Taking the Leap: Andrew’s First Trip
by YardstickAngler
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/08/2025
Entry Point:
Saganaga Lake Only (EP 55A)
Exit Point:
Saganaga Lake Only (EP 55A)
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
2
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (2 messages)
Part 3 of 12
Day 1: Guided Fishing on Saganaga
Friday, June 6th, 2025
We rise, eat breakfast, and arrive at Seagull Creek Fishing Camp early in hopes of getting a jump on some excellent fishing today.
After arriving at Seagull Creek and signing our permit, we meet our guide, Steven, and load up for Saganaga. It’s a gorgeous clear, cool morning, which gets even cooler when we are moving across Sag! The wind is nearly dead calm, which has the fish scattered unpredictably around the lake. However, we have decent success fishing in Red Rock Bay with leeches for smallmouth, and also catch one smaller northern. Andrew and I enjoy talking with Steven, who is from Indianapolis but has spent most of every summer up here for around 40 years. He first came to the area as a “trail kid” working at Gunflint Lodge. It was there he met one of the guides, Mike, who now owns Seagull Creek Fishing Camp, and they’ve been working and fishing together in some capacity in the Gunflint area ever since. During his summers here, Steve lives in a cabin he built himself on the camp property. What a cool story!
We spend the day enjoying each other’s company, discussing family life, the Indiana Pacers (who are underdogs in the NBA Finals against the Thunder this year), his experience working as a carpenter at the South Pole, and history of the Gunflint Area. After spending the morning fishing Red Rock Bay, we fish further north on Saganaga, where multiple cabins are visible on the Canadian side of Sag. While I’d heard about this area, I never fully understood how these cabins were fully off-grid and only accessible from the American side, which makes for a very interesting living situation. Steven fills us both in on how that works (and sometimes doesn’t work, especially with the current RABC challenges) for the families that have cabins up there, and I really enjoy hearing all about it. Another thing we discuss quite a bit are the blowdown of ‘99, the Ham Lake Fire, and the Sag Corridor Fire, all of which Steven has firsthand knowledge of.
Along the way, the action isn’t fast and furious, but most fish we catch are respectable in terms of size. Andrew and I gain a new appreciation for the fighting power of smallmouth bass. Toward the end of the day we fish the Sea Gull River and Sag Corridor quite a bit, where we have the best success of the day. After a long day of fishing, we pull the boat out and run into another one of Steven’s lifelong friends he met as a trail kid up here so many years ago. Seeing these long-lasting social connections that were forged decades ago in this wilderness only deepens the appreciation I have for the Boundary Waters.
We return to Trail’s End completely spent, where we cook another quick dehydrated supper, tidy up camp for tomorrow’s departure, go to bed.
Friday, June 6th, 2025
We rise, eat breakfast, and arrive at Seagull Creek Fishing Camp early in hopes of getting a jump on some excellent fishing today.
After arriving at Seagull Creek and signing our permit, we meet our guide, Steven, and load up for Saganaga. It’s a gorgeous clear, cool morning, which gets even cooler when we are moving across Sag! The wind is nearly dead calm, which has the fish scattered unpredictably around the lake. However, we have decent success fishing in Red Rock Bay with leeches for smallmouth, and also catch one smaller northern. Andrew and I enjoy talking with Steven, who is from Indianapolis but has spent most of every summer up here for around 40 years. He first came to the area as a “trail kid” working at Gunflint Lodge. It was there he met one of the guides, Mike, who now owns Seagull Creek Fishing Camp, and they’ve been working and fishing together in some capacity in the Gunflint area ever since. During his summers here, Steve lives in a cabin he built himself on the camp property. What a cool story!
We spend the day enjoying each other’s company, discussing family life, the Indiana Pacers (who are underdogs in the NBA Finals against the Thunder this year), his experience working as a carpenter at the South Pole, and history of the Gunflint Area. After spending the morning fishing Red Rock Bay, we fish further north on Saganaga, where multiple cabins are visible on the Canadian side of Sag. While I’d heard about this area, I never fully understood how these cabins were fully off-grid and only accessible from the American side, which makes for a very interesting living situation. Steven fills us both in on how that works (and sometimes doesn’t work, especially with the current RABC challenges) for the families that have cabins up there, and I really enjoy hearing all about it. Another thing we discuss quite a bit are the blowdown of ‘99, the Ham Lake Fire, and the Sag Corridor Fire, all of which Steven has firsthand knowledge of.
Along the way, the action isn’t fast and furious, but most fish we catch are respectable in terms of size. Andrew and I gain a new appreciation for the fighting power of smallmouth bass. Toward the end of the day we fish the Sea Gull River and Sag Corridor quite a bit, where we have the best success of the day. After a long day of fishing, we pull the boat out and run into another one of Steven’s lifelong friends he met as a trail kid up here so many years ago. Seeing these long-lasting social connections that were forged decades ago in this wilderness only deepens the appreciation I have for the Boundary Waters.
We return to Trail’s End completely spent, where we cook another quick dehydrated supper, tidy up camp for tomorrow’s departure, go to bed.
Stats—> Hours Fishing: Over 9 | Fish caught: 12 smallmouth, 1 pike
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