# No word on the pinks?



## someone11

I have seen schools of about a dozen pinks on cam but they aren't in heavy yet. Have seen some Whiteys too.


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## jscheel

someone11 said:


> I have seen schools of about a dozen pinks on cam but they aren't in heavy yet. Have seen some Whiteys too.


I saw those Whities too, does anyone target them in that area?

Also when I was there last week, the park downstream of the powerhouse has a fence keeping people from getting to the rail that wasn't there two years ago. Does anyone know why this was installed?


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## mtrop

Just looking now 1 pink and all the rest are Atlantic
With the exception of a sucker


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## Bay BornNRaised

jscheel said:


> I saw those Whities too, does anyone target them in that area?
> 
> Also when I was there last week, the park downstream of the powerhouse has a fence keeping people from getting to the rail that wasn't there two years ago. Does anyone know why this was installed?


Yes quite a few anglers target the whities from the power house tubes. I believe the fence was put up from part of parking lot or steel seawall damage. Surprised it has not been fixed yet, bunmer. Not much public access elsewhere in the area. Will be up third weekend of September. Tic toc


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## someone11

City doesn't have money to fix the pavement that's caving in. Who knows when it will be fixed. We catch a lot of whiteys fishing for Atlantics, but don't see them caught fishing for pinks. My buddy is gonna try for them when we go up so we'll see. Seeing some small schools of pinks on cam today. They're definitely looking bigger.


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## Gordon Casey

Bay BornNRaised said:


> Yes quite a few anglers target the whities from the power house tubes. I believe the fence was put up from part of parking lot or steel seawall damage. Surprised it has not been fixed yet, bunmer. Not much public access elsewhere in the area. Will be up third weekend of September. Tic toc


Anything new to report on pink activity. my reports are not much so far.


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## Thirty pointer

Forget the pinks this year .They would already be there if this was a good year .The white fish at the wall are most abundant when the pinks are in heavy as they like the eggs .Just saying .


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## someone11

The last resort said boats are starting to get a few. Saw some good schools on cam last night but not what it should be. Either they are behind like everything else this year or they are not coming this year. Will know more later this week.


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## Thirty pointer

someone11 said:


> The last resort said boats are starting to get a few. Saw some good schools on cam last night but not what it should be. Either they are behind like everything else this year or they are not coming this year. Will know more later this week.


Agree .My last post was premature .Just checked ...seeing more pinks in the mix ...could be at least an trip worth planning .Those atlantics can be caught !


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## someone11

Ill be going up either way. We have many backup plans if the pinks dont show lol


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## SJC

I fish northern Huron quite a bit and have not caught any pinks this year. I don't know anyone who has and I haven't seen any in the cleaning station. We usually catch some every year. Two years ago you couldn't beat them off with a club. I don't think there's going to be many. Hopefully, I'm wrong.


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## itchn2fish

I am seeing more & more pinks on the LSSU fish-cam every day....


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## Bay BornNRaised

SJC said:


> I fish northern Huron quite a bit and have not caught any pinks this year. I don't know anyone who has and I haven't seen any in the cleaning station. We usually catch some every year. Two years ago you couldn't beat them off with a club. I don't think there's going to be many. Hopefully, I'm wrong.


So much for the "On- Off" "Even-Odd" year arguement lol. Before you bark back, have spent almost 16 years straight up at the Soo. So fully aware of the recent patterns and it Dont look good. Probably wrong also as some say "Think" only a few know and I am not one of them. Lmao. Good luck if you do go!


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## Gordon Casey

Have


Bay BornNRaised said:


> So much for the "On- Off" "Even-Odd" year arguement lol. Before you bark back, have spent almost 16 years straight up at the Soo. So fully aware of the recent patterns and it Dont look good. Probably wrong also as some say "Think" only a few know and I am not one of them. Lmao. Good luck if you do go!


Have you fished the Canadian side for pinks?? Fished the Canadian side exclusively every year for the last 21 years. Different fishery on the Canadian side, faster water, rapids influence, locked in cuz its a dead end road. Fish swim in a big circle and most are porpoising all the time. You cannot see or experience any of this action on the US side. The locals are just starting to see a few fish and are starting to cast. There will be a run this year, how big , who knows. Starting to plan my trips, need to catch the end of the pinks and the start of the coho run on the Superior tribs. If you think your seeing a lot of fish on the US side you need to try the Canadian side. Also, a much bigger variety of fish to catch. About 8 years back I caught pinks, coho, kings, walleye, whitefish standing in the same spot. Had a sturgeon on, but that didn't last long. Pinks have a 2 year life cycle with a lot of the 1 and 3 year fish making up the so called off year. When there was a bazzilion fish you could not tell the difference, you could catch all the fish you wanted to every year. Brian, remember the anorexic pinks a few years back. They were the result of a big class year and no food base. The Sault and St. Marys area was some of the best fishing you could find, now it's lost and probably will never be the same.


