Lake Trout might be Grandma's best friend

Hello!

It is suuuuuuper hot here today.  And humid.  And sunny.  Did I mention it was hot?

I travel many miles to avoid this type of summer weather.  I thought mother nature and I had a deal.  Looks like it may stick around for a few days too.  Yuck!  I predict it will be miserable for the next few days, then it will be pleasant and perfect for a split second, and then it will move right onto freezing.  I'll be begging for warmth by the end of next week.  Oh Canada.

This is where Travis and my mama would tell you I have a tendency to be a bit dramatic in my predictions, and dramatic in general actually.

But!  The weather has nothing to do with the title of this post.

In last week's post we shared an awesome picture of a lake trout caught and released on Red Lake.  Caught by accident while trolling for northern.  With a GIANT stick bait called a "grandma".  We all found it a bit odd that a grandma lure would bring in a lake trout.  Its definitely not something the guys fishing last week are used to seeing with that method of trolling.  Well, Tate's 33" lake trout was just the first!  We had two more really nice and healthy looking lake trout caught last week on grandma lures after Tate caught his.  Take a look:

Gene's 32" lake trout

Jason's 34" lake trout

 What an awesome fish!

Please remember that lake trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, and if you are specifically fishing for them you must use a single barbless hook with no live bait.   They tend to like deeper water depths and are mostly found on the west end of Red Lake.  I've never even seen one outside of pictures!  They aren't a dime a dozen, but I think we can all agree there are some nice ones in Red Lake.

Side note:  As great as this post title is, wouldn't it have been better if it was MY grandma catching a lake trout using a grandma lure?  Gran and Grandma, we may just have to spend some more time on Red Lake next summer jigging for lakers.  Just for fun here is a picture from well before my Eagle Falls Lodge days of me with my gran and grandma.

 I come from good people, I tell ya!

Tomorrow is Monday, which means.... Fish Fry!   Be jealous.

One heck of a Lake Trout!

I believe in the last post I hinted to the fact that the group this week would most likely bring in some very nice fish.  Well, they aren't ones to disappoint.  Most of the group front troll for northern pike during their stay.  Apparently Tate was getting tired of catching northern pike (he caught a 44" northern on the FIRST day!) and decided to mix it up a bit.  

Tate landed a 33" lake trout on Red Lake!

Who knew you could catch a lake trout front trolling a giant Grandma lure designed for northern pike and muskie fishing!  Tate's lake trout was nice and healthy looking too which we like to see.  Lake Trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, so this lunker went right back into the water.  

We don't get any guests that specifically target lake trout during their fishing trip, but as seen above you can definitely find some big lakers in Red Lake!  This is actually the first trout a guest has "accidentally" brought in the boat this season.  

We will have more pictures of BIG fish at the end of the week.  

Two completely unrelated comments:

1.  Who turned the heat back on?  Holy hotness!  It is going to push 90 degrees today, folks.  I will remind you that less than 2 weeks ago I was wearing my long underwear around camp.  Not cool.  Good news is it doesn't look like it will stick around.

2.  We have reached over 30,000 hits on our blog!  I know that is virtually nothing, but we can't help but believe some people are actually checking in on us.  We feel humbled.  Please let us know what you would like to read about or see on the blog in the future!

Big Fish 2010

The excitement is building as the 2011 fishing season approaches. We're less than a month away and patiently waiting on the ice to melt in the Great White North. This year isn't going to be a repeat of the record setting ice out we experienced a year ago. Hugh Carlson from Viking Outpost measured only 15" of ice remaining in front of his place on April 21st. We're expecting the ice out to occur in mid-May this year.

We're making preparations for our departure in a few days and thought this would be a great time to review the BIG fish caught & released during the 2010 season.



Lake Trout
36.5" David Wein (pictured above)
24" Kari Marquardt

We didn't have too many people fish for lake trout in 2010 although many big lunkers still reside in the lake. You can still fish for them with single barbless hooks and no live bait and they remain catch & release only.




Walleye
29.5" Dennis Meyer
28.5" Mary-Jane Owen (pictured above)
28" Jeff Zwieg
27.5" Dave Mertes
27.5" Micke Juillerat
27" Grant Peterson
27" Grant Peterson
27" Dave Swan
27" George Matykowski
27" Travis Mack

Numbers of fish were great once again although 2010 was a little down for what I would consider really really BIG fish. Considering the number of total fish caught especially in the 20" - 26" range really has me looking forward to what this summer will bring.




Smallmouth Bass
18" Jared Oehrke (pictured above)

You won't find smallmouth bass listed as a species in the Red Lake system in any of the guides. But here's all the proof you need. Albeit this one was the only one caught.




Northern Pike
47"* Hays Griswold
45" Larry Andris
44" Jeff Zwieg
43.5" Randy Modra (pictured above)
42.5" Carson Mack
42" Bob Gouge
42" Andy Zwieg
42" Grant Peterson
41.75" Larry Andris
41" Kevin Smith
41" Jack Hughes

Alright...time to explain the asterisk. While Hays did catch & release a 47" Northern it wasn't by rod and reel. He happened upon a fish struggling on the surface near the boat. No evidence of disease or propeller marks was visible, but considering they were able to boat and measure the fish with ease I'm guessing this fish either ate an extra large meal and was having some digestion trouble or was close to succumbing of old age. Neat to see fish this big in the system though.

Rock Bass
9" Luke Nelson

Congrats to Luke for the biggest rock bass of the year! These little guys are capable of a great fight and I love hooking into them.

I'm hope you are as excited about the 2011 season as we are. See you soon!

Big Laker & 1st Fish Fry

Hey everybody!

We are about halfway through our first week and things are going great! The guys this week have had much success on both Red Lake and Parker Lake. Due to some wet weather most guys have been fishing fairly close to camp and have had fun catching fish in both Young's Bay and Martin Bay. One of the week's best catches so far was a 35" Lake Trout hooked and released by Dave Wein. We finally saw some sun yesterday after a rainy first three days. Camp operations are going well, my only complaint is that everyone comes in at the end of the day and talks about their daily adventures while I get to listen. Wish I could be out there catching the fish too! That and all the new grass seed has pretty much washed away. Travis took some new guests out on Parker and that really broke his heart to have to go out there. Yeah right!

Cosmo is ready for the weather to clear up, but he has enjoyed some time by the fire. He has yet to be late for a meal and has quickly warmed up to everyone in camp. Those sad puppy eyes can be pretty convincing. Last night was the first fish fry of the season. Travis & I battered all the fish and didn't think we'd come close to eating all of it. Of course every last bite was eaten. Nothing beats a fresh walleye fish fry!

Until next time...