(gentle music) - Welcome to "Prairie Sportsman".

I'm Bret Amundson here in Grand Marais, along Lake Superior's North Shore.

Now, behind me is a road that you can take about 60 miles, almost to the Canadian border, called the Gunflint Trail.

(intriguing music) Winding up the Gunflint Trail offers a glimpse of days gone by, a simpler time when people lived off the land, stayed off the grid, and lived life in the outdoors.

(wondrous music) What's now a paved National Scenic Byway was once a well-traveled path used by fur traders traveling to Lake Superior by foot or by dogsled.

- Well, it's worth the drive, and I would say enjoy the drive up the Gunflint Trail.

It's 60 miles, and people say, "Is it actually a trail?"

Well, no, it used to be a trail.

It's had a long, long history before automobiles were even invented.

This month we've seen so many moose.

I always tell people, they always ask, "Where can I see a moose?"

And in the summer, if you look out into the water as you're driving up, typically where you'll see them, they need, there's nutrients they need in water-based plants.

So they're often in the water eating and probably getting away from the bugs.

So somebody yesterday came by and saw some bear cubs and a mother bear.

You're really at the end of the road, as far as you can go in Minnesota.

It has had a reputation where we are as the... used to have the longest school bus ride in the state of Minnesota.

So it's a long way from everything, but worth the visit.

- [Bret] Named after the chert of flint stone that was used in early firearms, the Gunflint Trail is littered with frontier-era history.

It's one of my favorite places in Minnesota, and my annual trips on the trail began at age 11 and continue to this day.

My story's familiar to many who've traveled to this region to fish, canoe, camp, or just get away from it all.

Today the trail has resorts scattered along its route, tucked away in tall pines, nestled along shorelines of deep lakes carved out of the Canadian Shield by glaciers.

Walleye, smallmouth bass, lake trout, northern pike, and stream trout like rainbow and brook trout are common here.

You can even find lakes with a unique splake hybrid.

(epic music) While many visitors trailer their own boats and spend time in the elements solo or with friends and family, others look to local guides for expertise.

One name has been a staple near the top of the trail: Mike Berg at Seagull Creek Fishing Camp.

Mike's history dates back to the days of Gordy Poehls.

While Mike stays busy these days, he has passed on the tradition of guiding on the Gunflint Trail to his daughter.

(upbeat music) - And then Gordy Poehls a legend up here.

He's the one who taught my dad pretty much everything he knows about the lake and the area and fishing.

Whenever I'm struggling on the lake, I just come in and read Gordy's articles; some really good stuff in there.

- I'm just gonna learn a little something myself.

Read that later.

- There's some good stuff in there.

- What's this one right here?

- That's my "Star Tribune" article.

So that was written last year by Tony Kennedy.

He came up here and I put him on his personal best walleye.

He got a 29 and a half.

But it's kind of funny, there's not a single fish picture in the article, and it was about fishing.

(upbeat music) - Jessica had a love for fishing at an early age, getting hooked by both her father and her mother.

So you grew up in a fishing family; this is kind of natural for you.

- Yes, hardcore fishing family.

I spent a lot of days on the floor in a boat, sleeping on life jackets and dissecting minnows on top of the cooler next to my hot dog that I was eating for lunch.

- Was anybody ever worried that you'd hate fishing because you were around it so much?

- No, I don't think anybody was worried, but they definitely let me find it at my own pace, like, the passion for it.

When I got older, eventually I was like, "I gotta get my own boat," 'cause I want to do this way more than I'm able to do it.

'Cause my dad, guiding full time, it's not like I can just go out with him whenever I want.

He fishes every single day like I do now.

But other than that, it was just whenever my mom had the itch to go fishing, she'd come and pull me out of school sometimes if the weather was gonna be right, and we would just go and fish a lot in the summer.

We'd come and camp up here, camp on an island for days at a time with our four huskies and just fish hard.

I definitely discovered my own passion for it a little bit later on 'cause I did the whole college stuff and traveling and... (energetic music) - [Bret] College and traveling is an understatement.

You wouldn't expect a girl who grew up playing with minnows on the Gunflint Trail to go to college in Hawaii.

- So when I first went to college, I went to MSUM Moorhead; absolutely hated it.

I mean, it was flat, and it was windy, and there were no trees, and there were no lakes.

So I talked to my advisor, and she's like, "Well, have you ever heard of national exchange programs?"

So I was like, "Hmm, okay, so Alaska or Hawaii?"

And I went back and forth and back and forth, and finally I ended up choosing Hawaii and went to school out there.

Did that for a year, 'cause that's the maximum you can pay the in-state tuition.

But after that year was up, I was not ready to be done.

I needed to do way more out there than I had time for, so... - [Bret] Now her days are filled with time on the water in Northern Minnesota that comes with dealing with live bait, boat maintenance, and bringing anglers young and old out for a chance to catch a walleye, lake trout, or smallmouth bass, which can be a lot of fun, except when you're trying to catch walleyes.

- I already took it a little bit better.

I always tell people to wait for that confidence tug when you're Lindy rigging, that one tug that's a little bit stronger and harder than the rest of the tugs for that bite.

And then you know the... like that right there, that was the confidence tug.

There we go.

- [Bret] We don't have a net.

- No, I got one.

I got it.

Oh, are you kidding me?

Wow.

- [Bret] Nice fish.

It's the wrong species.

- [Jessica] Wrong flavor.

- [Bret] When Jessica first started guiding, she wasn't quite sure how it was gonna go.

- I was really excited, but I was kind of skeptical, too.

Like, so you're telling me people my dad's age that have been fishing for 40 years are gonna hire me.

You know, I was, what, 26 when I started to take them out for a full day of fishing and pay me money to do it.

Like, okay, we'll see.

But then I ended up getting all sorts of bookings, like bookings for experienced fishermen, bookings from families, bookings from, you know, husbands and wives who were up here vacationing who wanted to try something different.

And I gained a lot of really interesting clients that way.

The youngest kid on my boat to get a hawg, 28 inches or bigger, is 11 years old.

I put a dot in the release column.

If it's a hawg caught in my dad's boat, he puts a dot in the date column.

- [Bret] Is he ever gonna retire?

- He probably will not, unless his body tells him he needs to.

- Do you think you'll take over the business?

- I mean, I would definitely like that.

And I have about 90% of my clients are repeat clients every year.

So I think this year I'm only taking two groups that I've never met before.

And this is only year three of doing that.

So I already have that clientele built up, and they know, like, if they don't take those dates for next year right away, like, they're gone.

It is an obsession.

I mean, you know, you're an outdoorsman.

I was more worried about if I could keep up with my dad.

- [Bret] Based on her experience, is the guide life for everybody?

- I mean, you don't know unless you try, honestly.

Like, and you don't even have to get the expensive gear.

You don't gotta go out and buy a LiveScope.

You can just get out and fish, just like what we're doing: rod in your hand, fish.

You don't know if you like something until you try it.

Sauerkraut, I hated sauerkraut since I was a kid.

I tried it at Thanksgiving last year.

I loved sauerkraut for the first time in my life because I tried it as an adult.

So even if you think it's, like, a farfetched dream, like, I never thought I would like sauerkraut in a hundred years.

It was... I still don't like the smell of it, but now I like the taste of it.

- [Bret] While our time on the water today was cut short by a thunderstorm, I really just wanted to hear Jessica's story.

- That's my favorite part of fishing is the challenge and the hunt, because when you do get that trophy walleye, that 32-inch walleye, it just makes it that much more worth it and that much more enjoyable because you worked your butt off for it and then you got rewarded.