Savanna Portage State Park

The Wife and I are getting out of town this weekend and going to do some camping up at Savanna Portage State Park in McGregor, MN. We used to camp a lot when we lived in Colorado but since we moved home we have only been once so we decided to change that. Neither of us have spent any time in McGregor so we’re excited to see a new section of MN and a new State Park. We are going to bring the kayaks and try to get out fishing each day on some lakes up that way. I noticed a Trout lake in the Park that we will likely try and then we will probably leave the park and hit 1 or 2 nearby smaller lakes (as the wind will likely be a factor this weekend).

Has anyone spent much time in the Park or the area? Any pointers on things we must see & do or recommendations on lakes in the area? Send me a message. I hope everyone is able to get out on the water this weekend as it’s supposed to be WARM in most of MN.

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I spent a long weekend in the park about 6 years ago. Very nice place, but nothing spectacular. Bring LOTS of bug spray as the biting flies are horrible in the woods. We stayed at one of the hike in campsites, it was beautiful during the morning sunrises! I spent a little time fishing Shumway lake, it was decent. It’s one of those parks that don’t see a ton of traffic so it is fairly quiet, but I would put many other campgrounds above it just for the scenery aspect.

We do have a lot of bug spray packed – the mosquito’s are starting to get real bad at Dusk at our home in the Metro. I looked at the Surveys of all the lakes in the Park and some on the outskirts – we’re bringing the kayaks or I would definitely be hitting BSL. We are going to focus our efforts on 2 or 3 small lakes (if the weather cooperates). It sounds like a lot of the lakes in and near the park are pretty undeveloped which I’m excited about – seems to give it that “up north” feel.

Spend almost every weekend up at Big Sandy during the summer. We head over to Savanna here and there to hike. Kidos love it. As your driving down the road you will see a forestry division that has a tennis court. Park there, walk across the street and follow the trail up to the fire tower. It is the best view of Big Sandy Lake! Sunset is amazing!!!! Also be careful on the trails, I have seen people lost out there.

I will be up this weekend but pretty occupied with campsite retirement party’s.

Go to Savanna Lake. If the group camp is empty, you can launch your boat on the group camp site. Otherwise, you can use the Kayak/canoe carry-in spot.

Anyway, this lake is chock full of northern. We would troll the weedline and end up with a stringer full of them in short time. Also, there are some very nice panfish in this lake as well. The lake gets very little pressure so fishing is great.

sand-burr wrote:

Spend almost every weekend up at Big Sandy during the summer. We head over to Savanna here and there to hike. Kidos love it. As your driving down the road you will see a forestry division that has a tennis court. Park there, walk across the street and follow the trail up to the fire tower. It is the best view of Big Sandy Lake! Sunset is amazing!!!! Also be careful on the trails, I have seen people lost out there.

I wish I would have saw this before we hit the road Friday, I would have totally checked it out! We had a good time up there, we only wound up fishing Saturday for Trout and it was slow but we got a few while soaking up the sun in our kayaks and enjoying the quietness of the undeveloped lake. That night we hiked around Shumway Lake and it was beautiful!

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queenswake wrote:

Go to Savanna Lake. If the group camp is empty, you can launch your boat on the group camp site. Otherwise, you can use the Kayak/canoe carry-in spot.

Anyway, this lake is chock full of northern. We would troll the weedline and end up with a stringer full of them in short time. Also, there are some very nice panfish in this lake as well. The lake gets very little pressure so fishing is great.

I looked at the DNR surveys before heading up and noticed that most lakes in the park and area had a lot of Northerns but not many had Bass which surprised me. Friday night we went and checked out Wolf and Savanna both were empty except there were some people at the Group Camp on Savanna. That looked like it would be an awesome place to rent out with some family and friends as you’d likely have the whole lake/area to yourself! We hit Loon Lake and planned to hit Glacier on the way out Sunday but it was raining pretty good so we just packed up and hit the road. Stopped at the Crow’s Nest on Knife Lake for some food and bloodies on the way home.

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