No Trout for You!

It was a tough weekend of fishing May 21 to May 23. The Smoked Fish Guy, Officer Friendly, and I headed up the North Shore from town after work on Thursday, stopped for supper at the Gunflint Tavern and then went up the Trail. We camped in the lake parking lot that night.

On Friday morning we got an early start after making coffee and headed onto the lake on calm seas. I kept up in my solo canoe and we discovered our preferred campsite was occupied by Captain Karkov and his friends. We chatted for a minute and then moved onto another site, which is a decent one and it looked like it should have decent shore fishing. The biggest issue with the site is that wind can really howl through that part of the lake, trapping one in camp, particularly if you are in a solo canoe. No matter, it was a beautiful day. We set up camp and then headed out to fish. It was slow at first, and the Smoked Fish Guy and I got skunked, but Officer Friendly came through in the clutch, catching five lake trout right before supper. We enjoyed lake trout, steaks, mushrooms, and asparagus for supper. No bites from shore that evening.

On Saturday we had a big breakfast and headed out to fish on another nice day. The wind came up soon after I got on the lake, however, and I was forced to fish in the lee of several islands and caught only a couple smallish northern pike. I tried some shorefishing with a cisco with no luck and tried casting a rapala, which only resulted in a snag in a sunken tree which claimed the rapala. It was windy enough that afternoon that I couldn't safely return to camp, so I stopped at Captain Karkov's campsite and learned of the decent success they were having for both lake trout and walleyes from shore. They all were very relaxed and had custom made cedar stump drink holders. The wind calmed a bit after the visit and I fished my way back to camp, meeting up with Officer Friendly and the Smoked Fish Guy on the way and learned they had some success with lake trout, smallmouth bass, and a decent northern pike (31"). We enjoyed "Kek Burgers" for supper (lake trout bacon cheese burgers). Shorefishing resulted in three lines being sliced by a northern pike.

Sunday dawned cloudy and windy again. We packed up camp and ate a leisurely breakfast, then snuck through some islands on our way back to the truck. I caught a northern pike and had a lake trout-like strike, but didn't connect. We loaded the truck as we observed a group of rookies being instructed by their group leader on the basics of getting into a canoe and paddling. I was surprised that one of his basic instructions wasn't "put on your life vest" considering the rookie status, the strong wind, and the cold May water. I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore. We headed back down the Gunflint Trail and were disappointed that, once again, Huie's Taco House "Home of the Puff Taco" wasn't open for lunch. We had a pizza at Sven and Ole's instead. We rolled into home base late that afternoon.

So, another good trip, but fishing was disappointing for me again. Have I lost my touch? (Did I ever have a touch?)