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Lake Superior Salmon and Steelhead Runs

37 tributaries on this map, 567.7 miles of run water, across Michigan and Minnesota and Wisconsin. 37 rivers have something inside a window as of 1 October 2026.

Colder, later, and the only shore on this map with coasters and pink salmon on it — a steelhead lake before it is a salmon lake. Thirty-seven rivers across Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin drain to Superior here, 803.3 corridor miles between them, headed by the Nemadji at 70.2 miles, the Amnicon at 42.6, the Sturgeon River in Baraga County at 41.3 and the Bois Brule at 40.4. Most of those corridors run to no published ceiling at all; where one exists it is named — Prickett on the Sturgeon, the Iron River Light and Power Company WP182 Dam, and the Lower Falls at Tahquamenon, which stops the run 16.4 miles up.

Steelhead, coho, coaster brook trout and lake-run brown trout are on all eighteen: steelhead September through May, coho and coasters September into October with a second coaster window in May and June, browns September through November. Pink salmon are recorded on eleven rivers, August into September. Lake trout appear on four, October and November, and lake sturgeon on a single river, April through June.

The run calendar across Lake Superior

One row per species, one cell per month, and the number in a cell is how many of these rivers have that species inside its window that month. Two densities rather than a gradient: the source is month-grained curated guidance and a smooth ramp would claim a precision it does not have.

Steelhead — 37 rivers
Coho salmon — 37 rivers
Coaster brook trout — 37 rivers
Lake-run brown trout — 37 rivers
Pink salmon — 30 rivers
Lake trout — 4 rivers
Lake sturgeon — 2 rivers
Chinook salmon — 2 rivers
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in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Where these rivers are

37 run rivers on 3 shores, drawn one shore at a time and each river in the colour of its own run stage today. One frame over all of them would be mostly open water, and these shores sit under 3 different rulebooks.

Lake Superior — the Minnesota shore19 run rivers on this shore, 19 inside a window today Peak run
Lake Superior — the Michigan shore11 run rivers on this shore, 11 inside a window today Peak run
Lake Superior — the Wisconsin shore7 run rivers on this shore, 7 inside a window today 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.

Every Lake Superior run river

RiverStateMilesCeilingStage today
Nemadji River WI 70.2 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Amnicon River WI 42.6 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Sturgeon River (Baraga County) MI 41.3 Prickett Peak run · Coho salmon
Bois Brule River WI 40.4 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Poplar River MN 25.7 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Big Iron River MI 24.6 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Ontonagon River MI 23.7 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Iron River (Bayfield County) WI 23.0 Iron River Light and Power Company WP182 Dam Peak run · Coho salmon
Cross River MN 22.9 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Two Hearted River MI 22.6 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Knife River MN 22.4 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Chocolay River MI 20.5 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Trap Rock River MI 19.2 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Salmon Trout River MI 18.4 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Sucker River MN 17.9 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
St. Louis River MN 16.5 Fond Du Lac Peak run · Coho salmon
Tahquamenon River MI 16.4 Tahquamenon Falls (Lower Falls) Peak run · Coho salmon
Firesteel River MI 16.4 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Sioux River WI 15.3 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Flag River WI 13.0 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
French River MN 12.6 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Flute Reed River MN 10.4 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Cranberry River WI 8.8 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Anna River MI 7.6 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Falls River MI 5.0 no barrier Peak run · Coho salmon
Stewart River MN 2.4 the barrier falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Devil Track River MN 2.3 the high falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Brule River (Minnesota) MN 1.3 Devil's Kettle Falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Baptism River MN 0.9 Cascade Falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Split Rock River MN 0.8 High Falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Gooseberry River MN 0.8 the first barrier falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Kadunce River MN 0.7 the second falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Lester River MN 0.6 the barrier falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Temperance River MN 0.2 the first barrier falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Beaver River MN 0.2 Barrier Falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Cascade River MN 0.1 the first barrier falls Peak run · Coho salmon
Manitou River MN 0.0 the falls at Lake Superior Peak run · Coho salmon

Stage as of 1 October 2026.

What runs Lake Superior

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