2026 Lake Superior Edmund Fitzgerald Trip
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2026 6:34 pm
In consideration that 51 years ago tonight the Edmund Fitzgerald made its final voyage, I thought I'd share our trip to the wrecksite of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
This past summer in June 2026 we did a family trip and took our OUTRAGE 19 to the site of the wreck. My plan was to take our REVENGE 25 on Lake Superior for the longer run and unpredictable weather that could occur. Due to some engine problems I had before we left the house, we ended up taking the OUTRAGE 19.
Seas were nice when we left about 10 a.m.. The run was about 17 miles from Whitefish Point. To locate the wreck took us a while but we later saw it on our Garmin fish finder. To see the bottom contour coming up in 550 feet of water and finally having some confirmation that we found the wreck was exciting. I was close to giving up, and I was thinking it might be harder to find than what I had thought.
I had a hard time initially finding it as there was only a subtle contour change. When I adjusted the settings on the Garmin unit and zoomed in I could see a drastic rise in contour on the SONAR display. We spent probably close to an hour at the site trying to find the wreck, then going over it a number of times.
We saw only one boat off in the distance on our way out, which looked to be commercial fisherman dealing with a net. We played the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when at the wreck. We finished the day doing some trolling closer to land but the fish did not cooperate. On the way back the seas turned a little choppy, so I was glad we left to go out when we did
We did the trip to the wreck on a Saturday and finished off the weekend going to the Shipwreck Museum the following Sunday at Whitefish Point. The museum has a lot of history about Lake Superior; it was a nice place to visit. The Shipwreck Museum is a must see place if you want to see the shipwreck history.
We also a checked out Split Rock lighthouse later in the summer on the western side of lake Superior. It is must-see lighthouse with all its history of the lake.
Our boys talk about the Edmund Fitzgerald all the time now, and they enjoyed the trip to the wreck site along with the shipwreck history of the lake. These were good learning moments for them.
My only regret is not changing our fish finder to down-view imaging to see what the wreck may of looked like in that view. I just used traditional imaging view on the fish finder. Finding the wreck was a surreal moment and a little intimidating knowing that 29 sailors lost their life that day and we were over the massive ship in our 1973 Boston Whaler Outrage 19.
To have caught a fish or two near the wreck site would have been neat, but I opted to try closer to shore instead.
[Moderator's note: this article has been separated from an older discussion regarding visiting the wreck site of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was just in the planning stages.]
This past summer in June 2026 we did a family trip and took our OUTRAGE 19 to the site of the wreck. My plan was to take our REVENGE 25 on Lake Superior for the longer run and unpredictable weather that could occur. Due to some engine problems I had before we left the house, we ended up taking the OUTRAGE 19.
Seas were nice when we left about 10 a.m.. The run was about 17 miles from Whitefish Point. To locate the wreck took us a while but we later saw it on our Garmin fish finder. To see the bottom contour coming up in 550 feet of water and finally having some confirmation that we found the wreck was exciting. I was close to giving up, and I was thinking it might be harder to find than what I had thought.
I had a hard time initially finding it as there was only a subtle contour change. When I adjusted the settings on the Garmin unit and zoomed in I could see a drastic rise in contour on the SONAR display. We spent probably close to an hour at the site trying to find the wreck, then going over it a number of times.
We saw only one boat off in the distance on our way out, which looked to be commercial fisherman dealing with a net. We played the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when at the wreck. We finished the day doing some trolling closer to land but the fish did not cooperate. On the way back the seas turned a little choppy, so I was glad we left to go out when we did
We did the trip to the wreck on a Saturday and finished off the weekend going to the Shipwreck Museum the following Sunday at Whitefish Point. The museum has a lot of history about Lake Superior; it was a nice place to visit. The Shipwreck Museum is a must see place if you want to see the shipwreck history.
We also a checked out Split Rock lighthouse later in the summer on the western side of lake Superior. It is must-see lighthouse with all its history of the lake.
Our boys talk about the Edmund Fitzgerald all the time now, and they enjoyed the trip to the wreck site along with the shipwreck history of the lake. These were good learning moments for them.
My only regret is not changing our fish finder to down-view imaging to see what the wreck may of looked like in that view. I just used traditional imaging view on the fish finder. Finding the wreck was a surreal moment and a little intimidating knowing that 29 sailors lost their life that day and we were over the massive ship in our 1973 Boston Whaler Outrage 19.
To have caught a fish or two near the wreck site would have been neat, but I opted to try closer to shore instead.
[Moderator's note: this article has been separated from an older discussion regarding visiting the wreck site of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was just in the planning stages.]