Lake Superior temp map

Anyone use something like this?

http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/superior/s1.html

Yes, for every trip. I’ve found it to be quite accurate. The downside is cloud cover will keep you from getting reliable readings.

I had 67 degree water the whole while I was up there this last trip and can’t quite figure out where the colder temps are coming from. Even after the rough water on Weds the temp was still 67 at the surface.

I talked with a couple guys [locals up there] that took the ride to Royale and found no fish and 68 degree water. I guess the ride was nice though.

Normally, by mid-late summer up on the N. Shore you’d need a day or two of good N or NW winds for the nearshore sfc temps to drop much. With a couple days of good offshore winds, however, the warmer surface water can essentially get pushed out towards the middle of the lake, which in turn gets replaced by colder water from deeper in the water column. A nearshore 10-12 degree change over a couple of days isn’t all that unusual in that case.

Was up in Grand Marais Tues-Thurs last week with predominantly NE or W/SW winds so was essentially blowing the surface water laterally along the shore, so didn’t see any change over the 3 days (65 or so everywhere I fished).

On that same Coastwatch website somewhere is a link to animated surface current graphics. Can get an idea from those how the currents have set up and if you might expect offshore flow with the associated possibility for significant surface temp changes.

I just recently got the site’s address so I haven’t had much chance to dig around, so thanks for that heads up. There was a significant current on both Thursday and Friday….moving towards the Wisconsin shore….or at least along the breakwater.

I saw several whitefish this trip. Normally I see herring but the whitefish were there this trip. Interesting hits but hard to get a hook into. At least for me. Seemed to be plenty of trout around. I had one break-off, deep, like 75 feet. A good solid thump, a run of about twenty feet then it snapped. I couldn’t get to the drag cap fast enough. It felt decent and acted like it could have been a salmon, but who knows. Ah the mysteries that lake holds. I love fishing that puddle.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

I talked with a couple guys [locals up there] that took the ride to Royale and found no fish and 68 degree water. I guess the ride was nice though.

I was up there 2 weeks ago and found surface temps from 45 to 64. I was very surprised to still find water that cold. Did they just go out to the light house on a day trip?
As we cruised up the southern shore there were temp changes every 8 miles or so. Did 41 fish in 2 days. from flat lines to bottom riggers, they all got fish. 25% were salmon/steelies.

I just got home an hour ago from IR. We found water temps from 62-64. That’s it. It was the same everywhere, even at GP. Cooler actually in Washington harbor.

I also use this site in conjunction with the Coastwatch site. https://www.glerl.noaa.gov//res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=s&ext=swt&type=F&hr=03
If the Coastwatch map has grey on it, its extremely inaccurate. It’s only fairly accurate when it’s white.

We didn’t do all that well either. It was my first trip ever using downriggers and caught 3/4 of my fish on them. We got 3 big cohos, 1 big King, 1 smallish steelhead, and about 10-15 lakers, biggest being 33″. Marked lots of fish 55-75′.

More good sites.
Wave height:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/greatlakes/?c=map&l=ls&p=a&m=wh
http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=DLH&product=NSH&issuedby=DLH
http://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=LSZ263#.V9YYVjQ8KnN

Water temp:
https://www.glerl.noaa.gov//res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=s&ext=swt&type=N&hr=00

Both:
http://www.d.umn.edu/buoys/

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mark-bruzek wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tom Sawvell wrote:</div>
I talked with a couple guys [locals up there] that took the ride to Royale and found no fish and 68 degree water. I guess the ride was nice though.

Did they just go out to the light house on a day trip?

As I understood it they went out one morning and returned the next afternoon.

That’s one place I’d love to fish but haven’t found the nerve to cross that big water.

Its not that bad Tom, granted you want to play it safe but the best time to cross is at sun up as the winds generally pick up somewhere about 8-10am. Its about 20mi from Grand portage to Washington harbor for protection if you found you needed it. IMHO you get better options for protection while fishing by going up to Siscowet area and that is around 45 mi.

I know mark has me on his list of boat partners, unfortunately I haven’t been able to line up my schedule with his to go together. I’d say add us to the list if you want a second boat to cross with.

I’ve made that crossing around a dozen times now. Sometimes in 4-6’+ waves. I’d never recommend it in those waves but still doable if you’re calm and smart about it.

Thanks guys. That info on the island is great but I think is out for this fall. Next year though may be the one to venture over.

