Lake Superior

[ReelTimes]

Happy Independence day everyone. Hadn't been out for a week but launched out of Knife River this morning. Lines in the water at 8:15 am. We went 7 for 9. 1 salmon and 6 lakers. 2 came off the boards and 5 off the downriggers. Surface temps ranged from 47-53. Temps below ranged from 45-50 at 40 feet down. Most fish on riggers were caught at 30-40 feet. Most fish were caught on spoons. Anythin purple, pink, or pearl was hot. Pulled lines at 11:30. Great day to be on the water.

[Northlander]

Great report man. I have been watching the temps up that way and it looks like if Im going to get cooler water I have to go that way. Seems like the colors are about the same all over but I guess those are always good colors no matter where you are on the lake.

Any day you can get that number of fish on the big lake and not get blown off is a good day. Must have gotten veryu hot out there about the time you pulled lines. When I left for work at 6:30am it was almost 70 in Superior.

[outdoor ran]

Thanks for the report Bill. We tried the south shore yesterday evening for 3 hours and got skunked and the crew was out this morning minus me and only got one walleye. Next time out I'll be hitting either Port Wing or Knife river.

[Wade Joseph]

Was out yesterday (4th) from 0730-1300. Fished out of the WI entry on the mn side of the line and got three small lakers in 85 fow on purple spoons. Went over to the pump and trolled 130-70 fow and got nothing. Water temps were 57-60. Also of note. I marked alot of fish near that imaginary line in the water they call the border out of the sconni entry, but when I went over to the pump, I only marked two fish from the pump to the lester.

[ReelTimes]

NL, there was a nice breeze early from the NW which made it tolerable but once the wind stopped, the flies were annoying enough that we just decided to pull. Wade, sound like you had some nice action by the state line...I haven't fished the Lester or pump house area for a couple of weeks, so I don't know what the temps are running down below now I can't get back out until Saturday but most likely will head up to Knife or Two Harbors as long as there is some colder surface water within a reasonably close distance.

[Papa Woodie]

I trolled the cheezy side on the 3rd. 4 lines on the rigger, and 2 on top. Had them stacked @ 50', 45', 40', and 30'. Never had a nibble on any of the lines.

i was 14.8 miles out again. I may have to check out the McQuade landing and try the MN side next time.

For me though, its off to ND for some walleye fishing on Lake Sakawejia for a week!

Good luck out there to all!

[steeplechaser2]

We went out along the North Shore...pump station and lester area...fished 90-160ft depths....surface temps were 52-57...pulled in the skunk...although we only pulled lines for 4 hours in the early afternoon.....had spoons and plugs from 25 to 75 feet....

[steeplechaser2]

just curious reeltimes how big your salmon was....we haven't hit any yet this year! UGH!

[ReelTimes]

It was smaller...maybe 4 pounds.

[Northlander]

Went out the Cheesey side late this afternoon. Beautiful out there. Fished 47' to 90' and only wound up with 1 walleye and 1 very small laker. Water temp on top was 62 degrees.

Walleye came on a pink bomber and 3 oz. snap weight back 130' off the board and the laker came on a orange/chart jointed fasttrack back 150 with a 2oz. snap weight.

Ill try to get out again tomorrow but have a feeling Ill be downrigging in 100' of water or more. Looks like cool water out of the Mn. entry now.

[Wade Joseph]

I forgot to mention that all my trolling has been done with "pounders" or crank/stick baits. I tried one dipsy, but it always seems to get tangled with the other lines.

Can a guy use a small flasher with a dipsey?

[Northlander]

Ya you can Wade. Lota does it all the time when Im with him. Ill let him give ya the details if he sees this.

[ripstick]

Run the dipsy off a board line it works.

[outdoor ran]

I'm going to go try out of Knife River marina in the morning. I'll be in a friends boat so just give me (outdoor ran) a call on the radio if anyone wants to compare notes.

