Fishing reports varied greatly depending on where anglers decided to drop a line this past holiday weekend. Tourists flooded the Gunflint Trail and Grand Marais area trying to beat the heat wave happening in the metro area.
There was a major temperature difference between Devil Track Lake and downtown Grand Marais this holiday. Lake Superior kept the city temperature in the mid 50s while a few miles inland temperatures were about 30 degrees warmer.
Pontoon boats, Jet Skiers, and anglers were all taking advantage of the hot weather while children swam off our docks at Skyport Lodge – hard to believe the lake was frozen a few weeks prior. The lake water has warmed to 70 degrees in the shallower bays and fishing has begun to improve on most lakes, but not every lake has been giving up fish.
The Minnesota side of Saganaga Lake has been in a slump this spring, which has happened many times before, while the Canadian side of the lake produced a lot of nice post-spawn walleyes. I guided two of the days over the holiday weekend and managed to boat between 15 and 20 fish each day in the back of Curran’s Bay – a traditional spring haunt for walleyes after they have spawned. Lake trout were not cooperating as well, but we managed to catch a few of those finicky fish as well in 55 feet of water.
Our guests at Skyport Lodge have been catching small walleyes, later in the day, by trolling spinner-rigs or soaking leeches under a slip-bobber in 6-8 feet of water – especially before the big storms came through on Tuesday; anytime the barometer is dropping, fish are biting somewhere. Leeches and nightcrawlers have been working well, which is great since the warm surface temperatures are making it difficult to keep minnows alive.
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. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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