Lake Superior Outdoor Fishing Report – April 29, 2025
Fishing Wisconsin
Chequamegon Bay/Apostle Islands
Ashland: Smelt activity has been spotty. The last several nights, the successful smelters have been spending most of the night and ending up with less than a bucket of smelt. Water temperatures are at 41-42 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bayfield/Washburn/Little Sand Bay: Anglers fishing out of Bayfield, Washburn and Little Sand Bay continue to have very good success. Limits of 15-17” cohos have been common. Browns (20-22”) and splake are also being caught in limited numbers. Surface water temps in the Apostle Islands are ranging between 38-41 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cornucopia/Port Wing: Limited fishing activity in the Cornucopia/Port Wing area. Surface water temperatures are at 37-39 degrees Fahrenheit.
Saxon: Trolling out of Saxon has improved over earlier in the season. Anglers are catching mostly cohos between 15-17”, brown trout between 18-22” and a few Chinooks have also been reported. The best success has been trolling shallow running stick baits high in the water column, tight to shore. Anglers reported 40-41 degree surface water near shore.
Lake Superior Tributary Streams Extended Season
The standard trout season for all streams flowing into Lake Superior from their mouths upstream to the first impassible permanent barrier is the first Saturday in May at 5 a.m. to the last Sunday in September.
However, many streams with fish runs from Lake Superior have an extended season, from the last Saturday in March to Nov. 15. One example is the Brule River, downstream of U.S. Highway 2. Trout season on this stretch of the Brule opens on the last Saturday in March and closes on Nov. 15.
For more information on the dates of and the Lake Superior tributary streams that fall under this extended trout season, please see the county and statewide table in Chapter NR 20.20, Fishing: Inland waters; Outlying waters of the Wisconsin Administrative Code on the Revisor of Statutes Bureau website or the current Wisconsin Trout Fishing Regulations and Guide. You may download a copy of the trout regulations from our webpage.
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.