Northern Trails Casting Lake Superior Shorelines: W5 By Gord Ellis
There is no lake more intimidating than Lake Superior. It is the Big Kahuna, a seemingly endless ocean of fresh water that disappears beyond the horizon. Most boat fishermen find Superior intimidating, so who in their right mind would try to fish it from shore? That is a reasonable question. But didn’t David take down Goliath? There is something deeply satisfying about standing on the edge of Superior, casting out as far as humanly possible and feeling a steelhead or lake trout thump your spoon. It is a feeling that never gets old. Here are the W5 of casting Lake Superior shorelines.
Why? Lake Superior is massive and daunting, but many of the fish species most desired by anglers are at least occasional shore huggers. These species include coaster brook trout, steelhead, coho and chinook salmon and brown trout. Fish that are most often found in deeper basin areas, such as whitefish and lake trout, will also make forays into shore depending on the season, water temperature and wind action. Warm water species like pike, walleye and perch can also be caught along Superior shores. Shoreline fishing can be even more productive than boat fishing in certain places and under the right conditions. Finding those conditions is the trick.
Where? You can shore fish anywhere the spirit moves you on Lake Superior. On the Canadian side, we are blessed with long stretches of shoreline that has public access. The problem is not every rocky shoreline has fish. Most of it won’t. That does not mean you can’t fluke a fish, but you need to pick spots that have the highest potential. On Lake Superior, some of the key places to look for are river mouths, points that extend into deeper water, narrows or neckdowns between shore and islands, manmade berms and piers or docks. This is a small selection of things to look for but gives you a good starting point. Some popular shore-casting spots are well known. Many more are out of the way and off the beaten path. I’d recommend looking closely at a map of Superior’s shoreline, then looking for access points to any spots that have potential. You may have to bushwhack a
Casting the cold clear water of Superior. | GORD ELLIS bit, or walk a beach, but the further you are from easy access the more likely it is you will find a jewel.
When? Shore-casting by design requires open water, but on Superior, that doesn’t rule out winter. Most of the lake doesn’t freeze, although on the Canadian side, many of the bays and inlets do. The shore bound angler’s best bets are found during the spring and fall. Spring is when steelhead will begin nosing around river mouths and in bays that are adjacent to those rivers. Steelhead are at the peak of brightness pre-spawn, but the spawned-out fish in late May and June often hit the hardest and jump the highest. Lake trout, whitefish and brook trout are also quite active along shorelines in the spring, as are warm water fish such as pike and bass. Summer is the most difficult time as water temperatures, particularly close to shore, tend to be too warm for salmonids. There are parts of the lake that simply never warm up, and here you can cast shore through the dog days. Bring a thermometer and use it. If the water temperature is less than 55 F., you have a shot at trout. Bass, pike and walleye, on the other hand, like
Author Gord Ellis with shore caught steelhead. | GORD ELLIS
NORTHERN WILDS
AUGUST 2021
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