I just got back from Hayward, Wisconsin for the annual family reunion at the lake. My brothers and I fished a lot more than we usually do, but still no muskies.
I normally do not fish very much when I go to Wisconsin, but it was a little too chilly for swimming and water skiing, so we went fishing. Hayward is the self proclaimed “Muskie Capital of the World,” but the lake where we fish is not very popular. We caught a lot of little large mouth bass and blue gills, but only one walleye.
The blueberries have reached prime time for picking and there has been no shortage of cars parked alongside the Gunflint Trail. Our yard is full of raspberries, which are also just right for the harvesting.
Many of the burn sites along the Gunflint should be loaded with berries, especially toward the end of the Trail. Islands are also a good place to look. Most of the island campsites had a lot of berries on them as well as the portages between lakes. This should curb the appetites of any nuisance bears for a while.
Lake Saganaga is still producing some walleyes, but the fishseem to be very scattered. Thismeans fisha lot of spots! The walleyes have been in anywhere from 10 – 24 feet of water, so it is hard to put together a real good pattern. Northern Lights Lake saw a slower than usual week. We are still catching eight or ten walleyes in a day, but slower and harder than usual.
The bass are biting well everywhere with a lot of bigger females seen on the rock piles and reefs. Theyhave been hanging out in the same depths as the walleyes, but favoring the shallower end of the 10 – 24 feet.
Thesmallmouth are coughing up a lot of crawdads and minnows.
If you are like most anglers and want to avoid a bass attack, you must keep moving. Once a bass has spit up its stomach contents it actually chums the water and the other bass in the area get turned on and feed on the chum. The best advice I can give is to keep moving.
Thisis the time of year that you start seeing big northern pike coming after a hooked bass or walleye. I see it happen every year, especially once the water temperatures begin to fall again. If the leaves are changing color, the bigger northern pike are feasting on the deeper reefs. I usually carry a large top water lure along, just in case I see a true giant.
Good Luck!
Cory Christianson, a 2000 Graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail for nine years. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail. com or call 218-388-0315.
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