They have also moved Moc Point marine down the road some. The building behind the store/bar appears to be closed. I believe the gas pumps are also shut down. Tons of free parking however.

So anyone been in the area recently? I was having a blast reading some of the reports from these lakes earlier this year

Hope to have some information for you in a couple weeks. We go in on August 2. Group of 8. Merritt, Oriniak, LT, Gowan, Chad, Buck, Western and Pine are all on the list and perhaps a hike past them all. Most of my visits over the years have been in the middle of the summer and have done very well with largemouth and smallmouth bass. Any secret weapons for the walleye and lake trout would be appreciated. Any favorite Walleye locations on Trout? I have been watching the weather for the past month ...did you guys just skip summer this year altogether?

it was africa hot today

There are lots of how-to threads over in the Duluth-Ely-BWCA forum on how to catch lakers.

To catch walleyes, note the wind direction for the last few days. Troll the windblow shoreline with cranks, working from shallow to deep until you find them. I have had my best luck where the shoreline is rubble, gravel, or sand and gets gradually deeper. For some reason, 17' seems to be a magic number for me later in the summer.

To answer your last question, yes!

Steve

Thanks, I appreciate your help and will give it a try. I've noted the extended forecast is about mid 60's and mid 40's, that sounds like November in the South ...but I love Northern MN and am really looking forward to the trip. By the way, as far as "africa hot" goes I did notice that it was 70/55 in Capetown, South Africa yesterday.

Just returned from a fabulous week long trip to Trout Lake. We had a guide with us on Monday and he helped us to understand what's going on underwater. We caught 8 nice Walleyes and a Trout. We were accused by the young bucks of cheating by having a guide for the day but it wasn't a part of the rules. The other group went to Oriniack that day but fishing was tough from a canoe because of the wind. Got our favorite campsites, the one near the entrance to Little Trout and the closest island back toward Pine Creek. Great to have weather 70/45 and sunny most of the week, particularly when it when burning in the South. One day my son and I made it to Chad, Buck, Western and walked to Glenmore. I estimate he carried the canoe a little over 4 miles that day. One party in our group stopped at Chad Lake and had such a good day on Pike and Largemouth that they went back in the next day and had great results again. We also went in to Little Trout and walked back in to Gowan. It was obvious that no one had been back to Gowan in quite some time and we were not prepared to portage the canoe that day. We did catch a 2.5 pound smallmouth from the campsite. The campsite was undisturbed and pine needles in the fire grate ...no one has been there for a while. If you have any questions about the portages I'll be glad to help. Great place, wonderful time again. Blueberries and Red raspberries were all over the place.

Was thinking about Going into gowan with a buddy. After walking in, would you be willing to take a canoe in? Glad you had a good time.

The walk in to Gowan took us nearly an hour because we got sidetracked trying to pick up the trail after two blow downs. On the way out it took about 25-30 minutes. I like the adventure so,...I think I would be willing to try it, particularly after catching a nice fish (beautiful smallmouth and a great fight) with just a little effort from shore. After exiting the portage we went over to the creek that feeds into Gowan from Little Trout. We stopped after the first pull over because we were running out of time. That creek at the entrance into Gowan appears fairly large. I wonder if anyone has tried to get to the lake via the creek??

I'm thinking about heading up there Labor Day weekend. I had a couple of questions on Chad. It's been a few years since I've been in there, though.
First off, how's the portage? Does it look like many have been in there?
Also, what was the size on the bass & pike? I know of a couple of people that use to get some monster bass and some decent pike, are they still there? I was there a few years ago and did pretty good, but that was in about 8-10 years ago.
Lastly, is there a campsite on Chad? We just went in for a day trip and didn't camp at all, and I can't remember if we saw a campsite.

Oh, and one other thing. How was the skeeters? The last time I was up there was in the spring and it was some of the worst skeeters I've ever seen!

Can't help you on specific Chad questions but the bugs are really bad for mid August up there. Cold weather must have made them dormant in July so they are out in full force now. Hopefully in 2 weeks they will be down a bit.

We were on Chad Lake for two days 8/4 and 8/5. The portage is 260 rods and has a steep incline off Pine Creek. As you approach Chad Lake you have to paddle through a Beaver Pond. The lake is just beyond the pond. There was the remnant of a moose carcase just beyond the pond. Head, skull, and ribs that was all. Chad Lake is a beautiful lake and has two campsites. One is just north of the Buck Lake portage on the west side of the lake and the other is on the northeast bay of the lake. Lot of pike in the 4-5 lbs range were caught, mostly on the 5 Diamond spoon. The largest bass was about 4 lbs. The lake has lots of bluegills also. Skeeters weren't as bad as I've experienced before. Some at dawn and dusk but other than that not too bad. We would definitely go back again.