Chinook salmon Run in Minnesota

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, king salmon — 2 Minnesota rivers on this map carry a run of it, Lake Superior. 2 of them are inside a window as of 1 October 2026.

Where these rivers are

19 run rivers on Lake Superior — the Minnesota shore, each in the colour of its own run stage today.

Lake Superior — the Minnesota shore19 run rivers on this shore, 2 of them on this page Peak run

Drawn 1 October 2026. The ground is the subbasin mesh the app scores in, so the coastline is where the mesh stops rather than a separate shoreline; the mark at each river is its mouth, drawn for every river including the handful whose whole run corridor is under a mile and has no line to show.

Where it runs, and when

Ranked by the rivers the staging estimator models first — the sixteen systems with a USGS temperature gauge behind them — then by corridor miles. Neither is a measure of fishing, and nothing on this page ranks a fishery.

River	Lake	Window	Peak	Miles	Stage
St. Louis River	Superior	Sept–Oct	Sep	16.5	Peak run
French River	Superior	Sept–Oct	Sep	12.6	Peak run

Stage as of 1 October 2026. It moves every day and this page does not — current conditions are here.

Identification

A dark, heavy salmon with a black gum line and black spots on both lobes of the tail. The gum line is the field mark that separates it from a coho at the net.

Size

Eight to twenty pounds in the run, and the occasional thirty.

Behaviour in the river

Kings hold off the mouth until the river cools into the 60s F and then move on a rise. They stop feeding as they ripen, so a take is territorial rather than hungry.

Tackle and tactics

Spinning: a medium-heavy 8'6"–9' rod, 15–20 lb line, heavy spoons and crankbaits off the pier, skein or spawn under a float in the river.
Fly: a 8–9 weight with sink tip, egg patterns and heavy leeches, 12–15 lb tippet. A king in a fast river is a tackle problem before it is a fishing one.

Regulations

Great Lakes tributary rules are not the inland trout rules, and they differ by river and often by reach. Minnesota's regulation summary is here; the state's own guide is the regulation.

The rest of the run

Open the lake-run map →Every run river, with where the fish are holding today.Or get BirdTrout on the App Store