# St Mary's Rapids Water Level Help Needed



## Gordon Casey (Jun 13, 2017)

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CrickNotCreek said:


> Bumping this. Heading up on a N. Ontario lake trip next week and driving through the soo. Will have some time on the way up to fish for a few hours and have never fished the rapids.
> 
> Is it still going full bore? Should we consider hitting a different Canadian river mouth on our drive north? Will be driving to White River.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


 Many of nice rivers/streams flowing into Superior along the road to White River. Maybe a few rainbow around the mouths. Be surprised you may get a few coho chasing the remaining smelt. Cast rapala like body baits and shiny smelt looking twister tails. Have not made it up there yet, too many grandkid's obligations. They are young only once. The fish can wait.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

CrickNotCreek said:


> Bumping this. Heading up on a N. Ontario lake trip next week and driving through the soo. Will have some time on the way up to fish for a few hours and have never fished the rapids.
> 
> Is it still going full bore? Should we consider hitting a different Canadian river mouth on our drive north? Will be driving to White River.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


The gates are still wide open and owing to the level of Lake Superior, they will probably be so for a long, long time. FM


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## Gordon Casey (Jun 13, 2017)

Forest Meister said:


> The gates are still wide open and owing to the level of Lake Superior, they will probably be so for a long, long time. FM


It's sad but the main runs are not fishable and will be be for a long time just like Meister said. I'm saying years. The inside run will be combat fishing.


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## mfs686 (Mar 15, 2007)

Gordon Casey said:


> It's sad but the main runs are not fishable and will be be for a long time just like Meister said. I'm saying years. The inside run will be combat fishing.


Someone just posted a video (Fly Tying forum) of himself fishing on the Rapids. He is standing on the berm and it looks high and dry. He claims it is from 2019.


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## DrSpeck (Nov 12, 2015)

mfs686 said:


> Someone just posted a video (Fly Tying forum) of himself fishing on the Rapids. He is standing on the berm and it looks high and dry. He claims it is from 2019.


The gate flow is reduced in the late fall to winter settings each year even in wet years and winter fishing can then be done in the main runs. The entity that regulates the flow has a history of news releases that state the “number of gates” that are open. I’ve gone through them all during my more fishing obsessed times when I couldn’t get out. Flow equivalent to 2 or fewer gates open is ideal for the main runs. The website for the news releases is below. So maybe winter in the Soo for you? Otherwise we’ll just have to wait a few years for the cycle to turn and the summer flows to lessen. It’ll happen, just not this year. 
https://ijc.org/en/lsbc/news/releases


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

DrSpeck said:


> The gate flow is reduced in the late fall to winter settings each year even in wet years and winter fishing can then be done in the main runs. The entity that regulates the flow has a history of news releases that state the “number of gates” that are open. I’ve gone through them all during my more fishing obsessed times when I couldn’t get out. Flow equivalent to 2 or fewer gates open is ideal for the main runs. The website for the news releases is below. So maybe winter in the Soo for you? Otherwise we’ll just have to wait a few years for the cycle to turn and the summer flows to lessen. It’ll happen, just not this year.
> https://ijc.org/en/lsbc/news/releases


I agree, my boy is living up there and fishes 4-5 days a week. He has lots of buddies that also fish. He told me last week the rapids will be tough to fish this year. He was saing that they had some type of precipitation, starting last Nov just about every other day since then.


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## Gordon Casey (Jun 13, 2017)

DrSpeck said:


> The gate flow is reduced in the late fall to winter settings each year even in wet years and winter fishing can then be done in the main runs. The entity that regulates the flow has a history of news releases that state the “number of gates” that are open. I’ve gone through them all during my more fishing obsessed times when I couldn’t get out. Flow equivalent to 2 or fewer gates open is ideal for the main runs. The website for the news releases is below. So maybe winter in the Soo for you? Otherwise we’ll just have to wait a few years for the cycle to turn and the summer flows to lessen. It’ll happen, just not this year.
> https://ijc.org/en/lsbc/news/releases


Excellent web site, I did not know it existed. With this site you can settle a lot of arguments regarding how many open and how much open they are. I got it saved and I will refer to it often. All I know, is that when I visit the rapids, you have to be nuts to venture into the main runs. I see people standing on the berm, attempting to cast into the main runs. What do you do if you hook a fish?? If you fall in your fish bait!


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## DrSpeck (Nov 12, 2015)

Gordon Casey said:


> Excellent web site, I did not know it existed. With this site you can settle a lot of arguments regarding how many open and how much open they are. I got it saved and I will refer to it often. All I know, is that when I visit the rapids, you have to be nuts to venture into the main runs. I see people standing on the berm, attempting to cast into the main runs. What do you do if you hook a fish?? If you fall in your fish bait!


It is a great resource. Really gives a sense of how things stand. LSSU used to have a site that listed the gates open too, but they took it down so far as I can tell. I hate to pray for drought, but I have never fished Atlantic’s in the main channel and really hope to have the chance in the next few years. The New Fly Fisher has a great set of shows about the rapids, and there’s an old one from a few years ago that gives the sense of how the fishing can be for Atlantic salmon with lower water levels. The steelheading is super fun, even in the side channel, gin clear, you can often see nonbedding fish and everything. There are sturgeon around too that you’ll see as well, some huge, really cool.


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