This is Artificial Lure with your Lake Superior, Duluth fishing report.

We’re sliding into solid winter mode now. WDIO’s weather team is calling for cold temps locked below freezing with fresh snow in the area and northwest winds stacking a light chop along the North Shore. Skies are mostly cloudy, with a few breaks later, so it’ll feel every bit like early-ice season. Local almanac data puts sunrise right around 7:45 a.m. and sunset near 4:20 p.m., giving us a short, low-light window that usually helps the bite.

Lake Superior doesn’t have a true tide, but it does seesaw a few inches from wind-driven seiche. Today’s northwest flow is nudging water out of the Duluth-Superior harbor and pushing a little extra water into the protected pockets on the Wisconsin side. Treat it like a subtle falling-water pattern in the canal and a slight rise back in the inner slips.

According to Minnesota Outdoor News and Minnesota Sea Grant, anglers have been picking up mixed bags of **lake trout**, **coho and brown trout**, plus some **herring** and **sturgeon** in the harbor and nearshore structure as the water cooled. Shore casters working the shipping canal and bayfront piers reported a handful of bonus **walleyes** and **burbot** after dark this past week, with trout action more consistent on the outer edges when the ice and wind allow safe access.

Best bite windows have lined up early and late: first light through about 9 a.m., then again the last hour before dark into twilight. A few locals checking in at shops along London Road said the mid‑day bite is slow unless the sky goes dark with snow.

Lure and bait rundown:

- For trout and salmon from shore, small to medium **spoons** in silver, nickel‑blue, and gold‑green have been the ticket, swung slow and steady. Add a snap swivel to cut twist and let that spoon wobble.
- Jigging **Swedish Pimple–style spoons**, lighter lake trout jigs, or white tube jigs tipped with a minnow head are producing fish vertically off harbor walls and in the slips when you can get over deeper water.
- For harbor walleyes and burbot, glow **jigging raps**, rattle spoons, or a simple **glow jig and shiner** right on bottom are hard to beat.
- Live bait: local shops are pushing **fatheads and shiners** right now. A dead salted shiner on bottom after dark has been quietly putting burbot in the bucket.

Couple of hot spots to consider:

- **Canal Park and the Minnesota side piers**: classic winter casting water. Work heavy spoons and jigging baits where the shipping channel drops off. Watch your footing—icy decks and rolling surge.
- **Superior Entry and Wisconsin Point side**: when the wind lines up safely, this stretch has been giving up lake trout, coho, and the odd brown to folks working spoons and jigging lures off the deeper cuts.
- Inside the **Duluth-Superior harbor**, target deeper holes and shipping slips for walleyes and burbot after dark with glow spoons and set-lines.

Ice conditions change by the hour on Superior. WDIO and local reports are already talking early ice on smaller inland lakes, but on the big lake and harbor you still need a spud bar, picks, and a short memory for risk. Check with local bait shops before you step off shore.

That’s your Duluth and Lake Superior update from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.

This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI