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Steelhead in no rush to enter most North Shore rivers as cold weather continues
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Outdoor News

Steelhead in no rush to enter most North Shore rivers as cold weather continues

It’s still winter.

So goes the sentiment often expressed by many residents of the North Shore of Lake Superior as the dates on the calendar crawl closer toward May.

Along with grumblings about the weather from the general public, some anxious anglers hoping to land their first steelhead of the season are now joining the chorus of those unhappy with the cold weather, snow and lack of sun.

Steelhead are a type of large rainbow trout that spend most of their life in Lake Superior, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. They spawn in North Shore rivers or streams each spring and some make fall spawning runs as well. As many of the rivers and streams remained stacked with ice beyond the midpoint of April, most steelhead are in no rush to exit Lake Superior to enter the flowing inland waters.

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Cory Goldsworthy, the fisheries supervisor for Lake Superior for the DNR, about the 2022 spring steelhead run. Audio below.

The key in triggering the peak of the run, Goldsworthy said, will be a water temperature in the rivers near 40 degrees. When will that happen? Only time will tell. Time and progress.