For those of you who prefer my columns that do not pertain to fishing, you might want to stop reading. When you guide every day it is hard to have anything else to talk about. Fishing and diapers are the only thing I know right now, and lately the fishing has been really good. Okay, Bo and Sophia are doing wonderful and Rachelle has adjusted to being a mother of two wonderfully. Now back to fishing.
The past week of guiding has mostly been spent on Northern Light Lake (N.L.) in Ontario. The weather has been consistent and the fish are biting. It is easy to find schools of eater-sized walleyes as well as a handful of hawgs, but the smallmouth bass are on the feed. We caught 30-some walleyes today, one was a 29-inch pig, and my customers came back bragging about the amazing bass fishing. N.L. Lake is home to some of the biggest bass around and it is not unusual to catch a bunch of them in a day.
The bass are so aggressive that I have been changing the line on my reels every three to four days. If anglers are not used to playing tug-o-war with 18- 20-inch drag-pulling bass, they can destroy the line pretty quick. Big fish are fought with the rod, not the reel, which is sometimes very hard to teach. Sounds easy enough, but most people just turn the reel as fast as they can, even while the drag is singing. This ruins fishing line faster than anything.
A trick that will add longevity to your fishing line is to always close the bail, of a spinning reel, by hand. If you prefer turning the handle of the reel, in order to close the bail automatically, the half rotation of the reel will create a twist in your line every time it closes. Eventually the line becomes so twisted it tangles around your rod tip and causes a lot of headaches. I see a lot of twisted line, especially when the big bass are biting.
Saganaga has not had the action lately that N.L has had for walleyes and bass, but the lake trout have still been biting good enough. The trout became a lot smaller, ranging from little snakes to a couple of pounds. Their bellies have been full of little silver minnows (maybe smelt) and big herring so they will eat about anything.
The cisco bite seems to be a little bit better than the jigging spoons this week, but that is typical for mid-summer trout fishing. Ice fishing lures are pretty consistent but the ciscos will work better, as well as catch bigger fish right now.
Roger Campbell and I guided the same party this week on a morning halfday and he beat me up with the ciscos. I was using Nil’s Masters and Buck Shots (which are my favorites) and we only caught a couple of dinks. They hit like they have something to prove, but you can quickly tell that you have a little one on the line. A ½-ounce blue jig (good luck finding them) tipped with a cisco is hard to beat.
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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