Lake Superior Fishing reports.

[Lake Superior]

I am the owner and operator of Lake Superior Fishing and recently on this forum a member made a statement that I am out of business. My business has been going strong for 27 years and I am not "Out of Business". This thread was brought to my attention by a customer of mine who was concerned that he had booked a charter with someone who was not charter fishing anymore. As many of you who see our boat "Hard Times" on the water everyday know I am still guideing on the Lake.

IF any readers failed to contact me for a charter due to this post please contact me.

Capt Steve Johnson "Hard Times"

[Northlander]

Steve I dont remember seeing such a post. There was talk in general about charters going out of bussiness because of the tuff economy and all but nobody was mentioned by name that I remember.

I see ya out on the pond all the time so I know your still doing fine.

Good luck the rest of the summer and save some for me.

[End of the Line]

It was me who mentioned it. I was informed by Russ at Marine General that you told him you were done because of health issues. Apparently I was there later that same day that your were and he said "Did you hear the news?". And the fact that the business and boat are for sale on posters there at MG as well as at a few other websites I took Russ at his word. My mistake, I guess I was mis-informed.

[Lake Superior]

The business is for sale and we will continue to operate it until we have found a suitable replacement in this regard we are not out of business. When the sale has been finalized I will continue to work with the new owner. Yes there are a few charters that are stumbling a bit with todays economy thankfully ours is doing well.

[Hooked!]

Fished lake Superior for the first time with my boat rigged up. My dad and I went out of McQuades Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th. Got one lake trout Tuesday a big one and one on Wednesday. Thanks to your discussions I had some idea of what I was doing. We caught the big one in 130 ft of water down about ~70 feet on a downrigger the one on Wednesday on a Dipsy diver down around 40 feet.

[Northlander]

Went out the cheesey side this morning. Played the mudd game and wound up with 3 walleyes and 2 lakers. Beautiful morning. Im going to hit it again tomorrow and maybe this afternoon.

Best color was orange/chart/glow white Jims Flashback spoon down 50' in 58' of water. That got the bigger fish, 2 eyes and 1 laker. Biggest laker about 8# and biggest eyes only 26". Eyes are very hard to come by right now. A green/pink/ glow white Finlander spoon caught 1 laker and 1 eye.

I ventured out as far as 90' of water but my best depth was the 55-65' range out of Dutchmans.

[Northlander]

Got out yeterday early with my wife. We saw mud was farther than the day before and had infested my area from the day before so we ran out to 105' of water. We caught 1 fish all day with it being a 10.25# laker on a meat rig down on bottom. Green/blue/silver flasher with a green/black fly and smelt of course. It hammered it. Both hooks all the way in its mouth.

When I cleaned the fish it had what looked like a 12"herring in its gut. That was it.

We washed a lot of spoons and nothing on them. Had 1 BIG King on a board line with a 600 series reefrunner back 160. My net lady was sleeping and it wound up coming unglued behind the boat.

Spoons on a SWR on a board did nothing either.

We were back in by 12:30 and enjoyed the rest of the day grilling. Beautiful day to be out!

[Northlander]

Bumpy ride today. Fished from noon til 3 and got 1 laker on the mud line in 64' of water on a dypsie orange/chart/antifreeze spoon back 200' on 2. 8#er but the only one. Im still bouncing after that ride.

[Huskie]

I have a couple of weddings to attend in Duluth this sat. afternoon. I'm Thinking I can get out on the Lake all day Friday and Sat. morning, we will again be heading out of the Knife River Marina, any one have any advice if we should head up, down the shore or straight out to find water temp that is favorable. I'll be with my dad,in his his boat and my future son in law, hope to get a trout or two, thanks for the help.

[Deep_Sinker]

Very slow tonight...went out of TH and picked up one small greaser. 100fow right close to the bottom off a green spoon. Can't seem to find/mark any fish lately.

[MNBIGBEAR]

Any chance of getting a fish from shore this time of the year or are they all deep? Heading up to the Lutsen area and was thinking about throwing a rod in the car if its worth the try.

[traveler]

For sure...Lakers are making the move towards shore in Sept., and what salmon there are will be doing the same. Maybe a little early, but give it a shot.

[Mike Stark]

went out on tuesday the 25th with happy hooker charters. peter and dan. fished from 6:30am - 2:30pm. boated 16 fish. one of those was a 15lb king the rest nice lakers. one 15lber and lots of 7-10lbers. fishing around 100fow. spoons and smelt. great day to be on the water. they said it was one of the better days of the season, possibly the best.

highly recommend Happy Hooker Charters.

[Mnfisher]

I caught two Lake Trout the past week off the breakwall in Two Harbors. One was 4lbs, the other about 2. I caught a 15lber same place mid-June so it's possible to get lucky!

[Deep_Sinker]

Went out today out of McQuade and fought the winds and crazy current. Fishing was slow and rough but managed two lakers.

On another note, heard a call on the radio from CG looking for a paddle boat without anyone onboard. Sounded like we were in the vicinity but never saw anything in the water. After hearing this I thought the CG boat or another boat would be out shortly. The call came from Michigan around 11am and didn't see the CG boat until 1pm. Wonder why??? Then tonight I saw the CG helicopter flying low in a grid pattern...anyone have any news if someone did go over or did the boat just wash out? Hope all is well.

