Shore fishing in Duluth

[leech~~]

7 minutes ago, snagfinder said:

I hope they are hungry my dad is picking me up in--oh crap 4.5 hrs from now for our first of hopefully 3 or 4 trips this spring. 

 

 

Good luck and get to bed!

[barchbirk]

I just don't get the looper thing.  Now the spawned out fish are being moved to the McQuade harbor so they can get caught again.  It seems to be ignominious fishing. 

[leech~~]

31 minutes ago, barchbirk said:

I just don't get the looper thing.  Now the spawned out fish are being moved to the McQuade harbor so they can get caught again.  It seems to be ignominious fishing. 

barchbirk, are you at all familiar with the whole hatchery process? It's pretty much the same for fish all over this country for many species of fish, some that may be even you catch? Walleye's Muskies, Salmon,Trout. From coast to coast and everywhere even out west lots of streams have hatchery fish. Kind of sad but it is the way things are now.

Pictures below are Walleye from Winni, and Cutthroat trout out west.

Edited April 14, 2016 by leech~~

[barchbirk]

Unfortunately I am familiar with hatchery fish.  Even in Alaska they would stock salmon in harbors which would return as adults for people to snag.  Fish without a country.  It is dispiriting and sad.  I guess the only thing I see from the returns this year is that the Spire Valley stockers have come back in significant enough numbers that the French River hatchery upgrade question appears to have been answered.  I would much rather see DNR money going into habitat improvement and sustainability as opposed to simply giving people something to catch--white fleshed, tasteless pablum at that.

[I fish, therefore I lie]

Boy, I'd love to be a fly on the wall where barchbirk and Ross Pearson were having a conversation.

[JBMasterAngler]

I'd like to see the money go to killing off all the cormorants that are taking over the northshore. Every June I show up to the lester river right at sunrise, and every year I see more and more of those worthless birds! Last year when I was up there, loopers must have just recently been stocked, as most of the streams I stopped at were full of yearlings. Every stream also had at least 1 pair of cormorants swimming around the pools, enjoying an all you can eat looper breakfast buffet. 

[Jack Stasney]

Birchbark, nothing wrong with sharing your views. Myself I'd like to see the rainbow thing go away altogether. IMO they taste terrible and; as far as I know and have witnessed, you are just snagging them. Those fish did not come to the river to eat. Yes, I've tried them more than once, and even ate a fancy restaurant just to see if I was doing something wrong. Couldn't finish it.   I'd much rather see support put into propagating indigenous species. I am all for getting rid of the cormorants. They really hurt the fish populations when they get out of control. Unfortunately I believe they are a protected species. In areas where they've gotten out of control they have been allowed to cull them to some degree, but they have to get bad before the government will allow it.

[I fish, therefore I lie]

At the risk of sounding political, this is what we get when we expect the gov't to do everything. They'll protect A at the expense of B, they'll regulate C only to realize they've screwed up D. It never ends. It always ends up with the bureaucrats and unelected officials bending to the will of the richest or most vocal, never actually taking the time to consider the science behind what they're doing. UGH!

[snagfinder]

Well now this seems off topic but the trip up with my dad Wednesday was fun. It was a little cold in the morning when we got there and to my suprise not a single car at the lester river or even the french when we drove by around 6:30 am. Went to the sucker river, 2 cars in parking lot thought that had to be a bad sign. Caught my first fish within 10 minutes lost another a few minutes later. My dad hooked and lost one on his 3rd drift. Seemed promising. Well it was for dad. He ended up with 5, three of which were unclipped ones. Nice to see. By the end of the day i think he said he had hooked up with like 13. I ended up hooking 4 and getting just the first one. Anyway always fun with dad and hope to be back up soon.

[reinhard1]

Snagfinder, I'm glad you and your dad had a great time.  Sounds like a great day not only fishing but catching.   Going up next week.  good luck.

[hayseed]

On 4/15/2016 at 7:37 PM, Jack Stasney said:

Birchbark, nothing wrong with sharing your views. Myself I'd like to see the rainbow thing go away altogether. IMO they taste terrible and; as far as I know and have witnessed, you are just snagging them. Those fish did not come to the river to eat. Yes, I've tried them more than once, and even ate a fancy restaurant just to see if I was doing something wrong. Couldn't finish it.   I'd much rather see support put into propagating indigenous species. 

