St. Louis River

How long is the fish-able length of the river? I’m talking about with a deep V hull not a canoe.

It depends on where you are talking. I fish that river in many different spots some of which are only fishable by shore others you want a heavier 16 ft plus boat. The river north of Carlton to Cloquet you almost have to shore fish. Cloquet and north a 14ft boat is just about perfect but I have seen a few 17 and 18 ft boats (i would take my 14). From there you can go up towards Brookston area you can still fish with a 14 FT up there in spots. It gets tougher to fish in a boat from Floodwood to Hoytlakes but after Hoytlakes you can get back into 14 ft boats hear I would say you wouldn’t want to go much bigger than a 14. Now going to Duluth from the HWY 23 Bridge down just past Oliver you can get away with a 14 but below that you may want a 16 plus it does get rough when the wind picks up. There is a lot of river to fish but just keep in mind we had a flood a couple years ago and the river is not what it was before. There is still a lot of debris in the water along with gravel bars that aren’t marked and missing river channels please be glued to your depth finder take it slow and don’t trust your lake master chips. Good luck and be safe.

I have fished from floodwood north about 12 miles and most of that is canoe country in low water. There was a stretch with bigger boats on it but they must of used a private access.

Good day, Like to take a minute and add to content on this site. First a quick introduction.. My name is Jarrid and I have been guiding in the Twin Ports since 2009. With that being said, I was “encouraged” from the boss to get on some new forms of social networking to help our guide business. I also write the weekly fish report for the Duluth News Tribune as well as hosts booths for both our guide business and our pro-staffs at various sports shows in Wisconsin and Minnesota alike. Anywho, not here to tell you who I am, but rather contribute to the ultimate cause which is promotion of the greatest thing in the world….AND that of course is fishing. So being a twin portsian and having a finger on the pulse always on whats happening in this neck of the woods, I am here to be a team player and help out! Thanks everyone from IDO and others for the support and look forward to chatting up our beloved fisheries here locally.. Tight Lines, Capt. JH

Welcome to IDO Jarrid. Look forward to hearing reports from the Twin Ports area.
Chuck

This last week has been less than ideal conditions for the St Louis River. Fishing is as they say, slow. Of course fish can be caught, but it is a matter of finding what works best. Cliche, I know, however, this last week has been a story of water clarity and current. Best places to find fish has been cleaner water. Make no mistake, fish can be caught in the muddy brown water as well, but anglers need to utilize high vibrations/profile type baits. Water temps have also taken a stall with all the rain we have in the system. So in some cases slow mythodical tactics need to be utilized. Live bait is still serving a great purpose. I think mostly because of the scent value of using something natural to its enviroment. We are also seeing minnow hatches in the shallow warm areas, and of course targeting in on them. This last weekend, we opted to fish the lower river sections in search of bigger fish. This was due to the fact we were not guideing and rather fishing the annual TPWA tournament. Big fish are usually the fish needed to wind a 2 day tournament. Obvious, I know..LOL. Day one the plan started out to perfection getting the fish needed to put us in first place. 27.25″, and 3 23″ers was a strong showing for us. Day 2 we were also off to a good start landing a 25″, but unfortunetly not being able to get another fish scooped til the end of the day (21″). We lost fish at the boat, and were in no shape able to afford that. Ultimatly we slid to 12th place missing the money. However big fish for day 1, and a tie for big fish for day 2, we were able to cash a decent check. We also took home some nice prizes for a 12th place finish. Ah well, as they say….next year.. Best bait was actually a simple jig and minnow appoach, fishing transistion areas that had differing substrates. We also boated a plethora of other species as well. With the warm up on the horizon, look for fishing to improve, especially if we can wash out this mud color out of the river. Tight lines and GoOd FiShN, Capt. Jarrid

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We are almost done for the year on the St Louis River out of the Duluth/Superior Twin Ports area. It has got colder and we have snow on the groung (expecting a good size storm today matter of fact). We are going to try and get out a few more times, but the fishing has kind of dwindled down with the suprise entrance of winter. We literally went from a warm comfortable climate to cold! Fish should adapt and are starting to, so that is good. Live bait has been best bet for getting a few fish and it has certainly been multispecies outings. Although we have not seen skim ice, it is not far away. I predict we will be ice fishing here around thanksgiving time. So not much boat time left…

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River has been busy with mixed success. A number of tactics have been working, but the best way to go about finding fish is avoid the beat up, over fished areas of the river. Never fails to amaze me how boats congregate to a “spot” or “spot on a spot” because they saw a net fly. Seperating yourself from the crowds can pay off big. Best time to fish the river is during the week for the obvious reasons. It was a great opening weekend for our team as we caught some good fish all the way up to 27.5″ and several multi-species catches as well. Looking forward to kicking off guide season this Friday. Give us a call if you want to get out as we are booking trips already into the fall. Tight lines, JH

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We are off and running now. Capping off a grinding weekend in the only fish tournament we participate in we had a 12th place finish which we are not disappointed. Bigger fish are now scattered all the way up and into the lower sections of superior bay and even beyond. We expect the bite to stay great for the next several weeks and no doubt will keep our finger on the pulse. Soft plastics jigged over deeper holes off flatter areas are producing some nice fish. Impulse and BfishN pinks and white have been good. Trolling is taking fish as well. Water temps are in the 56-60 degree and what is weird, is fish seem to be in all areas, yes even colder waters. We have been booking trips like crazy but still have some openings if anyone is interested in learning what the river and we have to offer. Tight lines and good luck anglers, Capt. JH

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Been a crazy start to the season with up n downs. This last weekend we had snow,,,SNOW! Had 4″ at my house, near town and on the river we had snow, but it didnt stick. It sure has dirtied up the water and made for some floating debris and fast currents. That is okay because we are still catching some fish with other game plans. Cranking has been best, but also getting some good fish on plastics and a few on rattling traps. We have a shiner run happening bringing in some good sized walleyes in select sections on the river. Give us a call. We have the following open: June 1, June 8/9, June 16, June 22/23 and select weeknight 1/2 day trips. Fish Onnn.. Capt. JH

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