Fall fishing is hard to beat. The action is great, the scenery is spectacular, and nary a boat in sight. Of course there is always a chance of fog, freezing rain, snow, violent wind, and highs in the mid-30s (sometimes in the same day) otherwise it has become my favorite time of year to be living on the Gunflint Trail.
The weather this fall has been so nice that I cannot remember a fall to compare it to; sunshine in mid-October is nothing to scoff at in the northland. I forced my children outside to play this weekend with the threat that they might not see the sun again until March, which some years is not that farfetched. They opted for cartoons instead.
Walleyes have still been descending a little more each day and will drop even faster with the inevitable cold weather approaching. The hot depths this week on Saganaga Lake have been between 30 and 45 feet of water with minnows being the preferred bait. The action is great with a number of walleyes falling within the stringent slot regulations. That was not at all the case this spring when 40-50 walleyes per day were being released for being an inch too short. It seems they either grew up or new schools of bigger fish are beginning to feed.
The motor permit system for Saganaga is no longer in effect making it an easy time to visit the lake. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness rules still apply, but the “day-use motor permits” are no longer necessary to visit the lake. The water is cool enough to keep a couple of dozen minnows alive in a floating bucket and the big three species have been biting well so take advantage of a beautiful fall before it passes by.
Vertical jigging is the best method for presenting minnows to fish that are loitering in deeper water, and a decent depth finder is essential to staying on top of them. There have been some schools of walleyes that are not willing to bite, for whatever reason and rather than waste much time with them, I keep moving until we find the biters because “they are always biting somewhere.”
Inactive fish are not magically going to “turn-on” without a significant change in weather or time of day, so leave them for hungrier ones. Persistence pays and many of my best spots per day are only hot for 15 or 20 minutes before fizzling out, so fish them fast and move.
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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