Isle Royale Shore-Fishin'

[buzbunni]

I know, this sounds kinda lame, but...

Me and my buddies are going up to the Isle for a 25yr. reunion trip (yah, gettin' older...) Anyhow...those many moons ago we caught and consumed some tasty brook trout from Grace Creek on our final night. This trip will be a tad shorter so we (I) won't be able to hit Grace Creek (it appears the season will be closed at the time of our trip anyhow). Realizing that any day fishing is better than any day not fishing, I'm wondering if there may be a remote chance that I could catch something in the big pond? We will be camping at Huginnin Cove on the N/SW side of the Isle for a couple of days, and I though I might bring along a rod perhaps. Is it worth it? Do I have a shot at anything? Bring along some spoons ya say? Thanks for your input.

[Surface Tension]

The water drops off fast on that side of the island and I think you stand a good chance of hooking some lakers. Heavy spoons like Krocs will cast a long ways. Use a reel with a large capacity spool.

[buzbunni]

Thanks for the tips ST. What size Kroc's should I be looking at? 1 oz.? Gold w/orange stripe? 10-12lb mono o.k. as well? I remember reading ST's article on fishing the 2-harbors breakwall, and wonder if the information he provided in that article wouldn't apply in this case as well. Thanks again.

[Surface Tension]

Yep use the same gear and tackle as in the article.

What your doing is using gear appropriate to handle the size fish along with being able for long casts. Large capacity spools with the lightest line you can get by with. In this case your not sitting on a break wall with no chance of getting hung when fighting fish. For that reason I'd up the line # to 8 or 10 lb. Use heavy spoons with small profiles for long casts. The larger krocs should work. I don't know if you can find Steelies and more, they're a smaller tear shaped spoon and are heavy. What time of year are going?

[buzbunni]

Our trip is from 9/13 to 9/18. Whoa! That's comin' up fast. I gotta start prepping the menu selection(my job). Cabela's sells some BIG Kroc's (2.5-7oz.), you weren't thinking that big, were you?

[monstermoose78]

dang thats big i would try kastmaster too up to 1oz 1/2-1oz is more then enough. Unless your use surfrods and heavy line. K.O. wobblers, little cleos, any spoons that are made for casting some distance are good choices. Rooster Tails spinns in the 1/2 to 1oz are good too hmmmm i would try pink. Those are baits i use most of the time from shore anyways.

[Greg Hyovalti]

I fished the Island about 3 weeks ago off Huginnin Cove and did pretty good using the Gold Star Copper/Watermelon and a Glow Blue spoon not sure what the name of it was. The Gold Star is not a great casting spoon but wouldn't hurt to try. I would for sure pack a couple glow spoons to try out. I am heading up there this weekend with my Uncle weather permitting

[Steve Foss]

Krocs and Kastmasters are among the all-time champs at casting long distances like a bullet, especially with lighter lines and long rods. On the wall, I spooled up 8 lb Trilene XL (no abrasion issues on the wall, since you're essentially in open water) on a 4000 series Shimano, mounted on a 8.5 foot Berkley spinning rod designed for river steelhead fishing and rated for 6-12 pound line — and the cast just seemed to go on and on forever. Krocs, if you don't know it, plane up really quickly on the retrieve and will come shallow if you reel too fast. I always let it sink on a slack line until it hit bottom, then gave it a big jerk to get it out of any rocks and reeled slow to medium all the way back if I was targeting lakers. Sometimes I'd reel a dozen cranks and drop the rod back down on the pause to let it sink, then reel again and so on in a lift/fall. That can work too. Good luck and have a lot of fun. And you're dead right — A day fishing beats a day not fishing.