Lake Superior Outdoor Fishing Report – Oct. 30, 2024
Fishing Wisconsin
Apostle Islands
As water temperatures cool off, anglers begin to target nearshore areas for brown trout, splake and coho salmon. Most anglers target less than 40 feet of water along the mainland anywhere from Port Wing to Saxon and around any of the Apostle Islands trolling with spoons and crankbaits. As the water drops into the 30s and low 40s fish can also be caught near the surface over deeper water as well. Brown trout can range in size from 15 inches all the way up to trophy sized fish over 30 inches, splake generally range 15-20 inches, and coho salmon are generally around 12-14 inches from late fall through the winter. A few large mature cohos can sometimes still be caught near river mouths, but most mature fish have already made their way up into tributaries to spawn. Brook trout and steelhead (rainbow trout) are occasionally caught as well. The daily bag limit for trout is five total fish, including up to one brook trout with a 20-inch minimum size, up to one steelhead with a minimum of 26 inches and a 15-inch minimum size for brown trout and splake. The daily bag limit for salmon is five fish with no minimum size limit.
Chequamegon Bay
Smallmouth bass fishing in the Chequamegon Bay can be very good throughout the fall. Most smallmouth anglers primarily target rock piles and structure in 15-30 feet, as well as structure along the Ashland shoreline. Bass can be taken with a variety of baits, but jigging swimbaits and minnows or soaking sucker minnows are often productive presentations. The Chequamegon Bay is primarily utilized as a catch and release trophy fishery for smallmouth, with fish exceeding the 20-inch mark and a daily bag limit of one fish over 22 inches. Walleye fishing is also excellent in the bay throughout the fall. Anglers targeting walleye have success trolling with stickbaits and along weedlines on the Ashland shoreline and out from Second Landing in 15-30 feet. Some walleye anglers have success live bait fishing with minnows or crawlers along structures and weedbeds as well. Walleye have a daily bag limit of five fish, and a minimum size of 15 inches with only one fish over 20 inches allowed. Northern pike can also be caught throughout the bay, especially over weeds, with some trophy pike exceeding 40 inches and 20 lbs. The daily bag limit for northern pike is two fish over 26 inches. Whitefish are heavily targeted by anglers in the summer and winter, but fair numbers of 17-20 inch fish can be caught in the fall as well. Most whitefish anglers target 30-65 feet of water near the green can, lighthouse, Houghton Point and Long Island using a variety of baits including jigging spoons, jigging minnows baits and other vertical presentations. Yellow perch are also abundant in the Chequamegon Bay. Good numbers of 9-11 inch Perch can be caught fishing in and around weedbeds throughout the bay.
REMINDER - Anglers must carry a paper copy of their license/stamps while fishing on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and the Wisconsin/Michigan, Wisconsin/Minnesota and Wisconsin/Iowa boundary waters.