Pink Salmon run?

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roughfish29
roughfish29's picture
Pink Salmon run?
<p>Anyone been on the tribs of Lake Superior as of late? I&#39;ve been chatting with some folks about running up to the north shore one of these upcomming weekends.</p> <p>Also, how long does the run typically last?</p>
Outdoors4life
Outdoors4life's picture
egg patterns!

They will hit egg paterns mostly the males.

 

Many many moons ago CastAndBlast and I made it up there and limited out with one king and the rest pinks. I thought I would never catch one then we went back to a river we knew they were at earlier in the day and in the last hours of the day we both limited out. Gotta find the active ones and be a little lucky. CB was using 8 pound mono and I was using 6 pound flouro. All the fish were caught on my rod.

 

I snell tied size 6 octopus hook and made the yarn fly on the water.

9-14-07 is the date I was there wow time flies!

It is all perspective!

Acer Home Inspections

Muskymags
Muskymags's picture
The alive ones are dead!

Honestly, pretty much the only way to get one up there now is to snag one or just pick one up.....  Pinks are earlier runners and your best shot at them is early to mid September.  They deteriorate fast and towards the end of September-on they are not only unfit to eat, but are so focused on spawning and dying, and dying that they stop feeding or can't even feed.  You could get shots at Chinooks and Cohos this time of year, but in the streams it could only happen if we get a deluge of rain, or you get a lucky possible, not likely chance.  As many folks here know, over the last 4-5 years I've been focusing in on the NS in the spring and fall.  I've spoken with a few here from roughfish and many from DNR and other reliable sources, not to mention my own findings.  In September the Pinks can be ferocious. Last year I got my limit of 5 fresh fighting Pinks in an hour on September 11th!  The only Salmon I've caught on NS streams is Pinks (and they thrive for 2-3 weeks) any other Salmon on the NS is shore casting into the lake.  In the spring.....thats a whole nother' ballgame.  Steelhead start between the 3rd week in March to the 2nd week in April and depending on the flows, snowmelt, and rain can last up to a month/month and a half.  If you want a solid chance at a Salmon in MN now.....cast the lake near mouths, or just deep water with spinners.  Weighted spinners off deeper water seems to work better, or do the countdown method.  It is however a good time for Round Whitefish up there, but thats a nother' (like the slang?) ballgame which I learned about, but can't seem to focus on myself because of the draw and lure of large Salmonids and Mykiss's (kinda like my lame lack of Brown Bullhead thing)(I want to catch a Brown Bullhead for my lifelist, but to me they're lame and I don't really want one/ just to check it off the list!).  Everytime I head up there I think about trying my techniques and tactics for Rounds, but the allure of hardest fighting fish ever and tastey flesh usually override it.  My true findings here, but time for another Coors!

TonyS
TonyS's picture
Hey now some of us like

Hey now some of us like bullheads!  Maybe I have too much family from Iowa at some point...

 

That said fresh pinks will be hard to find, best odds are the WI shore as they should run a little later here.  From what I gather Cohos are just hitting the WI tribs or will soon - so you got that on your side.  And the odd Chinook

 

RF29  -  if you come up here give me and Kol/Hengelaar a shout - I know those two dudes are talking about coming up.

 

ps - Mags, my wife picked up a nice Brown Bullhead fishing bottom in Lake Superior a couple weeks back - so they can come in odd places (I've caught several out of Sturgeon Bay)

Bubbajoe
Bubbajoe's picture
If you're going to be fishing

If you're going to be fishing the river mouths you would be better off stocking up with some 2/3 oz Cleos, Kastmasters, and 1/2 KO Wobblers. They've produced more consistently for me than spinners and cast farther. And if you're fishing the shore you need all the distance you can get. Wieghted spinners are great, they just don't hold a candle to spoons in my experience.

TonyS
TonyS's picture
I'll ditto Joe on spoons and

I'll ditto Joe on spoons and don't forget waders if you are doing the river mouth thing.  Some of the tribs can be fished without waders (sometimes) but river mouths without waders might well be a waste of time

 

And if it is windy 3/4 ounce cleos are worth a shot too, that extra weight can help

Muskymags
Muskymags's picture
No offense to Bullheaders

My personal fishing is just taking a bit of a turn again, and unless your using ultralights Bullies just don't pull much.  With my extremely limited amount of available fishing time (even more so now that hunting is on) I would just prefer something that can bend a bat. 

