The combination of foggy mornings and cold afternoons has caused some pretty short days in the boat. Add in the walleyes’ reluctance to bite and you have an idea of a typical day on Saganaga this week. I think the fish are feeding too much at night with the last big moon phase. This is typically the time of year that we catch a lot of fish and the days are pretty easy, but lately the bite has been off.
Every angler I have talked to this week has been complaining about the same thing on Sag—plenty of fish showing up on the graph but very few willing to bite. It is not the bait, because we have had some really nice minnows lately and occasionally one walleye will finally bite. They either want some more stable weather or they are still adjusting to the deep water before really turning on the feedbag, who knows?
Some fish have been caught in Red Sucker Bay on the Canadian side in about 40-45 feet of water as well as the Minnesota side in the same depths, just not very many.
We are still managing to land seven to 10 walleyes a day, but not like it should be.
Grouse season opened last week and there have been no shortage of hunters up this way. It seems like you hear a gunshot every 15 minutes or so. I have not heard many hunting reports but I am sure they are doing well considering the number of blasts.
I did not mention how many birds we have been seeing lately in previous articles because I thought I would give the birds a fair chance this year, but there have been a lot of grouse up here.
They were drumming every day a few weeks ago and it seems like you see a lot more families than normal. I am sure the fox and wolves have been taking their fair share of these tasty little chickens as well as the hunters.
In fact, I saw a fox running down the shoulder of the Gunflint Trail last week with what looked like a grouse in its mouth. It did not look whole, so it might have been some scavenged road kill or maybe he was taking back his leftover meal to share with the young. Either way he was not going to let me get very close to him or his meal.
Fortunately my little dog has not grown a liking to our resident population of grouse that are living in the woods behind the house. She showed a little interest when they were drumming weeks ago, but as far as I know she has not killed any yet. She cannot stand the sight of a squirrel or chipmunk and will never rest until they have all been chased up a tree, but she seems to leave the birds alone for all I know.
Cory Christianson, a graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388-0315.
Leave a Reply