I see that the water temps out of Eagle Harbor are at that magical 55 degrees with colder water futher out. The thermo is forming up nicely and will be producing fish in these next few days. Check out this link: http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/superior/s22.html You can see the lines are tightening up, so that's where you want to fish. The closer the temperature lines are, the more quickly the water changes temperature, and the more likely to find fish there.
Time has been flying by lately with no outings for me since last week. Wow, time's fun when you're having flies... or something like that.
I will sneak out there some time this week and write the results here.

Still watching the water temps on Lake Superior. There looks to be a thermocline near Manitou Island, but a few miles out. 

Fished on Bete de Gris a few nights ago, late in the evening and caught one 6 lb lake trout. The next morning, I tried to wake my kids and nephews to fish but could not interest any of them, so I went by myself. Maybe I should have took the cue from the kids, because I came back after 4 hours skunked... not even a bite. There were several boats out there, fishing at various places, but I don't know if they did any good either. 

Looking forward to fishing at the Sault in a couple weeks with a fishing guide, Travis White. We will be fishing for Atlantic Salmon, mostly. 

The next big trip will be to Manistique for the Suomi Salmon Tournament in mid-July. 

Spent the weekend at Schlatters Lake with 292 boys, 4 of which are my own and 6 nephews. There were also 109 dads, with a ratio of 2.7 boys per dad. This was a new all-time record for numbers of dads and boys, because, I'm sure, the weather forecast was so nice. 

With plenty of sun, and temps in the 60's during the days and 40's at night, we all had a good time. In years past, there were many memorable trips with rain and cold temps.

 

The fishing was not the best from our boat, but caught a few pike and some perch. Some boats did pretty good, with catches of 30 plus perch caught on one outing. The pike size and population seems to be down, so very few legal size pike were caught. They varied in size from 10 inch "hammer handles", as we call them,  to a respectable 28 inch pike. The perch were mostly small, but a few in the 12 to 14 inch range were reported, although I did not see them.

 

This is an annual fishing/camping trip that we have been doing since I was a 12 year old boy, so this was the 36th year in a row. I have made many of them, but of course not all 36. Usually, I go out on  Friday and come home on Sunday, but we went out a day earlier this time, in order to fish and relax a little more. 

Two of my boys and I fished for a little while in Lac La Belle this evening. I was trying for some of the crappies that are supposed to be spawning right now, but had no luck. The only fish we caught was a rock bass. 

Lake Superior is warming up, and soon will be creating the "scum line" and producing steelies, coho and lake trout. Average temps in the open waters is 42 degrees, with some warmer spots at 53 to 54. Give it a week or two and we may be enjoying some good fishing!

My 4 year old son, Bruce fished on Torch Lake today, because it was too windy to get on the big lake. Did not get out until afternoon, but caought a 26" pike. Suyrprisingly it was on my first cast after putting on an old rapala that looks just like a smelt. I had just tossed it out on a whim, with a cheap "kid" rod. Forgot to check the drag, but was able to adjust it during the fight and didnot loose the fish. i do not care to eat pike, but I kept it live until we got back to dock and gave it to a 13 year old boy who was fishing there. Still pretty lively and it was hard to grab him from the livewell. 

Oh, yeah, lost a fishing rod today too. My anchor let loose, we drifted into a weedbed and while i was fighting to push out with an ore, Bruceys rod snagged a weed and fell overboard. I could have retrieved it, but that would have meant I'd have to go back in the shallows and fight my way against the wind again. The cheap rod was not worth the work, we have many more like it! As they say, in fishing, yoiu have to pay your dues. Some even go as far as to say just throw some fishing tackle overboard at the start of your day and then fish... get it over with and pay your dues early, then you can start catching fish. At any rate, I don't loose any sleep over losing a little fishing gear. 

As pointed out nm my profile, one of my preferred methods of fishing is bobbing. For anyone not familair with it, bobbing is done from an anchored boat, or if there is little wind, just drifting. 

We use a 40 to 5o lb test coated steel hand line, wrapped around a wooden or plastic spool with a swivel and about 6 feet of mono filament line tied to a lead weighted jig. Hooked onto the jig, we use smelt, sucker or belly fat from lake trout. 

Usually in deep water, over 100 feet deep and jig right off of the bottom. Lakers like to hang around at the bottom most of the time. 

You have to move your hand up and down constantly in order to attract fish to it, and when there is a slight tug on the line, a quick tug of the line to set the hook and steadily pull the line in, carefully letting it fall in the bottom of the boat. 

With this method, I don't think it is possible to catch the real big lakers, as they usually will break the line, but we have caught up to 25 lbs occasionally. 

The beauty of the kind of fishing is the peaceful, quiet nature of it. No motor noise, just the lapping of water on  the sides of the boat. When the lake is flat and the sun is shining, the fish are biting, tit is one of the most enjoyable things I know. Especially when you are with a good fishing buddy or partner where conversation is light and free. 

Usually we have 3 to 4 guys in a boat, with 2-3 in the stern area and one on the bow in order to avoid tangling lines, which happens sometimes. At times the fishing is so active that we have 3 to 4 fish on at once, which gets kind of interesting if they are all getting up to the boat at the same time. Remember that we are fishing more than 100 feet deep and it takes a while to get a fish up to the boat when having that much hand line out. Many of the fish we catch do not require the net, but some do. 

With legal limits at 3 per fisherman per day, it sometimes does not take long to limit out, so we will release as many fish as we keep. 

Can't wait to get to Isle Royal this summer! Had to pass up one trip on Memorial day weekend due to my son getting married on that Saturday. I guess some things are still more important than fishing. 

Have been out 4 times this summer, if you can call it summer up here in the chilly Copper Country. 3 times in Lake Superior and once in northern MN where I caught a 35" northern. 

Fishing on Lake Su[erior is just picking up, as the water warms up. Temps are around 45 and looking to see 55 degrees for the good fishing on the thermoclines. Fished the south entry a couple weeks ago, Traverse last week and Bete Gris last Sunday, but only picked up a few fish. Will be fishing in Sault St Marie at the end of this month and the Manistique salmon tourney next month with lots of fishing in between. 

More posts to come as time permits.