[Northlander]

I dont want to turn this into a CG bash but in my experieneces the CG is notoriously slow on responding to calls on Lake Superior. Most calls for help I have heard have been responded to by other boats before the CG even gets out the break walls. Sad but true.

[Steve Foss]

I dont want to turn this into a CG bash but in my experieneces the CG is notoriously slow on responding to calls on Lake Superior. Most calls for help I have heard have been responded to by other boats before the CG even gets out the break walls. Sad but true.

[Northlander]

Steve if you only knew the half of it you would know its way different. It shouldnt be the way it is.

On a fishing note I managed a few this AM. All on meat rigs but 2. The Antifreeze fly was the hot one today on a green/glow flasher down 50' over 90'. Did get 2 on a dypsie with a orange/glow/antifreeze spoon back 160' on 2.

For some wierd reason the lakers seemed to want smaller smelt on the fly today. The big females wouldnt catch nothing today.

COLD this morning!

[Deep_Sinker]

Originally Posted By: Northlander

I dont want to turn this into a CG bash but in my experieneces the CG is notoriously slow on responding to calls on Lake Superior. Most calls for help I have heard have been responded to by other boats before the CG even gets out the break walls. Sad but true.

No surprise in that. In most cases in the Duluth/Superior L.S. area, it takes less time for a boat within a few miles to pull its lines and run over to the distress location than it does for the CG to mobilize from within the bay and sprint out to the location. Simple logistics. No different than a whole neighborhood having police scanners and running a few houses down to help a neighbor in trouble before the cops can show up. But hey, we're not turning this into a thread bashing (or defending) the C.G.

Going to have to disagree...their boat is tied up in the bay with twin big bore motors. That boat probably goes 50 mph. I could of hooked up to my boat in the yard, drove 10 miles to the access and motored out there in way less than 2 hours. Simple logistics should put the GC at the Lester River in about 10-15 minutes...kind of scary thinking of having a real emergency out there with that kind of response time.

[erikh45]

I have a cousin who lives at about 43rd Ave East and London Rd. He said that his neighbor called shortly after 11 and the CG was out there around 11:30. He said that another neighbor had his jet ski and his paddleboat swept off of his shoreline by waves. I guess the CG, Sherrif, and DNR found his stuff and towed it in for him. By 3:30 his stuff was on shore waiting for him to pick it up.

I agree that the CG here can sometimes be slow. That is why I find it important to keep my radio on and listen to what is happening. When this big lake gets mad it can be deadly. We should count on our common sense, our fellow boaters and the CG. I think it should be a joint effort.

[Northlander]

Got out yesterday and got 4 lakers out in 111-118' of water on the cheesey side of the line. Wound up 4 for 5.

1 fish was on meat and the rest on spoons. Seemed like spoons with orange in them worked best. Orange/silver/antifreeze Finlander got 2 of the 3 caught on spoons.

The meat was on bottom and the spoons caught fish any place from 80-95 down.

Beautiful day to be out.

[tacklejunkie]

Gonna head out this evening and fish all night. Luv those dipsey divers. All fish this year off the dipseys and either green or purple spoons. Maybe I'm getting the hang of them,finally.

[Northlander]

Got out again about 3:30 and got a nice king right away on a orange/silver/blue deep diving smithwick and then shortly after got a nice 20" eye on a Pink Lemonade RR. Had the dypsie and orange/glow/antifreeze spoon out a bit and managed 2 lakers on that set up again. Thats been producing ok lately. All fish were 18-40' down over 55 - 65' of water just out the entry. Temp difference of 5 degrees at the lighthouse compared to only 1/2 mile away.

[jigginjim]

Northlander, where about are you fishing? My stepdaughter would like to catch a salmon or laker. I run a 690 ranger, maybe we could pair up sometime.

[Northlander]

I have the next 2 days off. I have been fishing out the cheesey entry and then down past the poplar river and then out from there in that 105-115' of water. Salmon are very hard to come by but I did manage another today.

Drop me a e-mail and maybe we can hook up or we can exchnage #'s.

I can do any of the next 3 mornings if ya like. Sat afternoon I have to run to DaRange.

Its not fast by any means but I have been lucky enough to catch and release limits of lakers the last 4 times out with a few eyes in the mix and the lucky king here and there.

[jigginjim]

Sounds good I have to bring my boat to get the motor fixed. It caught fire today while fishing on clearwater lake, I caught a really nice walleye last night. was going to hit it again tonite but.

[LoonASea]

Got out on the big pond today and that darn fog didnt want to lift ,,,and those pesky lake trout wouldnt leave my baits alone ,,,oh well ,,,lots of good fishing still ahead of us

LAS

[Surface Tension]

Beautiful day to be on the lake, well after to fog burned off anyway.

Put in at the McQuade Access. Trolled 80- 190' of water. 80-90' of water was the most productive. Dodger/Fly /Meat on the bottom. All our lakers were taken on chartreuse dodger, blue/green fly.

JR with a nice pair.

[jigginjim]

I take it your using down riggers, to get your baits down. Has any one tried lead core for lakes? I thought of lead core and flatfish.

[andrew chadwick]

I take it your using down riggers, to get your baits down. Has any one tried lead core for lakes? I thought of lead core and flatfish.

I have fallen in love with heavy snap weights held on with either rubber bands or snapped onto a dipsey snubber. 10 -12 oz.