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## someone11

Those skinny fish were two years ago. The other thing that isn't helping is most of the turbines are off besides the fast water on the far end. Heard there's fish in the garden so that's a plus. All those fish you mentioned catching in Canada you can catch off the powerhouse as well.


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## Gordon Casey

someone11 said:


> Those skinny fish were two years ago. The other thing that isn't helping is most of the turbines are off besides the fast water on the far end. Heard there's fish in the garden so that's a plus. All those fish you mentioned catching in Canada you can catch off the powerhouse as well.


Just asking if you have spent anytime fishing Canadian waters??? If so, you will know there are one hell a lot of fish. If you think there are a lot of fish at the Edison(I will always call it the Edison) then you need to fish the piers in Canada. The Edison is old and not efficient and really not needed to produce energy, the Canadian power plant is on the grid and can produce most energy . Did you ever notice that about 4/5 turbines are spinning at one time for about 20 minutes and then shut off and others started. that's called exercising the system so that they are cycling properly when needed. If your familiar with the Edison are you familiar with the term "road Kill". A lot of fish congregate at the upstream mouth of the turbines, whenever the gates are opened these fish get sucked thru the turbines and get banged up going thru. The gulls go nuts, pecking out their eyes to kill and eat them. Lots of nice size whitefish and salmon banged up.


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## someone11

Never said the Edison had more fish. Just saying you can catch the same stuff there as you do in Canada.


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## Gordon Casey

someone11 said:


> Never said the Edison had more fish. Just saying you can catch the same stuff there as you do in Canada.


I agree, but when the fish counts are lower there is a better opportunity in Canadian waters. Just finished talking with my Canadian friend, he was actually fishing at the time, he said he was landing about 3 fish every 30 minutes. Silver fish, fresh run, nice size, mostly females.


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## gino

My son and I just returned, yesterday, from the Soo, MI.

We did not have a boat. I do not think the Valley Camp area will be open this year. We were up there four days and talked to plenty of people. We were told that the owner of the place is tired of the mess that has been left behind by the fisherman. He has apparently had to hire help, the last two years to clean up the mess left behind and is not going to allow access any longer.

The report is pretty slow. We found a FEW fish to play with, but the number of fish is way down from previous trips. That being said, the size of the fish is up, quite a bit from a couple of years ago. We did not catch any females, the males were all in the 19 to 22 inch range. All were in great shape. Nice and fresh still.

Mornings were definitely more productive than any other time of the day.


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## someone11

Some better reports coming in this morning. No limits but more fish being caught.


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## PunyTrout

Please do not name specific access points in your reports as per forum rules. Granted, it is a large river system. But keep specific access, holes and runs to Private Conversations. 

And stop slipping in unmentionable rivers into the dialog.


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## MapleRiverSalmon

gino said:


> My son and I just returned, yesterday, from the Soo, MI.
> 
> We did not have a boat. I do not think the Valley Camp area will be open this year. We were up there four days and talked to plenty of people. We were told that the owner of the place is tired of the mess that has been left behind by the fisherman. He has apparently had to hire help, the last two years to clean up the mess left behind and is not going to allow access any longer.
> 
> The report is pretty slow. We found a FEW fish to play with, but the number of fish is way down from previous trips. That being said, the size of the fish is up, quite a bit from a couple of years ago. We did not catch any females, the males were all in the 19 to 22 inch range. All were in great shape. Nice and fresh still.
> 
> Mornings were definitely more productive than any other time of the day.


Valley camp is closed due to the fact that they are now a federal dock and do not allow access behind there shop. Liability issues most likely. They didn’t have a problem with trash... people up there seem to have more respect than that.


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## someone11

Still pretty slow. Got up here yesterday and fished last night with no fish caught. This morning got 4 pinks and lost one at the back of the boat. My buddy got a small atlantic and two ******'s on the flies under a bobber. Did see some big schools but they didn't want to touch anything.


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## Gordon Casey

someone11 said:


> Still pretty slow. Got up here yesterday and fished last night with no fish caught. This morning got 4 pinks and lost one at the back of the boat. My buddy got a small atlantic and two ******'s on the flies under a bobber. Did see some big schools but they didn't want to touch anything.


