Lake Superior Lake Trouting....

[ctom]

We spent the last week at the cabin and that allowed me to play around on the Two Harbors breakwater looking for Lake Trout. The week before boats were seen all along the breakwater and out on the lake and they were catching trout. Cohos for the most part have been no-shows this summer.... well almost no shows.

I came home with four nice table fish in the 19-20 inch range, all were naturals, no plants. I had three others on but the hooks pulled right along side the breakwater wall on all 3. Two were pretty decent fish in the 9-10 pound range and the other easily a 6.

I did manage to catch three Cohos one morning when the whole area was full of 6-8" fish working the surface. There were so many cohos working the surface for bugs that it looked like the lake was under siege with hail. Absolutely nuts for almost 45 minutes. Just like that they shut off and were not seen again for the rest of the trip. Of course the size of the salmon was not what I keep, but it was wild seeing so many working an area as far as I could see.

It was a fun 5 days, got the mowing done and of course my daily morning and afternoon fishing. Now back home I am waiting for yesterday's rain to dry in the grass so I can cut down my own hayfield. lol

Here's some company we had when we got there.

[DOITDRAKE]

That Coho window sounds like a special time to be out! That is an experience that I would love to have some day!

[ctom]

The absolute best time for Cohos is around the Mid-February to March timeframe. Best be a durable cold weather dude to tackle some of the temps at that time and cold, fishing that open water is magnified about three times the actual temps. One likely has to weather ice cleats and carry some sand with him too. Fish at that time are generally fairly large as far as Superior Cohos run.... 4 pounds or so with some maybe up to 5-5-1/2. From mid-September on the coho fishing just gets better. Lakers will be plentiful, as a rule, from late Aust on but the season closes on Sept 30, but the dnr may give the anglers thru the first weekend of October this year instead of closing on a Friday.

From where you're at Drake, plan a 3-day trip. Leave early and fish the first afternoon. Hit the water early the second day and fish until 10, then eat and nap until 2 and hit it again until you're tired of it. Fish the third morning until ten then head home. I would strongly suggest you NOT plan a weekend trip. You'll end up hooking more stupid tourists than fish, traffic is horrendous on the interstate from and going to the Cities and there are way more anglers.

[DOITDRAKE]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll see what I can get planned - and I'll let you know how it goes!

[ctom]

We'll be back up to the cabin the last full week of September thru October 3rd.

[Lamar]

  Heading that way myself. Flying into Duluth then renting a car and driving up to the boundary waters. Been a few years since I've drove up the gunflint trail so it will be fun to see again. If any of you have never drove the drive between Duluth and Thunder Bay then you need to make the effort someday. It's one of the prettiest drives you'll ever make.