Lake Superior Ice Conditions Feb 2019

[DLD24]

I have heard it's been slow out there. I went out last week for the first time this year and only had 3 chasers in like 8 hours, 1 was landed. I also didn't use a house, I jumped all around from 70-140ft. I marked quite a few schools of cohos/herring out suspended in 140ft, but all I had were big laker lures. I might give it another shot tomorrow.

[Xplorer]

Was out last Thursday off the French river.  Only fished from about 9-2. Had 12-14" of clear ice out in 50' of water. 

One 27" laker came topside.  And hit the smoker yesterday!

[Jim Almquist]

Nice looking Redfin Chris !!! Was going to try last Saturday but the weather spooked me. Maybe next weekend.

[Xplorer]

Thanks Jim!

I was really hoping for coho or some herring which is why I wasnt out deeper, but was happy when this one slammed a jig/paddletail.  Smoked up great!  Never did mark any schools shallower.  Thinking of heading out on Saturday or Sunday again, after all this rain were supposed to get. Going to need the cleats for sure. 

Quite a few sleds and 4 wheelers heading out from McQuade last week.

[BIGFISH.JZ]

3 years ago to the day.... Minnesota weather is so unpredictable. Not sure how this (my first laker) would fit up a hole... But it was nearly 70° dead calm and not a cloud in the sky, today there's enough ice to drive a full size pickup. 

[JBMasterAngler]

Heading up first thing in the morning! Anyone been out, or heard if the bite has gotten better?

[BIGFISH.JZ]

Nobody has ever caught a trophy fish from their couch!! Good luck tomorrow JB!! Keep in mind that if the depth is increasing and you haven't 'moved', you might wanna call it a day... Or... Hope you 'troll' to a better spot! If rescuers insist you leave your stuff behind, put your tackle or trophy catch under your jacket. Be safe- have fun!!

[JBMasterAngler]

Started fishing at about 9 this morning. Got on infront of the old nokomis restaurant. Was an absolute beautiful day to be out...until around noon. And then the wind picked up. And it picked up good! Fished in 47 to 108 ft of water. A white snap rap garnered a few looks, but no takers. By 2:30 I was sick of the wind, and decided to fish shallow before calling it a day. 17 ft was shallowest I could get to because of the pack ice along the shoreline. Ditched my laker gear and switched to my panfish rod and a chartreuse 1/8 oz frostee spoon, gobbed with eurolarvaes. Had a fish slam into it like a freight train, and I missed it! Got my bait back down there and he was waiting for me...

 

20 inch coho. Awesome fight on light tackle!

[evinrudespeed]

Nicely done...good to know you can try fishing that shallow. That slab will taste good...enjoy!

[biff]

Nice, looks like a stocked seeforellen brown.

[leech~~]

27 minutes ago, biff said:

Nice, looks like a stocked seeforellen brown.

 

Not blocky enough for a Brown, the heads to pointed. Coho.  

[JBMasterAngler]

I was actually thinking the same thing. It has a clipped fin. I assumed coho though, because the mouth was super bony, and his scales were going all over the place. I believe WI still stocks cohos. Had it not had a clipped fin, I would have released it just to be safe. 

[jeffeg64]

look at the anal fin and the tail,

Brown.

[AlwaysFishing23]

I’m not an expert on trout identification ( not yet at least) but from comparing it to photos of cohos and browns I’d have to say it’s a brown. That kind of checkerboard skin has me saying brown. Nothing wrong with that though browns put up one heck of battle!

[biff]

I don't think anybody on Lake Superior stocks Coho's anymore. Wi even quit stocking kings. WI started stocking seeforellens on our end a few years back and you see one occasionally caught shore fishing for loopers etc. Speaking of loopers, I know they quit stocking them but there should still be a few year classes left out there. I haven't heard anything about them this year. Anybody got any loopers this year?

[BIGFISH.JZ]

Look at the way its laying on the ice... I'd have to call it dinner. Look at how it has scales.... I can tell you that it ain't no darn eelpout or sturgeon. Whatever you caught, JB, excellent catch! Way to think outside the box to connect on a beautiful salmonoid. 

[leech~~]

On 3/18/2019 at 6:22 PM, biff said:

Nice, looks like a stocked seeforellen brown.

 

You guys might be right?

From our very own LHarris on another site.

 

Seeforellen heritage

Not a seeforellen heritage

[JBMasterAngler]

I checked out the Wisconsin fish stocking records. No records of any coho stockings. And it looks like seaforellan browns are stocked in big numbers on even years. Annually up until 2014. 

 

Well, that’s still my first fish through the ice on the north shore! And it’s my first brown trout out of Lake Superior (although I did catch a little one out of a tributary many years ago). 

 

Thanks for all the feedback!

Edited March 20, 2019 by JBMasterAngler

[Ramone Lariviere]

Is anyone think the ice will be fine this weekend i was thinking about coming up on Saturday.  We were thinking breighton Beach or mcquaid.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Ramone Lariviere

[JBMasterAngler]

I just checked the Two Harbors webcam, and it’s still frozen. However, the ice cutter was in the background carving out the shipping lanes. Personally, I think the ice season on the big pond is over!

[JBMasterAngler]

To my surprise, I seen people ice fishing at  the mouth of the Lester, French, and Knife rivers early Monday morning. Will be interesting to see what things look like when I go back that way tomorrow evening.

[LoonASea]

There is open water just outside the breakwall in Two Harbors ,,,, Wind dependent the ice should be fishable around the Lester/Brighton area ,,,, We had a pretty good east wind that broke up the ice near open water saturday ,,, There isn't a lot of ice time left on Superior 

[JBMasterAngler]

Drove along the shore yesterday evening. Still someone out infront of the French River. Ice was very dark, and not safe looking at all. Couple people were shore fishing at the mouths of the Baptism and Split Rock Rivers. Another couple guys going after steelhead on the knife. 

[LoonASea]

Got a report that the parking lot at McQuade was full a little after 7 this morning ,,, Lots of boats launching at Two Harbors on the web cam

[tacklejunkie]

I was watching guys trolling around all those little icebergs out there from my office window. It’s also seems that many chunks of ice were moving out to the lake as the evening wore on