[Tom Linderholm]

Just got back from the islands today, spent about 4 hours fishing and the rest camping with the family. In our fishing we went 14 for 22 all but one on riggers with purple again being our hot color. 1.7 to 2.3 in 140-180 FOW bouncing on the bottom. Biggest fish weighed nearly 19lbs with alot in the 14-16 range. Will post pics when I get them.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Where do you find a release to hold them . I have not found one yet you must now some thing I do not now . Let us now where we can get one and I will get six just to be safe . I would like to see this done if you do not mind sharing please show me how you do yours I need to now thanks for your help .

[Northlander]

No release that I know of will hold them and still realease when a fish hits. They just long line them. Almost the same as my 8 0z. snap weights that I just long line. Right Ripstick.

Cheffrey did ya get my messages? Holler at me when ya get time.

[ReelTimes]

Fished out of Knife River this morning. It was much slower for us today. We did land one laker and one king early while fishing in tight in Sucker Bay. Water temps were alot cooler then a few days ago and we had a hard time finding warm water down below. While we had surface temps ranging from 49-54, most of the time we had 43 or 44 at the ball and that was only 20-30 down. In fact, surface temp was a bit misleading as the sun would heat up the top couple feet of surface water and then she dropped fast. We probably should have tried harder to find warmer water. Still a beautiful day to be out.

[Surface Tension]

I was off the Knife as well and found similar results as far as temps. One King in the box and lost one half way in along with 4 releases unaccounted for. Everything was on top off Shad Raps in natural colors and fire tiger. Once the sun got high things went dead. Darn nice day to be on the water though.

[outdoor ran]

We set lines out of KFM about 7am also. Fishing was a little slow but a nice day to be on the water. We went 4 for 5 with 4 small kings in the box. Two came on watermellow spoons set 30 and 40 right outside the marina and the other two came on dark stick baits about 3 miles out.

[Tom Linderholm]

Pic from the 4th

32" Laker-Released

[JAR JAR]

Got out on the Sconnie side yesterday and went three for three with two Lakers and a walleye. Was off the lake by 10:45 am due to other obligations. All fish taken in 60 fow and 60 deg water all off boards. Purple and Firetiger were the hot lures. And congrats to my 14 yr old for landing his first laker . It was a 24"er.

Jar Jar

[Northlander]

Hit the cheesey side yesterday afternoon and had a king, walleye and laker within the 1st 45 minutes out. It got sunny and slowed down after that.

I decided to troll back towards the river and and once I got in tight I picked up 2 more shore trout. Noy a bad outing and a beautiful night to be on the pond.

The gold reefrunner ripstick with red head continues to be my hot lure set back 120' off a board or just long lined. Second best was a pink with black dots storm thunderstick back the same.

Gotta get out tonight when the weather and fishin is nice.

[ReelTimes]

Thanks for the report. I couldn't get out this weekend. How were the water temps? I heard things cooled down considerably from all the winds

[Northlander]

The coolest I found was 57 and the highest was 61.4 degrees. The cooler water seemed to be out in about 80' out by the poplar.

[Northlander]

Well I got out for 3 hours after work and wound up 5 for 8. 3 Lakers and 2 nice Coho about 18 and 20"s. No lure caught more than 1 fish. Most colors were bright though. All bombers or brads.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Well You have the hot hand . Great job I git zip .

[Northlander]

Also there is a LOT of big clouds of smelt on the SS lately. I havent been graphing a lot of fish but tons of baitfish so thats where Im fishing.

All the fish I cleaned, wich was only 4 the last few times out, were packed with smaller smelt.

[Northlander]

Well today the baitfish were gone and so were the fish. Had 2 releases in about 2 hours and then tried a few other spots and nothing. Walleyes in the river were slow as well.

Steve it was nice to see you guys got a few fish tonight. Maybe next week Ill come up and fish some cooler water out of Twin Harbors with ya.

[saunasisu]

Steve, good to chat with you this evening. Give a call this weekend when you know your schedule and we can set something up for next week. I plan on getting out the rest of the week and should have an idea of whats going. Sounds like the coho have come around, hopefully they stay for awhile.