Lower Shore: Duluth to Two Harbors
Surface water temps were in the low to mid 40’s this week after strong winds blew for much of the weekend. Despite cooler water and poor conditions at times, anglers did well trolling bright stick baits, spoons, and flasher fly combos 10-20 feet down over 70-150 feet of water. Anglers reported catching good numbers of 17-29 inch Lake Trout, 15-19 inch Cohos, and a few 20-28 inch Chinooks doing this. The St. Louis River Estuary Walleye fishing was fairly hit or miss with some anglers getting into large numbers of fish below the 15 inch minimum limit while others found only larger 17-23 inch fish. Most successful anglers did best trolling stick baits or worm harnesses on the shallow flats or jigging in deeper structure.
Upper Shore: Twin Points to Hovland
Surface water temps were 35-37 °F from all stations and are unlikely to change much given the current forecast of cooler, rainy weather for the foreseeable future. Angler pressure was light from all stations primarily due to wind and poor weather. Anglers reported Lake Trout were in deep water near structure and trolling spoons and flasher flies with downriggers 120-200 feet down was most productive. Lake Trout were 17-22 inches long and no reports of large Lake Trout were received. In Grand Marais shore anglers caught a few 10-14 inch Brook Trout casting a variety of small lures in the harbor, but had little success fishing on the outside of the break wall.
Management Update
The process to update the 2016 Fisheries Management Plan for the Minnesota Waters of Lake Superior has been ongoing since April 2025 starting with a public kickoff conference and subsequent Lake Superior Fisheries Input Group meetings to discuss various topics and species management strategies. Meetings were held to discuss habitat, brook trout, steelhead, and lake trout/salmon/sport fishing/charter fishing/commercial fishing. The Lake Superior Fisheries Office solicited feedback from the Fisheries Input Group after each meeting as well as for proposed management actions and over the next few months will be writing a draft updated plan that will then ultimately go through the public review process for final approval.
Overall, the Lake Superior fishery has been excellent the past ten years with record numbers of lean lake trout and coho salmon being caught by anglers but below target number of chinook salmon. Alewife abundance in Lake Superior is extremely low in Lake Superior and is a major contributing factor to the lower abundance of chinooks compared to Lake Michigan where alewife is more abundant. In Lake Superior, chinook salmon will utilize juvenile cisco (a.k.a., tullibee, lake herring) as a major food source when available; however, other than 2022, cisco year-class production and strength has been weak and intermittent since the early 1990s. Compared to chinook salmon, coho salmon have a more diverse diet strategy and appear to be much better suited to Lake Superior’s limited forage base.
For more information on angler catch information through time, please see the Lake Superior Summer Creel Reports on the Minnesota DNR’s website.
For more information, questions about fisheries management in Minnesota waters of Lake Superior, or to suggest a topic for a Management Update, please contact Lake Superior Fisheries Supervisor Cory Goldsworthy at cory.goldsworthy@state.mn.us or 218-302-3268.
Helpful Links
 Questions?
Email us at Lake Superior fishing report
Give us a call at 218-302-3277
Report suspicious activity at 800-652-9093
Visit us online at mndnr.gov
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