Welcome to my fishing website. This is my thirtyith year of logging my Lake Superior Fishing adventures.  I synopsize most trips, generally describing my adventures, successes and other details out on the Big Pond.  My boat is appropriately named "Cooler By The Lake". I am just a plain fisherman who loves to fish Lake Superior, mostly for Lake Trout. I do not run a charter. I try to update my reports after each trip. Thank you for following us on our Lake Superior fishing journeys. Please if you have any questions or suggestions on my reports or narratives. Compliments are also welcomed. 

Click here to see last year's log or click here choose prior year fishing reports

10 Jul 25 Weather looked so much better than the last trip, this time with calm seas and no wind. At the launch the right dock was disabled so we had to reconfigure our launch procedure. Grandson Cooper and I then headed out 6ish as we had to get in early. As soon as we set lines, lots of marks but no takers. An hour and a half passed and finally a Laker...2' from the net and away it went. Two and a half hours and a second Laker splashing right behind the boat and away it went. Mumble, mumble! We were running out of time when at 3 hrs, 15min when I mentioned pulling lines. Just then I caught a Laker and it wasn't two minutes later, Cooper had action on his rigger. Getting it up he said there're two Lakers on and I said Yeah, Yeah! But then he did have a single line double and both went into the box. That's what we refer to  as"Eleventh-hour" fish, just before quitting. It was a smooth ride back as we regaled our last minute Lakers. Whilst we were gone the right dock was fixed and operational so that made recovering easier. Great time on the water!

7 Jul 25 Today, visiting Grandson Cooper Smith and I deliberated heading out with most forecasts (we looked at several) indicating around a 5 mph wind from the NE. This ole sea dog should have known better as just about anything from the NE isn't good. So of course, we went out, with winter coats in reserve, to lumpy but tolerable seas. We then headed to one of my ole favorite spots. We set lines at 150' but steering in the slowly increasing winds and waves was difficult. After about 15 minutes the wind and waves turned us around 180°, pointing us towards home. Luckily no lines got tangled. Sea legs got a workout but we hung in there for another 45 minutes and during that time we saw no marks, had not hits, had no errors, and then decided there'd be a better time and probably a better place to fish so we headed home. I hate to consider this a weather-related skunk but I could go either way in counting or not counting it. Air temp warmed to 56° and water was 59°. Returning to the launch was a little challenging with the corner post missing, which was likely knocked out by a prior boater hard landing. Then pulling the boat out, the strap to the bow hook let go and fortunately, the safety chain caught the boat and prevented a disaster.  Next time...

3 Jul 25 I thought my guest Dan Webb and I were going to pre-celebrate the 4th with lots of Lakers, but that sure didn't happen. Dan is a super experienced fisherman and decided to give his own boat a day off and join me. Conditions could not have been better with calm seas and winds, albeit the sky was hazy/smoky. In short, we marked a bunch of fish (presumably Lake Trout) but only managed to put two in the box. Making up for that was a lot of good conversations and a few stories thrown in.

28 June 2025 It looked calm but there were 1'+ rollers as my guest Randy Johnson and I headed out to calm winds, with a little extra on the trim tabs. For some crazy reason I set my GPS to the wrong location about a mile from where I wanted to start so we moved. It was unusual there were several other boats around so we set lines to not cause any conflicts. On the 125' side of the ridge there were sever great fish marks but no takers...for an hour and a half. Then a couple of missed and finally a couple for the box. An hour later, a rigger went off and no mistaking it was a big fish. With Randy on the rod, it was slow progress but after about 15 minutes, we got the net under the 15#+ Laker. We then wrestled to get into the box. Although we planned on releasing it, the fish was wore out (perhaps Randy too) and would likely not have survived. We also got a 9# Laker previously which would have been one of out biggest this year. We ended with 4 Lakers in 3 1/2 hours to a grinning ride home. Here's Randy with two of the bigger Lakers. Click to enlarge, back to return here.

25 Jun 25    Finally an open weather window to head out. With guest Gary McDonnell we ran in beautifully calm seas, setting lines at 130'. Within 20 minutes we boxed the first Laker and thoughts the bite was on was diminished by no hits for the next 1 1/2 hours, despite some nice marks. But gradually we picked one up here and there, somewhat circling the area we caught some. We generally worked 140' - 180'. It took 4 hours but we boxed 6 nice-sized Laker, wrapping it up for a trip to port in still calm seas. Wonderful time on the water with some nice Lakers the bonus.

18 June 25    Another outstanding, calm day as Ron and I headed out. The graph lit up with fish marks, tons of marks. The downside is none of them were hungry so an hour and a half passed before our first hit. After 3 and a half hours we logged out with 3 really nice sized Lakers tgen decided we'd go another 10 minutes. Bingo, the Johnson rod produced and with all the gear up, we headed out with 4 Lakers in shy of 4 hours, longer than most trips but it was so nice...Even the ride back was wonderful.

12-14 June 2025  Well, I show the 12th as that was a bust. Despite a pretty good forecast, Ron and I got out as far as White Rocks and it found it was too choppy with a north wind. That would not have been enjoyable so we turned around and headed to port. Two days later (14th) Ron and I headed out again, this time to great conditions with calm seas and winds.  The first hour didn't produce anything, including no marks. Then action slowly picked up. We ranged from 150' to 250' and were successful at both depths. We ended with 8 nice-sized Lakers, including two on one line (single line double). The 9th one hit as we were quitting, but got off 2' out of net range. There was a little mumbling but we couldn't complain heading in to port in less than 3 hours in calm seas. BTW, the air initially was 47.5 degs and the water 49.4 degs. Funny, it doesn't seem so cold when you're catching fish.

