Labor Day Lake Trout

After getting most of my gear ready to go the night before, the dog and I left Duluth after work on Friday. The Labor Day weekend traffic wasn't bad at all and we cruised to Grand Marais with a stop in Tofte for gas and some food for supper. Made it up the Gunflint Trail at dusk without hitting any critters, but did see two wolves cross the road about a mile apart from each other. I got to the boat landing at about 8pm and did some shorefishing until about 10pm on a point near the landing. No luck, but it was beautiful night with a red sunset and a full moon. It was hazy the entire weekend, I assume from wildfire smoke, which accounts for the red sunset. We slept in the back of the truck on a cool night.


Saturday morning I was up early and we were crusing down the lake on calm waters while the sun came up. I made radio contact with Mac, who had been on the lake since the day before. He described what campsite he was on and I headed that direction. On the way, I spotted several boils on the water indicating feeding fish. I quickly tied on a topwater plug and caught three nice smallmouth bass in short order. I arrived in camp and learned of Mac's slow fishing on Friday. I set up my tent and got organized and we headed out on calm waters to fish. Mac nailed a nice lake trout right away and we thought we were in business. Unfortunately, it was the only fish of the morning. We had a couple strikes, but no takers. The wind had steadily building all morning, and by afternoon, we were unable to fish the deep water trout spots. The walleyes were not biting closer to shore, and the wind never died all evening.


On Sunday we were up and on the lake right away. The wind had calmed a bit and we were able to fish the area where Mac had caught the trout the day before. They were still there and they were hungry. Fishing spinners and spoons about 40 feet down (2oz of weight) in 60 to 70 feet of water, we caught several smallish trout with some nicer ones mixed in. It was a good morning. After lunch, Mac packed up and trolled his way back to the landing. The wind had picked up again, so after getting another trout in waves that made fishing uncomfortable, the dog and I hung out in camp most of the afternoon. We got out again in the early evening and caught a few more lakers.


On Monday I packed up camp, loaded the canoe and took off an tour of the lake, trolling as we went. I spotted some nice campsites and fishing spots for future reference and caught a few bass, a northern pike, and a few more lake trout. I also spotted the two most inexperienced canoeists I have ever seen in the BWCA. I gave them some basic pointers about map reading and finding campsites. I hope they live. It was very warm and dead calm most of the day as I worked my way back to the landing. I loaded up the truck at about 3pm and cruised home. Overall it was good trip with fairly good lake trout fishing and very pleasant weather.


Nature Moment: Sunday evening, when it was nearly dark, I was doing some shorefishing from camp. I had set a cup of leeches on a rock near my pole. I neglected to put the lid on the cup and a couple leeches were attempting to escape, hanging outside the cup, when suddenly out of nowhere, a big green frog leaped on to the rock grapped a leech and ate it. He rotated around the cup, grabbed another leech and ate that one, and then hopped away. I had never seen a frog eat anything except bugs before that moment.


Nature Moment Runner Up: As I drifted around a point while fishing, a beach campsite came into view. On the beach were an older couple enthusiastically making love. Awkwardly, I turned around headed the other way, but it was obvious I had ruined their moment.

Nature Moment Runner Up #2: As I drifted around a point while fishing, I came very close to a campsite with a nice smooth rock out front. On the rock were two college age women in their birthday suits, arguing about who should jump into the cold lake first. When they spotted me, they both decided to jump at the same time.