A good amount of pinks are now showing up on the camera. My Canadian buds are saying some good size schools are moving in and out of the Canadian power plant discharge. Next week is the week for action.


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## Gordon Casey

Gordon Casey said:


> A good amount of pinks are now showing up on the camera. My Canadian buds are saying some good size schools are moving in and out of the Canadian power plant discharge. Next week is the week for action.


The pinks are in--big time. Look at the LSSU cam at least 35 fish in the view now. about 50% pinks. Just got off the phone with my Canadian bud, for a while he was getting a strike about every 10 casts. Mostly males now, good size, look fresh now maybe not so fresh a week from now.


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## someone11

Only 3 this morning, still slow on the powerhouse but the Atlantic's and ******'s are still keeping us enough busy.


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## someone11

Evenings have been terrible for some reason for pinks


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## someone11

We ended our trip with 12 pinks, 4 whitefish, 3 Atlantics, and a walleye. The whitefish and Atlantic bite made up for the lack of pinks. If the pinks aren't in with the cold front coming they aren't coming at all. Did get word that there was a big push of pinks in an unmentionable river east of st Ignace. So that's a good sign. At least the pinks were bigger this year. I ended up saving a nice male for the wall. No trophy by any means but it was a good one and it's more for the memories.


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## MapleRiverSalmon

Kicked myself in the rear for not mounting a 23” male last fall! Good choice on mounting it.


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## someone11

The one I saved was about 22" but it had a real nice hump. Need to go to Alaska to get a true pink trophy lol


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## Gordon Casey

someone11 said:


> Only 3 this morning, still slow on the powerhouse but the Atlantic's and ******'s are still keeping us enough busy.


Been fishing the St. Marys the last few days. Fished the Canadian shore exclusively, limited out both days. Nice fresh fish, pink meat. The pinks this year are huge, been fishing pinks for the last 20 years and this years class of fish were the largest by far. Seen fewer numbers of fish but were kept busy most of the time fishing. Spent some time checking the known fishing spots on the American side. The Valley Camp and Edison piers are now off limits. Looks like the only easily accessible spot is the pier at the marina. Checked out the causeway on Sugar Island, 2 people fishing, seen 1 fish caught. This area is only going to get better, seen spawning fish and people have been catching atlantics, pinks and walleye. Basically I seen only a few people fishing. seen 3 boats hooked up on the Edison, talked with one group of 5 people and they had 1 pink and 1 atlantic fishing all morning. As I have said before and I will say again----the fishing on the Canadian side is much better for pinks, the stronger current is attracting more fish, seen a few fairly good size schools moving and when they are near the piers the fight is on. In general the fishing has been poor, sure your going to always have the fall vacationers in the area but just check with the locals to get a accurate measure of how the fishing/catching is going. My Canadian friends haven't had their boats on the lower river in a while. The salmon action is at GrosCap on Superior. Everyone is waiting for rain for the coho run on the Superior tribs.


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## mfs686

someone11 said:


> The one I saved was about 22" but it had a real nice hump. Need to go to Alaska to get a true pink trophy lol


Got that right. Went to the Alagnak river last month and landed 50 Pinks. The last day the group I was with landed 107 salmon. Insane fishing.


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## weatherby

I just got back yesterday. Was a learning experience but had a great time and learned a lot for my first time. We ended up with 1 Atlantic, 2 steelhead , 4 pinks and 3 walleye in 4 trips out. 2 of the pinks were master angler. Next time I will get a Canadian license to give us more options


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## fatbob240

Would it be worth my time to head up and fish the power plant tomorrow? I see some schools on the camera, but not a whole lot
Thanks in advance


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## fatbob240

Would it be worth my time to head up and fish the power plant tomorrow? I see some schools on the camera, but not a whole lot
Thanks in advance


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## Brandon Loew

someone11 said:


> The one I saved was about 22" but it had a real nice hump. Need to go to Alaska to get a true pink trophy lol


Anyone think they'll be good for the weekend or next weekend?

Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Gordon Casey

Brandon Loew said:


> Anyone think they'll be good for the weekend or next weekend?
> 
> Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app[/QUOTE
> There will be some fish!!! how many?? what condition??? I guarantee you will not catch a fish unless you try.


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## Brandon Loew

I guess I was looking for input lol. I was wondering if they've been getting them pretty regularly and if so what on? I've heard flies and streamers along with Johnson thin fishers and anything pink spoon wise. Just wondering what the best technique and what bait or baits are best! Also you're right if your line isn't in the water there is no chance of catching any fish lol

Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## someone11

NORMALLY this time of year they are winding down but nothing has been "normal" this year with the pinks, at least not on the MI side. We saw big schools when we were up the weekend of the 15th but they wouldnt bite like they normally do. Im sure there are still some around now but they will be getting pretty dark.


