Fishermen have been quiet at Mike’s Holiday in Grand Marais. Tim at Holiday could only provide a report for Lake Saganaga, where the lake trout are biting in about 38 – 40 feet on whole ciscoes and artificial lures.
John at Buck’s Hardware has also heard that lake trout are being caught on Saganaga, in 60 feet of water, suspended at 40 feet by fishermen using ciscoes and jig or minnows and tip-ups with ciscoes. Other lakes giving up lake trout are Loon Lake in 50 feet of water with the fish suspended at 40 feet caught with ciscoes; Trout Lake in 55 feet of water using jig and minnow off the bottom; and Duncan Lake where fish are biting at 60 feet of water with ciscoes or jig and minnow.
Fishermen have also reported luck catching brook trout with waxies in Shoe Lake in 12 – 15 feet of water and Carrot Lake in 15 feet.
Splake have been biting on Bogus Lake in 18 feet of water, also with waxies.
There were a lot of entries in the Trail Center Winter Fishing Contest this week, starting with the first whitefish entries on February 19. Grant Smith caught a 16-inch whitefish and Billy Olson caught a 20-inch whitefish.
Bruce Zimpel caught this 22-inch, 4-pound splake on a Gunflint Trail lake on Feb. 12. He was fishing with a Cabela’s Ice XML Series 26-inch medium action rod, Cabela’s Fish Eagle reel, 6-pound Berkley Trilene XL line, a small white Wiggly Wings jig, and a minnow. Bruce was fishing in about three feet of water. The fish hit the bait about two feet below the ice. A splake is a cross between a lake trout and a brook trout.
On February 20, Kelly Shepherd brought in a 26½-inch lake trout, followed by Shirley Heinzen with a 33-inch lake trout.
Rainbow were the fish of the day on February 21 with Matt Packer with an 18½ rainbow and Dick Hespie with an 18¼-inch rainbow.
And finally, splake were the fish of the day on February 22, with Tim Eales bringing in a 17-inch splake and Ken Wimmer entering a 15-inch splake.
The contest continues until the end of March, so keep fishing!
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