Fall runs soon

Who’s excited for the fall runs soon. Can’t wait to get on them pinks and so on.

Seeing you mentioned pinks… I’ve had the idea but have never really pursued. I’ve fished WI for fall steelhead but have never put in anything more than a token exploratory outing or two on the North Shore. Do they get a decent run of pinks on even years now? I have a recollection they were primarily an odd year fish in the past. I also know timing is critical for spring fishing on the North Shore. Does that hold true for fall or is there a little more wiggle room on the time window? Presumably rain & stream flows play into the equation. I did a little prep work last year and had some days lined up to try but weather threw a wrench in the works and everything was blown out.

The Splitrock River gets a run of pinks but I don’t see or hear of many that actually chase them. By the time they hit the mouth of the river their meat is already getting pretty bad from what I’ve heard. I did get an oddball pink off the breakwater in Two Harbors one early September day but did not keep it…. it looked sort of banged up so I released it. The locals identified it as a pink as I’d never seen one before.

I don’t think people fish the pinks for the table. They’re supposed to be good fighters for their size.

The Baptism, the Cross, the Cascade, the Temperance, the Gooseberry, and I’m sure other rivers all get good runs of Pink Salmon. I think the even year-odd year thing has washed out as fish have been showing up and reproducing every year.

They seem to bite better at first light than later in the day. And like most Salmon, you have to put your bait right in their face, they won’t come up very often. And finally, if there are two fish in the pool you won’t catch either of them. If there are 52 Salmon in the pool, you might catch 50 of them. They seem to get on each other’s nerves and they become aggressive.

I’ve had luck throwing small black Woolley Buggers, and better luck with egg flies.

One day on the Baptism I saw a young guy throwing Pinks into a cooler. He claimed he was cooking them on the grill and that they were pretty good. However he was a college kid at UMD, so maybe he wasn’t to particular LOL

SR

Steve Root wrote:

The Baptism, the Cross, the Cascade, the Temperance, the Gooseberry, and I’m sure other rivers all get good runs of Pink Salmon. I think the even year-odd year thing has washed out as fish have been showing up and reproducing every year.

They seem to bite better at first light than later in the day. And like most Salmon, you have to put your bait right in their face, they won’t come up very often. And finally, if there are two fish in the pool you won’t catch either of them. If there are 52 Salmon in the pool, you might catch 50 of them. They seem to get on each other’s nerves and they become aggressive.

I’ve had luck throwing small black Woolley Buggers, and better luck with egg flies.

One day on the Baptism I saw a young guy throwing Pinks into a cooler. He claimed he was cooking them on the grill and that they were pretty good. However he was a college kid at UMD, so maybe he wasn’t to particular LOL

SR

I heard they taste pretty good as long as you put them on ice right away.

I don’t think the odd years plays much affect, I have gone up for years back to back and manage to get on them. They are fun to catch and get some nice pictures. Last year was my first time eating them after hearing some folks do eat them. I would stay closer to the mouth of the lake and try to get some females that are still not so dark. Depends on how you cook it and season, they were not bad at all. All and all i wouldn’t mind trying again this year if I get some.

If I have my history correct they were inadvertently released in the Thunder Bay area. I don’t believe there was ever a plan to stock pinks in Lake Superior so I think it is all natural spread. When I’ve formulated ideas to fish them I’ve thought of trying the Grand Marais area. Some of those streams are pretty small and tend to develop gravel berms at the river mouths during low late summer flows. I remember the last time I tried I had to resort to fishing the Arrowhead Brule because water levels were too low. I was only able to catch a few tiddler SMB. I did see the Bois Brule River fishway had a count of 8 pinks in the fall of 2019. Slowly spreading to other areas.

Oldtimer years ago, 1st big rain after Labor day starts the runs.

Anyone got current updates?

thanks

Humpies!!

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