Dont let your guard down on other parts of Boulder either, plenty of hazards and prop monsters everywhere!!!. Same goes for Island, they can come up fast and catch ya when you slipping letting your guard down. Capt. JH
Getting closer to open water season by the day! We are booking pretty solid and looking to have another banner year on the estuary. If you are looking for a unique fun walleye fishery, get a hold of us. Capt. Jarrid
http://www.houstonsguideservice.com
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As we wrap up calendar spring and welcome summer, we hope everyone is enjoying themselves and staying healthy. It has certainly been a whirlwind of emotions to start this new decade, but at least we can all be thankful for the wonderful outdoors opportunities we have in and around our region.
I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say “welcome back summer, please stay a while.” Water temperatures are about to shoot up with the warmer weather and the longest days of the year. That means we will see a boost in marine aquatic lifeforms.
Currently we are seeing most waters range from mid 60’s to low 70’s inland. We are now entering the stages of transitional changes. Some waters will now start to see bug hatches that will negatively, or in some cases positively, affect a bite. Feeding windows will now start to take shape as well.
We have already started to see some bites wear off. What may have worked yesterday is not working today. Here is our weekly report:
Lake Superior was a windy one this last week. Some days have been impossible to get on the big water, leaving charter captains working in the harbor. The less windy days are still seeing good bites of lake trout, including some notably big fish, as well as a few salmon and the occasional walleye.
Downriggers and Dipseys are becoming more popular, which is typical this time of year to get lures down deeper. The best bites have been reported a little off-shore. Most are still finding success using stick baits, but the transition into meat rigs behind flies will take shape soon.
The stream anglers are still finding themselves some success swinging flies or casting small spinners. On the Wisconsin side, a few walleyes are starting to show up along the South Shore. Look for that bite to pick up as we move into July.
The St. Louis River continues to be busy with both recreational boaters/anglers and tournament fishermen. The walleyes are spread out in pods in select areas of the river.
Most are combing water with tolling lines, but we have been mixing in some jigging and casting spots and finding some success. Best baits have been worms, but we are starting to see a few bites on crankbaits. It’s best to find areas that have good baitfish. Even better to find areas that have baitfish and fresh vegetation and/or wood. Fish love to hide in structure to ambush prey. I always say, if you’re not fishing snags, you’re not fishing where the fish are.
Catfish continue to be a nice added bonus on all our trips, as well as a few pike, smallmouth and perch. We even got a bonus 40-inch muskie the other day.
The inland lakes also continue to be busy with many anglers getting out. Mid-lake shallow reefs and humps are producing some nice catches of walleye and pike. Best depths have been in 8-14 feet of water. Best tactic continues to be either jigging some live bait or rigging some live bait under a slip-bobber. Slow rolling small spinner baits tipped with worms or a leech has been productive as well.
The bass bite for both smallmouth and largemouth has been consistent when casting shorelines covered with vegetation, although the smallies prefer more of the rock/sand areas and the largemouth like shade under docks and near weeds.
Some lakes are seeing panfish start to finish up the spawning stage of the year. These fish will be ready to eat aggressively in thick vegetation in and around that 4-8 feet of water. Pitching small 1/16 oz jigs tipped with a third of a nightcrawler is a sure bet. See you out there.
Jarrid Houston of South Range is a fishing guide (houstonsguideservice.com) on Minnesota and Wisconsin inland waters, the St. Louis River and, in winter, on Lake Superior.
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FISHING THE RIVER HAS BEEN GREAT! Definitely one of the better openers in the last few years. caught fish casting, trolling and jigging. Just about everything we did worked. They are post spawn stage and most walleyes are still depositing bottom of the tank fluids if you know what I mean. Did find that the best bite was with bigger sized chubs and shiners as opposed to regular or smaller sizes. Same goes for stick baits, the 7 and 9’s were better that 6″ or less stickbaits. Cant wait to get our customers on the water……..
With all the shuffling/rescheduling/cancellations of Covid19 nightmares,
Here is what we have available:
May 21,29,30, June 14,26, July 17,18,19,31, Aug 1,2,7,8,9, Sept 4,5,6,11,12,13,20, plenty of October as well, can also do some weeknights
Cost for a 1/2 day is $250 and $350 for full for 2 anglers. A 3rd angler add $50.
Message us and we will get you set up!
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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A couple of more sleeps until the gates are re-opened on the ole St. Louie again for this season. We have been up and down the river recently checking things out. A few notes: All docks and public fishing piers are in and ready to rock. We have found floating dead heads in select areas, but ultimately things are clear for channel runs. Stay between markers and utilize updated chips in graphs for navigation. DO NOT chance anything or you will certainly find yourself in a pickle. As far as fishing this last weekend we had water temps of 47 to 56. Shallow back bays held high temps and a few pan fish starting to make there way to do what they are gonna do.. Most the Estuary has a brown dirty tint to it and things will get worse as we are expected to see 4-8 inches of rain and snow the next couple days. I expect the river to be busy as it always is for opener, but fish are scattered as the spawn is mostly over. Especially for the big girls. The lower section is a good chance to catch a trophy. Shallow water and slow retrieves with perfect 10s, smithwick, and husky jerks will be a fun way to tangle. Remember, fish can be vulnerable this time of year, so use best judgement on harvesting. Plenty of 15″ers in the system. Also, play by the rules on the fish sanctuary up top as it is ILLEGAL to fish that area until after 5/18. Good luck and yes we have several openings still available for anglers to experience the St Louis River Estuary with our guide service. Tight lines and great luck be to you! Capt. JH
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Nice campground, no showers. Park close to the site though and can have boat in water is convenient.. Fishing has been so, so..
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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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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Happy that against all odds, we are going to have open water opportunities! YES!!! This will open the door for fantastic in land lake fishing.
About as busy as it will ever be is my prediction. With the late ice out and many local waters that will still be iced over, the river will be one of the only places to fish for opener. I am with Xplorer, I may just head out to the lake and get away from the people.. I will look forward to Monday after opening weekend. As of yesterday, most back bays are still iced over. I believe they will be open by then, but water temps will still be on the cold side. In usual fashion, I anticipate the river will be fast high and maybe dirty as well. Time will tell, JH
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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BTW,
the harbor and St Louis Bay have dredging operations that will continue full force throughout the fall, but don’t let them keep you from fishing them areas. They are smack dab in corridor pass through locations for big fish!
No rhyme or reason on where to try. We have caught fish in the back bays of Pokegama and Kimballs. Off areas near Clough, Structure fishing old piers of riverside, and Arrowhead flats. Channel edges everywhere.. Crappie fishing gets better and better too. Walleye trolling, I would concentrate on the flats near the channel edges, but on the flats. #5’s are usually best, color is the kicker. Once its figured out, switch all rods to same. So point being have more that 1 of the same cranks with at all times on the estuary. The harbor will be good and the South Shore of the Lake should never get abandoned! Especially if your looking for a trophy walleye for a nice replica mount 
Tight Lines, Capt. JH
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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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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
