Minnesota Steelheader

With the end of the steelhead season comes work. Here is a picture of one of our staff and a hunting buddy after a hard day working. The objective: to find a supplier of pheasant tails for a winter tying weekend. Not a bad days work! In the off season most of us here are spending our free time getting plenty of Pheasant hunting in. However, even though we are not on the water, our minds are. Most of the travel time on these late fall, early winter trips, are spent dreaming and planning our next steelhead adventure. T&K - Sunny December day in Iowa '06

No question in our minds that the Brook Trout is the most beautiful of all of our Trout! Here is a great close-up shot from our buddy Jesse. He caught this while Salmon fishing this fall on a mid-shore river. Do you have any pictures to share?

With the November cold upon us and, another trout season about finished*, we find ourselves reminiscing about another great season of steelhead and fall trout and salmon. Don't be fooled though, you may still find a few steelhead by casting into the big lake around some of the major tributaries. Or even in the rivers if blessed with some rain. Anyway, back to the reminiscing.... we stumbled across some pics of a couple of the Ninemile fishing guys with brookies that are worth showing. Please feel free to send us any of your fish pics past or present for display here on our blog or on the Minnesota Steelheader photo gallery. * Read up on your fishing regs. The Lake Superior tributaries have a different season from the State inland trout season.

There have been a lot of rumors swimming around over the years as to how the Pink Salmon became full time residents of Lake Superior. We figured it is time to tell the real story. It dates back to 1956 when approximately 21,000 fingerling pink salmon, on their way to a tributary to Hudson Bay, were unintentionally released into the Current River in Thunder Bay, Canada. These pinks were grossly underestimated. Critics saw these pinkies, aka humpbacks, as the least likely of all the exotic salmon to survive in the fresh water of Gitchigumi. But to much dismay, in 1959, two spawning pink salmon were caught in two separate tributaries, one in the Cross River and one in the Sucker River. Since those first days back in ’59 our Pinks have been running the streams and rivers of the North Shore on a two year cycle. Yup, two years, that is it. During the 60’s and 70’s the Pink population exploded in record numbers. The dramatic increase in numbers was considered an annoyance by some and heaven ...

Quick update, I stopped at nearly every river from the Lester up to the Indian Reservation last weekend. It was mostly a leaf watching and hiking weekend but of course I brought a couple rods along. The pinks were in every river with enough water. A lot of them are in rough shape but you still can find fresh fish if you look around. A stop at the French revealed a pool full of chinook, so I took my time at a nearby river and finally spotted a mongo buck holding in fast water near cover. He absolutely smashed a purple esl. It was my biggest king in my two years of fishing the north shore. I continued up the shore and found many pinks but the kings were indeed rare. The remaining kings I spotted on Saturday were much smaller and hanging out in slow pools. I never have much luck without current. On Sunday a fish bigger than the surrounding pinks materialized at the head of a strech of deeper gravel on a mid shore river. A dozen casts later I was tied into a fresh, fat little hen chinook....

Even in low water you can catch a salmon or two, if you know where to look. The key is to find a river with enough water to bring in the fish. Next, find the deep pools and holes. Realize you may have to offer up some info to the occasional tourist. If you are not seeing tourists you may be searching for your quarry in the wrong location. Once you find a river with decent water flow, focus on the pools. Salmon will congregate in these deep pools for protection and comfort. Due to the low water, many of the pools call for a slow presentation. This is not like high water yarn fly drifting. Sinkers are usually not needed. In fact, sinkers can actually do more damage than good. With the slow water come slow, natural presentations. Stick to a natural dead drift, swinging, or stripping, depending on your selection of fly. Our Method this past weekend was a combination of a dead drift and slow strip of a Hercules fly – a bead head wooly bugger modification. When it comes to fall North Shore f...

With the close of the 2006 Minnesota inland trout season came beautiful fall colors and peaceful weather along the North Shore. Though most of the North Shore Streams were mere trickles slowly gurgling down to the big lake, a few of them carried enough water to welcome the early bird fall spawners. The rivers we fished were only a few. Some secluded inland streams and some of the mid-shore Lake Superior tributaries. The Rivers along the North Shore this time of year are prime time for Pink Salmon, Coho and even coaster brook trout. Read your regulations first! The brook trout season below the posted boundaries closed Sept. 5th. If you catch one, get her back in the water ASAP! Back to the Pinkies… they are in. We fished a few of the rivers between Silver Bay and Cascade Park. Pinks were in all rivers fished and in good numbers considering the low, low water. We found the deep holes to be the most productive areas. Good old Hercules (see our fly box) found his way down in these holes a...