FISH REPORTS 2008

Link to FISH REPORT 2007 FISH REPORT 2006, FISH REPORT 2005, FISH REPORTS 2004, FISH REPORTS 2003, FISH REPORTS 2002

August 21 "You can't catch yesterday's fish". The crew was Bob, Bob, Ed and Ed. An hour and a half went by until we had a hit. Then we found some trout in 90 feet. We picked up 5 in a hurry and then they quit hitting so we trolled on to another drop off and found them in 115 to 130 feet on the steep drop off. It didn't take long and we had our limit of 12 trout. The largest was about 8 pounds and the smallest was just over 20 inches. It was another fine day on Lake Superior.

August 20 More ultralight action. Uncle Bob and I took the Namaycush out to look for some trout for supper. We had to get to 105 feet before we hit trout. It took Uncle Bob a while to master the "meat line". He liked being able to feel the trout on the line. It didn't take us long and we had our six trout. They will make a good supper.

August 16 Windy, windy, windy so the bay was targeted for trout or salmon. It was fun using Gene's boat with a Hummingbird 3D side scanner sonar. It was an impressive machine. It would have been fun to try it in deeper water to see how it performed. We even trolled by the wreck of the Langham and it gave us a pretty good picture of the wreck. Fishing was a little tough but we managed to land 3 trout and 1 coho from in the bay. We would have had another trout but Mike and Gene have to go back to netting 101. Most fish came from 40 to 45 feet of water. Looks like the fish are still in the bay but not in the numbers that they were. Hope the wind dies down but it is after August 15 and it will be windy for the rest of the season.777

August 15 Fishing is still tough out there. The crew was Bruce, Emil, and Frank. The boat was the Kala Moiakka and it has been a while since it has been out. Lines were set in 90 feet and it took a while to catch the first fish. It came on the drop in 105 feet. We worked the drops and then decided to try another spot. YOU DON'T LEAVE FISH TO FIND FISH!! Needles to say our trip out to another reef was a waste of time. A lot of time was wasted while we trolled back to where we were and filled up our limit in a little while. 13 trout was our total catch with a little Poika trout released. Another unlucky day with a catch of 13.

August 13 Who says that you can't catch some fish off of a sailboat. The Dawn Treader is well equipped to catch fish. Wendel has it set up with two Cannon high speed downriggers. His son Brian was up from Iowa and needed some fresh fish to take home. We motored (6 knots) out past Wendel's "banana trout" and went out deeper for some real fishing. The fish were in small pockets and we had to work at it. We caught 13 trout mostly from 110 to 120 feet. We tried the deeper water but it did not produce so we hit the shallows again and filled our limit. Brians boy slept most of the trip but did manage to come up on deck to land a few trout. Teenagers ned there sleep I guess. It turned out to be a great day on the water and we trolled back under sail power. Boy the downriggers make a lot more noise when you don't have a motor running.

August 8 Fishing is getting tougher now. Emil and Paul were the crew as we headed out into a 1 foot sea. It didn't take long to find some trout on a drop off in 110 feet. Most trout were near the drop in 100 to 105 feet down. We ended up with our limit and had to release a couple of small trout. Fish are running a little smaller now. They seem to be about 2 1/2 to 4 pounds now.

August 4 The Prime Time hadn't been out for a while and Ed was chomping at the bit to get out. His son Scott was here and we had 8 year old Elliot and 10 year old 0livia along to catch the fish. We trolled the bay but not a hit. After we crossed the reef to deeper water fish hit in 120 feet of water. No concentration of trout was found so out to 170 feet we went. The fish were scattered and were caught from 110 feet to 170 feet. Most were right on the bottom off the bottom riggers. The kids had a ball hauling up the trout and putting them into the cooler. It will be a trip they will always remember.

August 1 Bruce came over to join Ed and me. Willy had the boat ready to roll and the cut bait was ready for the meat lines. We tried the 130 foot and it wasn't very good out there. Back into the bay to catch some "banana trout" and we found them in the 70 foot level. We caught 7 trout and 2 coho so we had a good catch in the bay.

