Two Harbors breakwater

The breakwater opened up with a fish this weekend. After three days of wind that made casting a challenge and showed only one chaser, Sunday gave up a nice fat 8 pound laker. I had to snoop around the deeper water areas along the wall and found my fish along a mud line created by an ore boat in the harbor.

The fish hit a silver/black/purple lil cleo, cast into about 80 feet of water and allowed to go to the bottom. Only about twenty feet of line was retreived when the hit came.

Given the cooler water yet in the Two Harbors area, I am going to say that a school of several 18-20 inch fish that came cruising across the end of the breakwater were likely cohos and not herring. I couldn’t make out any lateral line on these fish, something the herring exihibit distinctly. They acted more like salmon and the boats trolling off the shore looked as though they were salmon chasers.

There has been an awful lot of east wind up in this area this spring and early summer. Normal water temps are a bit higher than they are right now and that may be holding a good laker bite back a bit.

I did glass a couple boats deep jigging the humps outside of the harbor, but never did see a fish go to either boat. The fish have started to cruise to deeps along the wall, so they should be along the whole area.

I managed a couple fillets and that keeps me happy until the next run up….when its a little warmer.

Thanks for the update. That ramp caused a lot on controversy, but as an angler, it is a welcome addition to the lake. Were there many boats using it that weekend?

Sully

Wind is always an issue at that landing. I saw one boat doing the high wave boogie while the wind was coming from the east. Saturday and Sunday both had southeast blows and there were boats both days, but fog socked things in pretty good on Sunday and most boats going out were doing it late. When I returned in the afternoon to fish again [when the fish was caught], only one boat was out and they came in from the Knife River area.

That water is still awful cold for this time of year. The overall status of the fishing in the Two Harbors area has been better for me when things are a tad warmer, water-wise. Everything else has been screwed up this year with the weather so the trend might even find its way into the big lake’s fishery. That low water is beginning to make me wonder what is going to come of the fishing from the wall.

Thanks for the report. The wife and I are heading up on Friday. She said that it was going to be a romantic weekend and made it clear the romance was not going to be with the boat. No boats allowed. I will bring a pole, she can sleep in a bit I will have time to hit the breakwall for some casting. Hope to have a report to post when I get back.

Sorry to bring up such an ancient post, but it’s on the same topic.

Is late July any good to fish (for anything) from the breakwater?

I’ll be passing through the area, so I wanted to see what shore spots were available for some catch and release, any species.

Thanks!

I would guess that the breakwall wouldn’t be a bad choice. I’d target very early mornings.

I’d also target river mouths in the early am as well. Long casting spoons and cranks are a good choice. Green and or orange would be my color choice.

Good luck!

I sent you a reply by pm, but will answer some more of this here. Late July is when the water starts to set some temperature and sort of helps dictate what fish will be in the area and where they’ll be found. There can ce still be a good coho bite late in the afternoon, evening but they may also be moving further up the shore, showing up in the Silver Bay Area too.

Kings can. Be found around the wall for those who soak minnows, a little tougher to tease with lures unless you have a boat. Steelhead and loopers are out to sea at this time.

Walleyes can migrate up the shore from the south shore areas and Duluth harbor. Every now and again I get into a few walleyes casting for lakers during late July and early August.

Lake trout will be there as long as the wind doesn’t get rolling out of the east-northeast. Winds from that direction puts too much heavy surg along the wall on e lake side and the fish will move well off into the deeper more stable waters of the main lake. South winds can be interesting and west winds are usually best for fishing the wall. If the ships don’t have the water too roiled up on the harbor side you can find good fishing from the dogleg to the end of the breakwater. This stretch has saved the day for me many times when the outside is too rough for casting safely.

When I hit the wall and the lake side is rough I start right at the dogleg and cast to the end of the wall, the turn and fish my way back to the dogleg. I’ll do this maybe a few hours if I am getting bit or see follows on a regular basis. If the lake is behaving I’ll fish starting on the o upside at the dogleg and cast to the end continuing on to the inside of the elbow then turn around and fish my way back to the starting point. Do this a half dozen times and you’ll have a couple miles under your belt. That wall is over 2300 from shore to end. Fun fishing there.

that part of the year you may see herring schools down in the water. They’ll have very defined red side stripes in the water. If they are hanging around I’ll slip on a #2 Mepps, plain gold, no tail dragging. Cast past the school and count down to about 12 or 15 and retrieve steady and about half fast. A three pound herring on light tackle will fight like a6 pound coho and you definitely need a net to land them , what with their ultra soft mouth parts. Take a herring home and fillet just like a walleye and fry just like a walleye and you will forget all about eating walleyes.

If you get up as far as Silver Bay, the shorelines around the breakwater at the marina there can be good fishing too. It’s all cut rock, but if you can get to the marina entry and cast into the canal there, towards the lake, you can find some nice trout hanging around in there too.

Late July/early August? I’d pass on river mouths. Mid September perhaps, not July or August though.

Thank you so much for the details, I really appreciate it. I’m excited to give it a shot.

I’ll be along the entire north shore on my trip, this spot just looked promising so I’ll throw a rod in the car. I’ve never dropped a line in Superior.

Be sure to get your trout stamp!

One other spot to try that is in fact a river mouth is at the Splitrock River’s mouth, especially in August, the later in the month the better. Make a simple casting rig with a small split shot under a tiny float over a small salmon egg hook dressed with fluorescent red or orange yarn and work it so it just barely bumps along the bottom during a drift. August is when hum pies, or pink salmon, venture up that river. They aren’t much for table fare but they are fun on a line and are yet another of the salmons that the lake supports.

Not all that many years back a guy could catch an Atlantic Salmon every now and again. Atlantics are/were super strong fish and were something else on the table. I sure wish that program would come back but they’re really a hard fish to raise to stocking size.

I do have my stamp Tom, thanks for the reminder!

Sounds like I may need to visit again towards fall. I’ll be sure to post an update.

Hi Tom. I see a lot of activity and knowledge from you on this forum so I will direct my question to you if you don’t mind. I will be staying just south of Two Harbors over Thanksgiving weekend and am quite curious if there is any species I could try to catch from the Break Waters that weekend, (weather permitting?) I’m fairly new to fishing and have only had experience with Pike, Smallies, and pan fish from southern MN lakes. Any advice for this time of year would be greatly appreciated.

If the wind isn’t getting the wall wet, go give it a try. Try a spinner in size 3 or 4 with a gold blade, plain[no hair or feathers] hook. A Krokodile spoon in gold/orange stripe, blue/chrome, or green/chrome is a good lure to have and Lil Cleos in 2/5 to 3/4 ounce in those colors will work fine. Spool up with some fresh 6 pound mono and bring some ball bearing snap swivels….spend the money on good swivels.

From the elbow out to the end fish both inside and outside of the harbor. Cast and give a ten count with the bail open and use a moderate retrieve speed. Increase the drop count by 5 every third or 4th cast, and maybe by ten every 10 casts.

Cohos may be around as well as a random king. Steelhead should be starting to appear along with the loopers if they haven’t already begun to be noticed.

You can fish two lines there on a Minnesota license so maybe take a few fatheads and a slip float rig and set the cork at 10 feet. See if you can round up a looper float for the slip rig. They’re weighted and you can get out a mile with one. Don’t fret the size or weight of that float….if you get hit it’ll either go straight down or it’ll go skiing. A size 6 or 4 salmon egg hook is fine along with a small split to keep the minnow down.