Iron Range Shore Fishing Thread!

[jjness]

Greetings! Just figured I'd share what I've found, since most posts seem to be about Vermilion regarding walleye season, here's something a little different!

I've been stuck on shore and have been to a few area lakes to pull panfish out. Below is what I have to report on:

Silver Lake - Virginia - The only place I've caught fish so far! Decent crappies off of the east dock across from Holiday gas station, some 13-14". Also present are pike and an eager bluegill bite. The bank pier has lots of panfish and a few bass visible below it.

Bailey Lake - Virginia - the long dock was barren up and down its entire length. The pavilion at the end sustained heavy ice damage and is probably unsafe to walk on. I think all the fish were at the south end in Silver, where the steam plant makes warmer water.

Longyear Lake - Chisholm - The fishing pier on the north end was not yet in the water as of Sunday evening. I've not fished at all on this lake yet.

Carey Lake and Kelly Lake near Hibbing both have low water and no bites yet, not on the docks nor along the shore.

O'Brien Res. - Nashwauk - Fishing pier held no fish last night.

Swan Lake - Pengilly - The Highway 65 bridge looked low (though I've never seen it before, it's currently 6 feet or less and I've been told it is usually 10 or so feet deep there). No fish there or in the bay on the west side.

All in all, area waters are too cold to hold fish near the shore, except for Silver Lake where the steam plant heats it up.

Anybody have any good shore-fishing or fishing pier spots on the Range I haven't been to? I'm looking to check things out each evening and this weekend, until the 9th comes around and I will be able to throw bigger lures for pike and bass!

[BobT]

When I lived in Eveleth, a neighbor and I spent quite a bit of time fishing from shore in the area. St. Mary's lake from the wayside rest off of 53 was a good place for me to access especially with a pair of waders. Good bass and northern fishing in there. I also learned there are some decent walleye in that lake too. One time while wading in early spring chasing panfish with my fly rod, I could hear activity in the shallows behind me near shore. I turned around to see big females spawning in the shallow water right up against the shoreline.

Eveleth Tac's dam on the St. Louis river south of Iron was a popular place for us to go after walleyes and catfish. I think we were the only guys that fished cats on the iron range. We'd stop in at the bait shops and get their dead minnows for free then pack about four of them on a 1-0 hook with a heavy sinker and throw it out on the downstream side of the dam and wait. I've never figured out how they do it but I figured those 5# cats had hooks in their pectoral fins to grab the bottom because you had all you could do to get them to come up. Fun to catch and great in the old refrigerator smoker!

I don't know if there is a way to get their by land or not but we often launched my canoe at the dam and drifted downstream to where the West Two river joined the St. Louis and set up our camp. We caught our share of walleyes and cats there too.

Before Gov. Perpich's administration pushed through the idea that we had to turn the local open pits into trout fisheries that couldn't sustain themselves, we found many of those pits were pretty good walleye and northern producers. We spent quite a few evenings sitting along the old haul roads on Gilbert Pit and Kinney Pit pulling in good eater sized walleyes and northerns. Then they killed off the pits to stock them with trout. What a disappointment for us. We later had to adapt to fishing trout out of there but sure missed the walleye.

Also, Yate's Pit just east of Kinney was always a pretty good place to find sunnies in my youth.

Unfortunately, all of this information is from about 40 years ago so I can't say how it is today.