July 31 Hurray, Hurray, Whitefish Willy arived today. He had his own boat equipped with his meat lines and no rods. His custom made downriggers and cow bells were rigged and ready to go. I called Ed and we went out to 130 feet of water and started to catch fish right away. It didn't take long and we had our limit of 9 trout and we headed in for supper. Not bad for a couple of hours fishing.

July 30 We went after Wendel's banana fish in the bay. He actually goes out fishing and has a banana on board. That could be why we catch more fish than him. We fished in the bay and caught 9 trout, 2 kings, 1 coho, and one brown. The fish were in 60 to 80 feet of water and most were in 72 feet. It looked like large bait piles there with a number of fish by them. The brown was around nine pounds and fought like a steelhead, comming out of the water a number of times before Frank could get it in for Bruce to net.

July 28 Bruce is on vacation, the weather is nice, and he want to fish. Out we go in his boat and we had Emil as a deckhand. It didn't take us to long and we had 9 trout and 1 salmon. The fish were in 126 to 155 feet of water. The king salmon was down 100 feet.

July 25-26 The walleye guys went salmon fishing in 15 foot of water just off the channel. They found them and came home with some coho's every night. Fish were caught on surface lures behind planer boards so it looks like the fish are holding in the shallows. Hope it stays cool for a couple of more weeks and we will have fun in the shallows. It looke like the "Walleye" guys need some training on fish ID. One of their coho's was a nice king. I wonder if they can tell a walleye from a sauger???

July 24 Emil and Ed joined us and we left the dock at the crack of 8:00. Instead of going South we went East. It took a while to find trout but they were there in 140 feet. Again there were a lot of suspended fish at around 100 feet. A lot of hooks show up at 30 to 60 feet but they are nothing but clusters of spiney water fleas. Our last fish was a nice lean 10 pounders that "lucky" Brent caught. Our catch for the day was 11 trout. Looks like our big school of trout is moving out.

July 23 The hockey boys are in town. Mike, Sam, Fred, and Brent are up early so we call Soulli and out we go for an evening fish. Lines were set in 130 feet of water and it wasn't long before we had a hit. We were into a bunch of nice eater trout about 20 to 25 inches long. Sam grabbed on rod that was set at 30 feet and I thought he had a net. Line just peeled off the reel and the fish crossed the boat and tripped the rigger on the far side. It kept borring for the bottom and off it came. It was a very large fish and we don't know if it was a Moby Trout or Walters grandad. Sam is still crying about it. We ended up with 14 trout and one coho. Most of them were from 135 to 155 feet of water and they were suspended from 80 feet to bottom.

July 21 It is the Wickstrom/Neimella family reunion and 26 people from Finland are over for the reunion. After a fish boil over at Neds we scheduled a trip with Soulie, Larry, George, Lee and George. Larry was deck hand and we had Lee setting lines. The first fish came after the Kala sailed over the drop from 100 to 150 feet. At 120 feet we saw a mark on the fish finder. The Kala Kala Kala fish call was made and the line tripped. It was a 3 pounder but a nice eater. For the next hour we were busy landing fish and setting lines. By 11:00 we had their limit of 15 trout and headed in to look for salmon in the bay. We caught 2 more trout and a large splake. A pink salmon came in when we pulled the lines. The boys helped to fillet the trout and they are destined for the grill and the smokehouse. Most of the trout came from the 130 to 150 foot depths. The splake was caught in 65 feet of water.

July 17 I heard that Bill was up from troll land and was having coffee next door at the Lac La Belle Lodge. That was all the excuse that I needed to round him up for a crew on the Namycush. Out we went without a single rod on board. We set up for "ultralight" fishing as Bill called it. We used 4 pound balls and ran our lures right off the wire with a 12 foot leader. You have to keep alert and have your hand on the wire to feel the hits. Then it is a slow retrieve on your manual downrigger and slowly slide the trout up to the boat and into the transom. It is more like motorized jigging and is a lot of fun because you are really into feeling the bites and don't rely on all the "trinkets" to catch the fish. Bill called it ultralight because we only had 4 pound balls and not 8 pounders. Well we caught our 6 fish in just over two hours and had to release the extra trout that hits right when you pull the lines. It was nice cuz the fish were still hanging in the 45 to 60 foot range.

