B. Jarvinen

Ahh, the "flip" - I am familiar with this from fishing Lake Michigan. I am still trying to learn this on Superior, where the cold tributary water could well be warmer than the lake water. The offshore wind is tricky. Only a strong one works, for fishing success with the water temp change. A light wind merely serves to blow all the goodies (that Trout like to eat) out to deeper waters I think. And there are a lot dynamics with the plume of water from the trib involved as well. I did read a capture/survey study from Minnesota, where many of their historical Coaster-potential waters are short stream segments from the Lake to a barrier Falls. It found the Brookies only entering the stream starting in October with water temps in the low 40s F. But that wind idea is a good one, thanks. Where I am at though, an offshore wind will be a South wind - hot. Hmmm.

A Coaster is a Brook Trout that has gone out from a stream to the Great Lakes and then returns to spawn. They also do this on the Atlantic coast. I'm not looking for spots to fish - I have those figured out already. It would be nice to know runs have developed elsewhere than Nipigon, non-specifically, as has slowly become the case in Minnesota via a 20" size restriction, I believe. I'm trying to figure out tactics. I'm not really sure when Coasters are where. Specifically, when I can try beach Steelhead tactics, or try the lagoon. Some lagoons I want to try would close here on Sep. 30 and I could only fish from the beach. Maybe they are too rare to target and I should stick to stream Brookies and hope to catch a Coaster accidentally while fishing for fall Coho. I think Brookie habitat is always improving but fishing pressure on certain small streams is declining. The one I hope to find Coasters at also hosts Steelhead however. It is one of those creeks that is so small, I can't imagine actually trying to land a large lake run fish in - and thus is one to fish at the mouth only. My best Coho creek is like that. One thing I can share re: Superior Cohos is I am really looking forward to the fall of 2018, after seeing a great run here in 2015. For that matter, I am really looking forward to seeing what this fall brings.

Greetings from the south shore of Superior - Michigan. I am looking to learn about Coasters. The way I understand it, the latest theory is that simple stream population totals of Brookies creates Coasters. So if fishing for Brookies is more limited, more Brookies will exist in a stream and then more will opt out to the big Lake. Has this become true anywhere in Ontario besides the famous fishery in Nipigon? (And how has that been lately?) I believe Minnesota has had success with an improving Coaster fishery via tight limits on Brook Trout. Michigan is experimenting with the same idea on a dozen streams. I haven't been able to fish those. But I know some streams where I am at ... well, tales are told. I know the streams hold Brookies, but are hardly fished. I want to catch a Coaster, but it's a mysterious topic. When do they start "Coasting" ? I have heard July. But that creates many other questions - what time-frame are they in-shore vs. in the river vs. back out to deeper waters? I want to fish for them from the beach - is this worth pursuing? My only idea is to throw a crawler out on a rig normally used with spawn for Steelhead. And, I was thinking to try casting a little bit too. I already catch Cohos in small creek lagoons on Superior, simple enough. I would of course try the lagoon first but it wouldn't take long to discover a Coaster willing to strike. I caught four nice Brookies just a couple dozen yards up from a lagoon the last couple days, all 10"+. I kept one that started to bleed but otherwise have no plans to do so. The one I kept had a surprise - small spawn inside about the size I would have usually seen in stream Brookies at the end of the open season for them in late September. I wonder a few other things - can a Coaster come out of the same stream as Steelhead do? Does the Nipigon River have a Steelhead run? And how long do Coasters live? Do they spawn more than once? I know Brookies are technically neither a Trout nor a Salmon, which differ on that question.