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Fishing is Fishing!
Tim Nolan • July 11, 2023
Big Lake may be a little slow but Walleye still on fire!
Try as we might the Lake has slowed down....temporarily of course. We are in a transition period right now and it has lead to many hours of work for few fish. I have talked with a lot of other captains and most are saying the same thing, catches are harder to come by than they have been. However, everyone is holding fast to the knowledge that it is temporary. Any day now this lull should be over and the lake will set up for some amazing pattern-able fishing very soon, maybe even as soon as tomorrow? We wont know until it happens but it will happen before we know it! While it has been slow that doesnt mean no fish, the above picture was from Sunday afternoon, while testing some things out and messing around we landed this nice laker while not even trying to catch fish, go figure right? This morning I had nothing booked so I woke Silas up at the crack of 4am so we could try to solve the case of the slow Big Lake and found a nice 4lb King in just under an hour before spending the rest of the morning working on other endeavors.
While the lake is slow the walleye in the river have not gotten the memo. We had some amazing trips this week, most recently I was able to take Kirsten and Mike from Bemidji out for an afternoon. I believe at one count we had 20 walleyes come in the boat in a 45 minute span. Clearly the walleye bite remains strong, crawler harnesses at a faster speed than normal over shallow flats was the trick this day. No monsters this trip but a lot of fun and some good memories!
Adjusting to the fish is the key as always, if one thing isn't working we persevere and find something that will! If you are looking to get out GIVE ME A CALL today to book a day on the water!
Many early mornings, late nights and long days have resulted in bent rods and smiling faces lately. Fishing remains strong and the addiction has continued. What possesses us to get up before the sun, retie lines into the late night hours, derig and rerig the boat, plan, prepare and execute? Fishing! It has been strong no matter what we have been doing or where we have been going lately. Lake Superior, Island Lake and the St. Louis rivers have been stops in the last week and resulted in good catches and lots of fun. St. Louis River walleye bite has changed but if you keep up with them and where they are at you will have quite a bit of success. Slow dragging crawler harnesses across shallow flats has been resulting in a good walleye bite. Bright colored spinners seem to be giving the best bite with the dark water. On Island Lake top water has proved successful in an awesome smally bite in both numbers and the sheer fun that top water provides. Watching those beautiful fish smack your lure with a big flash and swirl before they start dancing out of the water on the end of your line is a joy only found with top water fishing. Lots of walleye can be had as well, jig and a minnow did real well on a recent trip. Lake Superior has been more than generous lately and the bite remains strong. Bright colored stick baits and spoons from the surface to 25’ down provided many fish Saturday. In a couple hours we were able to net something like 10 or 15 fish consisting of lakers and coho. I predict this bite to remain strong for the next couple weeks. Fish are being found almost anywhere from McQuade to the south shore, it’s hard to throw a rock and not hit a fish right now. Lots of good fishing now and to come, if you are looking to get out give Tim a call! 218-203-0612.
In the last few weeks the weather has mostly cooperated and the fish have been on fire. We have been almost everywhere in the twin ports in the last few weeks. We have been chasing fish all over Lake Superior and the St. Louis River with varying degrees of success but mostly, very good fishing. We are finding walleye from the dam all the way to Allouez bay, no monsters to report as of yet but lots of healthy fish. One evening last week I had Silas in the boat and we were messing around in the river looking for walleye and bass and the river did not disappoint. In the first 15 mins I was able to reel in a 20” small mouth. Not to be out done, Silas quickly hooked up with a smally but things got interesting quickly as he was fighting the fish a northern decided it was hungry and wanted that smallmouth for dinner. The pike clamped on and now he was fighting two fish. The northern wouldn’t let go of that fish for nothing and both fish came into the net. One wild story that kid won’t forget anytime soon! The rest of the evening was rounded out with many walleye and bass caught. Every chance we had to get out on the Big Lake last week, we did and the lake was generous. Thursday was a good trip with several lakers and coho brought in and broke off on one very heavy feeling fish. We were out a half dozen times or so in the last week and a half and it seems like you couldn’t throw a rock and not hit a fish. The fish were biting well and providing lots of fun. Fish were everywhere, but the warmest, cleanest water was best. There wasn’t a color we had out they wouldn’t touch but brighter seemed to do a little better. Yesterday morning we departed from Two Harbors to jig lake trout, the fog set in thick as soon as we arrived but we didn’t let it dampen our spirits. Despite not being able to run fast we made the best of it picking up 8 or 9 lakers, the biggest roughly 5 or 6lb. All fish were caught from 80 to 180 feet on the bottom; they were very sluggish though so a soft touch and subtle jigging technique was key. If you are looking to get out, give Tim a call to check availability and book your day on the water! 218-203-0612
