Life on Gunflint Lake has been busy this past weekend and into the week. On Saturday the various activities for Winter Tracks were held up and down the Trail. At Gunflint we hosted the Snowboot Ball with dinner and dancing. About 100 people turned up. This was after a very busy afternoon in the bistro with people stopping by almost constantly.
On Sunday Winter Tracks was over but the local snowmobile club hosted a trout derby on the lake. Here is a picture of the scene that afternoon.
A road had been plowed on the lake so people could drive on it. Needless to say, our ice is plenty thick. Fishing was good and they accumulated an entire board of fish for the contest.
On Monday some neighbors were out fishing. They came across a tip-up (used for ice fishing) that was frozen into the lake. Someone must have set it and forgot to bring it in. At any rate the neighbors dug it out and started to reel in the line. There was a 9-lb. trout still hooked on the line. The funny part was that this fish would have been the big winner the day before.
Monday was also a busy day at the lodge. One of the middle school classes came up for some winter activities. They sledded, fished, played broomball and carved snow figures. We had lunch for them at the lodge. Several fathers came up to do a little ice fishing. For the third day in a row the lake filled with fishermen.
Of course, by this time even Bruce is ready to go fishing. He and Bob Baker went out this morning. Bruce had a couple things to do before he could go out so Bob got a head start on fishing. He caught 3 trout and released one of them to stay at the legal limit. Here are the two Bob kept. 
Ten minutes later Bruce came out.
I went out after lunch to see how they were doing. The lake is so perfect that I just drove out to their spot. Before Bruce left I asked if he wanted a sandwich packed but he was in too much of a hurry to even think about food. When I got out on the lake, it was a different story. Where were their sandwiches and coffee? So back I went to the lodge to get sandwiches, cookies and coffee. Not only do they want take-out service but they also want delivery service.
The guys caught two more trout (one while I was getting lunch). While Bruce was cleaning ours, he remarked on how easy it was to just drive out on the lake. The conditions have to be perfect but does it make fishing easy. One of our trout produced two big fillets – two dinners for us. Bruce gilled and gutted the other one. I will stuff it and bake it one night for dinner.
While we have been looking at the lake, Sheryl has been looking at the great ski trails. Here is her picture of one of the newly groomed trails. 
In the background is the high cliffs. March offers some of the most wonderful skiing of the entire winter. It warms up during the day. Today was in the 30’s. It felt like summer. I know that a day in the 30’s in May will feel like winter.
Now only are the ski trails in great shape but the snowmobile trails are wonderful. We had two guys stop in for lunch yesterday who had snowmobiled from Side Lake up north of Hibbing. They said all the trails were wonderful. Each weekend we are seeing lots of machines stop by for lunch.
If you are looking for one more ski trip or snowmobile run, this is the place to be. The trails are all in top notch condition.
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