Cherokee Lake

Cherokee Lake covers about 837 acres in the Tofte district, well into the interior west of Brule and Sawbill Lakes. It's one of the more visited destination lakes in this corner of the wilderness, with routes converging on it from several directions rather than sitting off a single corridor.

The basin runs deep and cold, dropping to 142 feet, deep enough that the water stays cool and oxygenated for trout right through summer. Only about a tenth of the lake is shallow enough to hold weeds, so shoreline habitat runs thin against all that open water. The shoreline folds into enough bays and points to make the lake feel larger than its acreage suggests, and the water runs clear, with visibility regularly past 12 feet.

Cherokee is a native lake trout lake rather than a mixed fishery: no walleye or smallmouth bass live here, by design as much as by nature. Northern pike have built into a strong population alongside the trout, and burbot turn up too, though they run small. White sucker fill out the forage base that keeps the trout fed.

Nineteen campsites are spread across the lake's bays and points, enough room that groups rarely have to compete for one. The main route in from the north crosses a 165-rod portage from Sitka Lake, rated among the harder carries in the area, which keeps casual traffic down on that side of the lake.

Cherokee Lake suits paddlers after a real lake trout fishery and a lake worth building a trip around, not just a stop on the way to somewhere else.