chinook luck

[Jayfishin 63]

Gonna take the kids out tomorrow evening, out of Current River launch. Any updates in the harbour and towards Welcome's?

Jay

[sinker7 114]

Nice catch Norm!

Been out twice over the last week. Both were evening trips after work. Went out this past Tuesday in the foul weather. Water temp was 42-46F...a serious drop from the last trip when it was 56-58F. Landed four salmon with a 7 and 8 pounder being the biggest plus one laker around 5lbs. The fish were scattered coming any where from 15-40 feet down.

[pastor norm 125]

Great catch! You east or west or off the harbour? I just repaired my trailer and I'm raring to try my luck again in Superior. The last batch of smoked salmon came out just right. Not much left now, after friends and family insisted on their share. AND thanks for the picture!!

[pastor norm 125]

This is my rigging... mooching and down-rigger rods spooled with 20 # green mono, a small barrel swivel, a 6 foot length of 15 # fluorocarbon leader material, a good ball-bearing swivel, pro-king, nasty boy, or shoe-horn flutter spoons, trolled 3.2 to 3.7 mph over fish or bait balls. Hottest colours have been blue and silver and pink and blue. Don't be afraid to change up but be sensible about it because you don't want too much downtime. I don't particularly like using sliders (lures attached to a few feet of leader material and clipped over the mainline to flutter down and stop in sag --- usually halfway. If there's another fisherman with me, I prefer to stack my lines with their own release clips (I know sliders DO work but it's just a BC habit because sliders are illegal there). To stack rods, make sure your deep line is set much farther behind the ball than the high line and make sure it's the inside rod when its put in its holder. Put the deep line as least 10 feet down on the cable before clipping (stacking) the next line. The higher line should be the outer rod. I can work four rods between at least one other fishermen -- two point to the side and two pointing almost directly back. I don't usually add more rods even if there's more people. Things can get snarled up with just four and when a salmon decides to put a bowtie around all your lines, you will see the point of keeping it simple. All rods should have good arc to them to ensure a good hook set. BTW... I can get you some used trolling gear ... rods and reels ... at a reasonable price. GOOD LUCK OUT THERE ... STAY SAFE... HAVE FUN

[pastor norm 125]

Don't forget to pop the highline and reel it in as soon as possible if you get a good fish on the deep line... I lift the cannonball on that side as well to avoid interference with a played fish. Just make sure to remove the stacked clip. These things are the responsibility of your partner who must also keep the boat moving and gradually turned to the lifted ball so that the fish can be landed on that side or to the back. Such a partner is essential to success and to the fun.

[Guest Crooksyredboat]

Mary island, 90 fow, just picked up a rainbow and one laker, can't find the salmon.

[walleye warrior 3]

Anybody had any luck out by the breakwall lately? Plan on heading out tonight after work from the marina or current river. Tried ltb for the past few days and had next to no luck. Thanks

[AB 98]

I fished out of Silver Harbour on Monday AM....... all the way from Mackenzie to Green point........Dead Zone. (But that can change quickly if the bait rolls in). Changed location and after several hrs of searching found the fish. Complete chaos when a pair of 5lb fish jumped on the rods and tried to undress a lone angler. That's why we fish for salmon! good luck! iceman

[Squaretail 38]

I think with the weather we have had fishing is a month early and need to try early season strategies to hook into fish. The water is so cold and not consistent the bait don't know were to go. Two weeks ago the harbour was full of bait and fishing was awesome. Just need some consistent wind and temps to make the fish come in. Recorded 44 water temp in black bay and no fish found 55 and fish were high and did really good.

[pastor norm 125]

I will be heading out from Silver Islet or Squaw Bay tomorrow...

[tequila shooter 3]

I will be out at Silver Islet tomorrow morning rain or shine! Heading towards Black Bay, since all we have caught so far have been 2-5 lb Salmon in front of the camp and back to T harbour. Looking for something bigger over the next 3 days to give my nephew some real excitement. Good Luck Norm

[Squaretail 38]

Last night Trolled around turtle head back to welcomes and one laker and one really good hit and a miss. No bait marked until the north side of inland number two. Heading to black bay on Saturday. Hopefully it's as good as last Saturday.

[walleye warrior 3]

Launched last night at the current river and trolled around the breakwall, managed to catch to salmon and 3 small lakers. Marked quite a few bait balls and caught all fish in the top 30ft of water. Was going to try and get out to the welcomes but was a little to rough out for my boat.

[tequila shooter 3]

Well I said rain or shine and there was very little shine! we got on the water around 6 30 and had a hit within 10 minutes, and had lost the fish as fast as it hit the line. We did watch it jump out of the water for the next 3 minutes trying to throw the hook that was no longer in it. The we hooked a 4 lb laker and let it go, before catching 3 more Salmon and getting caught in 2 torrential down pours. We ended our day by 11 am. adding 2 more lake trout and one fish that peeled off 800 feet of line and got our slider caught on a shoal. There was flesh on the main hook. Better luck tomorrow I hope.

