A Swing and a Miss on Mille Lacs

This photo was taken from the seat of my truck, where I spent as much time as possible on this cold and blustery morning.  With the fish being hard to locate, it didn't make sense to set up the shelter, since we were drilling a couple of dozen holes at each location that we tried.  We were able to drive cross-country on the lake today, dodging the occasional plow ridge.

After a slow day on Thursday, I left everything in the truck and headed down to Mille Lacs on Friday to meet up with my good friend Ole.  I left home at 3:30 in the morning and arrived within 30 seconds of Ole, who was coming from the other direction.  Turns out we could have slept in a little since the resort wouldn't let us on the lake until they had a chance to check the road for cracks and drifts that my have shown up over night.  Once we did make it on the lake, lets just say that we had some technical difficulties in finding our waypoints.  We did finally get to a waypoint around 10 a.m., which was toward the end of our fishing day, since we both had to get back home.  Even if the GPS would have cooperated from the beginning, I have a feeling the results (a few small perch) would have been the same.  I have a trip to Lake of the Woods coming up, hopefully my luck will change.

Slow Fishing on Three Lakes

With the impending storm in the forecast, I took a vacation day Thursday to get one last trip in before travel gets tougher on the area lakes.  My cousin Bob, shown here, was able to join me for the day.  Bob threw everything shown in this bucket down the hole at least once during the day, but the fish were just not very interested.  We hit two lakes north of Nashwauk before heading a little bit west toward potentially greener pastures.  We kept at least one decent sized crappie from each lake, ending the day with five in the bucket, plus a couple of small northerns that are destined to be pickled.  Several smaller fish were released.  On each lake, we were graphing fish almost constantly once we found them, but after catching a couple of the more aggressive fish from each hole, it was time to move again.

This crappie had beautiful coloring in the bright sun, but the picture just doesn't do it justice.  It was an on and off day in terms of sunlight, going from completely overcast to perfectly clear, and back again.  The fish didn't seem to care- it was a tough bite all day.  It was a great day to be on the ice- no shelters needed today, which was great considering we had to be on the move.

The Mystery Trip

I was just along for the ride on this trip, which turned out to be the best crappie bite that I've been on in many years- probably since the glory days of Upper Red Lake.  Thanks buddy!  I was with a couple of friends on a seldom fished lake- that's about as much as I want to say about that.  The larger fish were a solid 14 inches.  Only a few fish smaller than 12 inches were kept.  The Vexilar went from dead to red on this lake, with only a short window of good fishing.

A good day on the ice- we ended up short of a limit, but the quality was outstanding.  This particular lake had a short window during which fish were active.  The window was from approximately 45 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunset, with prime time being just on either side of the actual sunset.  These are the days where you need to have at least 4 rods geared up, ready to go.  If you have a tangle or break something, throw it to the side and grab a new one.  On this particular day, I started with two rods tied with relatively light presentations (1/32 or 1/16 oz. jigs and plastic tail) and two rods with a heavier presentation (i.e. swedish pimple or jigging spoon with treble).  Once the fish turn on, the name of the game is drop something down the hole as fast as possible- that's where the swedish pimple or spoon comes in.  At their most aggressive, these fish were hitting bare jigging spoons and I bet they would have hit just about anything that you could put a hook on.  Just prior to "hammer time" and just after, the extra time that it took to get the lighter presentations down the hole was worth while.

Not Enough Ice at McQuade

I took a drive up to the McQuade boat launch today.  I was hoping to give lake trout fishing a shot from some of the only "reliable" Lake Superior ice near Duluth.  McQuade harbor is located about 10 miles up the shore from Duluth and has only been around for a few years.  Folks have been ice fishing there since the beginning, catching the occasional lake trout or other fish cruising through.  The last time I drove by was about a month ago, and there was one shelter in the harbor, located about 30 feet from open water.  Depending on the direction of the wind, the ice in the harbor can be good on one side, and bad on the other.  Today, there was no good ice to be found.  The wind was pretty much in my face from where this photo was taken, and the ice could be seen heaving up and down with the waves, almost to a point about half-way across the harbor.

This photo was taken from the east end of the breakwater, looking back toward the west (Duluth).  The combination of wind and cold can make for some interesting photos along the shore- this is nothing compared to what is possible.  I have a feeling that if I would have made it an hour or so earlier this morning, I would have had some beautiful photos with the sun coming up through the icicles.

BWCA Trip Planning Season Begins- Pagami Creek Fire Considerations

BWCA trip planning season is in full swing around my house.  A couple of entry permits have been obtained and a couple more are in the works.  Phone calls to potential paddling partners are being made, maps are being reviewed, and DNR lakefinder is being searched.  This shot of my brother Tom was taken at the beginning of an early May trip on the South Kawishiwi River.  While this entry point is not restricted for 2012, and the immediate area was not burned by the Pagami Creek Fire, travel in this area may be impacted in the form of additional canoe traffic.  I'll be using this area myself, so I've put some thought into what might happen.

I can't predict whether or not people will avoid or seek out travel in and around the burned area, but my guess is that they will mostly avoid it.  If you are a paddler who uses entry points such as Lake One, South or North Kawishiwi River, Gabbro Lake, Snake River, Isabella River, and several others, I would recommend being prepared to encounter heavier traffic in this already busy area.  In addition, be sure to check out restrictions posted by the USFS at the following link (note that these will likely be modified leading up to and during the open water season):

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/home/?cid=stelprdb5341928

The Snake River entry, shown here, is an example of an entry point that is still open, with the normal quota of one permit per day, but with restrictions on where you may travel once on the water.  The current information is that travel is not permitted to the east of Bald Eagle Lake (toward the fire area).  The Forest Service also states that once the route is cleared, that travel and camping will be allowed- stay tuned to the latest info from the Forest Service if you are traveling this area.  Remember that the idea is to keep paddlers safe and to protect the resource.  Aside from that, do you really want to paddle a river that is probably blocked by numerous trees?

Generally speaking, I think that increased crowding due to the Pagami fire will be encountered mostly by those entering on Lake One, North & South Kawishiwi, Gabbro, and Snake River entry points.  With 14 unrestricted Lake One permits per day and two restricted permits (no camping on Lakes One, Two, Three, Four, or Hudson) remaining, where will people choose to go?

There are normally 45 campsites on Lakes Three, Four, and Hudson, which will initially be reduced to 23.  Taking into account Lakes One and Two, which have 12 campsites each with no closures, that leaves of 47 of 69 sites, or 68% of sites available.  If you take into account that many lakes bordering the number chain (Horseshoe, Brewis, North & South Wilder, and Harbor) have lost all of their campsites, the numbers get worse.  Only 1 of 11 sites is available on these lakes, bringing the total to 80 normally available, compared to 48 available- or only 60%.

That leaves us with 20 of the 24 permits normally serving this area still available (83%) while only 60% of camp sites on the most popular lakes are available.  This is not counting sites on the Kawishiwi River or a few unaffected lakes, however, it's been my experience that these sites are normally 90% full in a normal year during peak season.  Not to mention closures on Insula, Gull, and Pietro.  My advice would be to approach your campsite selection a little differently than you normally do, meaning choose early and don't expect a 5-star site.

From what I've seen in the past, roses seem to thrive in recently burned areas.  This rose was located on a portage trail near Gabimichigami Lake.  The Cavity Lake fire burned through here in 2006 and this photo was taken during June 2009.