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Camping on Kab


Jim Panfish Uran

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I'm pretty sure it's through Voyageurs, The Park has a lot of primitive campsites on the islands around the lake? Am I right???? Has anyone had any experiences with camping on these sites? I'm also wondering what a good time to come up with the family. Me and Mrs. Leechbait have been talking about it for sometime and would like to make it happen this year. WE have all the gear just looking for an opinion from someone who has tried this or from some of the local folks who know the lake well. I'm thinking of early June or late May. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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There are literally dozens of campsites on the lake as well as woodenfrog state forest campground. I would be more than happy to tell you a little about some of them if you want to give me a call. Let me know. As for when to come up I would stay away on the big weekends otherwise some things to consider are the mayfly hatch, the pine fly hatch, Bears just out of hibernation in the spring looking for food, woodticks and fire bans.

Rick Gottschald

ODL

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Oh heck yeah that would be great!!! I'm really looking for the best time to fish, or when the fish are still in the shallows. And to avoid all the things you mentioned I guess!!! Thanks alot

James Uran

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leechbait,

I have spent over 200 nights camping in the Voyageurs campsites on Kab, Namakan and Rainy the last 10 years. I would suggest first going on the national park service website and looking at/printing out the camping map. It shows where all the campsite's are, what amenities they have, and what type of boat landing they have (dock, sand, rock). Amenities would be # of tentpads, picnic tables, latrines, and firerings.

Decide on what area you want to be in first, and find the nearest access to it. Campsites are first-come first-serve and fill up fast, especially on weekends. After all my trips there, I firmly believe that luck is the biggest factor in finding a campsite, and if I could start a trip on any day of the week, it would probably be on a sunday mid-morning when alot of folks are leaving. It has taken me from 3 minutes, to 3 hours (in a 17'/90hp boat), to find an open site. Kab tends to have a better early season bite, so is busier from opener to around the 4th of July. Namakan gets busy in July and August. I've got 20 days lined up for this summer and looking at adding 2 more trips to those. Summer can't come soon enough \:\)

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I've used the park quite a bit during the time frame you're thinking about and I've never had a problem getting a spot...of course we always get there on a Tuesday morning. During that time period the sites don't usually get filled to Friday.

The sites are great just expect a bear will pay you a visit at some point, plan accordingly and you'll be fine.

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It really get's that busy on the weekends?? Looks like it'll have to be a middle of the week trip for us. I'm sure it will be quite nice and the peace and quiet is more of what I'm looking for. As well as getting into a few fish of course. I know it's early and hard to predict but how is fishing at the end of may?

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Fishing is better in May than say...August and the weather is just the opposite. I have seen both blistering heat and wind snow and rain in the end of may/beginning of june. I have seen 75 and sunny on wednesday and 33 and snow by sat. Bring at least one good warm change of clothes.

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Yeah I'll definately bring some warm clothes for everyone. Sounds like a good trip guys and I really appreciate your help. Man i love this site.

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I have caught walleyes in 2 feet of water and I've caught them in sixty feet, and that was on the same five day trip during the first week in June!! One year my fishing partner caught one 10" sauger during the entire 5 day stay while the year before I watched him out fish me 2-1 with walleyes in the 20-24 inch range.

Watch the forum for info leading up to your departure date and you'll know where to start.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 Originally Posted By: overdalimit
some things to consider are the mayfly hatch, the pine fly hatch, Bears just out of hibernation in the spring looking for food, woodticks and fire bans.

Rick Gottschald

ODL

You forgot to mention cold fronts, storms and high winds. Still my favorite place to be \:\)

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Kab and Nam are great. I went there for the first time last year and caught some real nice fish. The campsites are great also, but like stated can be hard to find an open one. I plan on trying to get up there during the middle of the week and also fish off months like may and sep/october. Like stated earlier, prepare for bears, I had one in my camp every night last august trying to get into my food locker.....kind of scary when you are solo camping it like I was. Those sites get visited pretty frequently, those bears are trained!! They are pretty harmless though, if you store all your food away and just stay in your tent. Can't wait till open water!!!

GE

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Hey Goggle,

Where were you camping last August with all the bears ? Just curious and I would like to avoid the site if the girls are with me.

Duckster

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I was camping on Kabetogema on Bearhead Island. It is right around the corner from the Ash river visitor center, it's a large island that has quite a few bears living on it. I am guessing they swim back and forth from the mainland. No matter where you stay though, you are likely going to have a visitor in your campsite at night after you go to bed. Those bears are trained well and they know there is a good possibility of finding some dropped food (because of people who have left their campsites messy and left food out at night in the past). If you keep a clean camp and lock your food away in the food locker, they will be in your camp for no longer than 5-10 minutes and will move along. Most times you won't even know they were there because you are sleeping most times when they come in. A lot of times, they will not approach your site if you leave a fire burning in your fire ring when you go to bed. Like I said, I wouldn't worry about it, they are pretty harmless and just looking for some scraps to eat. Good luck.

GoggleEye

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Google,

Thanks, I was wondering where you were. I thought maybe it was one of the sites on Cutover Island. It seems that there are always bear issues on Cutover early in the year. Good fishing.

Duckster

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been up a few times camping on Namakan in both June and July. It seems Thursdays have always been a good time to find a camp site.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have actually been keeping track of when sites are open for the last few years. In my opinion the very best time to find a site is Sunday's around noon to 3:00. There are alot of people leaving that have been up there for a week at that time.

Last year we drove through 40 gallons of gas looking for a site on a Friday night. We ended up camping on an island that was not an official site. Then Sunday afternoon came around and we were able to pick from at least 6 we found open.

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