In the 1990s ,I took a route from the south arm of Knife to Holt Lake then down to Ogish. Does anybody know if that portage route is still there? It was great short cut to Knife from Sea Gull.

No firsthand intel but, it is a question that has been posed a few times and if my memory is correct; the response has been that those old portages have been lost to time - the Cavity Lake fire also wreaked havoc in that area and many of the seldom used portages ended up as a jumbled mess of charred, downed trees with brush eventually growing through.

I've been through there 3 times I think. It's been a few years. The last time 1 of the beaver dams was gone . I think it was Nave Lake that we had to walk the whole lake. I've always enjoyed that short-cut, but of course it helps if you've been through there before, for finding your way.

i was fishing that very back bay(late 90's ?) , where the portage enter SAK and i heard some noise thinking a moose but out comes a guy in a cedar strip canoe , and i asked how the portage was , and all he said was "i wouldn't recommend it" so i never figured it to be a short cut to the SAK. I'm assuming these portages are not maintained anymore and a lot of blow down. DNR hasnt been in holt since 1979. i've always been interested in fishing holt as it see's very few visitors and could hold some nice lakers.

after the blowdown in 99 the usfs decided to not clear those portages anymore.
we offered to have a crew go in with hand tools, but they said Nope, no can do, liability issues, .... lots of other stories floating around about the area, none ever proved..or disproved..hmmm.

it was a great area, but just the one campsite on Holt on the island? it was excellent small mouth bass fishing. i have an old photo from the 90's, pre blowdown, of some people with large small mouth, have to see if i can dig them up.

maybe lindentree has some insight.

Mocha: "after the blowdown in 99 the usfs decided to not clear those portages anymore.
we offered to have a crew go in with hand tools, but they said Nope, no can do, liability issues, .... lots of other stories floating around about the area, none ever proved..or disproved..hmmm.

it was a great area, but just the one campsite on Holt on the island? it was excellent small mouth bass fishing. i have an old photo from the 90's, pre blowdown, of some people with large small mouth, have to see if i can dig them up.


maybe lindentree has some insight."

according to maps there are no campsites on holt , Mocha is there a fire grate /latrine on the island campsite you mentioned ? also where on the island would this campsite be ? N-S-E-W ?

I camped on the island campsite. It did not have a fire grate or latrine. It was clearly used as a campsite. The Small mouth fishing was very good and we also caught some very nice pike. I am thinking of going that way this summer but maybe it is a lot of work.

I wasn't going to mention the excellent fishing. The campsite if I recall used to be on the NW side of the island. There was a big pine tree blown down across the old site, just enough room for a small tent. No fire grate or latrine, so not legal. The portage from Ogish. is getting more trampled in recent years. I know 2 of my passages through the area were post 1999 blowdown and burn. By the way the island survived the fire. The portage from Holt to Nabek was easy to follow, however, that could have changed with the burnt trees falling over time. The portage between the S. Arm of Knife was narrowing in with brush and you walked down a shallow creek part of the way. Only way to know the conditions for sure , is to do it. It'll be an excellent adventure I'm sure. One thing more ( I've mentioned it in a previous post somewhere) is the mystery of Canta Lake. The portage to it was nicely cleared. I took that as a sign that it must be loaded with fish. I couldn't get a nibble. I always wondered if the DNR did it to facilitate planting fish in it.

This guy did it as recently as last year and apparently had solid fishing success, especially for northern, through there. The part covering Holt and its neighbors starts about halfway through the video. Looks pretty rough.

https://youtu.be/4V10gEwtvOw

VIDEO VERY COOL