Saganaga Lake, at the end of the Gunflint Trail, still has a fair amount of ice past the narrows, as of April 1. The warm days and high winds will make pretty short work of the remaining ice this week, as it did on all of the mid-trail lakes. Saganaga, I predict, will be free of ice by the time you read this column.
The spawning grounds are now closed to fishing and the walleye season will continue to be open until the 15th of April on border lakes only.
There is some talk about the summer season opening a week early, but I cannot confirm that yet. Senator Tom Bakk and Representative David Dill are working to pass a bill to open the season on May 5 instead of May 12. Bakk is calling it the “Mom’s Amendment” bill since the traditional Minnesota fishing opener falls on Mother’s Day weekend. The rationale behind the early opener is that the walleyes will have left the spawning grounds earlier this year, so anglers should be allowed an extra week of fishing. It will also give resorts another week to put some heads into beds.
Walleye will not spawn until water temperatures hit the 45-50 degree range and Saganaga Lake is currently showing 38-40 degree surface temperatures near the narrows. It will not take long for the water to reach the right temperature, but there may not be very much current for them to work with. The females have to dump their eggs somewhere, but it may not be as suitable as the traditional areas causing lower survival rates for their eggs.
The river has come up some, but I see that the river below Voyageur Canoe Outfitters is still too low to navigate up-current. The rains we have gotten this spring have certainly helped, but it takes a lot of moisture to keep this area from drying out. Water drains through our soil fast and the dense forest requires a lot of moisture to grow fast in a short season.
The population of walleye in Saganaga Lake has some gaps in year classes. We are starting to see some small fish in the 14 – 17-inch range that like to stay deep most of the year. Walleyes in the 20- 25-inch range are becoming scarce and the hawgs are still fairly abundant. The spawning backbone of most walleye lakes in Minnesota is usually the 23-25 inch females. They have the genetics to become a hawg, and are still healthy and young enough to put out a lot of spawn. Males rarely exceed 25 inches, so most of the bigger fish we catch are females.
Saganaga Lake has been a self-sustaining walleye fishery for 56 years. The original stocking efforts were very successful and the average rainfall was much higher than we have been seeing the past few years. Stocking is good, but those fish need to survive and reproduce naturally on their own to be successful.
Saganaga Lake was restocked the past two summers with walleye fry, but it will be a few years before we see any sign of their success. I applaud any efforts to revamp our fish populations. I feel it is mainly Mother Nature’s doing, but our lakes have taken a hit the past few years with the low water springs and drought conditions. We will pray for rain.
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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