Fishing Report 5-20-14

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MN Steelheader - fishing report
Over the weekend along the Lower Shore, rivers were holding stable flows with morning water
temperatures in the mid-40s and afternoon water temperatures in the low 50s. Angling pressure was
moderate and anglers reported slow to fair fishing. Interviewed anglers caught 20 Kamloops, 16
steelhead, 1 coho salmon and 10 suckers.

Along the Middle Shore conditions were good, as river levels continued to slowly fall and were flowing at normal to slightly high levels. Water temperatures were 40-43 degrees in the mornings and 49-52 degrees in the afternoons. Fishing pressure was fairly light and interviewed anglers also reported rather slow fishing, landing 10 steelhead and 1 sucker.

Along the Upper Shore, water conditions continued to improve. The larger rivers were still running high, but the moderate to smaller rivers were in excellent condition for angling. Morning water temperatures were
40-43 degrees and rose to 46-49 degrees in the afternoons. Angling pressure was light, and interviewed
anglers reported slow fishing, landing 5 steelhead and 5 brook trout.

Trap totals through 5/19 are 224 steelhead and 15 Kamloops at the Knife River, and 195 Kamloops and 15 steelhead at the French River.

Our angling advice is not to let the low DNR creel reporting fool you into thinking there are no fish around. With few anglers on the water, the sampling of anglers is light.

Please note: the above creel information is that of the MN DNR and not the results of the Minnesota Steelheader creel project (MSCP).  We do not post weekly tally numbers from our MSCP.  The data all you volunteers provide us with is added to our thingamabob computer program and will be spit out into a cumulative learning and teaching tool - a pretty darn good one at that!


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