Chinook (spring) salmon
Excellent
Peak season on the coast. Work the tide changes along the points and the kelp beds with a flasher and bait, adjusting depth until you mark fish.
Lake Superior Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
Lake Superior’s Ontario shore: lake trout, salmon and the Nipigon’s brook trout in the coldest of the Great Lakes.
4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~19 °C est.
Air / High
11 °C / 11 °C
Wind
SE 16 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Superior sits in the warm band: moving baits and fish on the edges. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 16 km/h, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 11 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Coho salmon
Excellent
The best of the coastal run: surface to twenty metres along rips and bait schools, fast troll, bright colours.
Tie on: Jig and minnow · Spinnerbait over the weeds · Bucktail fly, fast troll · Leech pattern under an indicator. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 11 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Ontario requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$12.21. Ontario fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing chinook (spring) salmon here? Check the size and bag limits with Ontario MNR before you keep anything; the Chinook (spring) salmon page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Superior today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:37), sunset (19:38), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Water Survey of Canada station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp11 °C
High / Low11 °C / 9 °C
WindSE 16 km/h, gusts 18 km/h
Pressure102.64 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset07:37 / 19:38
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Superior
The best day on Lake Superior this week looks like Saturday Sep 26, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Saturday, Sep 26 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Sep 25 — Good
Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 07:37 to 19:38
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 1%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Superior: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
The biggest Pacific salmon, called spring or king on the BC coast. Feeds along the kelp lines, points and tide rips of the BC coast before running rivers in late summer; introduced to the Great Lakes, where it runs the tributaries in fall. Retention on the BC coast changes by area and by DFO fishery notice. Peak season on the coast. Work the tide changes along the points and the kelp beds with a flasher and bait, adjusting depth until you mark fish.
Steelhead
BC: winter run December to April, summer run into fall; Great Lakes: fall and spring
Sea-run rainbow trout, the fish of the Vedder, the Skeena system and the Island rivers in winter, and of the Great Lakes tributaries in fall and spring. In BC wild steelhead are released; a steelhead conservation surcharge applies on top of the licence. Fish the riffles and the heads of runs as water drops and clears after a rise.
Lake trout
Ice season, and spring after ice-off
The big char of cold, deep lakes: Lake Simcoe, the Kootenay and Shuswap systems, the northern lakes. A winter favourite through the ice, where the season allows. Deep water over humps and drop-offs; vertical jigging where you mark fish.
Coho salmon
BC coast: July to September; rivers: October and November
Silver, aggressive and surface-oriented. Feeds hard along the BC coast through summer and runs the Fraser Valley and Island rivers in fall, the Vedder and the Stamp among them. Hatchery coho are marked by a clipped adipose fin; what may be kept depends on the water and the DFO notice. The best of the coastal run: surface to twenty metres along rips and bait schools, fast troll, bright colours.
When to come: the Lake Superior calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Chinook (spring) salmon
Steelhead
Lake trout
Coho salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Superior today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at excellent. High of 11 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Chinook (spring) salmon led the card at excellent. High of 11 °C, wind to 24 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Chinook (spring) salmon led the card at excellent. High of 11 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Outdoors Card and Ontario fishing licence, from C$12.21 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by Ontario MNR and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Ontario licence page before you keep anything.
Access
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario fishing licence are needed; the Nipigon brook trout rules and the zone limits are linked below.
About this water
Lake Superior is a lake in Ontario, Canada, covered from the Ontario reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Lake Superior: the full guide
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest and coldest of the Great Lakes, with Thunder Bay, Nipigon, Rossport, Marathon, Wawa and Sault Ste. Marie on its rugged Canadian shore. Its fishing is cold-water fishing: lake trout, salmon and rainbow trout, and the famous coaster brook trout of the Nipigon area. The coordinates on this page are out in the lake; Great Lakes levels are the Canadian Hydrographic Service’s and are not used here.
Species and seasons
Lake trout are the main fish, with chinook and coho salmon and rainbow trout, and brook trout along the north shore and in the Nipigon River; the tributaries have fall and spring runs. Ontario’s zone seasons and limits apply, with special rules for brook trout in the Nipigon area.
Where to fish it
Boats troll and jig off Thunder Bay, Rossport and the Sault, and the river mouths are fished in spring and fall; the Nipigon River and Nipigon Bay are known for their big brook trout. Thunder Bay’s harbour and the Kaministiquia River mouth are fished close to the city, and the islands and shoals of the north shore, around Rossport and the Slate Islands, hold lake trout.
Planning a visit
The north shore is remote, with long drives between towns on the Trans-Canada Highway. The lake is cold enough to be dangerous at any time of year, and storms build quickly. Pukaskwa National Park and Lake Superior Provincial Park protect long stretches of the shore, with their own rules.
The water through the year
The lake stays cold all summer; spring and fall bring fish close to shore and up the rivers; winter brings ice to the bays. Fog is common on the lake in early summer.
Reading this report here
The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, stays low all year; pressure, wind and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario fishing licence are needed; the Nipigon brook trout rules and the zone limits are linked below. Our Ontario licence page has the fees.
Common questions
What can I catch in Lake Superior?
Lake trout, salmon, rainbow trout and, along the north shore, brook trout.
What is a coaster brook trout?
A brook trout that lives in Lake Superior and runs into the rivers, famous in the Nipigon area.
Is Lake Superior cold in summer?
Yes, cold enough to be dangerous at any time of year.
Is fishing good at Lake Superior right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Fish stocking
- Ontario fish stocking report
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.