Annual Grand Marais Report

[JBMasterAngler]

Just got back from our 34th annual Grand Marais trip. Weather, and how bad it was, was the theme. At one point or another, it rained every single day we were there! The wind was miserable he last couple days as well. Really affected our fishing plans, as we had to cancel out on some of our normal lakes, and fish some less than desirable backup lakes.

 

As per tradition, we left in the middle of the night and pulled up to the Lester River just a few minutes before sunrise. Didn't catch anything there. Also got skunked at the Talmadge and French rivers. I got free admission at Tom's logging camp on account it was Father's Day  and as always, kids had fun feeding the animals. I did catch a few little rainbows out of sucker, knife, and Stewart rivers. Had our traditional "fisherman's breakfast" at McDonalds in Two Harbors. We stopped at the silver creek tunnel, and that was the first time I've been at the overlook since it was actually part of the highway back in '94. We rolled into Grand Marais at about 3:30 and had to wait out a rain storm before putting the boat out on Kimball Lake. We lost several trout, and in the end, only my 6 year old son caught 2 rainbows.

 

Monday we fished Greenwood Lake, and as was the case with my 2 older kids, my 3 year old daughter caught her very first fish here...a smallmouth bass! Between all of us, we caught about 130 bass, all of which were pretty small. Unfortunately no lake trout. However, a big surprise occurred...while casting for bass, I caught a herring! Then a few minutes later, my son caught one also! Never would have guessed I'd ever catch one in the summer, let alone 2!

 

Fished a "secret lake" on Tuesday and caught quite a few northerns. They were all either 5 pounds, or 6 inches long, nothing in between. My son caught an 8 pound, 33 incher, which ended up being the biggest fish of the trip. We was screaming, and excited, and wanted me to take his fishing pole. But after about 10 minutes he finally got it in so I could net it. He's still bragging about it. My 3 year old also caught her 2nd ever fish, a perch, which ended up being the only one of the trip.

 

Went up to Saganaga on Wednesday. I spent I don't know how many hours trying to catch lake trout, but didn't find any!  Finally gave up and ventured deep into red rock bay for the first time ever. Really nice back there, wish I would've went there first. Fishing was ok, considering the weather was starting to get bad. Caught the biggest bass of the trip, a hair over 18 inches. On the drive back we seen a bear. Ironically it was walking down the road to black bear lodge at Poplar Lake.

 

Biggest disappointment came on Thursday. The plan was to fish both Hungry Jack and West Bearskin lakes. The wind was terrible, and coming straight from the west. Had hungry jack not had the reputation as a big bass producer, I wouldn't have went here. Unfortunately the big bass weren't around, nor any bass for that matter. Only caught 4 small bass. Kids caught about a dozen or so sunnies from the dock at the resort, some of which were decent size. We didn't even bother with bearskin. There's no way we would be able to launch our boats in that wind. We went to Loon Lake instead. In the limited time we were there, we caught about 30 tiny bass. My 9 year old daughter also caught her first rock bass. I tried for lakers, and marked a lot of them, but didn't catch any. 

 

So since we didn't fish West Bearskin as planned, we penciled it in for Friday. Knowing the weather was going to be bad, we picked Poplar Lake as our backup. I drove up to Mayhew Lake to start, because I wanted to check out the launch. I was able to get my boat down the launch, but it was a real tight fit. Nice little lake. We saw a mommy moose with 2 babies laying right on the shoreline. I got sick of trolling, so I decided to cast cranks along the drop offs of the one small stretch of shoreline that was out of the wind (relatively speaking). Hooked into a big fish! Got excited because I thought I finally had a lake trout! It was a northern!  never thought I'd be disappointed in catching a 5.5 pound pike, but that's what I was. Didn't bother going to Bearskin, as I knew the wind was too bad again. Went to Poplar, which is a lake I do not like! As is typical, the fishing was no good! He weather was bi polar! It would be bright and sunny, then rain for 20 minutes. Did that the whole rest of the day! Only caught 1 little pike and  1 little bass. Got excited for a minute, as whitefish started surfacing around my boat in the evening. I was hoping I could catch 1 or 2, but nope! 

 

Saturday we were supposed to fish Two Island for a few hours before going home. But it was pouring rain. We didn't even bother driving around to different boat launches. So the trip ended on a sour note, but we still had lots of fun, seen a moose, had our donuts (I highly recommend the bacon maple longjohn by the way), and went to Sven & Ole's. I was going to go camping in Ely in July, but I think we'll come back to Grand Marais instead, and try to make up for what we missed out on due to the weather.

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[JBMasterAngler]

[monstermoose78]

I was up over the weekend to do cabin duties. I did get laker trout at cascade river Friday mornings it was 17 inches but made for great trout and eggs breakfast. Agree with maple bacon longjohn and Chet's doughnut. Also a must stop for me is trail center for lunch the 3 Cheese grilled cheese is amazing with a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake. Just look at this lunch

[certified jumbo]

Good reports guys.

 

We were up Wednesday to Sunday.   I second you on the weather, rain and wind got old.  Not to mention bugs were terrible.  No see ums bothered us the most.   

 

For us luckily the fishing was great.   Limited on bows and Lakers.   Had several stellar meals too.

[JBMasterAngler]

I never got a chance to get down to Superior in the morning to fish from shore, as it was always a little too rough every day. I did get up early enough to make it to the devil track river, finally for the first time. Was nice to check it out, although my time was short. Caught 1 little rainbow, and lost 6! 

 

Also checked out the Poplar River for the first time, off the caribou trail, at the campgrounds. Only fished it for a little bit, but caught 2 brook trout, one of which was about 12 inches. River was surprisingly deep, was wading in waste deep water. 

 

My dad and my son are still up there. But they haven't really been able to fish due to the rain on Saturday and Sunday. If it was nice today, they were going to go back to Greenwood Lake. Otherwise, if the weather was bad, they were coming home a day early. Haven't heard from them yet, so hopefully they were able to get out.

[JBMasterAngler]

Well, we went back up there to make up for last month. There was no making up anything! Bugs were horrendous, and the fishing was slow to nonexistent. The biggest point of going back up was to fish West Bearskin and Two Island lakes, and we didn't make it to either this time around either. 

 

We still had lots of fun. Did a lot of hiking and sightseeing, particularly on the way up and he way home. Seen a lot of things I've never seen before. Was nice to sit out by the harbor and eat Sven & Ole's. Definitely a lot more people up there in July, as opposed to June. Well, we'll be back in October. 

[certified jumbo]

Bugs have been brutal all summer up their.   Glad you had fun!!!