Labor Day weekend has come and gone as the summer slowly comes to an end. The weather was not ideal for camping this week but Rachelle wanted to join her friends who were camping on Iron Lake and bring our daughter Sophia for the first time. I went and helped them get ready minutes before a wicked lightning storm pushed through with some high energy winds.
Normally we would not voluntarily rush to set up a tent before a big storm was approaching, but the radar showed the storm to be shortlived and we are trying to spend as much time with the children outdoors as we can before the snow starts flying.
Once the tent was successfully erected the entire family climbed in and braved the storm. It was quite an experience.
Sophia and Bo played without a care for the weather while Rachelle and I peeked out of the tent windows hoping the storm would break soon. Bo is 15 months old and only speaks a couple of words so you can imagine my excitement when he looked at Rachelle and me and said, “happy.”
Even though I was a little choked up inside I managed to respond to him by saying, “nervous,” since my entire family was sitting out a storm in a tent, but really I was elated.
Once the storm blew over, I took Bo home and Rachelle stayed overnight with Sophia. They had another storm come through that evening but it was not as violent as the first one. The tent stayed dry and everyone had a great time on the first mom and daughter camping trip. They had girls’ night and we had boys’ night.
Bo and I stayed up late watching television and eating ice cream—but that can be our little secret.
It is beginning to look like fall up here because the extreme heat last week sent a few of the younger trees into shock, causing their leaves to turn yellow. The stressed trees are deceiving since the shorelines of Saganaga Lake appear to be sporting fall colors.
I would guess it will not be much longer before we start seeing some real color change but it is hard to tell since everything else has been behind schedule this season.
The walleyes are starting a fall pattern but there are still a lot more fish working the shallower summer pattern right now. We have been catching walleyes in 12 – 30 feet of water but the bigger fish have been feeding in the shallower end of this range. The little fish are deeper and feeding on small minnows, and if the walleye patterns are any indication of our changing season, I would have to guess that we still have some pretty nice days ahead of us.
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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