July 16 How do you say "ffffffish on" when you have a mouth full of pasty? The answer is, ummmmmm, ummmmmm, whuh while gesturing wildly at the rod. Then Emil made the dash for the rod tailing bits of pasty behind him. Rowdy the hound thought that this was great as he got into the act cleaning the deck of any scraps of pasty that fell. We had a great evening with our limit of 9 trout and one trout released. The pasty was good, the company was good, the gals said the wine was good. What more could you ask for.

July 14 The wind finally stopped. Ed came over and we took the Namaycush out for a evening fishing trip. It was 6:00 when we left the dock. It didn't take long to get out to the lake as we were fishing just off the channel. Two down riggers were set and a dipsey. diver was put out. While the second dipsey. was being set there was a hit on the first dipsey. It was a king that decided to run right at the boat and tangled one of the downrigger lines. He was gone in an instant. It didn't take long and another fish hit the other dipsey. It was a nice trout. When we started to turn back a steelhead pounded the other dipsey. Then a trout on the rigger. Another rigger went off and while we were netting it the other rigger went. It had a fish on the bottom lure and one on the slider. We boated these trout and we had a limit of trout. While trolling back to the break wall a king hit a rigger. We quit at 8:00 with 6 trout, a steelhead, and a king. Not bad for 2 hours fishing in water less than 50 feet deep. I guess the wind didn't blow all our fish away.

July 8 Go early, when you want a good trip. We headed out at 8:00 instead of the 7:00 that I used to go out. Joe, Bud and I set up in 135 feet and headed for deeper water. Fish started to hit immediately and we had to start netting and resetting lines. Terrible problem to have. We got 7 fish on our first upwind run and then had to turned for our downwind run. One fish hit on the downwind run. Then they started to hit and drop the lures as we lost the next 6 fish. It was getting frustrated as there were as many as 5 fish at a time on the fishfinder. Some were stacked up from 130 to 150 feet. I had to resort to the "secret weapon" to get us to 11 fish in the box. The trout area was abandoned and we moved into the salmon water hoping to catch a king. Joe hit a 6 pound steelhead and Bud landed the largest trout of the trip. As the lines were being picked up a 6 pound bass was landed by Bud. What is a bass doing in Lake Superior? Is this a sure sign of global warming? I have never caught a bass out in the big lake. The water temperature is only 58 degrees out there now.

July 7 "The fish don't bite in the afternoon", that is what chemical Eddie told us as we were motoring down Lac La Belle with Joe and his brother Bud on board. The wind was dying down so we decided to try an afternoon trip as the weather report for tomorrow is not good. Lines were set in 130 feet and we had the first downrigger trip before the other lines were in the water. Things got better from there and we ended up with our limit of 12 trout and a couple of throwback in just over 2 hours. The fish were between 2 1/2 pounds and 6 pounds. They are full of bugs and freswater shrimp. The flesh is from pink to orange. They will make good smoked fish for Joe and his brother Bud. Most of the fish came from 145 to 155 feet. All but one came from near the bottom.

July 5 Our early start wasn't too early and we had Marge, her sister Kelley, and Kayla aboard with Austin the Birthday boy, and Justin. The girls had to primp and prime for at least an hour before they were presentable to the fish. We had the rods set and were ready to depart long before they came down the gangway. One advantage though was that they had all kinds of food and hot coffee for us. We took a slow ride out and set lines in 110 feet. No fish there so we headed deeper. A dipsey rod went first with a nice lean 4 pounder. When we hit the drop at 130 feet they were stacked up there. Two rods went and from there on I couldn't get the rods set. We caught 6 in an hour and lost two. Then we headed in to see if we could find a salmon in the bay. We had on trip from a large fish that shook himself off, must have been a very large king salmon (the big ones always get away). We picked up lines and headed in so everyone could head into Copper Harbor for some ice cream and fudge. The birthday boy had a good day hauling in some nice trout. It was steak and fish on the grill for supper.

