I just returned home from a 13 day stint at the cabin in Two Harbors. There was way too much foliage yet for grousing, but the big lake's fishing made up for it.
Generally speaking, the larger lake trout hadn't moved inshore yet and the largest I took from the breakwater was in the 6 pound range. From the boat with downriggers, the 6 pound mark was "just" topped.
Salmon were the fish this fall trip. The rivers were running pretty thin and the chinook salmon seemed to be stacked up all along the shore lines. Whether in the boat or casting the breakwater, as long as the lure was kept in the top 5 feet of water and moving quickly, the salmon gave you action.
Some days were 4 fish days, some were 6 to 7 fish days. Only two days were what I would call flat water days, the balance were quite windy. What amazed me was the salmon bite in what I'd call surf....waves in the 7 to 9 foot range. If the waves got annoying a step or two to the other side [harbor side] of the breakwater gave relief and salmon. They were insane.
Salmon were all running 3 to 6 pounds, some maybe smaller but not very many.
Lots of deer this trip too. We had 4 bucks in the yard at all times of the day and night along with tons of does and fawns. No moose this time around, but we had one boar bear that looked like about 350 pounds come visit and dine.
-------------------- Plastics: making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys!
CT
CT, am I correct in remembering that the MN DNR stopped stocking Kings? (I caught two over 23# from shore off the French in the early 90's. ) And, are these fish natural spawners?
Sounds like you had a pretty good year up there this year! God, I wish there was more time in a year to fish all over the State! I love that area you are in!
Michigan and Wisconsin still stock them and these are likely from those plants. Minnesota does not stock them. I think there may still be a limited amount of natural reproduction on the Baptism River....I think, but won't swear on it.
It is a supreme area indeed, Chris. The trip was another one of those that was rewarding and educational at the same time. I learned a lot about the salmon this fall and how my fall approach has been just off target for the last couple years. Hopefully this new ideology will work from year to year. It certainly upped my salmon productivity this year.
-------------------- Plastics: making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys!
CT
I love trips like that when you can look back and say you learned something. I had a year like that on Cass and Bemidji. Now I cannot wait to get back and do it again!
Casting the breakwall, were you using Crocs and Cleos? Or cranks? I used to have good luck with air injected crawlers or spawn on one, and casted jointed Raps with the other where it was legal.
The 1/4 ounce kroks were good in silver/blue and gold/orange. Mepps spinners in about a size 2 and 3, plain gold and plain silver did the trick....they all had thier time and all took fish. Basically it depended on whether I was casting with or into the wind. Spinners were used with the wind.
I lost one fish right at the net that looked like an Atlantic. I've only taken two of those and its been three years since the last one. Those are a crazy fish.
No loopers and no coho....I'm happy with kings though.
-------------------- Plastics: making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys!
CT
My wife and I just spent the last few days in Silver Bay. We fished the Cross, Temperance, Baptism, and Gooseberry rivers. There were Pinks in the Cross and Temperance but they wouldn't hit anything. I caught two small Steelhead in the Gooseberry. Never saw a Coho or Chinook. Would I be correct in assuming we were there too early for that? The tough thing here is finding a room any later than right now. You're up against the "leaf people" who book years in advance...
Thanks for the report!
Rootski
-------------------- Every now and then its gettin' kind of hard to tell but I'm still alive and well
Welcome back CT, Congrats on a great sounding couple of weeks. Just couldn't pull the trigger on another windy run up there. Looks like this weekend will be good and heading up Friday barring any catastrophes down here. Will keep in mind the shallows and rivers for the salmon, may even bring the fly rod for the rivers. Thanks for the great post.
-------------------- Live to Fish.
Forced to Work.
Wi and Mi are the only two states stocking the king salmon anymore, so spawning runs will be meager on MN rivers unless there are some natural reproduction created fish still around. River water levels have been another concern. Without a good flow, kings won't approach a river but will hang just off-shore in the lake over deeper water. Even in the boat this trip we found that if we didn't have at least 70 feet of water we would not mark the salmon. And yes 70 feet is an easy target from the breakwater.
The cohos come a bit later and will have loopers for company. The pinks you mention get taken on the yarn flies often, but they have a very poor table quality. Fun to catch, just not good eating. I managed a few from the Splitrock river a few years ago....strange lookers.
GD&M....
If you launch Two Harbors, fish the 150 foot water from the humps northeast along the shore at 90 feet. The dodger/fly/smelt was slow, but flash baits got some lakers for us. We saw a charter come to dock with a mess of dandy 6 to 12 pounders taken from that deeper water, but for the most part we saw few large fish this trip....they are not in yet.
The salmon were right up on top. With a clip-on board a guy could have fished a ridiculous shallow stick baits and light flash baits and caught the kings in the boat. Be sure to take a med. action spinning rod with some 6-8 pound mono and some spinners and kroks or cleos in the 2/5 size, just in case the water gets nuts. Cast that breakwater. Fish from the dogleg to the end. Both lake and harbor sides. If the lake is tossing, I prefer to stay dry and fish the inside. Use a good BB swivel.
-------------------- Plastics: making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys!
CT
Thanks for the info. I really had no idea what to expect when I went up there. It was still fun throwing a fly around in moving water even if there weren't any fish in the river.
-------------------- Every now and then its gettin' kind of hard to tell but I'm still alive and well
Two Harbors
) And, are these fish natural spawners?
