Lower Shore: Duluth to Two Harbors
Hot weather and the holiday weekend greatly increased fishing pressure and boating traffic in general this week. The northeast winds relented, moving the thermocline to 50-60 feet down near Duluth. Anglers trolling from Knife River to Two Harbors caught some of their fish near structure on the bottom, but there was a hot bite around 30-40 feet down over the weekend, with spoons and stickbaits working best for the higher bite. Most of the Lake Trout were 19-23 inches, with a few as large as 29 inches this week. Chinook Salmon were 14-24.5 inches and Pink Salmon as large as 19 inches. Coho Salmon are huge this year and the the Minnesota state record was broken with a beautiful 29 inch, 10lb 14oz fish. Anglers did best trolling near the thermocline with spoons and flasher/fly rigs. Blue and green were good colors, especially for the trolling flies. Glow-in-the-dark spoons and flashers were also effective at those depths, especially with some orange and holographic pearl mixed in. The addition of whole or partial smelt improved success with flasher/fly rigs. Some Lake Trout were caught jigging structure in 60-180 feet of water north of McQuade. St. Louis River Estuary fishing pressure remained relatively low with the warm water. The heavy rain from thunderstorms on the 5th may start to draw some Salmon toward spawning streams in the coming days.
Upper Shore: Twin Points to Hovland
Upper Shore surface water temps were 60-65°F over the week. Lake Trout were caught at a range of depths from close to the surface to 200+ feet. Grand Marais anglers reported fair fishing for smaller Lake Trout in near shore and shallow water. Other anglers travelled many miles offshore and reported catching large Lake Trout up to 16 pounds. Overall, the Lake Trout were scattered and difficult to pattern making fishing challenging at times. Pink Salmon were reported from all stations and are starting to change shape and color rapidly. They will soon be attempting to enter rivers as temps cool and rain brings water levels up. Pinks were caught both near and far from shore in the top 70 feet of the water column. Only very small, 9-13 inch, Coho Salmon were caught this week with no larger fish reported. No reports of Chinook Salmon were received this week. Middle and Upper Shore tributaries remain low and warm.
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