The fishing has really picked up since last week on Saganaga and the walleyes are being found on most rock piles. I like to slip bobber fish in these spots—when the wind allows it—because many of them are very small places and you get a lot more time in the strike zone. Leeches work just fine under a bobber and you can get by with a surprisingly small hook. Gamakatsu in the no. 8 or no. 6 sizes work real well if you hook the leech in either end.
The hardest thing about bobber fishing is positioning the boat correctly. Using an anchor off of both the bow and stern keeps the boat sideways to the wind and allows multiple anglers to fish the same spot. Throwing a marker buoy on the reef is a great way to know you are in the right spot when the anchors come tight. We have a reputation on the Trail for being slip bobber guides, but it works. Big fish fall for the slip bobbers all summer long. It evens the playing field for everyone in the boat, especially with kids. Some days you might fish 20 spots and only catch fish on five of them, but you catch more fish on those spots since the boat is not forcing them to scatter. Even casting jigs can make them scatter some days, but the slip bobbers are pretty stealthy.
The northern pike have been pretty aggressive recently. We lost a couple of smallmouth bass to some hungry northern in the past couple of days. Usually that does not start happening until fall, but everything has come to life in the warmer water. The lake is finally warm enough for me to swim in, and the fish are acting a lot more aggressive than they have all year.
The basin out in front of the old “Sag Store” is showing a lot more weed growth than it has in past years. The low water levels this spring caused a lot of vegetation to grow.
I had to clear my propeller once last week after idling through the old light house rock. That was a first.
There is a new Minnesota law that went into effect on July 2
un ONE TIME, the un ONE TIME, the requiring the drain plug to be removed from any boat being transported by trailer. I did not hear what the penalty will be, but it is a new law. Thisis to help ensure people are draining their boats after using the lakes. It might seem a little extreme, but it is a pretty easy rule to live by.
Cory Christianson, a 2000
graduate of the University of
Iowa, has worked as a fishing
guide on the Gunflint Trail
for nine years. 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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