Sorry it has taken so long to write this but it has been an
unusual year. We have had to endure
employee issues, as well as truck issues, as well as boat issues. I believe we finally have finally found our
rhythm (although it is 2 months later than I like). This write up will cover several weeks and
bring everyone up to date on weather water levels and most importantly the
fishing.
Over the last month we have had many groups come to Wine
Lake suffering from over work and the weight of life stresses on their
shoulders. However, when they have left
they were fully relaxed and tired for work on Monday morning. I have enjoyed seeing many people that have
been coming here for years and years, as well as, meeting some new faces that
have not been to Wine Lake or have not been here in many years. All have been enjoying themselves and have
been greeted with great weather. We have
missed most of the extreme heat that the states have been feeling as well as
most of the rain you all have been enduring.
We are at the point where the water is dropping fairly quickly and see
nothing changing in the near future. At
one point we did get a rain that dropped 1.5 inches overnight but that has been
the extent of our rain. As I write this
we can still get into all the lakes and the water is high enough that we are
not encountering to many problems but another couple weeks of no rain and that
is going to change. The season so far can be summed up as the only thing that
has been consistent is inconsistency.
We had a very late spring which put us behind water
temperature wise as well as weed wise by about 2 weeks. Everything we typically would see the fish
doing the last few years has not been what they did this year. One day people are catching good numbers of
walleye and the next day it takes great effort to just boat enough for
dinner. The people that have tried
different techniques or tried places they had not usually fished in the past
seemed to do better than those that fished in the places and the ways they usually
do (I personally fall into the latter category). I am a
jig fisherman and you can call it lazy but I tend to continue jigging when I should
be using worm harnesses or crank baits or even swim baits and top water instead. We all have to remember it is called fishing
and not catching for a reason. I have
grown accustom to dropping a jig and the fish biting. Well it is not that easy this year. I only have one reason I can come up with for
the sporadic bite and it is the large quantities of bait fish. In my 4 years here I have never seen so much
bait in the water. At times my depth
finder shows nothing but clouds and clouds of bait fish. The good news is that the fish we are
catching are very fat and healthy. The
bad news is they have lots of food to choose from and not always wanting to
bite what I am giving them. The Trout
fishing has been consistent as we pulled in another 30” plus last week. We have had a good year on big trout as we
have landed over 10 in the 32 to 36-inch range.
I look for the perch fishing to pick up over the next month as well as
the bigger pike. We have been catching
many in the mid to upper 30’s but the over 40’s that we caught so many of in
the spring have been eluding us.
In talking with the MNR they have informed me that the 2015
and 2016 hatches were not exceptionally strong for walleye s. What this means to us is that we are a weak
class of 16 to 18-inch fish right now. I
believe this is adding to the inconsistent fishing we are seeing. They have assured me that this has occurred
over the entire region not just here. We
have an exceptional amount of fish in the 20 to 26-inch range which will ensure
many more year of great fishing. I have
seen this year that we have a lot of fish in the 10 to 14-inch range which will
be great for next year.
On a brighter note to those that have been up this year, the
loons that have had a nest in the bay since May finally hatched an egg and the
chick seems to be doing well. The first
eggs they laid did not make it, the second egg they laid hatched and within
minutes had an eagle take the chick so this is the third go around for
them. I have to give them credit as the
have endured a lot of struggles to get where they are. It just shows perseverance always pays
off. I will have to say though after
over 2 months of having them yelling in the middle of the night every night it
will be nice to have the quiet back.
We have several bear hunters coming into camp at the
beginning of September and the blueberries are about ripe so fall is not far
away. Please make sure if you are not
booked for next year that you give us a shout soon as we only have a handful of
cabins left outside of the month of September.
I look forward to seeing those of you who are still coming up. Quick note RTE 502 is under heavy
construction. If you come through
International Falls go west on 11 instead of east. Take it to RTE 71 North. Take that to 17 West. Then go North on 105. It is 10 minutes longer normally but with the
construction will save you 30 to 40 minutes.
Safe Travels
