Well as predicted the fishing continued to be strong this past weekend, but more lake trout showed up rather than the salmon. Water temps were 70 degrees plus which is VERY warm for this time of year so I suspect some salmon have headed for cooler water. We had absolutely perfect weather this weekend with winds light and variable the whole time.
Saturday found us on the water around 6 as we made a 7 mile run up the shore to an area we worked last weekend and had success. It took a while to get that first fish but it was worth it as a nice 30 inch lake trout hit the net. This day, the lake trout provided 70% of our action as the salmon were grouped tightly together in pockets that were very scattered. A white spoon down 40 feet proved to be the hot ticket, followed up by, yup you guessed it, the small jointed rapala on 4 colors of lead and a 2 oz snapweight. This combo is unstoppable right now as I can guarantee it will boat at least 3 fish every time out.
The salmon are in groups, as usually there may be 50 fish here, and 1 mile later there may be a few more, with nothing in between. When you go thru that pocket of fish, we always had 2 rods go off at least as they were very aggressive, but those pockets of fish seemed to be spread out 5 miles on Saturday. We initially kept speeds around 2.5, but once I noticed we were catching more lake trout I slowed down to 2.3 as lake trout like a slower speed.
Your silvers, oranges, and purples are the best colors right now whether its in a crank or spoon. Sunday I found myself out of two harbors and we boated mostly salmon and one lake trout so there are salmon closer to Duluth as well, but fishing was much slower. In both instances, trolling closer to shore (100 yards off it sometimes) worked best. Those salmon will push right up against it and run the shoreline chasing and corralling bait. I did not see or hear of any BIG kings being caught, but we did lose one Sunday that I would guess to be in the 10 pound range.
Heres a pic of the Frabil, (which may I add will save you at least one fish a trip from shaking off at the back of the boat as its loooong handle and big scoop is simply AWESOME) covered in coho scales as the fish was put in the box! Every time, these 2 to 3 pound coho will wash up from the prop wash and be flopping on the surface and everyone knows this is when fish get off. With the extended reach of this net we are able to reach back there and grab these fish, when other nets cant get ½ the distance. I have not done it yet, but this net could easily hold a 20 plus pound lake trout. Hopefully this is soon to come tho!!
