Salmon fishing action hot in 'The Soo'
Michigan fishing map feature
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Upper Peninsula anglers who live in Sault Ste. Marie have it good. On one side they have massive Lake Superior, offering some of the best lake trout fishing in the world — literally.
On the other side is equally massive Lake Huron, offering an angling smorgasbord made up of lake trout, perch, whitefish, smallmouth, walleye and tons of salmon.
The best thing of all for anglers who live and fish in the Soo this time of year? It's not necessary to go very far to get into big salmon and lots of them.
In fact, the fish are coming to you this time of year, as the salmon pour in from Huron entering the Saint Mary's River on their fall spawning run.
Pink fishermen are casting and retrieving small spoons from the public piers and berms, and from anchored boats, while king anglers are going at it by trolling J-plugs and spoons.
Meet the river: The St. Mary's River, which separates the U.S. from Canada, is roughly 42 miles long. It's wide on the Lake Huron side, forming places like Munuscong Lake.
North of there, however, from Neebish Island on up and right through the city of Sault St. Marie and around Sugar Island (with Lake George on the eastern and northern sides of Sugar Island), the Saint Mary's isn't very wide and it's not very deep in many places.
It can be tough fishing for trollers, with a lot of unexpected shallows and dying weeds in the water. But for those who know how — and when — to fish it, the river is a top king producer.
Going pro
He chucked his factory job, moved to the Soo, opened a couple of businesses, built a house on the island, and started fishing the river hard. When he knew the river well enough, he started guiding on it.
"I just had to be on the Great Lakes," Bailey said during a recent fishing trip.
A Coast Guard-licensed skipper, Bailey charters from a comfortable Starcraft cabin cruiser. He guides for walleye from May to October; perch all year (he points out the perch fishing's best here in May, and again in August and September); Atlantic salmon and kings from May to October; pinks from July to October; coho in May and October; coho jacks in September; whitefish in May and June; and pike from late May to early June, and again in September and October.
But it's the king salmon that Bailey specializes in.
Up early
As with a lot of salmon runs, Saint Mary's kings are early risers. Fishing starts well before dawn for the best fishing of the day.
The traditional method to catch these fish is to get on the river right in downtown Sault St. Marie, fishing the Canadian side up by the dam and power plant.
Early in the day there's little current coming down from the dam, and the big kings are hugging the shorelines, particularly city waterfront rock and concrete walls.
The depth in this section of the river is only 20 to 28 feet deep. Fishing roughly 25 to 50 yards off the shoreline, Bailey sets out four downriggers (two rods are allowed per angler), all sporting J-Plugs of various colors.
J-Plugs are an institution on the Saint Mary's for kings, and Bailey has more boxes of them in various colors than Cabela's is likely to ever carry. He's also got a smattering of custom colors. His top-producing colors tend to be silvers and Mongoose (green/silver).
The J-Plugs are trolled about 20 pulls back behind the downriggers, with no flashers or dodgers. The downriggers are staggered from 10, to 13, to 15, to 18 or so feet.
| At a glance | |
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Fishing and Hunting News What: Late fall salmon fishing on the Saint Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie. When: October is when the season winds down, more due to weather than to lack of fish. If the weather stays decent, expect fishing to continue to be good. How: Trolling the river's hot spots with J-Plugs and Northport Nailers will attract the attention of big kings. Small spoons will hook the pinks. Where: Fishing both banks of the river right in town will work. "The Triangle" off Mission Point is another good spot. Further up the river toward Lake George west and north of Sugar Island is also good. |
A good morning
On our recent trip we were on the water as prescribed while cities on both sides of the river were still asleep. We hooked eight big kings right away, landing seven. And we saw plenty of fish rolling.
Once the sun was up and the current increased as water was let from the dam, the fishing in this section slowed considerably. We then motored over to "The Triangle," which is just offshore from Mission Point.
The Triangle is shallow in places but has the shipping lane, so there's deep water as well. It's tricky trolling because there are rocks, ship traffic and lots of floating weeds. But we scratched out a good number of kings here, again all on J-Plugs.
While plugs are definitely the lure of choice on the Saint Mary's, Bailey also mixes it up on occasion with a good variety of Northport Nailer spoons, especially those in purple tints.
He trolls with Eagle Claw 8-foot, 6-inch and Shakespeare Ugly Stik rods, and uses Daiwa Sealine 175 reels.
Weird regs
Because the Saint Mary's is a navigable border waterway, if you fish on the Canadian half of the river you must have a Canadian fishing license ($24 US for 8 days) and abide by Canadian fishing regs and laws (that means no beer possession in your boat, for example). If you're on the U.S. side, you'll need a Michigan fishing license and you must abide by Michigan's regs and laws.
While you're on the river you're likely to see both Canadian and U.S. border patrol boats, Coast Guard boats, and fish and wildlife game officers. It's a smorgasbord of lawmen, so make sure you're legal at all times.
Planning a trip
The fishing can stay good on the Saint Mary's into November, depending of course on weather.
The Soo is a good-sized city by U.P. standards, so there's a lot of lodging and restaurant options, and lots of touristy things to see when you're not fishing.
One good spot to stay is the Lockview Motel (906-632-2491).
Material from Fishing & Hunting News
published 24 times a year.
Visit them at www.fishingandhuntingnews.com.
