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Heading up to Grand Marais on Monday for a few days. Just curious if anyone has been up there this winter and has any lake trout reports? I have several different lakes in mind. I looked at a few different webcams, and it looks like there’s still some snow on the lakes...hopefully it can melt by the time I get up there so slush won’t be a big issue.

 

I’m interested in Sea Gull Lake. I know in the summer, the section of lake outside the BWCA isn’t very good for lakers, but what about in the winter? Anyone ever target whitefish? Appears to have a high population.

 

Anyway, should be a fun trip. Looks like nice weather. Might bring some summer gear also, see if my spring locations on Superior can produce in winter.

 

P.S. Any advice on shed hunting? I think my kids would be really excited to take a break from fishing and look for moose antlers.

Edited by JBMasterAngler
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Got up there and enjoyed some very nice weather! Ice was about 3 ft thick, but 1/3 to 3/4 of it was soft white ice, depending which lake. Lots of spots had a layer of water a few inches down. 

 

Fished Clearwater Lake, and didn’t mark a single thing. Fished 17 to 70 ft. Pretty disappointing. 

 

Mayhew Lake was next on the list. Almost didn’t fish it because the road wasn’t plowed, and the kids are not fans of walking. I knew I would regret it if we passed though. So we suited up and on we went. Luckily it was a much shorter road than I remembered. Fished 15 to 66 ft. Marked several fish. At 66 ft I marked one on the bottom, worked it up 15 ft before I got him to hit. Everything about what I seen on the vexilar told me this fish should have been a lake trout! It was a northern pike! 

 

Before going home, we drove back up the trail and fish West Bearskin Lake. 12 to 64 ft. Marked a few fish. Then with only 5 minutes left before heading in I caught a little laker that was about half way down in 53 ft of water. Nice way to end the day.

 

Did a lot of sightseeing. Saw countless deer. Several grouse, including a spruce grouse. Unfortunately no moose. And surprisingly, no fox or hares. Discovered a few new fishing spots. All around, a very good time up north.

 

 

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • SkunkedAgain
      That's good news. I haven't seen any ice in Black Bay yet, but it looks like the small bays should start to freeze up this weekend. Hopefully we make some ice next week.   Below is the forecast for Cook. We should have temps mostly below zero . The bottom section below shows that it should not be windy, and no snow is predicted. All good signs for making ice.  
    • smurfy
    • Kettle
      Haven't heard that but have heard from several people they've seen wolves out hunting. Obviously I cannot harvest those but hopefully I'll get some coyotes and bobcats this upcoming trapping season 
    • Troy Smutka
      11/15/24     The ringnecks are finally here, and some mallards and gadwalls are starting to show up. We have decoyed some flocks of 30-50 ringers the past couple weekends, with one mixed flock of ringnecks and bluebills number around 100. Some new, more cooperative mallards have joined the bag as well. The cold coming up this week should get the late migration of the hardiest ducks (mallards, bluebills, buffleheads, goldeneyes, common mergansers) as well as big Canada geese and Tundra Swans started. Still worried the best mallard, bluebill, and goldeneye hunting will come after our early closure of ducks before Thanksgiving this year. Good luck, and happy and safe end of the season everyone.
    • smurfy
      Kettle, I ran into a local in the woods last week I've known for 30 years.  He said t here's no shortage of wolves.   He told me wolves took down a deer like 20 yards in front of the main door of the bigfork high school.   You heat anything about it?? Guess the school is trying to pass it off on German Shepards.
    • leech~~
      Then your wife yelled, get up it's time for work!!  And that dream was over!  🤣🤣
    • gimruis
      I posted a report in the local Moose thread.  I saw 52 deer last week, by far the most I've ever seen in a season.  It was my 30th season.  I did not fill my buck tag because nearly every buck I saw was a dink.  I did fill a bonus antlerless tag with a plump corn fed doe, but I'll save everyone the waste of time looking at a doe since we've all seen one of those.  The wildlife in general has gone off the charts, as I also saw about 60 wild turkeys and stopped counting pheasants at 200 by day 4.
    • gimruis
      I saw 52 deer in 6.5 days of hunting last week in zone 225 northeast of Princeton.  Its by far the most deer I've seen in a season, by more than double.  16 of those deer were bucks.  Unfortunately, 15 of those bucks were dinks being 6 pointers or smaller.  I only saw one sizable buck that appeared to be a big 8 or 10 pointer briefly as it was bounding through brush/timber behind me, and it did not present a shot.  I saw several mature does with triplet fawns.  I did fill a bonus antlerless tag with a plump corn fed doe on opening morning for the freezer.   I also saw about 60 wild turkeys and too many pheasants to count.  Its obvious to me that the wildlife is flourishing like I've never seen before.  I've hunted Central MN for 25-30 years and its never been like this on all fronts with the wildlife.  One morning I thought a flock of about 40 mallards landed on the field and as it got brighter, I realized they were all pheasants, not ducks.   I think it had to be the fake winter we had.  There's no other explanation for the explosion in wildlife.    
    • Kettle
      I have not heard of a buck harvested this year in the bigfork or Effie area
    • Wanderer
      Dang, that kinda sucks.    My deer sightings went way down this weekend.  2 Saturday and 2 today but those might’ve been the same 2.
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