Minnesota Steelheader

Well, surprise surprise... Steelhead are still active on the Lower Shore. This last bit of precipitation brought yet another push of fish into Lower Shore tributaries. Fish were reported in nearly all tribs from Split Rock South. Better yet, Upper Shore fish are still active with a mix of bright, spawning and darker fish all being reported from the Arrowhead Brule South to the Cross. Add to that a smattering of Coasters and even Coho being taken in the outflows and it makes for some interesting days. I've also received a report of two confirmed Loopers being taken from the outflow of one Upper Shore trib. This however is not good news. Limiting genetic introgression (the introduction of Looper DNA) into naturalized steelhead stocks is the reason the DNR only stocks Loopers from Two Harbors South. When they wander and interbreed, it causes problems. There should also be Lakers starting to show up near tributary outflows adding to the mixed bag possibilities for late North Shore Fish...

The Lower North Shore is winding down but there are a few items to note. First, the Lower Shore steelhead run has been a bit more prolonged than usual so far in that we are usually seeing diminishing returns at this point. Currently, returns are at a higher level of returns in the latter weeks compared to an average year. Secondly, we should start seeing the first of the dropbacks from the upper reaches of larger systems like the Knife. These fish tend to stay in the system for 20-30 days, then return to the lake according to DNR data. And while it's not fast and furious fishing as during the run peaks, it means that you can extend your season a bit if you're willing to be patient and work for fish. Lastly, Upper Shore returns should be near or at their peaks although with the low flows, much of the fish movement will be in low-light periods or at night. Often, fishing those first and last few minutes of the day for fresh-run fish can pay dividends and make or break a day. Part...

Fishing pressure is down... Fishing pressure is dropped at just about every location we visited this week. Water levels continued to drop over the last weekend in April and are expected to stay low in clear through most of the week. Hopefully we should get some rain over the up in coming weekend. The anglers out fishing are reporting average success rates on both Kamloops and steelhead at the Lester, French, Sucker and Knife rivers with yarn being the go to method. Seems as though not a lot of anglers are using flies these days on the lower rivers. As the temperatures rise we recommend digging a little deeper into your fly box. You can check out our "fly box" for some ideas if you are uncertain on what flies to use. As a rule of thumb, dull down the fly color as the rivers clear up. By the way, River temperatures are ranging from the upper 40s to the mid 50s and running clear. We saw minimal fishing pressure on several middle shore rivers this week. The overcast conditions ...