Just entering Catfish.

Very good  story telling... waiting on the next part...

I will also be booking holidays for a first week of November trip and will be nowhere near either gate..
2 weekends ago we were booked for sunday lake sat night, we arrived to the campsite on the island to find a tarp setup even though there was no other bookings on the lake. I tried to call the east and west gate 20+ times and couldn't get through... I even called AO to confirm I had the right phone numbers... I would say its safe to say when I go for my trip and they are not answering the phone the permit will be free and I will leave a note on my dash.

Good luck! 
I did a trip the first week of may coming out from the nipissing this year, I ended up travelling the entire way from burntroot back to cedar via the nipissing in around 9 hours solo (wanted to see if I could). I made it no problem and camped on cedar that night. The next morning I went to hike the brent crater and stepped on a rock with just my toes, I felt my calf muscle stretch then pop as I tried to gain balance, then I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes in some of the worst pain ive felt in my life. I had to almost literally crawl back to my truck, I was wondering what if this happened the day before down the nipissing, I figured I would have needed an extraction for sure. I hope you heal well, mine is still sore over a month later.

Every single time my wife and I go we book two permits on whatever lake we take, last year we went with my family and booked a total of 6 permits on one single lake, and occupied one single campsite. We actually have multiple campsites booked on cedar lake for one weekend this summer already.
Last year we also booked a lake for 3 solid weeks, 1 single permit for the weekdays and a separate one for each of us on the weekends and left our tent etc setup for 3 solid weeks but only visited on the weekends. 
I asked a ranger about this and he said there is nothing they can do as long as we have a permit.
Mind you the lakes we do this on are never even close to full and I dont think Id do it in a situation where it would stop someone from taking a spot, but after seeing all the BS that goes on over the years I figure why not.
There are so many loopholes, for example if you want to go hiking for a day on highway 60, just book any random canoe or backpacking site available with no intentions of using it, then you get two day permits for 12.43 vs. 17 or whatever for a single day.

Just got back from a week long loop around the park.. blackflies started on thurs morning in the north side, swarming bad yesterday in certain areas

Unfortunately APP is becoming way to much of a theme park for me as well... and it is all happening way too fast! Obviouly we cannot put all the blame on the PCI index but I think it is a small factor for sure... in the end the biggest problem is 100% the internet. This information is way to easy to find these days and it is very unfortunate.
I only started tripping in APP around 12 years ago, and boy have things changed in that time.
I have found my own private spots, bush whacks to get to trout holes etc...
Just two springs ago me and the wife went and fished a 'secret' trout hole, near the north end of the park somewhere... the day after we got back I randomly had YouTube playing and up came a video of some dude fishing in the exact same spot, he publically said EXACTLY where he was, how he got there and how to catch trout. I go back the following spring and there is garbage, trees cut in the area.. pathetic.
My spring trip this year is really stressing me out, I do the same week every single year and NEVER see a soul, this year looking at the reservation system I will be fighting for a campsite and guaranteed all my little honey holes will be fished out by the time I get there.. I think this will be my last Spring trip into the park and moving forward the only time I will camp in the backcountry of APP is when I go with others just looking for a good time, not seclusion or a wilderness experience.
Long story short the way I look at it at this point there are way to many websites and YouTube channels making it way to easy to find the best campsite, or fishing hole.. There is competition to have the most viewers which some value higher than keeping places a secret.
Rant Over.

TripperMike wrote:

Longer Lake port from Big Trout?  

No sir