June 30 You can't catch yesterdays fish. We started fishing the same reef that we were on three days ago. The crew consisted of Ed, Wendel, and Bruce so we had a seasoned crew. One pass over the three day GPS marks and we had three trout. Two more passes and we got one more and the reef seemed to be empty. We abandoned that plan and moved to bluer water. Nothing in the 110 stuff so we were moving out to deeper stuff. The next fish came in 130 feet. Then a triple in 150 feet with one of the hits on a dipsey. All were trout and we landed all three. Then a side rigger at 25 feet tripped and line started ripping off the reel, we lost that one without ever seeing the fish. A few more fish, a couple of tangles and we had our limit. Then we got two more while we were pulling lines and Ed had to cry as we threw them both back. The fish were full of the bugs that hatched a couple of weeks ago and must have sunk to the refrigerated bottom of the lake as they looked like they were preserved. The stomachs were just full of them. Glad to see that the trout have something to eat. Their stomachs have been pretty empty lately.

June 27 Calm and foggy today. Emil and Ed were the crew as we headed out and tried to find the channel in the fog. The radar was a big help and we found the channel entrance and made our way out into the big lake. We set up in 110 feet of water and started trolling. The first downrigger tripped in about a half and hour. It was a smaller trout but it was a "fish in the box". We hit a drop off and then we had a double. A few more circles in the area and we had our 9 trout. One more fish was caught and released as we were pulling lines. It was calm and foggy all morning and the fish were all near the bottom in 100 to 120 feet of water on the side of a steep drop off. It was a great day to be on the water.

June 23 Ed Jenison has 15 finns coming over this summer so we needed to set his boat up for fishing. Well we left the dock and got out on the lake. I set up my two lines and asked him where his rods were. "Well I got one, the other one is leaning against the wall of the sauna." He said. Where are your leaders? "I don't have any" How about stick baits? What is a stick bait. I knew we were in trouble. We set up and started trolling the shallows and it wasn't long and we had a fish on a ski line. Well we got it in about half way and it was gone. Then one on the rigger without a rod and that one just jerked itself free. Anyway, we lost the first four fish. Then we trolled for an hour or so and then went deep and then we found out that he only had 150 foot wires on his downriggers. That limited us to waters shallower than 120 feet and the last reports of deep trout were in 150 foot or deeper. We did manage to get a king and a trout in 100 feet of water so we did have a good day on the water. Ed needs some work on his fishing equipment before the relatives come over the pond. It will be fun when we get out this summer. I have always said, If you want to catch fish take a Finlander fishing with you.

June 20 What a day on the lake. Finally it was a calm day. Ed's boat the "Prime Time" was the boat of choice. In the boat was Ed, Bruce, Wendel and me. We set lines in 30 feet and headed into shore. Probably took and hour before the first ski was jerked back by a nice fish, of course we lost it. A few comments were made about Ed's equipment and then we settled down for more fishing. It wasn't long and a small splake came over the side. Then a lot fish and another small splake. We left that area looking for the mother load. We found more fish about a mile farther down the shore and a 6 pound brown was next. We ended up with 2 browns, 1 steelhead, a 13 pound lean trout, and 4 splake. Not bad for a bunch of old timers on the lake and the shakedown cruise for the Prime Time. On the way back into the break wall we watched a mature bald eagle trying to catch a seagull. He came close a number of times but the gull eventually out maneuvered him. A fine show for the end of a fine day on the lake.

June 19. Ed and I took the Namacush (red boat) out again. We fished the shallows again and found the trout in 15 feet. Some were in 6 foot of water. Our best luck was over rocks and near the drop offs. Stick baits off of ski's seemed to be producing as it was calm and sunny. Since we didn't plan the trip the day before we left the dock at the crack of 10:30 and fished till 1:00. Those fish just don't hit at noon as we quit with a triple on, one of which we landed and two were water released. Our box contained 3 splake when we returned to the dock.

June 15 Bruce's boat again and we won't give up on the shallows. Jim Nickolas, the Vet from Iron Mountain had a good evening the night before catching coho, kings, trout and splake from the shllows. We set up in 15 foot and caught the first fish as we crossed a 7 foot reef. A couple of turns later and we had 2 splake and lost three. We tried the 50 to 60 foot to see if they had moved out there but no luck. It looks like they are feeding on the small smelt along the shore and are staying shallow. The same floating stick baits are the best lures.

