Post a picture you took in the last week.

[kwackkillncrew]

was going to ask if those were cohos, then saw text below the picture. You guys just troll for them? We typically troll but if we find a big school we will mooch for them (jig) and it can be a blast especially when you only drop it down 3 or 4 feet and see a pile of them come out of the depths and hammer the herring. what do people typically troll with down there? just curious if its similar to what we use in the ocean

[Nershi]

Yes we troll for them. I am not really a big fan of trolling but there isn't really anything else to fish this time of year around here and trolling is most effective. I meant to grab the casting rods for Sunday after we limited on Saturday and just spaced it out and I was kicking myself because I prefer to cast and the fish were still piled up. The fish were stacked and we could have had a blast pitching jigs, stick baits or spoons at them. Every pass through had multiple hooks ups. We were running 6 lines and had 2-5 lines hook up on most of the passes through the spot. We jig for lakers this time of year too if the wind allows.

For a trolling set up we run big boards on a mast system then run the lines out on the board line on clips. When the fish hit the clip releases the line. Lots of guys run inline boards but I hate reeling in a board to catch a fish. You can fish 2 lines per person in MN and 3 in WI. We have run up to 15 lines. It can turn in to a bit of a fiasco with that many lines out when multiple fish are on. We use stick baits up top flat lined this time of year. As the water warms in June you need to start getting deeper and you need to start running snap weights, lead core, copper core, riggers or dipsies to get down to them. Once you go deep we mainly use spoons. The salmon and trout prefer temps in the mid-40's so once the surface warms you need to get deep to get to their preferred temps.

How do you fish in Alaska for them? I have only fished silvers in the rivers. We have trolled for kings for a little bit on the way back from a halibut trip out of Homer but didn't hook up on anything.

[Fish Felon]

Duluth? No shit!? Learn something new every day. That's bad ass. I've been telling myself I'm going to get over and troll Superior for lake trout for the past seven years and never make it happen. I didn't even know about the cohos or that you could fish them now & won't repeat that to anyone.

Someday....maybe next year....there's always next year.....

[Nershi]

The salmon in Superior are open year round. Lake trout close for a couple months in the fall when they spawn. It is a good thing to do to pass the time this time of year. Trout and salmon can all be caught using the same tactics and gear. If you decide to take any weekends off from starting forest fires and you want to fish let me know. I'd be happy to take you out. Or if you want to do it on your own I could give you the basics and the baits you should use. Certain baits will out fish your standard stick bait 10-20:1.

Lake Superior used to be pretty quiet but it has got a lot more popular in recent years. When I started going when I was young we were usually one of the only boats besides the charter boats out trolling. Now the charter boats are far outnumbered by your typical Minnesota fishing boat.

The coho's are self sustaining in Superior. They do not need to stock them anymore and they are doing fine reproducing on their own. There are a lot around Duluth from winter through early summer. Once the water starts to warm most of the trout and salmon usually start migrating up the shore to the north. Last year they stuck around Duluth most of the year. That might have had to do with the bumper herring hatch. MN no longer stocks Kings. I wish they would but our state's stocking program is kind of a joke compared to WI and Canada. I don't think WI stocks kings in Superior either or at least not much in the arrowhead region. Canada stocks them and that is where most of the kings we get in western lake superior come from. There are organizations that send money to Canada to help with stocking because it benefits MN and WI anglers. Kings used to be pretty rare but are becoming pretty common. WI stocks browns and splake. Anywhere from the south shore over by Superior WI to the UP of Michigan has a good variety of fish to catch. Trout - browns, splake, lakers, stealhead. Salmon - kings and cohos. Splake and browns are my favorite for eating. MN waters is mainly lakers, cohos and the occasional king or steelie.

I honestly think the fish from Lake Michigan taste like garbage due to eating all them nasty alewives. I won't even keep them for smoking. You hear a lot about Lake Michigan and people rant and rave about the fish. I don't think they know any better. Salt water is the best salmon, lake superior is good for freshwater. Lake Michigan salmon is cat food as far as I am concerned.

[kwackkillncrew]

when we troll we use down riggers and typically only troll 2 rods, unless i have someone else on the boat who knows how to stack another on the down rigger. Typically though if you are into fish, its not worth the hassle to try and run more then 2 (atleast for me). Depths will vary, but typically we have one ball down around 70' and the other around 40'. if we dont get anything for 20 minutes i will change the depths on them. I absolutely HATE trolling with any type of bait because dealing with little rock fish and by catch is a pain when they dont get hooked, have to real everything up to check the bait. Also the pinks can be insane and i hate having to rebait. We just use a flasher (cop car variety is my favorite and in the picture) and then i will have a Apex lure on one of the lines and either a brads cut plug, hootchie or a spoon on the other. The Apexs have been awesome but the line that comes with them absolutely sucks (lots a few fish last year from the line breaking) so for now on when i buy them i restring them with some good line. Some times i get a little bored and will throw on a giant dolly lama and troll that behind a flasher and have caught some nice fish on those as well. If we get burnt out on trolling and want to take a break and have some lunch, we will throw out 2 rods a different depths with a 3oz weight and tie on a 3' leader with a plain hook with a piece of herring or hooligan on it and just drift through the area with the rods in the rod holders. That can be pretty productive as well and is easier for my 5 year old to real in the fish compared to reeling them in under power while trolling.

[Nershi]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_contin ... e=emb_logo

[Fish Felon]

Niiiiiiice Fish! I wasn't sure but was thinking Big Brown.....which I'm guessing has to be pretty rare for MN Superior.....but then I clicked the YouTube link.....spells it out pretty clearly

[Nershi]

Thanks. I love the hook jaws on buck trout. I did not catch that one though. My buddy got the 29 inch buck and another buddy got a 28 hen. I lost both big ones I had hooked up. Pretty solid weekend of both size and numbers. Most of the browns were released. The cohos and splake weren’t so lucky. Caught an epic sun burn too.

[maplelakeduckslayer]

Looks like a great time!

[emptymag]

Mid morning still hunting/calling on some public ground, I had this Jake come down a deer trail and jump on a log. 48 steps.