I'm planning a trip to bald eagle in mid june and have heard good things. I'm wondering if people have been here and could provide info on fishing species, spots and lures that were successful. Also what other lakes in the area are worthwhile to make a day trip to. I've heard good things about Pietro but wonder if it might be open. Couldn't be more excited to head in and being about a month away gets the itch started!

On a side note we can all take a lesson on being responsible in our trips with the recent fire. Have fun, but leave it in the condition you found it.

In 2003 we came in through Gabro to Bald Eagle and base camped there for 4 days. Our campsite was on the south shoreline. We caught walleye, smallmouth, perch and northern. One northern was approximately 35-40 inches. We day tripped to Pietro and it was outstanding. Very clear water, caught some smallies from the campsite and little island at the west end of the lake. On the way back through Gull we couldn't keep northern off our hooks.

Another day trip was to the Kiwishiwi River at the east end of the lake. Fished at the outlet of the lake in the fast water by floating minnows into the current and caught northern and walleye. You are in for a nice trip.

Did this trip last summer, Kawishiwi River to Gabbro to Bald Eagle. Caught nice pike and some walleyes and crappies in Gabbro, best place we found for walleyes was a hole right off from the island campsite at the southeast end of Gabbro Lake using leaches.

We also caught more pike than we could count around the mouth of the Isabella River (and well up into the river itself) at the SE end of Bald Eagle Lake using a buzz bait. Also some huge smallmouth at the mouth and up into the Isabella River.

It was a great trip, please let us know how you do!

Matt

The portage to Turtle Lake is rough, but Turtle has excellent pike fishing. gshaw and I caught a bunch there two summers ago and all were big. It would be interesting to see the fire damage too.

That's interesting, it seems like some people love turtle, and others say it's a worthless 5 ft lake. is it just hit and miss?

Well if you want walleye or bass then it is indeed a worthless 5 foot deep lake. But for big Pike, it's pretty great. We didn't catch any monsters (saw a few though), but our smallest was probably 22" and the biggest probably 32". The average was probably 26-28". Usually when I have that many pike hit, they're tiny, but not at Turtle. They seemed to be all hard fighters too. I had several line snaps.

We were there around June 10th. We had strong wind a lot of the time, but even then we were able to catch them from shore. The island campsite is really nice.

Pics from the trip: http://www.ryanquick.com/bwca/photos/2005-06-10/

I'd like to go back there and try Pietro. I've heard great things about it.

First off, sledzeppelin, great photos.

On our trip last June, we made the portage back to Turtle, having read on this forum how great a pike lake it was, and we fished it hard for 3 hours, not a single hit, didn't see any evidence of fish at all (swirls, splashes, etc.)

Perhaps we didn't have the correct method down, b/c I can see how it would be a tough lake to fish, very shallow, vast expanses of lilly pads. We tried just about everything, Mepps spinners, spinner baits, Rapalas, topwater, Senkos, etc. All these lures were successful in other spots during the trip, but none did the trick on Turtle.

If I went back I'd go to Pietro, I've heard it's great smallmouth water, and we caught so many pike in other spots, I'd rather hook into a bunch of big smallies.

I think it's a good lake, there are just so many factors influencing good/bad fishing. I had the same experience on Disappointment lake a couple years ago. Everyone attests to excellent fishing, but we were relatively skunked. So many factors involved to say, "that's a good/bad lake".

We didn't do much of anything special on turtle. Spinners, topwater, soft plastics, they hit everything. So much so that I'd want to go back at some point.

Does anyone have any information as to whether or not Pietro will be open the 2nd week in June, our outfitter said it's been closed since last years fire in the area? We intend to basecamp, possibly move camp one time during our week stay and day trip from home base. Anyone have any advice on what lake would be best to camp on? The middle of Bald Eagle appears centrally located to all of these lakes.

Thanks for the tips, and thanks for the pics, they have me far to excited far too early!