

Jimbo   

cyclones30 wrote on Jan 14^th, 2020 at 1:38pm:


  I always enter at BH and BC is spot on about Quetico Lk. You could also stay on the West end and maybe go into Cirrus via a short flat portage that anyone can get across.

  All the fish species are in Quetico/Cirrus and Jean.
You might want to look in the trip reports about that area. I have some and others do as well.

If you want less portages more time fishing, not counting the put-in at BH, your talking less than 200 yds combined to access Quetico Lk and Cirrus combined. That's IF you go into Cirrus via Quetico lk not BH.

 

Thanks, that's what I was hoping for. My wife was thinking all along we should do an entry from the Canadian side. I haven't looked into those at all yet but we might as well go all the way right?!

In your Quetico/Jean area what are the main fish species?

My favorite route was PP through Man Chain, up Falls Chain to Wet, across the McEwen Chain to Agnes, then Meadows, Birch, and Hayley Bay.

Close second: PP through North Bay, Side, Kasapiwi (where you could spend several days fishing and exploring), Trant, S Chain to North and out.

Want more paddle, lower fees, and great fishing? Enter Beaverhouse and spend time on Quetico Lake, exploring or traveling through Cirrus, Kasakokwog, Jean, and others. You could spend a week on Quetico and not see everything - pictos, falls, sandy beaches, recovering fire areas, and great camp sites.