Wow you guys are hardcore and I commend the ride out to IR. My question is why don’t you skip the long boat ride and even longer car ride up the whole north shore and fish more from Duluth over to the apostle islands and over to Ashland which has plenty of warmer shallow water? Or does IR have that much less pressure and thus larger fish on average? Or is it just that sense of adventure?

fishhuntguy wrote:

Or does IR have that much less pressure and thus larger fish on average? Or is it just that sense of adventure?

I can’t comment on the apostles, but I will say that the pressure out on IR can’t be even close. The apostles are on my bucket list though. So is Stannard Rock.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishhuntguy wrote:</div>
Or does IR have that much less pressure and thus larger fish on average? Or is it just that sense of adventure?

I can’t comment on the apostles, but I will say that the pressure out on IR can’t be even close. The apostles are on my bucket list though. So is Stannard Rock.

To fishhuntguy, yes, yes, and yes.

Biggill – yes, the apostles need to be checked off multiple times, and yes, Stannard Rock is something else. We had a bad trip(charter related), but I would return with multiple boats in an instant. It was exceptionally cool. Go there. If you want to plan a multi-boat trip, contact me please. More is better for the 45 mile ride……

fishhuntguy wrote:

Wow you guys are hardcore and I commend the ride out to IR. My question is why don’t you skip the long boat ride and even longer car ride up the whole north shore and fish more from Duluth over to the apostle islands and over to Ashland which has plenty of warmer shallow water? Or does IR have that much less pressure and thus larger fish on average? Or is it just that sense of adventure?

I keep my boat in a slip at a marina between Duluth and 2 Harbors, I fish that water most every weekend. The trip to Ir does defiantly add the sense of adventure and I like to stack my crew in my odds if things go south, that is not a trip to take someone that can not run lines, fix things and such- atlas not for me. But the area is so beautiful and the pressure it receives is very low, we have always gotten some real dandy fish there and more salmon with them.
As for Apostles, Id like to do it someday but really feel the area is overpopulated, easy to get to so everyone and their brother goes there, Im not a fan of crowds. Add to that there are a number of off limit fishing areas, its just another thing id have to figure out.

Mark, I can’t imagine the ride across from the knife to the apostles would be all that bad. Maybe just a little bit of change in gas. It’s gotta be less than 40 miles.

I’ve always looked out across superior and wondered if it would be worth crossing. I think you can see the apostles from silver bay.

Edit:Ahh never mind. Just looked at the map. Not even close to Knife. Silver bay looks like 30-40 miles across.

Makes sense thanks guys. Mark you keep a boat on Mille Lacs then too?

fishhuntguy wrote:

Makes sense thanks guys. Mark you keep a boat on Mille Lacs then too?

Ive got a 17′ tiller in the garage at home. 2 years ago I pulled the trigger on a 27′ that I keep on Superior and trailer home for winter storage.

In the back of my mind I thought it would be fun to occasionally use the big boat on ML for trolling leadcore if I had family or friends up but with the restrictions on ML lately I never felt like trailering it home to do so.

biggill wrote:

Mark, I can’t imagine the ride across from the knife to the apostles would be all that bad. Maybe just a little bit of change in gas. It’s gotta be less than 40 miles.

I’ve always looked out across superior and wondered if it would be worth crossing. I think you can see the apostles from silver bay.

Edit:Ahh never mind. Just looked at the map. Not even close to Knife. Silver bay looks like 30-40 miles across.

The wife and I have talked about taking a weekend trip over to the Islands but have not done so yet. Just up on plane cruising at 24mph I get just shy of 2 mpg in “calmish” conditions. But yes it would be about 50mi to get there so 25/30gallons.
It would be 200mi round trip to trailer over so about half the fuel cost. Plus fuel to drive truck to KR to get boat vs. taking the car to KR. Then the hassle dealing with taking the boat top off, setting it up when you get there, then taking it down again to come home and then setting it up again when you get back the home port you realize that in the long run it just easier to burn the fuel in the boat than to deal with all the BS.
Dock fuel is always Premium and between $.50-$1 more per gallon. for me, I can think of other ways id rather spend $150-$200 than on fuel just to go to the Apostles. To each their own though.
This last season was nice at about $2.75 gal but the year prior to that was like $3.50gal. I don’t even want to think what it was around 2010 when it was 4 something at a gas station for regular.

So I guess to make a long story short, the hassle disappears when the topic of Isle Royale comes up. Thats about the best way I can sum up just how cool of a place IR is, to me.