7 Jun 25    It wasn't as smokey as the last trip but again, seas and winds were calm as Ron and I set lines at 180'. I got a little off course (first time ever 😊) and drifted into 145' where we put 5 Lakers in the box in a little over an hour. Two were on a single line double, portside. We went a little further and decided to swing back through that same productive are where we marked a whole lot of fish but no hungry ones. One more pass and we got one. We decided to fish the last 45 minutes headed to deeper water in in the direction of home port. At 250' we hit what we thought was the last one before quitting and voila, the Johnson rod connected and we wrapped it up with 8 nice-sized Lakers in a little over 3 hours. Seas remained calm the entire trip, the air 52° and surface water 50°. Great day!

4 June 2025    It was in the upper 40°s leaving home with Ron Mattson so I was wearing a winter coat from prior cold experiences on the Big Pond. Conditions were excellent, and we were surprised to see only 3 boat trailers as we launched. We took a little boat ride to a spot I haven't fished since 2023. We set line at 125' and slowly headed to deeper water. Off came the winter coat. It didn't take long for the first Laker to go in the box. Slowly, we picked up 8 Lakers, all around the same 3# size. Perfect! In the smokey air we briefly saw one distant boat and ten minutes later it was gone. So with 7 in the box, I got out my log sheet to wrap up the day and just as I commented writing in 7, we picked up our 8th Laker on the Johnson rod. Excellent day and a smooth ride back to port, we having the only trailer in the lot.

27 May 25    Another nice calm, but cool day as Ron and I set lines. Slow going says it all. We managed 3 Lakers, one 50' down, unusual for us. Not much shaking circa 150'-180' but two were over 200'. In the haze, Ron noted the circle around the sun, often an indication of rain coming but who knows. Here's a neat picture with our underutilized net in the foreground. Click to expand, back to return.

26 mAY 25    Let the wind huffing and puffing winds quit for a while. Long siege of unfishable weather but today there were calm seas as Gary McDonnell and I headed out. There was a tribal fishing tug near where we usually start and it appeared to be running east/west so we went well beyond that area. We started at 150' and produced nothing, running up to 180' for an hour. So on our worked towards deeper water. About two miles from where we saw the tribal tug, Gary spotted a net marker a couple hundred yards to Starboard. We just saw a pole, no flag and had no clue where the other end was but we kept looking. Finally, Gary boxed one and then another and then another and then another. Finally the Johnson rod produced and whilst reeling it in, Gary's rigger went off again and produced our 6th Laker. The port rigger was working great today. We thought it a good time to quit with two lines out of the water and were not too far from our starting point. It remained calm the whole time, the air temperature was 51° and water 39.9°. Wonderful day on the Big Pond!

14 May 25    Good news - it was to be even nicer today than yesterday so Ron and I headed out in calm waters and slightly overcasts skies. it was an earlier start than usual. There were no boat trailers when we arrived which puts some small doubts in our minds. Turning past the breakwater was unexpected fog, thick enough to quickly cause losing sight of boats and land. Not a problem as radar and the GPS took us where we wanted to go. One GPS wouldn't come on line but the other one did. Hitting 150' water, I put the Johnson rod out and placed it in the rod holder, back about 10' down and 10' back of the boat. I could see the lure. Then I noticed the rod bouncing and voila, a small, but keeper Coho hit the lure and into the box it went.  That was a pleasant way to start. Whilst the sun was initially radiating down through light clouds, it slowly became very cloudy and the fog, even heavier. The light jacket I wore with 81° predicted inland didn't influence the temperature on the Big Pond. I found a second jacket in the cold air, looked at the temperature and saw 46°. Huh! On to fishing, we gave it a good shot in the 150' range but then headed deeper. We finally found 3 nice-sized Lakers in 250', and missed one. After 3 1/2 hours we headed in to warmer climes.

9 May 25 Shakedown Day! Ron Mattson and I headed out some cool, calm, and sunny weather to set lines at 150', headed deeper. An hour passed and we marked one fish but had no hits. I started to mumble that this spot was good some years but some years in the Spring, we were lucky to get one or two. Then, Ron caught a nice Laker and not too long later caught a nice Laker on the Johnson at, yup, 250'. We then boxed a nice 6# Laker. We circled back betwixt the graph icons for two fish we caught. Suddenly, my rigger acted as though I was snagged and was dragging out line. But it slowly came up and viola, two really big Lakers were on. Jerking the rod to free the release, snap went the line and away the fish went...and down. Ah, but we still had the other big one on. Hand over hand we brought it about 2' from the net. One big headshake and out flew the lure and away went the second Laker. Boo Hoo! They were probably 6-8# each. Well, I missed another ome that thrummed all the way up, only to get off. Then Ron missed one for sure and probably another which we never saw. I hope this doesn't sound like whining because it's known as fishing. The good news is we had 7, maybe 8 Lakers on, the boat ran great and there were no screw-ups. Besides, 3 nice Lakers was a pretty nice treat. Let the fishing begin!