I learned once again today not to trust the forecast; unfortunately we lost precious time on the water this morning by not making solid plans last night. The forecast appears to have fooled many of my fellow fishermen as well. There were very few boats to be seen out of McQuade today and even less out of Two Harbors, actually I think we were the only one. When I woke up this morning and saw the weather was nowhere near last night’s forecast I quickly called my fishing partner who was anxiously awaiting my call as he had been up and already knew we were good to go. I hooked up the boat and jumped in the truck and headed north. We decided to change things up today. After several more trips last week out of McQuade, having a blast catching coho, we decided to head up to Two Harbors, MN and jig for lake trout. It was a beautiful morning on the big lake, my only wish was we would have been there an hour and a half earlier but can’t change that. There is a lot of debris in the water north of the two harbors launch so one has to be careful when running up. Fish are there but you have to work at it to find which spot they are on and what they want to eat, all our success was over 100 foot of water, I don’t believe we had any bites over 150. After several hours and some fish later we decided to call it a day as the radar wasn’t looking good, it was accurate, as it was a wet ride in. The forecast doesn’t look good for the next couple days, hopefully they are wrong again and we will be back at it Monday. On the way home we decided to check out Rices Point Landing, it was very usable today, a lot of pack ice floating around but nothing that would cause trouble. Of course things could shift but I don’t see any issues getting out here next weekend as long as you can handle no dock, not sure when the city will put that in. Overall another great day on the water, can’t wait for the next opportunity.
Last night as I drove into town on Highway 53, I passed the weigh station and saw something I have not seen in months. I was greeted by a thick grey blanket of fog encompassing the entire world around me. Maybe it’s something primal, maybe it’s something beat into me by experiences, but there was something deep down burning in me as soon as I saw it. This was a deep desire to be back on the water, wetting a line, rolling in the waves, and hopefully reeling in some nice fish. Thankfully, I had a trip planned for the next morning so the wait to fulfill this desire was going to be short lived. After dropping the family off at home, I drove down to my local boat launch to take in this foggy night a little deeper. As I rolled down the hill, the old ore dock that stands next to the launch was barely visible. This landing, however, is still several weeks away from being usable, as it is iced in and a ten foot mountain of plowed snow still stands in front. I resigned back to the house for the night knowing that tomorrow morning I would be on the water. This morning, all it took was a short fourteen mile drive to McQuade to launch in some open water. This is now the second weekend in a row we were able to get out on my favorite body of water, Lake Superior. Last weekend was spent testing some new equipment and jigging for some lake trout out of Two Harbors, MN. Today was all about salmon, specifically Coho salmon. We launched the boat and ran about five miles towards the Duluth entry, set the lines, and let the trolling commence. It was a hard fought battle just to find the first bite today. The sun would come out and disappear, the wind would change on a whim shifting the pack ice, and the baitfish were scattered. The first lines were in around 8:30 and the first fish did not come until around noon. However, once we found the fish and what they wanted, they were coming two or three at a time. Keeping on top of the baitfish and finding the baits the fish wanted at the proper depth was key. Today, most fish were found in 50 to 80 feet of water on deep lip stick baits, running roughly 15 feet down off our board lines. Try as we might, the downrigger was useless today. We tried spoons, flashers, dodgers, and flies but all attempts were futile. After a couple hours of all fish coming off the board lines, I pulled up the rigger and sent another deep lip on the board line. The fish didn’t seem too picky on color today. It definitely seemed if you got something that wobbled down about fifteen feet and ran over the top of the school, you were going to get bit. We had several doubles and maybe even a triple today, so much went on it’s hard to remember. We ended the day with a double, making 11 fish that made it in the boat. We lost another 2 at the back of the boat and had 3 other solid bites that came off, making it 11 for 17 in just under 4 hours from the first bite. Big winds in the forecast this week, if this holds it will be a while before it will be safe to get back out. Hopefully this pack ice will dissipate with the winds in about a week and more opportunities will be plentiful.