The approaching cold front that will bring highs in the mid-40s this week will either be a frigid reminder of what is around the corner or the beginning of a long winter. We have come to expect a degree of unfavorable conditions over the years but frost warnings for Wednesday night seem a little unfair considering the recent stretch of sunshine. I mean the leaves are barely starting to change and yet our garden will have to be covered tonight so the tomatoes don’t freeze.
Alright, I am done complaining about the weather. It is hard for me to be too upset after having a wonderful season on the lake. The fishing on Saganaga Lake and Northern Light have been as good as I can remember and I almost reached my goal of guiding 90 days this summer. The business was there but we had a lot of weddings to attend this summer that I did not factor into the equation. I could complain about that but some of those newlyweds might read my column.
Northern Light Lake has been a lot of fun this week. It is such a diverse lake that we caught walleyes in as shallow as 8 feet of water, and as deep as 34 feet. The deeper fish in Trafalgar Bay are eating minnows while the shallower fish in the channel are eating leeches and crawlers. There are some 17-20 inch bass hanging out on a rock pile in 10 feet of water that bite every day. We have fished these bruisers all week and they are wearing out my gear. It amazes me how many fish will congregate on one little spot.
I find myself wanting to troll big baits this time of year in hopes for a big walleye or northern pike that is trying to bulk up for the winter, and so far it has been working pretty well for the walleyes at least. We boated a 31-inch walleye yesterday while dragging a Rapala tail dancer #30 in Trafalgar bay, and today we caught a pair of 26-inchers on the same baits. I don’t have much experience trolling crank baits on Northern Light Lake but lately the walleye fishing has been so good that it is fun to experiment with some new techniques and baits.
Usually I would expect to learn something while experimenting with such methods and today we discovered that Northern Light Lake has spiny water fleas just like Saganaga and Gunflint. This invasive is credited for competing with baitfish for zoo plankton and possibly devastating a fishery from the bottom of the food chain. In fact, many people think the spiny water flea was the demise of the Saganaga Lake walleye population, but nobody really knows.
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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