Curious if Gabro and Bald Eagle are typically over crowded lakes? Was thinking of maybe heading there for my 2026 trip with a younger group that is looking more for a base camping trip and would like to do some fishing with maybe a couple day trips sprinkled in to near by lakes. What can we expect from this area?

Darin

With the limited number of permits for that area you’d think it would not be busy(years ago). I’ve camped on the site between BE and Gabbro and probably saw over 20 canoes pass by. Since then they’ve lowered the number of permits for that area. The best sites are on Gabbro, but Bald Eagle has a few good sites as well. I wouldn’t worry about finding a site. Fishing for walleye is better on Bald Eagle, in my experience. Day trip to Turtle for Pike and walleye on Gull and Pietro. And for some reason the mosquitos seem to be bad in this area no matter what the season is. Also, the Isabella River is good for walleye too.

I wouldn't want to throw anyone under any buses but my wife and I grabbed a permit a couple of years ago. When we showed up at the entry point there were 4 groups including us there getting ready to go. Everyone had several packs making it appear that these were not day trips. As we set off, every site was full until we got to the island site just before the portage to Bald Eagle.

This was my only experience with the entry and lakes, but it was enough fore me to not want to go back. The lake is heavily used and fished hard.

bombinbrian: "I wouldn't want to throw anyone under any buses but my wife and I grabbed a permit a couple of years ago. When we showed up at the entry point there were 4 groups including us there getting ready to go. Everyone had several packs making it appear that these were not day trips. As we set off, every site was full until we got to the island site just before the portage to Bald Eagle.


This was my only experience with the entry and lakes, but it was enough fore me to not want to go back. The lake is heavily used and fished hard. "

If this was during the pandemic, this was very common at many entry points.
I went day fishing at Isabella Lake and the entire parking lot was full. I saw 15 people at one site, and another group exit, drive off, and then return to enter once more.

Yeah it's a busy area, close to Ely and essentially 1 portage into Gabbro. It's a pretty lake but I'd suggest elsewhere for a more intimate BWCA experience personally. I'd say it shines as being like a quick 3 day trip EP

I went a few years ago at the end of May.

First...if you want Little Gabbro, you need to be on your rec.gov online signup game. I mean, you need to be ON IT! Starting at 8:55AM the last Wednesday of January, log in and start hitting refresh and hit refresh until registration opens. Don't forget to hit "overnight camp" and add the date to your cart as fast as you can. By 9:02am, all the permits will be gone.

I took some first timers and it was mostly good. The mosquitos were memorable, even for my veterans. Going to Bald Eagle, the water level rises entering into each lake. Going into Gabbro isn't too bad but 2 of our canoes had to take a second run at the little rapids there. Going into Bald Eagle, we landed on the rocks in the middle and roped the canoes through the rapids.

We had hard fishing on Turtle Lake the day we went due to the wind but still caught a big pike. I say its worth a trip. The mosquitos at the put in on the Turtle Lake side were the worst I have ever seen though. Be prepared to get off shore as fast as possible.

We didn't have any problem finding empty campsites.

Go for it, Great EP and area for first timers. Easy entry at Little Gabbro, set up camp on Gabbro or Bald Eagle & explore. Good day trips with good fishing. Gabbro has better sites, Bald Eagle has better fishing. Next trip in take the Snake River into Bald Eagle & do the Gull Pietro Clearwater Turtle loop. That is a fun trip, your group will be 'seasoned' and addicted after that.

Agree the bugs are horrendous in this part of the nieghborhood. Also lots of day trippers into Gabbro.