[pastor norm 125]

thanks for the report tequila! My partner backed out so I didn't go. Going to the Celtic Festival for the weekend. I'll try to get out there early next week. Haggis....mmmmmm........ WW -- good to hear that there's lots of bait out there beyond the wall.

[pastor norm 125]

fished just out the break wall for a couple hours and caught one small salmon and a couple of lakers. It's my new saying now when I realize the fish I am trying to reel in is not a salmon. I say, sarcastically, "Thanks for makin'er a laker". The winds were a little nasty and it was rougher inside the harbour than outside. There were a few boats circling.

[pastor norm 125]

Kinda quiet among the salmon trollers' ranks. Any ideas on why this is so? Hoping to go to Sliver Islet later this week. Congrats to the derby winners and Bob Oja's 11+ lbs spring.

[Guest Munshaw]

Went out this morning. 5 salmon in the boat, 2 lakers. Herb crusted salmon with butter lemon dill sauce for dinner! 3 of the fish were on the cheater, 1 on a dipsy. All on spoons. Nothing on the dodger/fly, or the cut plug herring.

[Guest Crooksyredboat]

Fished blackbay during the salmon derby, picked up ten between 2 and 5 lbs, lost 5 lots of action, fished pie island and caught two lakers and one tiny salmon, definetaly a slow year around Thunder Bay, anyone have luck yet around silver harbour?

[pastor norm 125]

thanks for the reports... keep it up, folks. Going through the trouble of posting about your salmon fishing helps all of us and resembles the kind of community we want to promote. And if you are wanting a taste of salmon fishing and big water, call Archie. His charter business is advertised on this site and he's a great guy. I will tell you how I did if the weather holds tomorrow...

[whoreleur 13]

crooksy you are quite an angler, you much of a lover

[Squaretail 38]

During the derby fished all the way from porphyry lighthouse to little trout and was sporadic fishing all over. Only got skunked one trip, but not normal fishing that's for sure. Black bay and silver islet proved to produce numbers but couldn't find much over 5 pounds. And no redfins yet this year. Last year I got lots even right off the break wall. Must be the long spring throwing the fish off. Maybe August will be great fishing. I know four weeks ago the fishing was great and good size lots of 8 and 9 lbers were got even off the break wall. Last trip marked alot of bait on the hump between island number two and the breakwall and only picked the odd fish up but good to see at least there is bait in close. Anyone else notice this.

[AB 98]

I worked the water around Silver Harbor on Wednesday morning. All the way from Green Point to MacKenzie, thru all kinds of depths with poor results. Water temp was 56-58 on the surface, it finally reached 45F when you got down over 40 feet. Perfect conditions but there wasn't much for bait. Marked a few fish around Papoose and scattered here and there heading east. The only action was a couple of lakers deciding to play tug of war in the deep water off MacKenzie. My guess is the high winds and barrage of thunder storms last week really scrambled the patterns we've been successful with so far this year. Just keep plugging away and sooner or later it will heat up again. iceman

[pastor norm 125]

Was out for 5 hours today at Silver Islet and headed towards Black Bay and Cranberry Island. As soon as my 13 year old nephew and I were done setting up, a 7 + smashed into our highest line. My nephew has not hooked and landed a salmon yet but this fish did everything possible to keep the score at zero. He had a blast! We figured we were on our way to a fantastic day. However the next salmon took hours to show up. The third salmon also took two hours to hit. And the sizes got smaller too. Didn't see any bait balls or haystacks. Water temperature was 54 to 57 degrees and near Cranberry and there was silt in the water from all that run off. Blue and silver and the pink and green Williams flutter spoon dug up these three fish... all of them in the first 20 feet of water. Once again, it got lumpy out there on an east wind. Thanks for your reports, squaretail and iceman! I think your hunches are a good ones.

[Squaretail 38]

Thats good you landed a 7ber with the way the fishing been. Maybe it's a sign the bigger ones will move back into the bays. One thing I found weird this year was I did not catch one salmon on blue and silver. All the fish caught were on shoehorn rainbow pink an green, orange and silver spoons. I have a habit of old tricks and always run a blue and silver nasty boy but only lakers on them this year. I also change up lures trying to find the one they may strike on. I was talking to an older fella from the east side Of superior who said that superior is like the other great lakes in respect to bait. He said if a pod of salmon are feeding in say the south side of superior in US waters on Bait balls of pumpkin seed an the pod moves north that those fish will be more likely to hit a colorful lure. He also said weather change greatly effects where the pods travel and when. This guy has won quite a few salmon hunts from southern Ontario way but I wonder if it's true. It's makes sense to some degree. I do know that there are dace in superior of various colours also, common red but also yellow and green to.