Dennis Anderson: A ghostly quiet opener up at Lake Saganaga

Imagine one of Minnesota's best walleye lakes lying ghostlike this weekend -- devoid entirely of anglers when the fishing season opens.

No frost on boat seats to be wiped off at sunrise. No fingers numbed from reaching into minnow buckets. No laughs around the supper table as fresh fillets of the world's best-tasting fish are passed from plate to plate.

And no hope of catching a state-record walleye, like LeRoy Chiovitte of Hermantown did in 1979, when he hauled a 17-pound, 8-ounce behemoth from an adjoining river.

Imagine that and you will get a pretty good picture of the otherworldly scene expected this weekend on Lake Saganaga, a giant body of productive fishing water lying at the end of the Gunflint Trail.

"This will be the first fishing opener in many, many years -- maybe ever -- that no one will be on Saganaga," said Dave Seaton, who with his wife, Nancy, owns Hungry Jack Outfitters about 30 miles up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais, Minn.

Though outside the fire zone, their business -- which remains open -- is among more than 20 along the trail affected by the wildfire that has claimed more than 40 homes and other structures along the eastern edge of the boundary waters. The fire, spread over about 35 square miles, was roiled by gusty winds Thursday.

Typically on this day before the fishing opener, the Gunflint Trail is abuzz with canoe-toting cars and boat-towing pickups. Not everyone comes to fish; some want only to paddle in canoe country in mid-May, before the bugs come out.

But for most visitors, it's a chance to join with family and friends to bid farewell to winter, welcome summer and angle for hungry walleyes and feisty lake trout.

"We love the fishing opener," said Andy Ahrendt. "For us, it's huge."

With his wife, Sue, Ahrendt owns Tuscarora Lodge and Outfitters, located farther still up the Gunflint Trail, toward Lake Saganaga, from Hungry Jack Outfitters.

The Ahrendts' outfitting business lies beyond a Gunflint Trail roadblock established by firefighters, and when it was evacuated Thursday, Sue Ahrendt retreated to Hungry Jack Outfitters.

The Seatons and Ahrendts are working cooperatively with other resorts and outfitters to put canoeists into the woods away from the fire zone, this while still periodically toting their kids to Grand Marais for school, tennis practice and piano lessons.

But convincing some customers that all is not anguish and despair along the Gunflint Trail can be challenging.

"We spend a lot of time on the phone, getting people to understand we wouldn't put them into the woods if it wasn't safe," Dave Seaton said.

Since the July 4, 1999, windstorm that blew down hundreds of thousands of acres of trees in the boundary waters, the realization that periodic fire, and the possibility of fire, are the north-country's norm, not its exception, has frightened away some customers, while attracting others.

"We see three categories of people," Dave Seaton said. "One knows about the fire, but doesn't want to see any burned woods, and doesn't come.

"Another -- perhaps from elsewhere in the country -- doesn't know anything about the fire. They come and have a great time.

"A final group wants to see where the trees blew down, where the fires burned, and where the forest is regenerating itself, blisters and all."

Last summer's Cavity Lake fire, also near the Gunflint Trail, prompted some canoeists who had long taken the same routes to cancel their trips because of the blaze.

But some paddlers chose new routes, and were happy they did. "It gave them a little different flavor of the boundary waters," Andy Ahrendt said.

Still, about half the opening-day customers who stop by Buck's Hardware Hank in downtown Grand Marais for lures, bait and banter before heading up the Gunflint Trail are bound, typically, for Lake Saganaga, according to Kari Springer, who was on duty at Buck's on Thursday.

Not this weekend.

Instead, for now, Saganaga lies ghostlike, patiently awaiting its angler onslaught.

Ever the optimist, Dave Seaton said, "Think of all those walleyes that would have been caught this weekend, but will still be available this summer."

Dennis Anderson • danderson@startribune.com