Warm spring sunshine and occasional flurries have been chiseling away at winter this week as the trails fight to keep their snow. Overnight temperatures are still cold enough to keep the package of smelt under the front seat of my truck frozen, thank goodness, and the only thing keeping the lakes solid and the trails rideable.
The snowmobile trails are freezing solid overnight making them difficult to ride in the morning but are softening enough by noon to keep snowmobiles from overheating. The lakes are staying hard throughout the day and are getting tough to walk on. Ice cleats are a great way to keep from falling on your face, especially when running for that second rod when it starts to dance.
This is the last weekend of the 2019 trout season on inland lakes in Minnesota, and it has been nice to get out and enjoy the tail end of the season now that my schedule has allowed me enough time to get away from the lodge. Kemo Lake has been good enough action to be worth the drive, but I would like to fish one of the bigger Gunflint Trail lakes before the season ends.
Snowmobile trails might not hold up until the end of the season, especially if it rains this week, but there will be some opportunities on lakes that can be driven to like Gunflint, Clearwater, or West Bearskin. These lakes all have populations of smelt that will be staging near spawning areas with hungry lake trout nearby.
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. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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