Beautiful Weekend on the North Shore

Made the trek back up this time for the weekend with the whole crew. Normally when I bring the kids up for a day trip they get about 10 minutes to explore and throw rocks in the lake while unloading and loading the boat. Feeling guilty I decided we could dedicate a whole day for exploring, hiking and throwing rocks then a day for fishing.

We made a few stops heading up 61 to explore and throw rocks on Saturday. Considered hiking to Bean and Bear Lake near Silver Bay but the crowd there was insane so we kept driving. Wound up at George Crosby Manitou State Park. Hiked for the afternoon and got some nice pics at the overlook there. Kids absolutely loved it. Hiked for about 4 miles. It’s a really peaceful state park if anyone was looking for something like that. Very little traffic there.

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And for the fishing. Honestly, the report was identical to last weekend. Same spot, baits, same depth, same rig. Caught a few more this time though.

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Great info on the hike, still deciding where me and kiddos r going next weekend, and north shore keeps getting more appealing. Awesome fish and fam pics.

Colors should be about peak next weekend.

Nice work.
Do you mind sharing depth bait and rigs.

@ripjiggen

Fished over rock reefs in about 80-120’. Fish seemed to be suspended from 60-100’ down. 300’ of copper took almost all the fish on pretty much any spoon with white on it. Caught a couple on downriggers down 65’ and 85’. Speed didn’t seem to matter caught some going 2.5 and some at 1.5 when we slowed to fight a fish.

Thanks Matt.

Went for yet another return trip before the season closes because… why not?

Got on the water by about 2:30 pm on Thursday and fished right outside the harbor and an ore ship was entering the harbor so we pulled off of our spots to wait for him to pass. Tried jigging for about 45 minutes and got nothing. Tried trolling and got a small laker on 300’ of copper and a green on green spoon. Nothing in the next hour so I picked up and went to my hot spot and managed to get one more small laker on 300’ of copper. This was on and orange and white glow spoon. Tried jigging again before sunset and had only one bite.

Went out early the next morning and struggled mightily. Tried jigging just before lunch and managed 2 small Lakers. Tried trolling again and managed one more small one before days end.

The water was back up to 56 degrees and graphed fish everywhere in 75-120’. Saw another boat nearby catch two smallish Lakers jigging in a matter of 10 minutes. Seemed to be the way to go.

That’s it for me in MN waters unless the salmon or loopers show up before December 1st. May consider a quickie trip to Isle Royale if the opportunity presents itself.