I wanted to spend the weekend in the woods but knew it was going to be a hot one. BWCA seemed a good option and a Little Gabbro permit must have been cancelled because this is a very hard one to get!
We headed up from Duluth Friday and arrived at the portage around noon. The long portage seemed worse with the heat. Little Gab and Gabbro were beautiful as always, and Dodger dog immediately took to the canoe, smiling the whole time. Water level seemed high along the way and some of the areas that had before seemed almost rapid-like were smooth and easy.We hoped to get an island site so we could let our hound run, but alas all island sites on Gabbro were snatched up. We paddled on to Bald Eagle and the first site was also occupied. Checked the bay to the north and there were some nasty looking dead minnows floating everywhere along the shore making this not a desirable swimming hole. Ended up paddling halfway across and camping on the north side of the lake, sharing our campsite with a Bald Eagle who greeted us at the landing.
As it was 5:00 by the time we got to camp and this site was very shallow and neither a great fishing nor swimming spot, I took a quick dip then paddled out a ways to do some jigging while my wife set up camp. First toss brought up a 16" walleye! Dinner was served.
Next morning we decided to pack up camp and head back to Gabbro. We grabbed a lovely site on a point around the middle of the lake on the west side. This was a much better swimming site with our own little beach! After setting up camp and eating lunch, we headed out to paddle around islands jigging. Dodger got to run free on a few islands and was the best boy ever. He exhausted himself to the point that he actually wanted to get back in the canoe. We ended up catching some small rock bass, a small northern, and another decent walleye! Walleye for the keep.
Sunday we packed up leisurely and slowly paddled out, stopping at an island along the way for another dip. Perfect weekend.