I have spent the past 30-some days fishing, so it will be difficult for me to discuss any other subject this week. My kids had a blast attending Fisherman’s Picnic and all of the fun activities in Grand Marais with their mother while daddy had to work, and yes, guided fishing is considered work!
My father used to ask me, “What do fishing guides do when they retire?”
I simply replied…. fish.
The summer grind can be a little nerve-racking at times but the season is short-lived and I get to spend a lot more time with the little ones when the season begins to unwind in September.
Saganaga and Northern Light lakes are pretty spectacular places to work and educating people about the area is very rewarding to me, not to mention that I get to fish every day.
Saganaga Lake has been much better this year with good numbers of walleye being caught in the 13-15 inch range. These fish are likely the walleyes that were stocked a few years back and it is neat to see how they end up being caught in the same places as their native predecessors. I feel like the stocked walleyes might have to learn the lake on their own since there are very few bigger walleyes on the lake to teach them the ropes. It will be interesting to see how the lake evolves over the next few years.
Northern Light Lake has been giving up a lot of little walleyes, like Saganaga, with a handful of nicer walleyes in the mix. We caught a pair of 29-inch hawgs within sight of the Northern Light Resort this week in 24 feet of water. I don’t normally drive that far in a day but we needed leeches and Northern Light Resort was the only place to purchase them on a Saturday.
It was a Canadian holiday and the resort was packed. There must have been 100 people swimming at the beach and we had some trouble finding a place to park our boat. It is amazing how many anglers fish that lake and yet it still gives up incredible numbers of walleyes (and people think Saganaga is over-fished). Northern Light Lake has five times the fishing pressure and yet anglers catch five times as many fish as they do on Saganaga.
The walleye in Trafalgar Bay are being caught in 16-24 feet of water with a lot of the “little bait stealing rats” being found on the deeper reef edges. The action is fun and it is not too hard to end up with a nice cooler of keepers after sorting through the little ones. I am not usually a big believer in any specific color but this week the pink jig heads have been getting a little more attention than any other colors. Most of the walleyes have been eating minnows but I found a few crayfish in their bellies as well. If they are eating a lot of crayfish it might explain why they are liking the color pink. I don’t try to get too scientific about catching fish, but I do experiment a lot within the day to see what is working the best. I live for the daily challenge of cracking the walleye code, as long as it is not too much of a challenge!
Hawg Report (released)
. Cory Christianson 29-inch walleye Northern Light Lake
. Keith Andersen 29-inch walleye Northern Light Lake
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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