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I am sure this is not the first time it has snowed this late in the year, but I was surprised on Friday to see a miniature snowman on the railing at Trail Center. It was rumored to have been assembled on the Hungry Jack Road. (See the snowman with the weather report on page 3A).
I saw some sleet while guiding on Saganaga, but I would not have called it snow.
The fishing has been holding up despite the cold, wet, and windy days that we are being blessed with this spring. Walleye are prone to getting "lock jaw" on the backside of these spring fronts that have been powering through every couple of days. Consistent wind directions will help them school up again, otherwise you can expect to find a lot of scattered fish.
The lake trout have been really cooperating. Many anglers are reporting strong catches every day—on the days you can actually get to the Big Lake on Saganaga.
Our party caught seven on Saturday in 55-65 feet of water. Most people like to troll on the surface for lake trout this time of the year, myself included. Lake trout need cold water and this time of the year the surface temperatures allow the lake trout to be shallow, but many are going to stay down deep throughout the day. If surface trolling is not working, start looking for fish on the usual mid-summer humps, and you should be able to find them on your locater.
I like to catch them on Buck Shot spoons and Jigging Rapala ice fishing lures. They produce just fine in the summertime too. The trick is to keep the boat as vertical as possible with the stern directly into the wind.
On calmer days I like to use the electric trolling motor to search the reef for fish, and throw out a marker buoy if I see a lot of them. Some guys like to soak a Cisco on a quick-strike rig, but I prefer to jig them. Quick-Strike rigs tend to throat hook the fish and I just do not want to pull the anchor up seventy feet.
The late frosts have once again killed my tomato plants. They should have been covered with plastic, but I wanted to see how strong they really were. Not very!
I will see if there are any more plants for sale anywhere, and give it one more shot. I am not cut out to be a gardener, so I will just stick to fishing. Wish me luck, and good luck on the water.
Cory Christianson, a 2000 graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide at Seagull Creek Fishing Camp for eight years and worked for Almost There Charters in Key West for nine years. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an e-mail to christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218 388-0315.
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