I enjoyed that!
Assume you boated over from MI?  Thought the ride was shorter from MN?  Wife and I have mused about going for years.  But we are more paddlers than hikers.

I've paddled the inland lakes on Isle Royale 4 times, from McCargo Cove down to either Chippewa Harbor or Malone Bay.  Excellent paddling, good pike fishing (walleye in Chickenbone, Lakers in Siskiwit), good moose sightings and relatively few paddlers.  The portages are steep, the campsites are pretty nice and the area is beautiful.  Highly recommend it.

My son works for Americorps and just found out his next 6 week assignment is trail maintenance on Isle Royal starting the 2nd week of July. He's roughing it in a tent camp for 6 weeks - lucky dog!

Back from 12 days on Isle Royale. First time paddling and it is definitely an option. I would go back. Not to tough a trip but I am a wreck. Back is killing me. Big days fishing nonstop throwing big lures. Then like a complete nitwit we were horsing around after the trip was over and I did a spinning back kick and blew my knee up coming back from the snack bar. Still hurting 4 days later but I can walk.

It gets better . I rolled my boat out in the middle of a small cove when I hooked my dream pike. Popped a musky marabou spinner and it rolled 14 lb test like it was butter. Hung me in some weeds and instead of getting vertical on the fish I tried to pry him out sideways. When the line popped over I went. Quite a shock! I like the self inflating life jacket. Worked great. I kicked to shore and thought I had lost 2 high end outfits and all my tackle. Somebody up there likes me as I lost absolutely nothing. My Loomis muskie rod floated behind the boat and somehow the other rod stayed in the boat. Weird!

Biggest pike was 14, nice fish but I handled him easily. This other fish was the one I had been casting and trolling for. Rats!

Lots more including a hypothermia case with my crew. We had really tough conditions for a week with lots of cold, wind and rain. They loved it though and want to go back.

I thought this was just a warm up for WCP but I'm a wreck. Picked up a back brace and knee brace and am looking at a seat with some back support. Still hopeful I can rebound. I could barely get out of the truck on the drive home. Kinda scary looking in the mirror. I looked really old and felt it!

Master...I hope pics are coming.  Especially the spinning back kick!  IR seems like no easy place to get to.

mastertangler wrote on Jul 4^th, 2011 at 9:33pm:


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.

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..........  

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.
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Quote:


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.

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.

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Fresh caught Laker in a restaurant!  I've only had it that way once and I will never forget it!  Fillet only, no breading, rubbed with oil and spice, pan-seared then oven baked.  I'm transported back to heavenly music just reminiscing.

So. I stopped in to a room (diagnostic center) at the office where some guys from my old group were working. We share vacation stories etc... I asked "anyone here ever been to Isle Royale?". A new guy that i don't know hollers "i used to work there!". Turns out he's from Jordan and worked there as restaurant wait staff during the summer while finishing up school. You could tell he loved the place. After living in the desert his whole life he moves of all places in the world, there for a whole summer  .