June 7 Calmer today as we headed out on the Roamer. Bruce is doing a checkout run on his boat as it had a bad gasket and the engine temperatures were running 180 degrees. After the hermostat repair the temperature was 160 degrees. We hit the shallows and had no hits. We then went out and ran 130 to 150 feet. The waves were running about 2 foot when we started and soon were running 3 foot or more. Waves were coming from the East, SE, and SW. After catching 3 trout we had enough and headed in. When we got back into Lac La Belle the wind really picked up and we fought white caps all the way back in. Won't the wind ever quit?

June 5. Ed and I headed out in the red boat. We fished the shallows in 10 to 15 feet of water using florescent red, chartruse, or black and silver jointed floating plugs. We run two on ski's and two on surface lines. The fish were shallow and we caught 2 and lost 4 in a couple of hours. Ed is getting a little better at getting the fish on the inside of the net and not caught on the outside of the net.

June 2. The wind layed down in the afternoon so I got amy friend Ed to help with launching the Namacush, my 16 footer. We got the boat in and decided to put in some channel markers in Lac La Belle. These markers are on the ends of the sand bars that extend out into Lac La Belle. We had fishing equipment on board so what was a fellow to do but go fishing. Then I realized that I forgot my planer boards, wallet, and fish cooler. It is fun to get old, right. Back to the dock and then back out to The Lake. Two more splake came over the back of the boat and then we hooked a large trout. we fought it right up to the back of the boat where it shook its head and broke 2 points of a trebel hook and said "good bye". Ohhh well, he will be ther next time.

June 1 Sunny and windy again. No jigging in the deep water this year. Back to the shallows with the same crew and we got three more splake and a king. Kings are running from 6 to 8 pounds this year. The water temperature is holding about 45 degrees so the fish are still hanging in the shallows. Bruce joined us and tried his fish call and it worked again. You can find his "secret" fish call on the home page of this web site.

May 31 Still windy with a strong off shore wind. We stuck to the shallows and ended up with 3 more splake. They are nice fish this year and have spread all along the shore of Keweenaw bay. Large stick baits in florescent orange or chartruse seem to be the best lures. Flutter spoons fish at 6 foot on the downriggers has also been producing some fish. It looks like the cloudy days are better in the shallows.

May 30 Wind switched to the west and blew the warm water off shore. Water temperature dropped from 50 degrees to 45 degrees. There were still some fish in the 20 to 30 foot water and we caught 2 trout, 2 splake, and 1 king in the morning and 2 splake after Whitefish Willy showed up in the afternoon. Another fun day on the big pond.

May 29 Joe, Ernie, and Dave came up to Fish Camp and we put the dock in and launched the Kala Moiakka. All the fishing equipment was loaded and we headed out to Lake Superior. As we went through the channel the waves were comming over the south wall, someone said "This is not good". The swells were about 3 footers when we rounded the pier. The slight east wind had also pushed in some warm water and there were big bug slicks on the surface so we set up and fished the bug slicks. In a little over two hours we caught 2 kings, 2 splake, and 5 lake trout. We could hardly keep the lines in the water. Large stick baits fished on the surface were the ticket.

May 12 Rowdy and I went to third lake. All we took was the fly rod this time and fished from the east end of the lake back to the boat launch. The fish were right by the boat launch, in thhe reeds, in about 12 inches of water. Fishing was good except that the dog kept stepping on my fly line as I was trying to cast. Probably caught about 20 or so but they were all put back. Need to get out for some trout or whitefish. Cabin fever is starting to set in.

May 8 I got the 12 footer ready for fishing and tried an evening fish for blue gills at our local lake. They were in about 6 inches of water right along the north shore line. I was using a bobber and wax worms and they liked it. I got enough for two good meals. They were cooked using Panko (a Japanese bread crumb) as a breading and they really turned out great.

May 2 and 3. Marge and I went up to camp and there was still snow on the ground. The neighbors had shoveled a path to the door for us and we were able to get into the camp without shoveling. We tried fishing the mouths of local rivers but they were high and cold. No suckers were in and we did not catch a whitefish or a splake. We did have one good hit on a smelt left on the bottom. It was way to cold and rainy for good fishing.