Fishing Superior on Sunday...where to go near Dulth?

[nate larson]

Hello all,

My brother and I are pulling the boat up to lake Superior Sunday morning to do some fishing. He has a 17 foot Lund Pro Angler and does have downriggers for it. He has fished the lake a few times...usually puts in by Grand Marais. We are planning on landing the boat in Duluth. Does anyone have any tips on a spot to try near there? What is bitting the best right now? Lake Trout? Salmon? Walleye? We aren't picky on the species, just whatever is biting. If anyone could get us pointed in the right direction we would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance.

Nate Larson

[email protected]

[Northlander]

Nate read the lake superior posts. From what I hear the Lakers are moving in by the Lester River. Flasher/dodger and flies with meat are working as are spoons.

Skipperskid was out yesterday and had a good catch so he will chime in and help ya out Im sure.

With that 17' boat make sure you play the wind. Listen to your marine band or radio for weather. Make sure you have all the safety stuff. Horns, flares, fire extinguisher, vests, throwable, anchor and 100' of rope at least. Also a kicker or at least a bowmount is a must in case the big motor poops out.

I have learned threw others mistakes to really respect Lake Superior.

If you need more info e-mail me and Ill get ya some of the latest.

[Surface Tension]

nate, your biggest hurdle is be the wind. Lets hope it lays down or switchs out of the NW. If it does I'll be out there too.

Can't tell the future but I'd start out in between the Lester and the Pumping Station. How far off shore I can't say..yet.

Dodgers/rotators with fly and smelt. If you don't have smelt. 6-8" suckers will work just fine. That could be on the bottom or suspended. You'll have to see happens when you get out there. Drop me an email and we can exchange phone numbers.

[sachem longrifle]

from time to time, we have caught a few from the duluth harbor. That is true about the wind. 2 weeks ago, i launched from Rice landing and went all the way to lester. It was a calm morn but the wind started coming out of the NE. I have a 17 footer also. I remembered the hail mary and Lord's Prayer that day. I cant wait till the safe harbor is done

[sachem longrifle]

Also, a couple at work said they caught some cohos at the Superior entry using purple spoons and poor man's downriggers. They used wire line with 3 way swivel and one pound balls. I need to head out

[nate larson]

I just checked the weather forcast and it for Sunday and they are saying 13 mph winds from the NW. Does that sound manageable? I will make sure that we pick up some flares and throwables. Safety is our #1 priority. Can anyone tell me how to get to Lester River and the Pumping Station? How many miles from the landing? Is it best to use GPS to find where we need to be? Feel free to email me at [email protected]. Thank you so much for your help! You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Nate

[Surface Tension]

Yes those winds are very doable its just matter if the forecast is right.

Launch at Rice's point (under the High bridge) and out the Duluth Entry. Lester river is about 5 miles up the N'Shore.

[SKIPPERS KID]

We where out the other day and we did well on trout and one salmon we where off the pump and we had the riggers set at 70 to 100 feet down over 145 to 165 fow all fish where on spoons but one was on meet I think we had 9 fish from 12pm to 4;30pm not bad we where about one mile off shore. Good luck.

[nate larson]

Can anyone tell me where the pump station is in relation to Lester River?

[evntam]

The pump station is just a bit up the shore from the Lester, say a mile or so. If you're on the water, you really can't miss it, unless you're in the fog, or if your eyes are closed.

The pump station is a big old red brick building - again, you can't miss it. Its bigger than anything else around it when looking at it from the lake.

[nate larson]

Thanks for the info! Hopefully I have all the information I need now. I will make sure to post a report to let you know how we did.

Nate

[Papa Woodie]

Frank...got your marine band working yet?

I am planning on heading out Sunday also. I'll be on 16...around the same area. Maybe if we get a few boats together....we can exchange info on how deep of a presentation to use and all get in on the fish.

Time will tell.

[email protected]

[Northlander]

I would start at the batteries Frank.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Steve I think he has new ones in there now?

[LoonASea]

If the weather cooperates Sunday I would like to get out but I need to find a seat in someone elses boat...I do have a few pounder rods and an assortment of spoons that have worked in the past ..If any one has room for me E-Mail me at SaltyHD2 at Yahoo (Contact Us Please) or call 218-393-2213

Randy

[Surface Tension]

Casey, I hadn't done a thing with the radio. Email me and we can exchange numbers.

The forecast for tomorrow dosen't look as good as it did a few days ago. What else is new.

Saturday afternoon: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 56. Windy, with a northeast wind between 25 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tonight: A 40 percent chance of rain before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. Breezy, with a north wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.

Sunday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 57. North wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39. West wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Steve, I did a battery exchange and am good to go.

[Northlander]

News says tomorrow is a good day and light winds after the am 5-10. Buck up and get out there man this may be your last shot. I have a date with some river eyes after work. Yummy!

