August is about to escape us and the summer projects are piling up fast. There has been a slight chill in the air each morning that can only mean we are approaching fall, my favorite season of the year.
The leaves are not showing any signs of changing yet, but you can feel it in the air.
I love the fall season on the Gunflint Trail. The “bugless” days are complemented by changing leaves and crisp breezes.
So far this year, everything has been happening a little bit earlier than we are accustomed to seeing in the past. Last week I was catching walleyes in 16 – 18 feet on Saganaga Lake, and this week they have dropped as deep as 30 feet. There are still some walleyes up shallower, but they are beginning their annual descent as well.
I was surprised to see them so deep this early, and was even more surprised to see them willing to eat a night crawler at that depth. I have always felt the walleyes are exclusively eating minnows at that depth (and their stomachs were full of them) but they were hitting both night crawlers and leeches on ¼ ounce jig heads with little remorse.
Minnows would be good baits to use, but they are so hard to keep alive with the warm surface temperatures. You would need an aerator and a portable cooler/tank to keep them swimming all day.
The lake levels have maintained an average height for this time of the year, which we have not seen for a while. Most of summer we have been keeping above average lake heights, but now the shorelines are growing a little each day as the lakes begin to recede.
If the rivers continue flowing through the fall season, the walleyes will be congregated below them in the flowing current.
They feed a lot in the fall to put on some poundage before their winter fast.
The fall season has a slower pace. The hustle and bustle of the busy summer is winding down and everyone becomes a little more relaxed. It also becomes easier to visit some of the establishments around here that are usually too crowded for us.
We finally ate the Sunday buffet at Gunflint Lodge this week, which was dynamite. It has been so busy at the Lodge this summer that Rachelle and I decided to wait for it to slow down some. We realized last week that it was not going to slow down for awhile yet, so we just did it anyway. It had been a long time since I had been in Justine’s Room and it was very nice. The sunset was stellar and the chocolate lava cake for dessert was even better.
We do not get out very often anymore with two kids, so I get pretty excited when we do.
The simple things in life truly are the best.
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218- 388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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