Salmon & Trout
You can find salmon and trout all around Lake Superior. The lake trout fishing really stands out on Lake Superior, so if you’re looking to play a salmon / trout combo trip out onto the big lake, you are much more likely to have a good day fishing for lake trout than salmon from spring through fall. However, the spring and fall months do bring plenty of salmon in the shallower water along the shorelines, which makes them easier to target. The spawning rivers can be very productive in the fall for salmon and many boats will troll near the mouth of the tributaries out on Lake Superior.
Smallmouth Bass
The smallmouth bass fishing on the Great Lakes is some of the best in the country. Lake Superior is not known for its smallmouth bass like Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, however, there is some very good fishing for smallmouth bass in a few of the areas on the south shore. Chequamegon Bay offers some amazing smallmouth bass fishing for numbers of fish and big bass too. It is a world class smallmouth bass fishing destination. The Keweenaw Peninsula also offers
| Chequamegon Bay |
| Keeweenaw Peninsula |
| Sault Ste. Marie |
Walleye
Lake Superior is better for lake trout than walleye, but there are some areas that do offer some good walleye fishing with some very big fish possible. The best walleye fishing occurs near Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin in the St. Louis River and out in the mouth of Lake Superior near the river. The St. Louis River flows into Lake Superior and the walleye migrate out of Lake Superior into the river during the spring and the fall
The fishing can be flat out awesome during the spring spawn. In the fall, there will also be good numbers of fish that move into the river to feed on baitfish. Anglers do catch nice walleye along Lake Superior’s south shoreline as well, but the better fishing usually extends to The Apostle Islands and Chequamegon Bay and then it tails off drastically as you head further east and get further away from the St. Louis River.
| Chequamegon Bay |
| Cornucopia, WI |
| Duluth, MN |
| Port Wing, WI |
| Sault Ste. Marie |
| Superior, WI / Douglas County, WI |
Muskie
Lake Superior is home to some of the biggest muskie in the country, however, finding them and catching them is not easy. Many people try to chase them early in the season hoping they can find some big fish in the bays and around the river mouths. Once these fish get out in open water, it is really tough to pinpoint them. Many anglers that target them will do so by trolling. This helps them cover more water with the goal of getting a big muskie to grab one of their baits. Most of the time, anglers are going to go home without catching a muskie. It is definitely not a numbers game on Lake Superior.
| Chequamegon Bay |
| Keeweenaw Peninsula |
| Sault Ste. Marie |
Northern Pike
Northern pike thrive in the cool waters of Lake Superior, however, most anglers will not go target them as they suspend out over deeper water. It’s much easier to find and catch them in the shallower bays, rivers and river mouths that are found around the lake. There are some absolute giant northern pike that are caught in fairly shallow water around the entire lake every spring. In the summer and fall, it can be more difficult to find these big pike because many of them just roam the deeper waters offshore as they search for baitfish in cooler water temperatures.
Perch
Lake Superior is not known for its perch fishing like Lake Erie and parts of Lake Michigan, however, there are some good areas to target perch in the lake. Because of its large size, Lake Superior is prone to large waves out on the main lake, so many anglers do not even think about pursuing the schools of perch that roam the deeper waters offshore. If you’re looking for perch on Lake Superior, it will usually be in the bays that are located around the lake. On the north shore, anglers fish Thunder Bay, Black Bay, Nipigon Bay and some other bays. There are several smaller bays that dot the lakeshore on the northern side of the lake. On the southern shore, Chequamegon Bay is probably your best bet to get into some good perch fishing, but don’t rule out Keweenaw Bay and Whitefish Bay either.
| Chequamegon Bay |
| Keeweenaw Peninsula |
| Sault Ste. Marie |
| Ontario |
| Marathon, Ontario |
| Nipigon Bay |
| Sault Ste. Marie |
| Terrace Bay, Ontario |
| Thunder Bay |
| Wawa, Ontario |