The Canadian fishing opener happened last week and the Lake Saganaga parking lot finally showed some life. The anglers had not been around the end of the Trail yet this season, but now that Canada has opened up there have been a few more people around.
The fishing reports were about the same as everywhere else—slow. There are some trout being caught but not very consistently.
If you need a license for Canada you can purchase one at either Chippewa Inn or Sagonto on Red Pine Island just east of the old Canadian Customs. If you purchase a license be sure to bring your sportsmen card along or you will have to buy another one of those as well.
If you have any leftover ciscoes from last year that are not certified they can still be used in Canada, except within Quetico which does not allow any bait, live or dead. There has not been anything mentioned, that I can find, about not being able to use them across the border. This surprises me since Canada is usually more conservation minded then we are when it comes to these kinds of things.
I would not be encouraging anyone to use locally purchased ciscoes if I actually believed they were bad. The viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) disease is a fish killer, but they have yet to find it in any of the ciscoes that we use up here.
Lake Superior and its tributaries are the suspected areas and Minnesota does not have any reported cases yet. Preventative measures are necessary but I do not agree with the route taken.
Our ciscoes come from Ely and should not even have to be certified, but that is the law now. If they come from Lake Superior or a tributary of Lake Superior they need to be labeled as such and certified as properly processed bait. I would like to see some studies done on the chemicals used to “pickle” these baits before we re-hydrate them in our lakes. If it can kill something as nasty as VHS, what else can it kill?
I used to like fishing for smelt in West Bearskin. I still do, but now I am not allowed to re-use them for bait in the same lake that they came from because they have not been certified. Luckily, I am still allowed to eat the smelt for dinner. They were dynamite bait and rarely made it to the bottom before getting eaten. Recycling the fresh smelt from the stomachs of lake trout, walleyes, bass and northern pike was also a common way to match the hatch but is no longer allowed. Saganaga Lake has an incredible population of smelt and herring. Sometimes you will catch a bass that will cough up a dozen of them before getting to the boat.
Fishing regulations just keep getting stricter all of the time and many of the rules do actually make sense. We have come a long way from the old days. I mean, when was the last time you saw someone pick up a northern by its eyes? A long time I hope, but sometimes rules are made hastily with little consideration for common sense.
I am no scientist but I have to believe that the healthiest bait you could possibly use in a lake would actually come from that lake.
Cory Christianson, a graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388-0315.
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