Camping on Kab

Hi Everyone,

I will be camping with my family on Cutover Island in a couple weeks. My main question involves the bear lockers. The NPS website says each locker holds 2 48 qt. coolers. When I measure my 50 qt coolers (which are the 5 day ice) I calculate that each locker should hold 4 coolers of this size. Am I missing something? I’m trying to get a rough idea of what we can safely bring and be able to fit it into the lockers. I’d rather not have a bunch of extra food sitting in the truck part of the week.

We’re mainly after smallmouth but certainly love to get into some of the big northerns I’ve read about. I assume everything should be relatively shallow that time of year?

What about bears? We’re obviously going to be storing everything in bear lockers but it seems I’ve read everything from don’t even leave clothes in your tent for fear of bears shredding it to people leaving food out all night without problems.

Any other tips?

We’ve camped and fished out of Woodenfrog before but this is the first time camping in the park.

This time of year I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the Bears. Take precautions of course but you won’t be fighting them off with frying pans. Put as much food away as possible. Don’t clean your fish right in camp, get rid of all the guts. Be smarter then the Bear and you will be OK.

Have fun & stay safe. Be sure to bring lots of bug dope and be ready for the flies.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any thoughts on the size of the lockers?

We’ll be ready for the skeeters and flies. Can’t be any worse than Woodenfrog last year. Our site was in the woods without any breeze. I’m hoping that by having an open campsite with a breeze that we’ll get some relief. We’ll also have a screen tent to eat/take shelter in.

No idea on locker size. I only drive by, i don’t use them.

My Coleman Xtreme measures 31 (L) x 16 (W) x 18 (H) including hinges, latch and handles. I’m not sure if it’s 48 or 50 qt. It easily fits in one side of a bear box, so I could fit two in each bear box with room to spare. But I doubt that you could get 4 of them in one bear box. You’re camping close to the boat ramp; for a 2-week stay I’d plan on a day trip to I Falls for extra groceries and ice. Plus it gives the kids a break to get a burger, fries and a shake.

As for bears, anything could happen, but keep a clean camp and you’ll be OK. I had a bear come through one night and never heard it. I had a screen tent up, he caved in one side. My spotting scope was on a tripod with a plastic bag over it. He knocked that over. He went in my boat and tripped the lever on the butt seat so it popped up and he bit the seat. Big tooth holes. Glad my butt wasn’t in it.

Dutchboy wrote:

This time of year I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the Bears. Take precautions of course but you won’t be fighting them off with frying pans. Put as much food away as possible. Don’t clean your fish right in camp, get rid of all the guts. Be smarter then the Bear and you will be OK.

Have fun & stay safe. Be sure to bring lots of bug dope and be ready for the flies.

X2 on everything Dutchy said!

Dutchboy wrote:

This time of year I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the Bears. Take precautions of course but you won’t be fighting them off with frying pans. Put as much food away as possible. Don’t clean your fish right in camp, get rid of all the guts. Be smarter then the Bear and you will be OK.

A few years back my wife and I were staying on Wolf Pack West in Namakan. A park ranger stopped by the island and really chewed our backside for not properly securing our food etc. He was going to give us a hefty fine but my wife talked him out of it. He said the first thing a bear goes after is a bar of soap and the second thing is a can of beer. So instead of a fine we got a strict lecture on proper storage of bear attractants.
Just got back last Sunday from Namakan again. As for the bear lockers, you will not get 4 coolers in one locker. Maybe 3 if you turn 2 sideways and 1 in lenthways. Some campsites have 2 lockers. Ours did.
The Park Service takes bear precautions very seruously because they don’t want them getting a taste for human food. When that happens most times the bear has to be eliminated because they won’t stop raiding camps. The fish are biting…. good luck.

Ryan,
Per the NPS website, the bear boxes are 52x36x21. I use the same Coleman Extreme coolers as Ron. They are 70 quart coolers, and two will fit in each box, with some room left in between them for our garbage bag and dog food/bowls. You will not get four 50 quart coolers in one, and I doubt you’ll get three.
Each small campsite has 2 bear boxes. We put a couple of smaller totes with our dry food in them, in the second box, along with anything else.
As far as bears, I’ve spent over 450 nights camping in Voyageurs since 1997. Mostly on Namakan and Rainy, but also probably 60 on Kab. I have only had 1 bear issue in that time. We have seen bears close to camp at times, but only once did one come into camp (on Namakan Island over a 4th of July weekend). We are pretty good about putting food away, but not perfect. And I’ve never even thought about not keeping stuff in the tent. I clean fish at camp And then haul all remains out on the water away from camp and dump them.
Be smart but don’t sweat it. Enjoy the lake, they are beautiful. I’ll be on Namakan for a week in early July and 5 days in August, and on Rainy for a week late August. Cannot wait to be back up!!

Thanks for the replies. That’s exactly what I was looking for.

What’s the general strategy for pike this time of year? I assume weedlines in 6 to 10 ft of water? Are certain general areas better?

You can troll or cast, your choice. If you are unfamiliar with the area watch for rocks, especially if the wind is blowing. The Sugarbush area can be good. We have had success trolling Rapala Super Shads if you have one. Otherwise the standard spoon, bucktails, mepps work well.

Have fun.

This early in the year the campsites will be cleaner. Sloppy campers are the main reason bears area problems. I had my tent ripped into once years ago in Lost Bay during an afternoon nap. No harm (but the tent) but freaked out an old girlfriend. The next day there was one on a houseboat nearby and ripped off screen door. Ranger came by and said all campsites in the area were closing. Use common sense as always. Good info above and have a good trip!

A couple of things I have done is to freeze and take bottled water. With the new coolers they stay fairly frozen for at least 4 days and I just drink them as I go.

If you take minnows or leeches take them out to deeper water with a boey. The colder water and lack of wave actions tends to keep them better. Have a designated cooler for night crawlers and make sure you keep them cool!

I always take too much stuff. Keep cooking to a minimum and if you can prepare meals ahead of time.

Campsites are closely monitored and yes I know personally that they will ticket you. One time I cooked dinner and went out fishing for 15 minutes without cleaning up well. Try explaining to your wife the 100:00 ticket.

Someone gave me a suggestion to take a solar panel to recharge your boat batteries. I would like to hear from anyones how effective this is. Seems like a good idea.

Stick close to your electronics and have fun.

fred bartling wrote:

Someone gave me a suggestion to take a solar panel to recharge your boat batteries. I would like to hear from anyones how effective this is. Seems like a good idea.

That dead horse has been beaten quite often on this and other fishing forums. General consensus is that any portable solar system doesn’t have enough capacity to do much good for recharging trolling motor batteries. I use MinnKota alternator charger and since I do a fair amount of running around, it keeps my TM battery charged pretty well on a 5-night trip.

I put in a Minnesota alternator charger this spring, even though I’m barely above the minimum amp output and my boat mechanic says it won’t help. I figured it was worth a shot and I will have a spare battery with also.