Lake Three

Lake Three is a 904-acre lake in the Kawishiwi district, the third lake in the Numbered Lakes chain that runs from Lake One through Lake Four west of Lake Insula. Lake One is the nearest entry point into this corridor, with Snowbank Lake and the North Kawishiwi River also within reach.

The lake carries real depth for its size. It drops to 37 feet in its main basin, and less than half of it is shallow enough to fish from the surface down. That deep basin holds a layer of cold, oxygen-rich water through the summer, enough to support coldwater fish that a shallower lake this size couldn't. Almost 19 miles of shoreline wraps the lake into bays and points rather than one open body.

Walleye and northern pike are the strongest fishery here, both showing up in good numbers. The cold water in the main basin also holds lake whitefish and cisco, along with a burbot population, a coldwater community layered in underneath the warmer-water fish working the shallows.

Fire reached the south shore of Lake Three during the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire. That side of the lake has grown back into young aspen, birch and jack pine, open and sun-exposed compared to the older, shadier forest still standing elsewhere around the shore.

Thirteen campsites are spread around the lake. With that much shoreline to work with, sites don't crowd each other even when the chain sees traffic.

Lake Three suits paddlers moving through the Numbered Lakes chain toward Insula or beyond more than those looking for an isolated stop. It's the middle link in one of the more recognizable connected paddling corridors in this part of the wilderness.