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As of 05/09/14 :  During the week, Lower Shore water temperatures were in the upper 30’s in the mornings and rose to 42 by late in the afternoons.  Thursday’s rain once again brought Lower Shore rivers up and they are now high and turbid.  Angling pressure was low to moderate during the week, partially due to strong northeast winds off the lake.  Interviewed anglers caught 10 steelhead and 3 kamloops.  Along the Middle Shore, river conditions had been improving until thunderstorms moved through, and now Middle Shore rivers are running high and dirty.  Water temperatures have reached the low 40’s in the afternoons.  Angling pressure was light and interviewed anglers landed 8 steelhead, 1 Kamloops, and 2 coho salmon.  Along the Upper Shore, rivers were running high and turbid due to snowmelt and rains, and have risen even higher with Thursday’s storms.  Water temperatures were 37-40 degrees.  Angling pressure was very light and interviewed anglers reported no fish caught.

Trap totals through 05/08 are 132 steelhead and 8 Kamloops at the Knife River, and 109 Kamloops and 6 steelhead at the French River.  As for smelt, river temperatures remain on the cool side to trigger smelt runs, and Lake Superior is still packed with ice near Duluth.  Webcam images, including current conditions at Park Point, can be found at  http://www.goduluthmn.com/duluth-web-cam.html. Refer to the “smelt on the North Shore” fact sheet on our website at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/lakesuperior/smelt.html for more information on smelt.  This was from current information from the Minnesota DNR.

My brother Ed,  fished the May 10th and 11th.  He said the rainbows were in spawning mode and saw them chasing each other in a couple of streams.  When they are in spawning mode, they just are not interested in biting.  He did manage to get a Looper each day [Kamloops rainbow] however.  He saw a few folks get some loopers as well, but things were still slow due to the higher water levels at times and the fish being in spawning mode.  The smaller rivers got beat up pretty much.  The larger rivers would be a better bet right now.  Reinhard