hey QJ, 
Could I query the experts on our board for short portaging kayak options in QPP ?  16ft/F_Glass/Dagger Meridian, 56lbs.  Fairly fishable, and nicely seaworthy.   

As always thanks to David for maintaining this place to share and ask questions,    --paw   :)

Might be fun just to island hop on Big Saganaga.  Or if going in at PP go up into North Bay of Basswood through Burke then loop counterclockwise back through Basswood.  North Bay has nice islands and bays for all four species plus some nice largemouths.

I'm not a yakker, but I would guess the larger lakes on the perimeter would be good choices. Basswood and Sag have been mentioned. I would add LLC, with a tow, Beaverhouse with an easy portage to Quetico, Nym, French and Pickeral, down to Rawn and Buckingham. Pickeral also leads to Batchewaung. Lots of options on the north side including many outside the Quetico. 8-)

Beaverhouse to Quetico lake is a very short portage. Portage out of No-Name Bay into Cirrus is flat and short too.
You could use kayak cart to haul from BH parking lot to BH put-in, the other portages are so short hauling a Kayak shouldn't be a problem.

solotripper wrote on Mar 26^th, 2017 at 4:07am:

Beaverhouse to Quetico lake is a very short portage. Portage out of No-Name Bay into Cirrus is flat and short too. You could use kayak cart to haul from BH parking lot to BH put-in, the other portages are so short hauling a Kayak shouldn't be a problem.

You could get into Jean pretty easy from Quetico Lake using the logger's cut.

I've done 2 solos on Quetico to Jean  then Quetico to Cirrus, putting in at Beaverhouse. I used my 60 lb. 16-1/2 foot cedar strip kayak. Lots of water to cover just staying on Quetico and Cirrus, with one short and one medium flat portage. The weight of my boat was not a problem, but if there are lots of portages, packing and unpacking the hatches can be a pain. As I'm sure you know.

Jim J Solo wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 2:02pm:

solotripper wrote on Mar 26th, 2017 at 4:07am: Beaverhouse to Quetico lake is a very short portage. Portage out of No-Name Bay into Cirrus is flat and short too. You could use kayak cart to haul from BH parking lot to BH put-in, the other portages are so short hauling a Kayak shouldn't be a problem. You could get into Jean pretty easy from Quetico Lake using the logger's cut.

  I've used that 2x now, BUT low water or too much water means you have to be willing to do what you need to do?

I figured a nice GLASS kayak could get scratched up pretty bad in the cut, so I left it out.

 

ST, Expedition kayaks are built to do landings on rocky shores in surf, or they should be. Anyway he should know and decide for himself. The carry isn't terrible either. It's just the unpacking and packing of a kayak that sucks, plus all the little bags instead of larger packs as in a canoe. Kayaks do really well in bigger waves, so large lakes and wind would be fine.