For we who love to fish, thoughts of spring begin before Opener and even before March 21. They begin in mid February, or sometimes late January, when we begin to inventory our tackle boxes and dog-ear pages of Cabela's and other sports equipment catalogs. Long before ice is out, we spend hours trolling through In-Fisherman articles for tips and contemplating rigs and jigs.
Then Opener comes. . .
At Garden Lake Resort this spring, we've heard many people say the fishing has never been better. On Garden Lake and our chain of lakes, walleye, northern, and bass are active, aggressive, and biting. In Ely, the talk about town is of minnows and lures and limits--lots of talk of people getting their limits. And then, of course, there's talk, too, of batter and butter and seasonings.
Last weekend, three college students up from Madison, Wisconsin, caught 71 walleye on Farm Lake in two days. "Sweet! We'll be back this time next year!" they said, as if taking dibs. Perhaps they're worried all the spots on the Chain will be claimed by others who discover what they have: Spring fishing in Ely is sweet.
Really, spring in Ely is sweet, period. Not only are the fish active, but all wildlife is active. On a recent trip to town, we saw over a dozen deer, a beaver, a fox, and a juvenile Eagle--and that was just on the mile-and-a-half stretch along the Kawishiwi Trail between Garden Lake Road and Hwy 169. Moose are about, too. (Sadly, one was struck by a car just three miles south of Ely on Hwy 169 in late April.) Common mergansers are back in the waters by the Garden Lake Bridge, and a pair of mallards has taken up residency in the marsh southwest of Garden Lake Road.
We who are lucky enough to experience Ely before the birch buds open know--spring in Ely is sweet!