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A few steelhead being taken on North Shore

      A few steelhead and Kamloops rainbow trout are being caught in North Shore rivers, according to anglers and Minnesota DNR conservation officers I've spoken to. Not a lot of fish are being taken, but some.

      Water temperatures have to be fairly cool on these mornings, and this week's weather -- chances of rain and snow -- don't look to raise river temps a great deal. Friday looks like the next sunny, warm day.

       Fisheries officials with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources plan to begin trapping fish on the Knife and French rivers at the end of the week, said Matt Ward, fisheries specialist with the DNR. Also, spring creel census workers will begin talking to anglers on North Shore streams late this week.

      Of course, Wisconsin's Brule River opens to steelhead fishing from U.S. Highway 2 to Lake Superior on Saturday. I'll be there, talking to anglers and seeing how the action is.

      I paddled the upper Brule River on Saturday (Stone's Bridge to Winneboujou Landing). We saw several steelhead in that stretch of river, and probably would have seen more if the sun had been higher. We got a pretty early start. We saw about 15 bald eagles, a few Canada geese, several goldeneyes, mergansers and other waterfowl, even one owl that flew across the river.

Tags: daily updates, sam cook, outdoors with sam cook, north shore, outdoors, steelhead, fishing