Lakers out of Two Harbors

Finally got another chance to head up to the Big Pond.
Left Big Al’s bait around 6:30am and in the water by 7, first fish on at 7:10. Nice greaser about 5 lbs. Caught 2 more before we got to Superior Shores. Got into the salmon in front of the next point north. 3 small Kings on the first run through. Got a few more but didn’t get crazy until up by the tunnel. First the rigger tripped and my Dad got a nice 12 lbs laker then the lead core went and my brother had a heck of time reeling 300+ feet with a 14 pounder bull dog’en all the way in.
The wind picked up pretty hard and we had a tough time keeping speed and the lines straight on our south bound run. Didn’t catch another fish till we got back to the Superior Shores Bay but were rewarded by 2 more nice Kings, right around 6 lbs.
Wind started switching more to the west and mellowing out so we tried jigging with out much success. There’s got to be a trick to that, so if anyone has any suggestions it’d be highly appreciated.
We ended up heading south of town and found a bunch more lakers in 70 ft right off the second big drop. We just zig-zagged over the drop and picked up and dropped the downrigger balls accordingly. They just couldn’t resist that spoon dropping right in their face.
Final count was 10 Lakers, 3 over 12 pounds, 5 kings, right around 5 pounds. Best guess is we caught over 25 lakers and had a real good time.
One more question if any one would help. Just about every boat I saw was pulling planer boards, what are they fishing for and what are they using for bait? I use 180 ft of lead core and spoons but haven’t had much success.
Thanks

Thanks for the report. I’ve never been up on the Big Pond, but I’m looking for a weekend this month to get up there for the first time. Reports like that make it hard for me to resist.

the guys with the boards in tow are looking for salmon, probably the cohos. The kings will run a bit deeper and often need the riggers to reach them.

If you make it back up this year, try trolling that lead-core with a long fluoro leader thru slicks using smaller lures. The loopers love those slicks and you do not need to be too deep to approach them.

Sounds like a great time out there. I’ll be doing my share of it the last week and a half of September.

Just wondering what size boats you guys run on the big lake. I have a ProV tiller. I kinda think its too small for the lake????

A lot of it is how comfortable you are in what you are in. I have a 14 foot flatbottom that has seen time on the lake at Two Harbors. The water was flat though. I see quite a few 14 and 16 foot fishing boats out there when the water is behaving nicely and these guys are running out a couple, three miles when needed. They don’t get too far away though since the lake can change in a heartbeat.

A friend and I have a 16 foot AlumaCraft open boat powered by a 25 Yamaha 4 stroke. It has an aluminum plank to which the rod holders [4 DriftMasters] and swivel bases for two down-riggers are attached. The plank comes off for travel, but it re-attaches in two minutes. We can fish just about anywhere unless the wind comes from the north/northeast.

I wouldn’t let boat size stand in the way of some enjoyment as long as you are comfortable in the boat you use and know it well. Common sense is a must.

You might be amazed at how much fishing you can do with a so-so craft right close to shore….within 400-500 yards. You might be equally amazed at how many decent fish you can slap in the bottom of the boat too. August and September are my favorite months up there for the simple reason that there are so many fish relating to shore line at this time.

Dipsys will do you as much good as a rigger right now. Or lead line. We are set up with riggers and use them for that reason and by adding a stacker clip we can do four rods at different depths at the same time. We generally do one at twenty feet on a long line in a stacker, one at forty, one at sixty and one at 80-90 when we are doing water over 100 feet.

I run an 18ft center console Lund but, like ct said alot of guys are in 14 and 16 footers. Biggest thing is use your head. We had 5′ waves on Sunday and I was fine but my Dad was pretty nervous. I was more concerned about not catching fish. Lol.
I think as long as the wind is anything but south or east you can catch fish, especially August and September, in just about anything short of a canoe.
ct thanks for the info; I am running about 100′ of floro, how small is small and how deep should I be running for the the loopers?

Loopers are bug feeders, but will hit a bait imitating a small minnow. Basically every looper I have taken in the boat has come off the top twenty feet of water while pulling a 3/8oz. gold/orange stripe Krok. Cohos love that spoon too.

The loopers love slicks because they can carry a ton of insects.. If I can find a long one in an area that I am snooping for lakers I will even toss out a long line with the krok on it and follow the slick.

While casting the breakwater a couple years ago when the lady bugs were so bad, I hit up a looper. When I was removing the hook the fish was making all kinds of “crunching noises” when it was handled. Turns out the thing was full of those darned bugs. That fish came from a slick that was running along side of the breakwater on a very windy day.