Has anyone ever canoed/fished the areas just north of Quetico?  How do they compare for solitude. fishing quality and overall tripping?

look back at older pages in this forum (or do a search) and you will find numerous threads on White Otter that should answer your questions

We paddled the Turtle River last July.   Put in three lakes north of White Otter and finished in Mine Centre.   It is a beautiful parkway but the White Otter was FULL of people when we were there.   Northern Lights was putting groups of scouts through (three people per 17' Aluma-Craft) and we probably saw 7-8 groups.   Plus outboard motors are legal in the park and there were some family groups "motoring" there way into White Otter.   After passing below the highway there was virtually nobody else on the river.   Fishing was very very good.   Campsites were excellent and numerous.   Some beautiful waterfalls.   Keep in mind that the river section does have many classed rapids to grade III so be prepared.   Some of the portages around the rapids were poor.   In the bigger raps we portaged gear and ran the boats... without mishap.   Only portaged two, plus a couple old logging sluices and the obvious watrfalls.   If I was looking for solitude in the White Otter lake area I would wait until September.

Hey Gimp,

Just curious... when you say "Northern Lights", do you mean "Northern Tier"?  The Scouts have a base on Perch Lake and many groups head up into the White Otter for their treks.

Pete

Hey Basser:

It's not my intention to strong arm anyone here but I can definitely tell you that [whisper] membership has its privileges [end whisper].  In that   (You need to Login or Register forum that is currently hidden to you, there is information on WOWA beyond your wildest dreams.  ;)

Thanks Phantom - been a member for a long time - just forget to log in most times!

Basser

I've been on two trips in the WOWA, once in mid June and once in late July.  Both times there was plenty of solitude.  You'd see an occasional motorized fishing group and an occasional cabin on some lakes, but we never waited at a portage or had trouble finding a campsite.  We didn't go to White Otter Lake but went through the lakes south of their did a circle route thru the Bow lakes and Wasp lake.  Fishing is not as good as Quetico since there is more fishing pressure from the pro's that take a lot of fish out with them.  We're novices, but still enjoyed a few meals of fried fish (that's living!).

We put in last July at bridge on HWY 622..went up the Turtle River .. then into the many lakes and visited White Otter Castle.  We were the only ones there..saw one motor boat.  The area was beautiful. It was strange to see the motor boats sitting at the  begining and end of alot of portages..for those fishermen in the park...The portages were pretty good...as afew of them where used  for snowmobiles in the winter.  Found the portages were easier then Quetico.  Stayed on a couple of beautiful sand beaches..swimming was gorgeous..water very clear and warm.  Won't stay on sand beaches again..just gets into everything..a real pain in the butt !!   Lots of wildlife and saw so many deer..playing on the beaches.  Most of the wildlife consisted of birds..lots of families..babies and mothers.
I would like to go back there..White Otter Lake can be pretty windy..but we were lucky and hit a calm day for crossing over to the castle.  The castle was worth it...amazing place.  Thought that the campsites in Quetico were nicer then this area...but as long as we got a flat piece of ground for the tent..we were happy.
Paddled down a stream instead of doing the portage at one place.  Thought we would just see how far we would get... and it was just sooo much fun..had to get out a few places..but that was fun too.. With saying that .. just remembered a few portages were really bad !!! The ones that were used by snowmobles were the only easy ones...lol...  geee... how fast we forget.  Just love those challenging portages !!!!! Will try and figure out how to post some pics here of that trip...

Debbie