Spoons and spinners both work well, I just like the flash and vibration of a large size Panther Martin.  My Martins when weighted seemed to do the trick for me.  Tony and Bubba are right about the distance....use a lighter line than you'd think, a heavier lure, and a longer rod.  I use a 10' steelhead rod with either 6 or 8# test and 1/2-1 oz. weighted flashy lures, you can really get out there then.  If the waves are crashing in then you'll need to find deeper water close to shore like one of the harbors.  It would be dangerously impossible to wade out with an "average chop" on Superior and if your on shore casting heavy spoons, you'll donate many to the shallow rocks within 50' from shore depending where you are. 

I had to call 911 2 years ago when a guy had a wave go over his waders and suck him out.  Rescue teams came and got him in about 20 minutes but he had hypothermia, so be careful!

RF- I'd head to the Michigan tribs, Kings should be popping there!

TonyS
TonyS's picture
I don't blame ya for not

I don't blame ya for not liking bullhead fishing - just taking a dig...  Everybody has favorites and I think (on some level) that is a good thing.  I will say I've never hooked a coho that put up more than a mediocore fight on light-ish tackle.  Steelies and Kings are different ball game, but then Cohos are dang tasty

Bubbajoe
Bubbajoe's picture
So tasty.

So tasty.

Take equal parts real maple syrup and Sriracha, and add dash of ginger garlic paste. Use it to lightly glaze a Coho fillet. Grill or broil it and serve with some gummy white rice.

Yeaaaaa...... It's the little things people!

andy
andy's picture
Yep yum

Sounds fantastic, Bubbajoe!  I likes my salmon like that too...

Jknuth
Jknuth's picture
Oh i dont know about Cohos

Oh i dont know about Cohos not fighting. 
In Sheboygan Ill take a coho over a Steelhead or king. 
They run like torpedos and jump like tarpon. Some times you can get 5or 6 flying leaps from them and I mean major air time. 
They may run larger in lake michigan then lake superior. Our average size on Michigan is about 26-30" when they are in shore. but we have a larger forage base. 

As for the recipe 
YUM!

AvidFly
AvidFly's picture
I'm headed up tomorrow and

I'm headed up tomorrow and will be happy to let you know if there are any pinks around.

With all the conversation about spoons and spinners, just remember to swap out to single hooks when fishing in/around the MN tribs.  Make sure to look up the law in the regs so you know the exacts.

 

 

Bubbajoe
Bubbajoe's picture
Andy - Yea, it doesn't get

Andy - Yea, it doesn't get much better! I'll have to write up my onion jam recipe for topping Brown's at some point.

Jknuth - I haven't fished any Coho out of Michigan, but it's my understanding that they do run a bit larger. Most of the Superior fish we boat run in the 20-24" inch range. Anything over is considered big. The warmer water temps may also be a contributing factor.

Avid - great heads up on the single hooks.

Dr Flathead
Dr Flathead's picture
I bet a Brown Bullhead like

I bet a Brown Bullhead like this one would give ya a boner Mags....

TonyS
TonyS's picture
josh - interesting on the

josh - interesting on the Cohos, I don't know if I just have bad luck or if it is a issue of the fact that our Cohos are a quite a bit smaller.  Most of the ones I've caught were so-so on fighting - nothing memorable.  The most recent one I caught was like catching walleye, I honestly said (out loud) not sure if I have a fish or I'm dragging something.  This was casting a spoon a couple feet down over 20' of water so I knew it had to be a fish.  weird stuff - but I guess I've seen highly variable fighting in other species too so I shouldn't be so surprised.

Muskymags
Muskymags's picture
@ Doc

Yeah, if they were all like that I'd be in for sure....

Fins got some Sumo Browns as well, too bad the're few and far between.

This brings another question to mind.  Theres been a few very large Bullheads caught by members, but when you think of the high population densities and the realitive lack of aimed fishing pressure on them.....Why arn't there more bigger Bullies? Stunted populations like what happens so many times with Bluegill and Pike or what?  Seems to me that a 2# Bullhead should be alot more common given the lack of attention given to them and the overall abundance.

Bubbajoe
Bubbajoe's picture
doc - lulz.....

doc - lulz.....

that right there is a world class troll!

Man I love spotted critters!

AvidFly
AvidFly's picture
Fort those interested, a good

Fort those interested, a good number of the rivers I stopped at this weekend had a large number of pinks in them.  Probably more fish than I've ever seen before.  Not surprising was that the majority were ignoring spinners tossed at them, though I didn't fish much and never tried any flies. 

Checked out one river after dark and the mouth was filled with fresh fish coming in, so if anyone does go up soon, the concept of tossing spoons around the mouth would not be a bad option.  It was pretty cool to see all those fish moving in, especially since it was a pretty shallow sand bar they had to make it over.