Fraser Lake

Fraser Lake covers about 695 acres in the Kawishiwi district, deep enough into the interior that every nearby entry point, Snowbank, Kawishiwi Lake, Lake One, and Moose Lake, is several lakes and portages away.

It reaches 105 feet at its deepest, among the deeper lakes in this stretch of the wilderness, while less than a quarter of the basin stays shallow enough to fish from the surface down. The water runs clear enough to see well down into it, and the shoreline folds into more bays than a lake this size usually carries, leaving plenty of shoreline to explore beyond the open water.

Lake trout and cisco define the fishery here. Cisco run in strong numbers as the forage base the trout depend on, and the cold, oxygen-rich water both species need reaches down about 70 feet, deeper than many of the surrounding lakes can offer. Walleye add a second option in average numbers, while pike, white sucker, and burbot show up only occasionally.

A handful of short, easy portages, several under 20 rods, connect Fraser Lake to Shepo, Trinity, Gerund, and Muskrat Lakes in different directions, making it more of a crossroads for paddlers working through this stretch than a dead end.

Five campsites sit on the lake, spread around its broken shoreline. Fraser suits paddlers chasing lake trout over walleye, its depth and cold water setting it apart from the shallower, warmer lakes nearby that fish more for pike and panfish.