The leaves are changing color and the Trail is starting to look a lot like fall. It seems that we are the last ones to get a color change since many of the maple trees in town have already peaked in their brilliant reds. We are just starting to see the birch trees fade into gold on the Gunflint Trail. Tamarack trees are the last to turn up here and that is a sure sign of colder weather ahead.
The loons have been bunching into groups and working together lately. They are corralling minnows off of the deeper fall reefs on Lake Saganaga making an appearance above the water on most of the spots we fished this week. If the loons are willing to fish the spot, chances are there is enough baitfish around to see some walleyes and northern pike as well.
I promised some friends I would give a fishing report this week since I evidently failed to last week, so here it goes. Walleyes are in anywhere from 25-40 feet of water and the most consistent bite in my boat has been right at 40 feet. We have been catching about 20 eatersized walleyes a day on jig and minnow combinations. Some hawg walleyes have been biting as well, and they have been right there with the smaller fish. The action is great and the weather has been just barely nice enough to be out there.
I have not spent much time fishing for lake trout lately, but the two we caught last week were full of spawn and the eggs are starting to separate and looking very mature.
Everything has been happening ahead of schedule this year and it would not surprise me a bit if the trout soon swim into the shallows and begin their annual spawn on the rock piles.
Very rarely the trout will come up shallow before the end of their season, and ethically you should not target them at this time. It stresses them out and could affect their spawn.
I am not going to lie, I have done it and it is a lot of fun. It was during the season, so I was not breaking any laws and we pried the barbs off of our hooks and never even landed the fish.
Once they are alongside the boat you simply shake your rod a little and they come right off of the hook. It is unbelievable how many trout can stack up on one rock pile, and you could expect a hit every cast, but like I said this is not very ethical whether it is legal or not.
This scenario is very similar to those folks who are fishing the Alpine River on Seagull Lake during the walleye spawn. Just because it is not illegal, it does not make it right. When fish are spawning, they are quite vulnerable, and all you are doing is hurting your own fishery.
I will admit there has been a great change in the “fish pigs” attitude of the past and most people I know are very aware of conservation, especially in the past 10 years. Graphite replica mounts are the norm and some of my customers do not even care about filling their limit as long as they can take home a few to eat.
Good luck and stay warm.
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.
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