2017 Lake Superior Trip

[Divemaster]

Hello, everyone. I'm planning on making a several day to week long trip up to Lake Superior next summer and I'm starting to put the plans together for it now. I've wanted to fish Superior for a few years now and if all things go as planned, I'm aiming to make the 10-12 hour trip north next June or July. Being as my home port is Erie, PA on Lake Erie, Lake Superior is simply too far away to haul my boat up, especially seeing as how I've never fished it and thus am not familiar first hand with its waters other than what I know from the Internet.

 

The number one reason I'll be making this trip is for the trophy, native strain Lake Trout that I see coming out of the lake on a regular basis. From all I've gathered, Superior looks to be the number one Laker fishery in the US, and pretty high on the worldwide list. Lake Trout are the primary target on this trip and I won't be complaining if I catch nothing but them, but I certainly wouldn't mind a Steelhead, Coho, or Pink mixed in here and there, though they are not priority fish.

 

As I said earlier, I won't be bringing my boat this far north so I plan on doing all charters up there when fishing the lake. I may also fly fish Brookie streams for a day or two, so looking for about 4-5 days of boat fishing for Lakers on the actual lake. If anyone can suggest a good charter boat and guide or two specializing in Lake Trout, I would greatly appreciate it! Not sure what town I'll be staying in yet, but I'm considering either Marquette or somewhere on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Willing to drive up to 60 minutes in the morning to whatever port the charter goes out of.

 

One last thing I should add is that I would like the Lake Trout fishing to be diverse whoever I go out with. Looking to both troll and jig for them, and possibly even cast lures or fly fish if the Lakers are shallow/suspended enough. Above all else I'm hoping to learn a new thing or two about fishing for my favorite species and the Great Lakes as a whole from whoever I fish with, and hopefully C&R some nice fish while I'm at it.

 

Thanks for the help, guys!

[jmohunts]

Not sure if you are familiar with UP Angler, site. Has a few reports, but most people up here are closed mouthed. Check out the lake Superior section. DayBreak Charters(Marquette) and trip to Standard Rock would be the place to go for a true monster. Takes a lot of petro to get there so prices are too high for me anymore. But you won't regret going. But tons of good fishing close to shore also.

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[FBD]

I remember reading an article about fishing the big reef I think out of Munising.

[Divemaster]

2 hours ago, jmohunts said:

Not sure if you are familiar with UP Angler, site. Has a few reports, but most people up here are closed mouthed. Check out the lake Superior section. DayBreak Charters(Marquette) and trip to Standard Rock would be the place to go for a true monster. Takes a lot of petro to get there so prices are too high for me anymore. But you won't regret going. But tons of good fishing close to shore also.

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Thanks for the info! I've read much about Stannard Rock, and although it's expensive I'm hoping to get out there for one of the days during my trip.

 

So far the three charters I've considered are Daybreak, Shelter Bay, and Keweenaw. The first two both seem to be pretty highly praised, but I haven't heard anything about the last one, which I think may be a newer charter.

[jmohunts]

It was in the 90's, but this was the biggest one I got out there in my 3 trips.
Guy told us to bring our own rods if we wanted, so I brought ml 6' walleye rod with 6 pound test Tilene.(back b4 all braid) One hell of a fight with that rig.

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[Divemaster]

Dang, what did that beast measure? That's exactly the kind of fish I'm looking for!

[Redotter]

You should consider the north side of Superior this is an excellent outfitter that we stay with every year.  Check out their website they have everything you want.  http://www.northsuperior.ca

 

[Daybreak]

Stannard Rock is where you want to go.  Nothing else comes close.  This was filmed there in July... 

 

Edited August 22, 2016 by Daybreak

[Divemaster]

9 minutes ago, Daybreak said:

Stannard Rock is where you want to go.  Nothing else comes close.  This was filmed there in July... 

 

I've watched that video a few times, the fishing there looks amazing! How deep of water are you targeting on the reef? I know it can be anywhere from 10-600'+ in some spots.

[Daybreak]

I always try to fish as shallow as possible as it makes releasing fish much easier.  But typically, early in the season, were from 80-180'.  Later in the year, 15-100'.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Daybreak

[Divemaster]

Just now, Daybreak said:

I always go to fish as shallow as possible as it makes releasing fish much easier.  But typically, early in the season, were from 80-180'.  Later in the year, 15-100'.

Wow, that's extremely shallow compared to what I thought. It may even be possible to catch them on weighted streamers at some point then. Are most of the fish leans and humpers, or are there some cool Siscowets mixed in there too?

