Two Harbors 8/30 – 8/31

A trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior has been on my bucket list for the past couple of years. Being new to trout/salmon fishing (only been out one other day) I have been putting it off because I was intimidated by the thought of buying new gear and not having a clue where to start. This past weekend I was finally able to cross this item off the list…

This was a different trip for me as my plans are generally made a few weeks in advance, not this one! After a phone call from a good buddy at 6:00 pm Thursday we had made the decision to skip work and make the trip up Friday morning not yet knowing where we would stay or even which city/port we planned on using. After a pit stop at Marine General in Duluth we decided on Two Harbors. We pulled into Burlington Bay campground and snagged a beautiful campsite right on the lake shore.

With the help of some fellow IDOers we had an idea of where to start. We began running two dipsy divers and two leadcore rods. We quickly found out that the fish had favored the 8 color rod and the 5 color rods pulled behind boards much more than the divers and converted over to a 4 leadcore rod spread. Below are a few pictures from the weekend. Biggest fish ran 33, 34, and 35 inches… No scale and I did not get a girth measurement so I am not sure on the weights. Any guesses?

Tight Lines!

Sam

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Wow. Those are some great fish!

I’m kinda surprised all those bigger fish were so close to shore. I usually see them in numbers like that miles off shore near TH.

Great job. I bet you are officially addicted!

You picked a great way to check this particular trip off the bucket list. I would assume this won’t be your one and only cracked at it given the great fish you were able to put in the boat.

I’ve found the same thing over and over with regards to dipseys versus boards and leadcore when fishing in relatively shallow water. I run dipseys every trip and we rarely catch anything while the boards keep getting hit. I just don’t think the lakers feel comfortable hitting baits pulled right below the boat. I think the boat spooks them. Either that or I’m doing something wrong. We’re even running the same spoons on our dipseys rods that are hot behind the boards and we still don’t get bit.

When I move out to deeper water, 75 foot plus, and run the dipseys close to bottom then I’ll catch a fish or two but the catch rate is still well below what I see on the boards and leadcore. When we’re up shallow I find I might as well just put out more planer boards with lead core to get the lines away from the boat. But that’s just me. I know I have a lot to learn about dipseys…

As for the weight of those lakers know that it is hard to pin down a weight based on length because the girth can vary so much from fish to fish. Generally speaking a 33 inch fish with be 12 to 14 lbs plus or minus a couple pounds. A 36 inch fish will run 15 to 18 lbs, plus or minus a couple pounds. Regardless of the weights, you put some fantastic fish in the boat!

PS what color spoons were working best for you?

@biggill I have definitely caught the bug now. Hoping to get up there maybe one more time before the big freeze! Won’t be the same pulling in walleyes on the same leadcore rods now…

@Jamesholst the hot colors changed each day. The first morning on the water the hot color was 57 Chevy. The second morning one we nicknamed Ole Mexico took the nod. I can’t find the name of the pattern online, but it was a 1/3 red, 1/3 white, and 1/3 green.

I believe that they were all the Jim’s Flashback spoons. We had much more action on the 4 3/4″ model than the magnum 5 3/4″ size.

Nice work! Looks like a great couple of days, congrats. The way the fishing has finally started picking up I may have to drop a couple days of work and head back up again sooner, rather than later.

Nice report. I live so close but rarely ever fish the North Shore, kind of makes me want to take a trip up there. I also lack big water equipment(downriggers), which has prevented me from fishing the north shore more often. Apparently a few leadcore rods do the trick also.

Thats awesome! I finally made my first two trips to Lk Michigan this summer with some great success. Lk Superior is on my list too. My father used to make an annual trip to Isle Royal in search of lakers/salmon…especially the red fin lakers. He still wants to make a couple of more before he is too old. But that trip wont take place until next June.

Sounds like you did not have to travel that far out in order to locate them.

Great trip, and great information shared back to your fellow IDO’ers. Like you, that’s what I like about this site. Impressive to see the size of fish you caught, especially it being a first-go-round up there for you. Thanks again for sharing!

Joel

James Holst wrote:

I’ve found the same thing over and over with regards to dipseys versus boards and leadcore when fishing in relatively shallow water. I run dipseys every trip and we rarely catch anything while the boards keep getting hit. I just don’t think the lakers feel comfortable hitting baits pulled right below the boat. I think the boat spooks them. Either that or I’m doing something wrong. We’re even running the same spoons on our dipseys rods that are hot behind the boards and we still don’t get bit.

Do your dipseys still not get bit when you change the skew and send them out and down?

The only fishing I have done with dipseys was on Oahe in SD. for Chinook. Back in the day when it was good. they hardly ever get bit there either. riggers always produced better, but it was my opinion it was cuz a dipsey wouldnt get deep enough when skewed for out and down. never ran them straight behind the boat

@procor Lake Michigan is a trip on my list for this next summer! I’m hoping to add some downriggers to the collection over the winter for that trip.

@trytoofish I tried running a few dipsys in the spread set to “3” and still didn’t have much luck on them. Maybe its something to do with the leader length coming from the dipy? I am running about a 9′ leader on the dipsy rod and imagine you can run a much longer leader behind a downrigger… But thats just a guess. I think on a calm clear day getting the lines away from the boat helped (this was Saturday for us). Sunday we were greeted with some pretty good sized swells and I actually ran one lead rod right out the back without a board and it got bite more than I thought it would. Watching one of those rods double over in the rod holder is tough to beat!

Does anyone know if this bite improves as fall comes and the temps drop?

trytoofish wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>James Holst wrote:</div>
I’ve found the same thing over and over with regards to dipseys versus boards and leadcore when fishing in relatively shallow water. I run dipseys every trip and we rarely catch anything while the boards keep getting hit. I just don’t think the lakers feel comfortable hitting baits pulled right below the boat. I think the boat spooks them. Either that or I’m doing something wrong. We’re even running the same spoons on our dipseys rods that are hot behind the boards and we still don’t get bit.

Do your dipseys still not get bit when you change the skew and send them out and down?

The only fishing I have done with dipseys was on Oahe in SD. for Chinook. Back in the day when it was good. they hardly ever get bit there either. riggers always produced better, but it was my opinion it was cuz a dipsey wouldnt get deep enough when skewed for out and down. never ran them straight behind the boat

Another thing you could try would be the slide divers. These allow you use as long of a lead as you’d like so you can get the bait further back away from the boat and the diver. I usually use these when fishing shallow (50 FOW or less). I’ll set the weight so they go out away from the boat as far as possible, and use anywhere from 40 to 100 foot leads.

ssperch where did you put in what marina. I assume it was near the campground.

The landing is right in the ore harbor. Nice new one.

I’ll be up there on the breakwater wall casting during the times you mentioned in the other thread. Every morning, every afternoon.

Thanks Tom. We hope be camped in Burlington Bay It would be great to share a cocktail and fish stories some evening.