(Depth) Is this the reason why Superior isn’t the fishery of the other Great Lakes because the water is to cold or is it the lack of fisherman and reports? All the others have major population centers compared to Superior, does that factor into anything?
Superior
It holds about 3,000 cubic miles of water – enough to fill all the other Great Lakes plus Lake Erie three times over. The average depth of Superior is about 500 feet. It is the deepest (1,335 feet) of the Great Lakes.
I don’t know,………….The last NTC out of Sault Ste Marie was won by teams locking up and fishing Lake Superior,…….
Ashland, WI has been good in the past,………..
The St’Louis River in Dulth/Superior can be dynamite,…..
IMO it is lack of shallow structure. Erie is a shallow walleye factory with a lot of breeding and feeding ground reefs. It may be the lack of temperature fluctuations as well, not really sure. It does not have the fish that michigan and Erie have but it is a lot less stressful fishing because it also has less pressure. Once we get the garage done this spring I plan to fish it a lot more.
The fishing there is terrible….Why people waste their time is beyond me 
I do wish they would stock more kings. As far as I know Ontario is the only one stocking them.
The amount of herring in the lake is absolutely incredible….no shortage of big fatty baitfish.
The bottom of the food chain is the limiting factor. Being so deep and cold, there’s not a lot of algae and detritus to support the quantity of zooplankton and invertebrates to feed a huge bait fish population to support huge numbers of fish (like Lake MI). Lake trout fishing is off the charts in Superior, everything else is a bonus catch. They are the king of Gitch!
As far as the salmon go, Superior can only support so many gluttons. The salmon aren’t native and they lack quality spawning habitat. They only thrive when the native fish are out of the system. It came down to a choice of a salmon or lake trout fishery and the native lake trout won.
There are exceptions(Chequamegon Bay, Apostle Islands areas for example)where average depths are shallower and a bit more fertile, but by and large Superior is a deep, cold, infertile lake. The Big Lake carries an annual average surface temp of 40 degrees, peaking in August at about 65 on a warm year. Ironically, the massive lake effect snows of the U.P. because of her also happen to help regulate early Spring temps over ours here further inland. The lakes 40-50 surface temps in the Spring carry over and reduce the massive temperature swings I see here at home early in the year(50 degree highs, but 25 degree lows, etc.)
I can leave Rhinelander here with no sign of Spring and drive two hours north into the U.P. near shore and find flowers blooming and trees budding. It’s weird.
She’s a beautiful, gorgeous and seductive witch of an inland sea and I love her.
Are you sure this is why kings aren’t stocked?
My understanding is MN and WI don’t stock superior with kings anymore because of the cost to do so. I did not think it had anything to do with them being a threat to the lake trout populations. Between the smelt and herring I think there is plenty of forage to support lots of stocked kings without hurting the lake trout population. The lake has a good population of coho but I haven’t heard of that being an issue for the lake trout. Not sure why kings would either.
I believe WI still stocks some kings in superior. It’s just a lot less than they stock MI. Maybe they quit stocking them recently?
We caught a baby king in the islands last spring. That would have been a long swim from Canada for the little guy.
It’s not that they are a threat to the lake trout, it’s that they can’t compete and sustain themselves because the lake can’t support that much forage. Also a reason why they don’t get that big in Superior… not enough food to get 20-30lbs before their death run. The salmon that are there now is the max carrying capacity the lake can sustain. There’s some natural reproduction and that is the best it will get for the salmon unless the lakers die off again like they did from the lamprey years ago. The DNR continually stocking salmon is a complete waste of money and is essentially doing nothing more than feeding the lake trout a bonus buffet offering. Same thing with the loopers, hence why they tried to grow them bigger before stocking them, which became another limiting factor leading to their demise.
WI quit stocking them as well, I think around the same time MN did. Like B-Man said, Ontario still may dump some in up there, but I don’t think it’s a lot. They must feel that they have enough navigable streams to provide good spawning habitat up there?
MN tried to stock Kings back in the 80’s and there were great fall runs up on the Baptism River..I know I was there…then the Salmon got sick from something and there was a huge die off and they never recouped. Yes, Superior is a very deep, infertile piece of water and does not carry the biomass that is required to sustain large populations of Salmon such as Michigan or the warmer Great Lakes. Superior has historically always been a Lake Trout lake, with Coho being introduced and now having a self sustaining population..but are much smaller then their cousins over on lake Michigan due to lack of biomass. I like to fish Michigan more then Superior for quantity and quality but Duluth is a lot closer for a quick day trip for some smokers, and having spent a lot of time in my youth in the Madeline Island area I love that lake..its a gem.
The Chinook salmon boom was a direct result of the lake trout crash. Just like the crappie boom on Red was a direct result of the walleye crash (and a few prime spawning hatches that coincided.) Get rid of the main predator and replaced it with a different one.
Now it’s flipped back and lakers are the dominant predator and the Chinook/Coho’s are secondary. The spawning habitat isn’t there for the salmon either. Look at what happens to the north shore rivers every summer. It’s amazing anything survives in those. Lakers have all the reefs and rock piles to themselves.
Questions about the Great lakes? Listen to Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.
Why has the Smelt runs died off?
Why has the Smelt runs died off?
From what I understand the smelt (an invasive species) thrived once first introduced (just like many other invasives).
The lake trout population was also really low at the time due to another invasive (sea lamprey).
There are still a ton of smelt in the lake, but nothing like the stories of back in the day.
Lake Michigan went through a similar phase with the alewives. Too few of predators, and an invasive explosion.
Questions about the Great lakes? Listen to Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.
That is a great song. My son loves it.
Lake Michigan’s alewives are the only reason there are salmon in the Great Lakes…
Mark
Why has the Smelt runs died off?
They haven’t died off, they just found their niche and balance in the ecosystem.
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