Fishing Lake Superior: A Complete Guide to Stream, Shoreline, and Open-Water Angling

176 Pages·2002·9.38 MB·English

by  Shawn Perich

FISHING
LAKE SUPERIOR
A complete suide to stream,
shoreline, and open-water angling
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FISHING
LAKE SUPERIOR
A complete guide to stream,
shoreline, and open-water angling
SHAWN PERICH
Illustrations by Jeff Sonstegard
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis / London
Fish species illustrations are from Fish of Lake Superior, a publica-
tion of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program, and
are used with permission.
Canadian safety regulations are reprinted with permission from Safe
Boating Guide, a publication of the Canadian Government
Publishing Centre.
Copyright 1994 by Shawn Perich
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http: / /www.upress.umn.edu
A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from
the Library of Congress.
ISBN 0-8166-4200-1 (PB)
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and
employer.
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
To my dad, Dan Perich:
If I fish too much, it's your fault.
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Contents
Introduction ix
Acknowledgments xi
Changes In the "Big Pond" 1
The Fish of Lake Superior 5
Shore Fishing 23
Small Boat Trolling 37
Outfitting a Lake Superior Rig 45
The Temperature Game 59
Deepwater Fishing 67
Old-timers' Tricks 77
From Pike to Panfish 83
Ice Fishing 89
Marinas and Other Access Sites 95
Stream Fishing 113
The Major Tributaries 131
An Angler's Calendar 149
Resources 156
Index 157
Lake Superior
FISHING LAKE SUPERIOR ix
Introduction
I REMEMBER A SUNNY April day when my father
picked me up from kindergarten at noon. On his
way home from steelhead fishing, he'd discovered
that spawning smelt were running literally bank to
bank in Duluth's Lester River, so we went to dip-
net a pailful. At that time, the mid-sixties, vast
schools of smelt—and few other fish—swam in
western Lake Superior. I can still see the black
schools of smelt holding in the Lester's clear cur-
rents, and remember running along the bank to
scoop up extra-large smelt with my hands. Then
my father picked me up and waded out to deeper Rainbow Smelt
water, where I scooped up so many smelt I could
hardly hold the dip net. So began my Lake Supe-
rior fishing career.
Growing up in Duluth, I explored steelhead
streams, skipped school to fish for St. Louis River
walleyes, and even cast for northern pike off the
Duluth Ship Canal piers. The lake was different
then, ravaged by environmental carelessness. Sport-
fishing boats were an uncommon sight.
I remember trolling for coho salmon in the early
'70s, when they first returned to the French River, Sea lamprey control,
and later fishing for them through the ice in the coupled with
Sucker River. That year marked the beginning of stocking of lake trout
an exciting new era for Lake Superior, when sea
and Pacific Salmon,
lamprey control coupled with stocking of lake trout
created a superb
and Pacific salmon created a superb sport fishery.
sport fishery.
Unfortunately for me, I moved away from the lake
just as this new fishery blossomed, although week-
ends and vacations always brought me back. Finally,
I moved to Grand Marais, Minnesota, in 1987.
Since then I've spent a lot of time on a boat or in
waders.
I make no claims to be an expert Lake Superior
fisherman. However, I am a journalist as well as a