Twice in the past five years I've done a loop that started by entering at the Snake River, then going through Bald Eagle, Gull, Pietro, Clearwater and Turtle, then back into Bald Eagle and exiting via the river.

On this loop the highlight of the trip for me personally is Turtle Lake for two reasons. First it is loaded with big pike and is really easy to fish. The two largest notherns I've ever caught have came from Turtle and it seems like there just aren't any small fish in the lake.

Secondly, one of my favorite campsites in the BWCAW is on Turtle Lake. It's an island campsite with a steep rock face. The fire pit and cooking area both sit atop a ledge that overlooks the water. I have such great memories of sitting there with my feet hanging over the edge of the rock watching the sunset. The other thing I love about this campsite is that it is loaded with BOTH wild raspberries and blueberries. We gorged ourselves on blueberries during our trip there in July of 1999 (post blow-down).

I found Bald Eagle hard to fish (it's a huge lake)and the campsites I've stayed at there (three in all) were all badly beaten down. My sense is that it gets a lot of local traffic.

I spent one afternoon fishing Gabbro with little luck, but it was the heat of the day and I'm not sure we really gave it a chance. The rapids from Bald Eagle into Gabbro seemed promising, but we caught only a few small pike in the pools adjacent to the rapids.

Posted by Illini John on January 08, 2002 at 23:14
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