Smelt Update
The peak of the smelt run is likely behind us. There were a lot of smelters out last weekend and most reported moderate or low catches at Lester River and Park Point. River temperatures are approaching 60°F in the lower shore but remain near 50°F in the middle shore. More information about smelt is provided on our smelt fact sheet.
Management Updates
 It’s been a busy few weeks for the Lake Superior Area Fisheries Crew! The boat crew started Spring Lake Trout Survey operations this week, and initial gillnet catches are showing strong numbers of Lake Trout again this year. Lake Trout stomachs have been full of smelt, and despite a few more lamprey wounds than we would like to see, the fish appear to be in excellent condition, likely benefiting from the strong 2022 Cisco year-class and abundant forage supply.
The steelhead run at the Knife River continues but has passed the peak. Catches of upbound adults this week were similar to last week (moderate), and we have now started to capture post-spawn adults migrating back downstream to Lake Superior. We suspect a fair number of adults moved around the trap during high flow events this spring. If water remains low, should encounter many of the fish that were captured (tagged) and bypassed the trap on their return migration back to Lake Superior, which would help generate another solid population estimate this year. We have recaptured 55 steelhead this spring that had previously been tagged and transported upstream of the trap earlier in the season. These fish later moved back downstream and then migrated upstream through the trap a second time. This is a relatively high recapture rate and was likely influenced by the two major high-water events observed over the past few weeks.
Spawning operations at French River are complete with 39 pairs spawned this spring. A total of 128 steelhead were captured in the French River on April 23 and May 4, 2026. The program goal is to spawn 30 pairs to help maintain the genetic diversity of naturalized (wild-produced) North Shore steelhead populations. Eggs collected during spawning operations will produce the next year-class of Superior strain steelhead broodstock at the Minnesota DNRs Spire Valley Coldwater Hatchery (Remer, MN). A subset of eggs from each spawning pair will be retained and raised to adulthood as future broodstock. Those adults will later be spawned to produce yearling steelhead for stocking back into North Shore streams, while any surplus fish will be added to the clipped-for-harvest stocking program.
All clipped-for-harvest yearling steelhead have now been stocked for 2026. The annual stocking goal of 120,000 clipped yearlings was met, with 61,000 fish stocked in the Lester River and 61,500 stocked in the Sucker River. These fish are from the 2025 year-class, and most are expected to return to North Shore streams as 5-year-old adults beginning in 2029.
Staff also had the opportunity to break away from regular duties to assist the Duluth Area Fisheries Office with a muskie assessment on Island Lake Reservoir north of Duluth. Some staff were also able to help Tower Area with their Pike River walleye trap and spawning operations. Opportunities like these allow staff to experience different waters and projects while helping maintain morale during even the busiest times of the year.
For more information or questions, please contact Lake Superior Fisheries Supervisor Cory Goldsworthy at cory.goldsworthy@state.mn.us or 218-302-3268.
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