While the ice season might be winding down for some, the guys are still out chasing down great bites. Ever caught salmon through the ice? No? Neither had the guys at In-Depth Outdoors prior to last week! In this week’s show James Holst and Pat McSharry find a hot coho salmon bite on Lake Superior near Duluth, MN.
James
In the beginning of the show it appeared you were saying you hadn’t caught any Salmon yet, however you had a couple fish on the ice already…
What were those or did I miss something? Just curious
James
In the beginning of the show it appeared you were saying you hadn’t caught any Salmon yet, however you had a couple fish on the ice already…
What were those or did I miss something? Just curious
I though I heard gim say something about being a “herring master”.
Great show guys!
Probably my favorite show you fellas have put out so far…..awesome.
James
In the beginning of the show it appeared you were saying you hadn’t caught any Salmon yet, however you had a couple fish on the ice already…
What were those or did I miss something? Just curious
I think those were Herring Ken.
James
In the beginning of the show it appeared you were saying you hadn’t caught any Salmon yet, however you had a couple fish on the ice already…
What were those or did I miss something? Just curious
Herring. They’re running big this year.
Herring – great eating fish.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bullcans wrote:</div>
James
In the beginning of the show it appeared you were saying you hadn’t caught any Salmon yet, however you had a couple fish on the ice already…
What were those or did I miss something? Just curiousHerring. They’re running big this year.
Ah yes
Pickled Herring is quite tasty!
Now that looked fun!
Awesome show! Now I really wish we would have made a trip up there and given it a try. We troll salmon and trout every spring but this looked like a whole lotta fun.
Great episode guys really enjoyed it. Keep up the great work!
James–Those herring are what we catch over here in Keweenaw Bay. However, I also hear some of you MN guys talking about tulibe (sp?)…mostly on inland lakes however. Are tulibe the same as Lake Superior lake herring or something entirely different yet?
Most Cohos that are released die. You should really not keep fishing for them after you get your limit. Just a heads up for the future. Good show
Do you have statistics or references to back this up?
DT
Most Cohos that are released die. You should really not keep fishing for them after you get your limit. Just a heads up for the future. Good show
There was a study done on Lake Michigan about coho mortality after release and it found almost no significant effect on them. The article was published in-fisherman a few years ago. The researchers even said it was a common misconception that cohos died when released. If I could have caught more after I got my 5 on Sunday there was no way I was going to stop.
Most Cohos that are released die. You should really not keep fishing for them after you get your limit. Just a heads up for the future. Good show
I spoke with a friend at the WI DNR with many years of experience working with Lake Superior’s coldwater species and he disagreed with the notion that “most die.” In fact he mentioned that some coho are intentionally handled for fin clipping and wire tagging prior to release at a small size and the survivability rates are very high.
The biggest things to look out for with coho, or any coldwater species for that matter, is catching them in deep cold water and bringing them to the warm surface layer of water in the summer, long periods of time out of the water and physical injury due to rough handling.
Catching a coho through the ice in relatively shallow water with little to no temperature change from depth hooked to the surface is much different than a salmon caught and released during the summer when surface temps make releasing any cold water species much more of a concern.
Do know I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns. Nobody wants to see those coho swim off in good shape more than I do if I choose to release them.
Yeah, im not buying the coho all die thing. They always seemed really tough to me. When fishing open water I’ve put them on stringers and it’s almost impossible to kill them unless you are really rough.
That’s interesting I have never heard of WI fin clipping cohos.
If memory serves he was referencing tagging/fin clipping that was done by Ontario Fisheries to coho but I wasn’t taking notes. My understanding was he was using it as an example of handling where subsequent mortality was tracked and found to be minimal.
I just watched the show. It looks like James and Pat had a good time and as always was a great show. Keep up the good work guys. The family and I will be in Duluth tomorrow and Friday. As much as I enjoy the warm weather I was hoping it would have waited just a few more days…. I would hate to use the word “jealous” but fresh grilled salmon pushed me over that line 
Obviously GREAT SHOW! We will be trying this out next season if the ice permits. It looked like sooo much fun. And as James mentioned, those salmon are perfect for the grill! Man did you guys make us jealous.
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