It is so nice to be halfway through the month of June without any major threat of a forest fire. The few rain showers this week were slow soakers that keep everything wet and green. The leaves have been exploding from their branches and once again our home is no longer visible from the Gunflint Trail.
Green-up is always an impressive time of the year and it has been especially noticeable on Saganaga Lake. It has been seven years since the Ham Lake fire and James Bay no longer looks like the moon. I was comparing some photos of customers and their fish with photos from last year, and the backdrop looks much greener now than it did a year ago.
If the amount of pollen dust in the air is any indication of a healthy forest, then Sag Lake is doing fine. The pollen dust has been collecting along the windswept shorelines, leaving a heavy layer of yellowish green dust covering everything in its path. The customer in my boat actually thought there was a fire when he saw the wind blowing the dust from the tree.
The Ham Lake fire left a lot of dead burnt trees in its path that continue to fall every time the wind blows. Power lines are especially vulnerable at the end of the trail near Sea Gull Lake. A few of my favorite shorelines to fish are almost impossible to reach with all of the tree limbs underwater. Saganaga Lake has been called Snag-anaga Lake because of its many rocks that like to grab your bait and it is even a little worse now with the submerged trees. I have been tying a lot of knots this week while discovering all of the “new snags” in the lake.
Besides losing tackle, the fishing has been fair this week on Sag Lake. The walleyes are not easy but I have been getting some in James Bay on leeches in eight feet of water. Follow the wind and you should be able to pick up a couple of nice fish for dinner. The lake trout have been showing up on the deeper reefs but are still very scattered. They are eating “dwarf herring” so it helps to drive until you start seeing some clouds of baitfish on the depth finder in 40-60 feet of water. There will usually be a couple of trout following them around.
The walleye bite has been exceptional, as always, on Northern Light Lake. There are reports of boats landing 30-40 fish in a day with a great chance for a hawg. I have been fishing the Minnesota side of Saganaga all week with customers unwilling (or unable) to get their RABC permit for Canada. I do plan to fish on Northern Light all next week and I am told that Sagonto Resort on Saganaga Lake has some nice Canadian minnows and leeches for sale. They are the only ones selling Canadian bait on Saganaga and they are not open on Saturdays for religious purposes, so plan accordingly.
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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