Brook Trout

[vermilionwally]

I was wondering if anybody has fished the East two or West two river for brook trout. I talked to an old timer that used to fish the west two when he was a kid and caught some brook trout but that was about 5o years ago so just wondering if anybody knows.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I fished the East Two and West Two Rivers for brookies for many years when I was in High School and for quite a few years after.

The DNR quit planting trout in these rivers many years ago!

To bad! They were great little trout streams and a lot of kids and "Old Timers" spent many enjoyable hours there.

I suspect that there may still be a few naturals there.

Cliff

[vermilionwally]

Thats too bad that they stopped stocking them. I might give it a shot anyway to see if there are any left in there. I think there probably are still a few.

[guideman]

I took a few friends up the river a few years ago because they wanted to try some fly fishing for Brookies. Every pool we stopped to fish had small muskies in it. If there were any trout left, I'm sure the little muskies got to most of them by now. I haven't seen anyone fishing the river near town on the trout opener in years. Back in the day, there were always several people fishing the east river between Tower and Sudan. It looks like those days are over, I'm sorry to say.

"Ace"

[Silver Scale]

About 5 or 6 years ago I did really well on the West Two Rivers for brookies. Nothing huge but lots of 8-11 inchers. I would think there would still be some fish in the headwaters unless they all froze out. I did try a couple of years ago and all I caught was chubs but I didn't try long.

[vermilionwally]

Muskies in there eh? ?I never thought thered be muskies in a small river, how would they get up there?

[LundExplorer]

When I was real young my grandpa took me out between Tower and Soudan for brookies. This was probably 30 years ago. I also remember him setting minnow traps at "brick pond" back there, he always had a good stock of minnows out of there. I don't think the pond is back there anymore.

[guideman]

I'm sure that there are Muskies spawning near the mouth of the rivers, where they enter Pike bay. I have seen them back there in the spring rolling around in the shallows. Fish are attracted to the current and it wouldn't be that hard for them to run up river from Pike bay. They can only go as far as the falls on West Two and that is where we saw most of them, in the pool below the falls. I doubt anything larger than a foot or two would be in there, but you never know.

"Ace"

[vermilionwally]

Could there be some brookies above the falls? I wonder if the muskies disrupt the walleyes spawning around the mouths of the rivers.

[guideman]

There aren't that many muskies, that they could change the spawning habits, of millions of horny Walleyes. Besides, Muskies spawn much later than the Walleyes do. The Walleyes are all "long gone" by the time the Muskies come into the shallows to spawn.

"Ace"

[Cliff Wagenbach]

LundExplorer,

The brick pond is still there and there are still minnows in it!

Cliff

[vermilionwally]

Are there any other streams around there with brookies in them?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Vermillionwally,

If you take Hwy.#1 out of Ely toward Two Harbors there are a few fairly good small trout streams that cross the Hwy.

There are also quite a few small lakes in this area that have planted trout in them.

Check with the DNR and you can get a free booklet with the name, locations, and planting data of these lakes and streams.

Cliff

[hankpete]

Cliff

The fact that minnows still swim in the brick pond was of interest to me as that is where I got my minnows in the early 1940`s

Stenfeldt Petersen

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I suspect that the pond really has changed in looks since you trapped minnows there in the 40's.

Cliff