Lake Superior, Duluth Trout

What a past few days! The trout bite on Lake Superior out of Duluth has been rockin’ lately! Lake trout and steelhead have had the feed bag on, along with the occasional salmon. From the Lester River, to Silver bay, fishing has been above average and now is a perfect time to take advantage of it! The weather is nice, the bite is on and the fish are plentiful.

Tuesday, out of Knife River we saw water temps in the upper 60’s and low 70’s. I headed out at daybreak and searched for water that appealed to me. Every morning before I head out I make it a point to refer to WebPages such as http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/superior/s1.html and http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.cgi/modis?region=s&page=1. These will give you valuable information on water temps and clarity and can reduce your search time by hours! Upon finding water temps in the low 70’s, I set out the lines and instantly had fish on. Weather it was downriggers, dipseys, leadcore, snapweights, etc just about everything got fish. There was absolutely no pattern what so ever, except you had to have lures in the top 30 feet of the water column. The fish were high due to the warm water temps and murky water, resulting in an abundance of food. From red colored cranks, to yellow and green spoons, just about every bait that was in the water got hit. Within 2 hours we were in the double digits on fish caught, and then fishing slowed as we neared the 9 o’clock hour.

Today, I headed out of Mcquade landing at sunup and was greeted with a steady west wind. I felt a chill in the air and shortly after exiting the safe harbor I noticed why. Water temps read 42 degrees. Talk about a change!! I knew the water had cooled off a bit, but I figured 5 maybe 10 degrees at most. NOT 30! My head started spinning as the program I was going to run wouldn’t be worth a penny. For the next hour I drove around trying to find water that I thought active fish would be in. Don’t get me wrong, there will still be fish in the cold water, but the way I see it is they will be more lethargic and inactive, and I feel I will have better luck in warm(er) water. Over 7 miles out I finally found what I was looking for. The Hummingbird read 65 degrees and I knew this is what I wanted. The water clarity was right, the only things against me were the waves, but I could put up with em for some fish. After ten minutes with no fish, I started to second guess myself, but then a rod doubled over and it was on! For the next hour, I boated 13 lake trout in the 5 to 7 pound range. Today was a completely different pattern and program. Spoons down 50 to 55 feet were the only things working. I ran boards with snap weights, lead etc to no avail. Only a certain colored spoon produced, and it was that of many contrasting colors comprised of yellow, gold, blue and a few more. Around 9, the seas grew greater as the winds approached 15mph out of the west, and I headed in.

Whenever you are fishing a big body of water, you have to be ready to adapt to new conditions. Things can change in an instant and in order to be successful you have to react to that alteration to give yourself the greatest chance at a great day of fishing. With a west wind in the Duluth area, all of the warm water is peeled away and sent up the shore, as cold water takes its place. On the contrary, with an east wind, warm water is brought in with the waves. Yesterday, we saw west winds around 15 mph throughout the day and that was enough to send 1000’s of acres of warm water out of here. A 10 to 15 degree change overnight is normal, but today it neared 30. With warm pockets of water moving around, a secondary change will appear and that is water clarity. The warmest water will be the darkest water, which also contains the most debris, and therefore the most food for the fish. When murky water is replaced with crystal clear water the fish’s attitude will change. Generally when you see cooler temps, you can bet on the fish moving down in the water column. I could not buy a fish up top on a board today, as everything caught, and marked, was down 50 feet or more. Slower speeds produced today, as I can see a direct correlation to the colder water. Next time you are out, really pay attention to the weather, even up to three days before you plan to go out. This will give you a great visual of where the best water will be so you can mentally eliminate areas, as finding fish on the largest lake in the world isn’t always easy! Be prepared for change and don’t be afraid to drive around for a hour to find what appeals to you. The information I have stated above is not the only way to catch fish, as someone out of Mcquade probably did well in cold water today, but it what MY instincts tell me and it is what I feel comfortable with as fishing can be a huge mind game at times!