[LoonASea]

If the wind stays out of the north I may put my boat in at Knife River and run a few pounders with spoons for a while,,I wont venture too far from shore tho

Randoid

[Wade Joseph]

I took the forcast for its word and stayed home and took the little guy grouse hunting instead.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Well how was grouse hunting? Hope you saw birds well let us know?? ..

[sachem longrifle]

I feel like a kid again with the higher grouse numbers. I carry a light sxs 20 gauge. Too old to carry a 12. Wade, have you hunted the Summit trail in Wisc. There are a couple RGS management ares on that road

[Wade Joseph]

I got 1 bird. Didn't cover too much ground as I had the little guy with me (4 yo).

Sachem...do you mean down south of tri-lakes? I was hunting off of hunters trail yesterday.

[sachem longrifle]

yes. go about 10 miles south on 35 past dry dock. Do you know were the moose junction is? It's that road(dirt) right next to it

[Xplorer]

Was able to get out of the duluth entry sunday AM after NOAA lifted the small craft advisory at 8am. Hit the landing at 7 only to meet a guy in a really nice 18' Warrior loading back up saying that he tried to go out, but that there were 6-8' rollers. Said that he came within about 3' of hitting the bottom of the lift bridge as he was on top of a wave crest. I decided to drive over to park point and check out the entry and lake myself. It looked like it was settling down so back i went and launched, figured if i couldnt get out I'd do some trolling for pike in the harbor.

Took awhile to get down near the Lester but it wasnt too bad, mostly 3-4's with a rogue 6' roller here and there. It was easiest for me to set 2 dipseys as i could do this and still stay in the drivers seat, so started with one at 100' out and the other 150' out in @100 of water. Fished for 2.5 hours between the Lester and pumphouse and ended 2/2, with a small 20" king and a nice 24" redfin laker. That fish had the brightest red meat of any laker I've gotten out of Superior, much brighter than the kings even. Both hit the dipsey out 100', the king on a purple/pink dot flashback and the laker on a green glow tail. Did run a rigger for awhile with green/glo flasher/green fly and smelt but no takers. Was getting pretty nice out when i had to leave at 11. The king was great on the grill last night, and the laker is on tonights menu, YUM

[Northlander]

Explorer I thought maybe you had moved.

[nate larson]

Well we made it out on Sunday morning. We got on the lake at about 10:00 or so. We had to deal with some good sized rollers all the way to Lester. It was my first time on the lake so the rollers were a new experience to me. I am glad my brother was driving the boat. We fished for 5 hours without a bite! Very disapointing. We fished a lot of different depths...ranging from 70 feet to 160 feet of water and switched up our lure depth as well. Mainly using spoons but also tried a fly and a squid...didn't have any live bait though. We used dodgers with all of the lures. At the landing we ran into a guy with a nice size Lake Trout that he said he caught right next to shore near the Lester River. I guess there was a guy who was catching several fish just casting from shore. Bummer! I guess we should have shore fished instead. Oh well...maybe we will have more luck next time.

[Surface Tension]

Chris, thanks for the report.

Nate, don't get discouraged, the lake can do that to you. As they say, better luck next time.

I couldn't gather crew and by the sound of the forecast and rollers it wouldn't have been that enjoyable out there anyway.

Jr and I went grouse hunting instead.

[Xplorer]

Steve,

Naw, just with the start of school things have been crazy the last month at work. That and I used up all my vaca time this summer up on Namakan and the days that i could have gotten out lately, the wind has kept me onshore.

I'm hoping to get out next saturday for the last day, and if the lake is really nice on thursday, I may take X Jr. out on the lake with me for a bit. I had him out a few weeks ago one nice saturday morning but after an hour he wanted to bail, but at least the portable dvd player and "the incredibles" gave me an extra 1.5 hours on the water

The lake really wasnt that bad, the rollers were spaced far enough apart that it was pretty easy to ride out.

[End of the Line]

Cancelled Saturday's trip, went Sunday morning. Fishing was decent and got better the deeper you went. All the fish we caught were right on the bottom at 205' FOW. The east wind brought that warm water back in so you've got to move deeper. We'll be out tommorrow afternoon near the Lakeview Castle to the French River area again. Anyone wanting to take me out after this next weekend is more than welcome because I have to pull the boat later this week. Good Luck!

[LoonASea]

I put in at Knife River...Did have some rollers to deal with but I just bobbed around like a cork ...I did hook up with 3 lakers ,,big ones too 1 around 18#s and the other 2 were around 10ish ,,,lost them all at the boat due to being alone and not haveing the savy to handle the boat, net and rod in those rollers ,,,besides I was really hoping for some salmoniods ,,,next weekend perhaps Washburn /Bayfield for a day trip

Randoid