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## Brandon Loew

someone11 said:


> NORMALLY this time of year they are winding down but nothing has been "normal" this year with the pinks, at least not on the MI side. We saw big schools when we were up the weekend of the 15th but they wouldnt bite like they normally do. Im sure there are still some around now but they will be getting pretty dark.


Ok thank you for the heads up

Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Stillkickin

Thanks, I get to the Soo pretty often. Rarely have time to fish in a boat but always try to get at least some casting from shore in. 

I sure appreciate the reports all you guys have been posting. I’ll do my part and report what I see and hear. 

Need to learn more about the Canadian side if it’s better for shore bound anglers.


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## someone11

Wild Bill's is really pushing that sugar island spot and I havent figured out why. When we were up it wasnt any better than anywhere else. It does have potential though.


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## Brandon Loew

someone11 said:


> Wild Bill's is really pushing that sugar island spot and I havent figured out why. When we were up it wasnt any better than anywhere else. It does have potential though.


Besides pinks are there any Atlantic's getting caught up that way? I'm really wanting to go up for one last trip of the year with my boat before it gets winterized at the end of October. I don't want to go though if there isn't anything really worth going for. 

Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## someone11

There are Atlantics and kings by the bridge from what I hear. But I wouldn't go fishing in the Soo in October, just my opinion. Atlantics are best in July and really slow down around the time the pinks show up...usually. If I go up to the Soo in October it's to duck hunt.


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## Brandon Loew

someone11 said:


> There are Atlantics and kings by the bridge from what I hear. But I wouldn't go fishing in the Soo in October, just my opinion. Atlantics are best in July and really slow down around the time the pinks show up...usually. If I go up to the Soo in October it's to duck hunt.


Thanks! 

Sent from my SM-J700P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Zorba

The report in the Soo is this: The whole river is chocolate milk with all the wind and rain. I see more duck hunters than fisherman lately. The fishing has been off an on behind the Edison because they are working on the cannel and turn flow on and off making fishing inconsistent. With that being said, I still see fish being caught. This fall has been strange. It was hot and humid. Now cold and windy. It seems we are going from summer to winter without a fall just as we went from winter to summer without a spring. No wonder the fishing is off. The fish are there. They just not taking what your accustom to throw at them. Hope this helps you out.


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## Gordon Casey

Zorba said:


> The report in the Soo is this: The whole river is chocolate milk with all the wind and rain. I see more duck hunters than fisherman lately. The fishing has been off an on behind the Edison because they are working on the cannel and turn flow on and off making fishing inconsistent. With that being said, I still see fish being caught. This fall has been strange. It was hot and humid. Now cold and windy. It seems we are going from summer to winter. without a fall just as we went from winter to summer without a spring. No wonder the fishing is off. The fish are there. They just not taking what your accustom to throw at them. Hope this helps you out.


Are you sure that the Edison is only exercising the turbines??? They always turn turbines on and off to make sure they are always on line. The Edison does not produce a lot of energy, the Canadian power plant can produce most of the power for the joint consortium. AS far s the fishing is concerned, if you fish there daily you will sometimes catch something. The locals that really know the situation are now fishing the upper river and the superior tribs and are having good (great) luck.


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## Zorba

Gordon Casey said:


> Are you sure that the Edison is only exercising the turbines??? They always turn turbines on and off to make sure they are always on line. The Edison does not produce a lot of energy, the Canadian power plant can produce most of the power for the joint consortium. AS far s the fishing is concerned, if you fish there daily you will sometimes catch something. The locals that really know the situation are now fishing the upper river and the superior tribs and are having good (great) luck.


The water level of the entire river fluctuates as they adjust flow to accommodate the maintenance of the cannel. All I have to do is look at my dock and I can tell if the flow is on or off. I wouldn't have guessed that there was enough water flowing through the Edison to change the level of the entire river but it does.


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## open road

The International Lake Superior Board of Control determines the flow. Check out their website and be sure to read the link about "flow control structures on the St. Mary's River". 
http://ijc.org/en_/ilsbc/International_Lake_Superior_Board_of_Control


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## milanmark

open road said:


> The International Lake Superior Board of Control determines the flow. Check out their website and be sure to read the link about "flow control structures on the St. Mary's River".
> http://ijc.org/en_/ilsbc/International_Lake_Superior_Board_of_Control


Awesome read, very informative thanks for sharing!


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