QuietJourney Forums - Isle Royale

Apr 19^th, 2026 at 2:22am (UTC)

QuietJourney Forums › Boundary Waters / Quetico Discussion Forums › Other Places to Paddle › Isle Royale

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Isle Royale (Read 14783 times)

mastertangler Inukshuk Offline Posts: 3111 Location: florida Joined: Feb 1^st, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #10 - Jul 5^th, 2011 at 6:58pm	Quote Print Post
	Wally my buddy is a black belt and his kid is a phenom wrestler. I was feeling pretty good after the trip with nary a nick and heard the knee pop on my second move. I forgot............... The boat going over was a complete surprise. A good argument can be made to having a PFD on all the time. It enabled me to kick the boat to shore instead of just hanging on (I was able to get an arms length away). Looking back it all adds up. My salt water wiring in my diminishing gray matter has become wired to pull full body instead of just with my arms. Add in I dearly wanted the fish plus my boat was lightly loaded for a day trip and well................I'm actually glad it happened. Superior learning experience (no pun intended) with no loss whatsoever. My newbie pals who reached me as I got to shore will also benefit as they just recently picked up 2 bell solos. "Don't let this happen to you............you might not fare so well" Island is not at all tough to access. 3.5 hour ferry ride at about $150 round trip including boat. We took another smaller ferry to our start point which adds another $80 or so. $4 per night camping fee offsets boat ride nicely. The inland lakes remind me of the Q and can be reached by a 1/4 mile or 2 mile portage. What I like though is Lake Superior itself. Much protected paddling can be had. Gorgeous.


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Kingfisher Voyageur Inukshuk Offline Posts: 1814 Joined: Mar 8^th, 2004	Re: isle royale Reply #11 - Jul 6^th, 2011 at 5:08am	Quote Print Post
	mastertangler wrote on Jul 4^th, 2011 at 9:33pm: I rolled my boat out in the middle of a small cove when I hooked my dream pike. Boy, even Old Salt or Jimbo haven't come up with a fish story quite that good. And after all of the pollyhumpers those two have tangled with.


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zski Inukshuk Offline Posts: 447 Location: IL Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #12 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 1:07am	Quote Print Post
	MT What lake(s) were you on? Siskiwit? Overall was the fishing good?


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mastertangler Inukshuk Offline Posts: 3111 Location: florida Joined: Feb 1^st, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #13 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 4:22am	Quote Print Post
	Its a wonderful place Zski....... One day I will post the TR, I already have it written up, just busy is all. We started out in Lake Superior (Chippewa harbor) via water taxi and went into Whittelsey, wood, siskiwit, intermediate, Richie, Lesage, Livermore, Chickenbone. This chain of lakes went across the island from south to north. Then we went back into Lake Superior and paddled the "five finger region". Very nice. Then into Duncan Harbor where I rolled my boat on a fish I still am kickin myself over. Then the switchback portage up and over the Greenstone back into Tobin Harbor and Rock harbor. 12 days. Piece of cake. Very nice. I liked the fishing. Only 2 of the lakes had walleye. Lots of Pike.......no smallies. You better like Pike fishing. There are some real whopper pike there. The kid had one on he said was as big as him. He could hardly talk for an hour. That made him a fisherman right there..........


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zski Inukshuk Offline Posts: 447 Location: IL Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #14 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 7:37am	Quote Print Post
	Thanks MT. This will have to be a destination point for us. My daughter wants to catch a bigger pike. I traced your route. Somehow the mileage is less than i had anticipated. It looks like much of the Lake Superior water is sheltered and that's good. Was the big lake rough going at times? Did you pick up any trout?


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mastertangler Inukshuk Offline Posts: 3111 Location: florida Joined: Feb 1^st, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #15 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 1:17pm	Quote Print Post
	The island is not a place to take lightly. Lake Superior water is ice cold. Life threatening cold in a short period of time. The big lake is no place for an open canoe unless you are experienced and safety prone. We did a couple of miles on the big water coming around Indian point from McCargo cove.......stunning but nerve wracking. Even during calm conditions there can be big rollers. My suggestion for a fun trip with a daughter would be to take the water taxi to Chippewa harbor and stay there for a few days. The campsite intersects the trail system there and is good for day hikes. Very beautiful and fairly protected water. Then portage the .6 mile to Whittesley. Unfortunately even though I wanted to fish there I just passed through. The lake has a good population of walleye I am told. Stay there a few days and then continue on to Wood Lake. Good average size on the pike. Wood gives access to huge Siskiwit as well.***I would never stringer a fish this size but it was bleeding like a stuck pig and I waited to see if it would recover.......it did not. (You need to Login or Register** to view media files and links)
	« Last Edit: Mar 8^th, 2012 at 2:22pm by mastertangler »

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zski Inukshuk Offline Posts: 447 Location: IL Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #16 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 2:45pm	Quote Print Post
	Yeah I'd rather avoid the big open water if possible and following your route didn't see a way to avoid it entirely. That is a nice fish, at 5'1" it would be a monster if she were holding it. Thanks for the tips MT!


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solotripper Inukshuk Offline Posts: 8103 Location: clarkston MI Joined: Mar 14^th, 2005	Re: Isle Royale Reply #17 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 2:57pm	Quote Print Post
	Quote: Did you pick up any trout? Never canoed it, but did backpack the isle 4x times, covering the 3 main routes east to west and the center route 2x. Caught a few small lake trout casting from shore at the campsites directly on Superior. Don't know if you like to catch Brook Trout, but there are numerous streams that dump into Superior and I'm told that they hold Brook Trout and some hold " Coasters" which if you don't know are Brook trout that feed/grow in Superior and get to humongous size, compared to the stream Brookies. They have special rules for Coasters, but I believe you can keep (1) over a certain size? I didn't know about the Brook trout/Coasters until way after I made those 4 trips. If I ever go back, I'll make a point to fish for them. MT, is right about Superior waters. Even in calm conditions you want to stay clsoe to shore, pay attention and have a plan B if you or someone else go over. You wouldn't last long or swim far in that frigid water.


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zski Inukshuk Offline Posts: 447 Location: IL Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #18 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 6:24pm	Quote Print Post
	I saw some reference to 'coasters' while scouring a couple sites but didn't stop to study. Interesting, will have to do some research.... Looks like late June will be the time frame at this point. I thought maybe LT on Siskiwit if the wind isn't too bad. From the shore eh? what time of year?


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mastertangler Inukshuk Offline Posts: 3111 Location: florida Joined: Feb 1^st, 2010	Re: Isle Royale Reply #19 - Mar 8^th, 2012 at 7:09pm	Quote Print Post
	You might be able to find some useful info on this forum concerning Isle Royale. Most of the guys here are fairly generous with info. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links)


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