May started off with great Lake Trout fishing in mid May when the season opened. About a week or so later the Walleye started schooling in the warm bays on Saganaga and some beauties were caught.....up to 10#. The Smallmouth Bass were hot during their pre spawn weeks, although nothing much over 4# during that time.

In June fishing settled into a very successful season, with a steady procession of lunker walleye caught each day. Most of the guides were able to hook onto walleye over 10# on a daily basis. You notice I used the operative words--"hook onto". While a lot of them were boated there were as more, or more, that beat the fishermen.

The lake trout were in shallow water until mid June and most of them ran from 3 to 10"#. The smallies spawned late and were on their beds until June 20th or so. Most of the large ones caught during that time were released, so they could finish spawning.

Mary Jane Platt- 31" Walleye

John Schei- 31" Walleye

In July the walleye fishing got very steady, with a constant water temperature and good weather. Each day brought more tales of trophies boated (most are released, but that is your choice), hooked or lost. The lake trout migrated to deeper water, but the guides did very well jigging for them. The smallmouth bass were steady but nothing very exciting in size.

Dennis Todd- 31" Walleye

Dennis Todd- 29" Walleye

In August the lunker walleye got a bit harder to come by, but the catch and release board still accumulated many pictures. It became a contest between guides Dennis, Jon, Adam and Corrie to see who could do the best. Toward the end of the month we had some success with whitefish on Saganaga.

September brought exciting smallmouth bass fishing. They got bigger as the month went along and on some days guests got tired of reeling them in. Many from 4 to 6# were caught. The walleye were more challenging, except for steady catches from Northern Light Lake. The lake trout season closed at the end of the month and the water did not cool off enough for them to be up on the reefs by then. As a result, they had to be fished with jigs in deeper water right up until the end of the month.

The first half of October the highlight continued to be smallmouth bass. The big ones school upin the fall, so the action was fast and furious.