[Daybreak]

If you hit the right day in July or early August when the bugs are hatching, you can definitely have success with fly gear. I've taken a number of groups out there specifically to Fly fish. It's not something that's going to work all the time, but if you hit it right it's a hell of a good time.

Most fish on top of the reef are going to be "leans/redfins/mackinaw".  But all species can be found out there.   If you spent a lot of time fishing deeper than 200 you would find a lot more Siscowet and Humpers.

Nothing more beautiful than the Redfins to me though!

 

[Divemaster]

2 minutes ago, Daybreak said:

If you hit the right day in July or early August when the bugs are hatching, you can definitely have success with fly gear. I've taken a number of groups out there specifically to Fly fish. It's not something that's going to work all the time, but if you hit it right it's a hell of a good time.

Most fish on top of the reef are going to be "leans/redfins/mackinaw".  But all species can be found out there.   If you spent a lot of time fishing deeper than 200 you would find a lot more Siscowet and Humpers.

Nothing more beautiful than the Redfins to me though!

 

That sounds like a great time! I agree with you that Redfins and leans are the most beautiful morphotype of Lakers, but being the complete fish-nerd that I am, the opportunity to catch all of these different types of Lake Trout in one place is very appealing to me. Thanks for the info, and you should be hearing from me soon about booking a charter or two.

[Daybreak]

Both is these fish were caught on a casting spoon in less than 50' of water last week.  MUCH more fun is shallow water as well, and the fish swim away in great shape. 

[Daybreak]

 Feel free to give me a call anytime. Whether you go with me or not, I'd be happy to give you some tips and info on fishing out there,  and answer any of your questions. 

[Divemaster]

Very nice! My shallowest Laker so far is about 65' but I'm hoping to change that this fall with some Cleos and meat flies.

[Divemaster]

1 minute ago, Daybreak said:

 Feel free to give me a call anytime. Whether you go with me or not, I'd be happy to give you some tips and info on fishing out there,  and answer any of your questions. 

Much appreciated!

[Billfishermc]

You mentioned speckled trout. If not far from where you are going there is a super fishery 5-10+ for them on the Nipigon River. There is several outfitters there. You can fly fish as well. Good read re June 7 2013 article.

Guided Fly Fishing - Nipigon River Adventures

nipigonriveradventures.com/guided-fly-fishing/

The Lure of Catching a Trophy Brook Trout in Nipigon | Northern ...

www.northernontario.travel/.../the-lure-of-catching-a-trophy-brook-trout-in-nipigon

1. Cached
2. Similar

Jun 7, 2013 - The Lure of Catching a Trophy Brook Trout in Nipigon —. A Gorgeous Nipigon River Brook Trout. By Gord Ellis Gord Ellis is a lifelong resident ...

 

[Nailer]

A trip with John is a must for your trip.  Please post some pictures when you return.

[Salmon Jim]

I will be up on the North Shore fishing out of Two Harbors in July this year for about a week and if it wasn't for the high school reunion I would consider stop halfway and going after some of those lakers. Go through the UP to get to hometown every time. Always wanted to take a week or two and just slowly work my way from Two Harbors to Detroit fishing along the way.

[Divemaster]

Almost have everything worked out for this trip. Have a few days of charters on Superior for native Char, two for trolling and one for Stannard Rock jigging/casting/fly fishing. Plus a charter on the St. Mary's River one day to fly fish for Lake Huron-run Atlantic Salmon, as well as an extra two days built in to explore/shore fish the area in search of native Brook Trout and wild Browns in the creeks and Splake, Steelhead, Cohos, Pinks, etc. from beaches and piers. Hopefully the weather cooperates when we go up and the lake isn't rough all week after the 12 hour drive haha.

 

I do have a question for you guys, though. We have an extra day at the end of our trip that we were originally just going to skip and go home to rest, but being the fish nut that I am we might use that extra day up there for another day of fishing instead. If we do use it to fish, we'd either do some shore fishing on the St. Mary's for more Atlantics, or potentially book a charter for a day on northern Lake Huron to experience a new lake and hopefully catch a nice mixed bag of Salmonids. Can anyone recommend any reliable charters for the northern Huron area? Alpena seems to be a pretty popular port, but I'm sure there's some other good ones too. Again, Lake Trout are the primary target, but some Browns, Steelies, and Atlantics in the mix would be fine too!

[Divemaster]

Any of you guys ever go out with (or know anyone that has) any of these charters?

 

http://www.chumbucketcharters.net

 

http://www.troutscoutcharters.com

 

http://www.bountyhunteralpena.com/index.html

 

They all seem pretty affordable for 6-7 hour trips which would be a nice end to our week before heading home the next day. I also don't know anyone personally whose fished on Lake Huron, though, so I can't say how any of these guys are.