The bugs are out, the trees are green, and the fish are biting—three telltale signs of June on the Gunflint Trail. My tomato plants are slowly rebounding from the cold start but everything else in the forest is growing fast, including the wildlife.
While guiding some friends from Iowa last week, we were fortunate enough to witness a black bear cub swimming across a wide expanse on Saganaga Lake. The ambitious cub crossed an area south of Munkers Narrows that stretched over half of a mile long. We stayed behind the cub so that we would not spook it and noticed that the two back legs were not kicking at all. The bear was swimming with the front legs and letting the back legs flutter along the surface. It was impressive to see the speed and buoyancy of such a chubby round creature.
I told my friends how lucky they were since I had only seen a bear swimming a few times in all my years on the lake. This day became even luckier for my friends from Iowa since they were able to hook into some nice lake trout as well as a 32-inch walleye.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they saw a young bull moose posing for photos in a roadside swamp while driving up to our house. Not too shabby for a three-day excursion on the Gunflint Trail. They would like to visit again this fall so I told them to expect some brilliant fall colors with a chance of Northern Lights since they seem to have the luck. Or else, I warned, it could also be sleeting sideways. You never know.
The tick population seems to be less offensive this year and amateur entomologist Bobbo Reed thinks it could possibly be due to the humid climate. Apparently ticks like it dry. I am still finding a few crawling around my body every day but not as bad as last year. I would hear stories of people pulling 20-plus ticks off themselves after hiking in the woods. Rachelle would not even let me into the house if she knew how many I was removing from myself last year.
Wood ticks seem to like the terrain with tall grass and I would encounter them while breaking trail to trap minnows in the spring. Some of the lakes that have the best minnows require trekking through waist-high grass in order to reach the shore. Rachelle would not agree, but I think it is a small price to pay for good bait.
As long as we are on the subject of good bait— the water is warming up and the bait dealers are trapping some high quality leeches and minnows. It was a bad start for the bait industry this year so we should all do our part by spending some well-deserved time on the water with a fishing pole. See you out there.
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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