I would hate to see fisheries management decisions based on table fare quality. I think any number of programs would go away. Muskies must really taste terrible as nobody seems to eat them. J

 I would like to see the Kamloops program continue because it provides a spring fishing opportunity between winter closure and spring opener when the ice on inland lakes is unsafe. Loopers do bite in the spring if you give them what they will attack that day. They are not all snagged. There is also a great opportunity to catch Cohos and steelhead for people who cannot afford to buy a hole in the water you throw money in.  I just released a Steelie yesterday of about 24 inches that gave me a wonderful battle. Had the program decided I could have kept it, it would have been great table fare.  Yes the loopers are less than desirable table fare in the spring, but throughout the winter from November to about February, they provide a decent fight and as good of flesh quality as anything you can purchase in a store.  They smoke up really well also. Unfortunately the past few years have not provided the winter opportunity as much as in the past, but it can get good at times. Not really much different than the stream trout program on inland lakes and not as costly.

Personally I don’t fish near the river mouths as I like more solitude. I more enjoy the whole lake experience rather than shoulder to shoulder and constant tangles. Some of the sunrises I witnessed are truly awesome.

While the program doesn’t appeal to everyone it must appeal to enough people that it’s difficult to find parking or a spot on the riverbank when they are in. 

just my opinion.

[reinhard1]

Haysee,  could not have said it better.  Great post.  good luck.

[reinhard1]

I'll be heading up again tomorrow to try my luck.  This rain will help some.  They are in the rivers.  good luck.

[certified jumbo]

Another great weekend on the shore.  We got some loopers and steelhead.  Was fun to see all the young kids (boys and girls) fishing and catching loopers!!!  The past couple of months have been a lot of fun.  I was able to catch one of the biggest steelhead I've seen on the north shore.  Coming in at almost 34" with a massive girth.  Very fortunate for this.

We had some excellent looper feasts on the grill and fine whiskeys to celebrate.

The rivers went up a lot by Saturday afternoon and are still flowing higher than my preferred levels.  Many are also turbid with limited visibility, we actually headed to south shore Saturday afternoon.  I don't think rain at this moment would be a great thing.

[biff]

I was suprised the rivers came up...still snow melt happening. Should only get better as the rivers continue to warm up. I think the loopers get a bad rap when a lot of people only fish them when they are in the rivers and a lot are beat up spawners. I just got an untagged female full of eggs out in the lake last week. She still had orange meat and was delicious. I honestly dont see how anyone could eat a fall/winter looper and say they taste bad unless they just dont like trout/salmon. To each their own.

[reinhard1]

Was up the shore yesterday all day.  They are in the streams.  For some reason I can hook them but can't land any LOL.  Had a very nice looper on yesterday that would have gone an easy 8 pounds.  Tried to beach it at the end and she got off two feet from shore.  All my hits were with using a tiny bit of yarn and a couple of waxies.  My brother also had a few on but landed one which he gave to me to brine and smoke.  My brother said the water dropped about a foot in the rivers from the day before.  Great day always up there.  DNR census taker was there and told us the water temp was 38 degrees.  So it's got a way's to go but the fish are there.  good luck.

 

 

My bad on the photo without the sun hitting the trout but still a nice looper.  Tail end of the pool the old fashion way with just a sinker and some yarn and hand tied egg sack.

 

 

Well beaten paths from many anglers over the years going after these fine fish.

 

 

Tail ends of pools are often a good bet.

 

 

There were a few angles up on the shore but not as many as last time out.  Cold and windy brought out only the hardy.

[reinhard1]

Here are a couple of pics from the past on the Knife River back in 1965 that I took.  good luck.

 

 

Up near the falls on the Knife.

 

 

I still remember this day.  No spawn sacks or waxies for this guy.  He was using a nightcrawler.  Real nice steelhead.

[certified jumbo]

Reinhard.  Great photos.  Thanks for sharing.   LSSA was looking for old school knife river photos.  May want to share those.  Good stuff.