Nights have been getting pretty cold up here with temperatures dipping into the lower 40s overnight. I think it has been zapping a lot of the bug population— except for the biting flies. There have been a lot of those big pesky flies that like to bite your legs while in the boat, especially before a rainstorm.
Days seem to warm up by 10 a.m. and by afternoon it can be downright hot, although that feeling of fall is just starting to happen up here. It is probably safe to say that the leaves will begin changing within the next few weeks and before you know it I will be writing about ice fishing again! Little early for that kind of talk. This is the time of year that I like to explore and fish on the mid-trail lakes. Saganaga is a great lake but after fishing it for so many days this summer, I am ready for a change of scenery. Hungry Jack and Poplar lakes are a couple of my favorite places to fish in the late summer and early fall. They both have fair populations of fish and are just big enough to make a day out of it. Plus, it is nice to be able to pull up to a restaurant and eat lunch instead of the usual ham sandwich with chips that I eat when fishing on Sag. Rachelle and Sophia went fishing with me on Hungry Jack a few nights ago and the action was great. We caught a lot of fish and Sophia got to kiss her first walleye.
Then I had her kiss a leech for good luck. She was a little nervous about the leech and had to caress it gently for a minute before allowing me to put it up to her face. You can never start the angling lessons too early, and she seems to like touching fish as well as the bait. The fishing was fast, the sunset was perfect, and we all had a great time.
Sophia does great in the boat, but we have been keeping the trips short and sweet. The boat ride up to the cabin on Saganaga takes about 20 minutes and she really enjoys the ride. Even with the cumbersome life vest that she wears. Not much wiggle room inside one of those. In order to take Sophia into Canada we found out that she had to be added to our Remote Area Border Crossing Permit. I would have thought that having her birth certificate and being accompanied by one of her parents was all that was necessary, but that is not the case. She is named on the RABC and along with her birth certificate that is sufficient. The family has been up at the Canadian cabin this week so I am sure we will run up for a muchneeded break this weekend. Saganaga has been a little rough lately with all of the windy days, but the fish have been biting pretty well, considering it is August. We caught walleyes from 16-feet down to 24-feet, but only got 6 or 8 keepers in a day along with a lot of big smallmouth bass.
As soon as the water temperatures drive the walleyes down to 35-40 feet they will start to school up better and get on the feed. Fall fishing is pretty easy since you are only trying spots that show fish on the depth finder. If you trust your machine like I do, there is no reason to drop baits on a spot unless there are fish showing up on the machine. Fun way to fish, and yet another reason to love fall on the Gunflint Trail. 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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