"The fishing's been slow so far this year on both Lake Superior and the St. Louis River. It's worse than last year. Temperatures are about the same, but the conditions are very different. Right now Lake Superior is up 13 inches from where it was last year. It's forecast to come up another 6 inches by next month. That's a lot of water! So the waters are a lot higher and a lot faster than last year, but it's definitely going to get better soon. It already got better on Sunday. We had a tournament up here with the walleye club last weekend. We caught 73 fish on Saturday and 91 on Sunday. This Memorial Day weekend could be good, as water temperatures continue to rise."

Charlie Nelson, owner of Duluth-based Nelson's Guide and Charter Service on the St. Louis River (www.stlouisriverguy.com).