Joey Payeur
Making the cover of Sports Illustrated for many years has been mythically related to being jinxed in their next season of competition.
Mike Gate hopes that jinx doesn’t extend to one of America’s better-known fishing periodicals.
The 45-year-old from Nestor Falls, who owns and operates Sunset Cove Resort & Gate’s Bait there, graced the cover of the In-Fisherman 2017 Walleye Guide that was released last week.
The honour came just two months after Gate was on the cover of the In-Fisherman 2017 Ice Fishing Guide.
“There’s been lots going on in the last three, four years since we bought the resort,” he chuckled.
In-Fisherman magazine is a spin-off of the In-Fisherman company started by the Lindner family, who are well-known in these parts for their
participation in the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
“I’ve been working with Billy Lindner for the last 20 years and he’s come up here to do lots of photography work for companies like Rapala, Humminbird, and Lund boats,” noted Gate.
“Billy used to do work for Nestor Falls Fly-In Outpost, which contracted him to come in and do a promotional DVD for them.”
Gate also is a regular guest on “Outdoor Bound TV,” a program based out of Eau Claire, Wis. hosted by Kurt Walbeck and syndicated throughout the U.S. on ABC, where it airs Saturday mornings.
“The exposure has been great. When I bought the resort, it wasn’t making much business,” recalled Gate, who has been on 12 episodes to date.
“I met up with [Walbeck] at a sports show a few years ago and he needed someone to help him out to catch fish and it blossomed from there,” he added.
“The show got the word out that we have some of the best fishing in the world for freshwater fish up here.”
Gate also makes time to compete in about half-a-dozen fishing tournaments a year, where he has experienced plenty of success.
“It started out as more of a fun thing but I’ve been able to cash a cheque in almost every tournament so far,” he remarked.
His achievements include winning the Morson Walleye tournament with Oliver Gibbins, also his teammate for the FFCBC, where Gate’s best finish is 13th.
“Oliver is one of the best anglers in the country, to be honest,” Gate said.
“I’ve known him and [brother] Les all of their lives with them being originally from Bergland.”
That’s where Gate originally grew up and first adopted his love for the outdoors by working for his uncle, Chuck Gate, at Buena Vista Resort in Morson when he was just 11 years old.
“By 13, I was already out guiding. I’m not sure what I was thinking about,” laughed Gate, who runs Sunset Cove alongside his wife, Erin.
“But when you grow up doing it, and your Mom and Dad take you fishing every weekend, and then you get lucky enough to make a living doing it, it all works out pretty good,” he reasoned.
Meanwhile, the year ahead holds a great deal of interesting prospects for Gate both at home and abroad.
“I’ve got some really exciting hunts booked,” he noted. “We just got done with one in the B.C. [Rockies] for goat hunting and whitetail deer in Alberta.
“In April, we’re planning to hunt trail game in South Africa [though] I want to make it clear no lions or elephants,” stressed Gate, with a nod towards not upsetting any endangered animal rights’ activists.
“Then in the spring of 2018, I’m heading to New Zealand to hunt red stag.”
For more information on Sunset Cove Resort & Gate’s Bait, visit its Facebook page.