Jason,
Another neat area to camp that is a little more pristine or remote is the Sylvania wilderrness area located near Watersmeet. There is a seperate campground off of the lakes as well as sites on several lakes like Clark. You have to actually Kayak or Canoe to your campsite on the lakes. For even more remote camping, whitefish lake, is part of the Sylvania system and located right near the cisco chain. You can portage your canoe in, 1/2 mile walk or so, but have the lake pretty much to yourselves.
Yes the lake is artificial bait only but you can catch plenty of crappie in there on little curly tail grubs. There is also a high population of walleye that you can keep as well, most being in the 15-18 inch range that are legal keeper there under the special regs.
Crooked Lake is more remote and isolated than Craig if you wanted to portage to it and the lake is massively over populated with crappie. You will have no problem at all catching more than enough for food. Late June of last year was the first time I stayed on Crooked and the group I was with were more of panfisherman. We caught several hundred crappie and kept about 70-80 of them for the weeks food. They were surfacing all over the lake and within casting range of the surfacing schools you could not cast without getting a bite. We got the occasional 12-14 incher but most were all stunted clones in that 9-10 inch range. With all of that forage in the lake I know there are some slab pikes in there eating them all up so if you decide to go there and stay on Crooked I would just have all your buddies catch the food and you can cast mepps#5's or surface baits and bust a couple fat pike out just for the fun of it.
The road is rough and 4×4 truck would be a plus but not 100% necessary if you take it slowly. Ive taken a 2-wheel drive base S-10 back there no problem.
I totally agree with Kingfisher regarding Bewabic State Park. Haven't been there in many years but it is a good location or home base for many muskie destinations in that locale. The first time I drove into the modern campground there was a herd of deer moving thru right in front of me that startled the H out of me. There was a bar not far from the park entrance if you get "thirsty". Van Riper is also a beautiful modern park with very tall red pines. Did not have any luck on Michigamme at that time, however. You are in the heart of moose country at Van Riper.
You can get back into Craig with your van Jason, I have a canoe and a 2 person Kayak you are welcome to use. We took the Kayak up there last year, and had no problems landing fish. Even had a fish finder with. If you get online Craig lake has a large cabin with an large marble fireplace to rent, no power or flushing toilets though. Would be an awesome UP MMA outing location . Either walk several miles to get to it, or paddle up to it. Bald eagles lots of nice fishing. My broken foot really slowed me down last year and I only could muster one portage for the week to Crooked or I should say the parking lot to Craig, then to Crooked, then back- we stayed at Teddy Lake Next to Craig. Definitely worth the trip.
"mskyprey" said:
You can get back into Craig with your van Jason, I have a canoe and a 2 person Kayak you are welcome to use.
That would be amazing and I will most likely take you up on that offer! We have decided on Craig Lake, but am still wondering about the road into it. We will be driving in my friend's Ford Fusion car; would that be able to get to the campsite? If not, another friend is coming from Minneapolis in an SUV so is there anywhere around the lake where we could park our Fusion and hop in his SUV to get to the lake?
the fusion will make it, saw 2 ladies drive back in a caprice classic last year, and that is a low rider. Had a whole cub scout den camp on crooked the same time in assorted vehicles. The state park people are very nice and would probably let you park the car in the park if you are renting a cabin. We take the 4 runner, but the trail is good enough that we let the girls drive us back in several times. There is a hole in the wall burger joint about 2.0 +- miles west you have to try mid week, serves the best burgers I have ever tasted. And the beer is cold too 😀
"MattG_braith" said:
Crooked Lake is more remote and isolated than Craig if you wanted to portage to it and the lake is massively over populated with crappie. You will have no problem at all catching more than enough for food.
Really old post, but looking into heading up here this year. What do you mean by portage? Based off this map (<url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]
"><link_text text="[Permission to view this media is denied] … ke_map.pdf">[Permission to view this media is denied]
) can one drive right up to the campsite area?
No, you can't drive up to the campsites. You will have to park in the lot near the south end of Craig off the main dirt road back there. From there you have to carry everything in. There is a foot path that goes around all of Craig Lake that will also take you to the campsites at Crooked. So, if you preferred carrying your stuff in you could carry it all the way to Crooked but I would suggest carrying your stuff down to Craig, loading it up in canoe/kayak and paddling up to the portage on the east shore of Craig. From there you can portage to Crooked. It is not too bad of a portage but it is up and down hill so it is a bit of a work out depending on how much gear you bring in.
The campsite area is very nice though with raised tent beds, a fire ring and picnic table but I believe you can also camp anywhere on the lake if you wanted to move around or if the designated campsites were taken already.
A couple of nice campsites if you cant get 1 of the cabins are the ones to the NW – One is elevated on a bluff and overlooks the northern part of the lake. Several years ago when we were at the caretakers cabin on Craig, I talked to the DNR park ranger who was delivering a fire ring for a campsite area to the bluff area northeast of the lake across from the northern tip of the island. Nice lake to get your row on !! NO motors, they were talking about no wheeled (bicycle, etc) traffic in so check your local regs before you go..nice sized crappie in the lake, bring your frying pan!
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