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The first river is Lester River, which right on the outskirts of Duluth.  Since it's fairly close it usually gets a crowd.  Naturally the further away you get the less anglers.  I would say when you start getting past Two Harbors up the shore, it thins out a bit.  The runs usually start with rivers near Duluth and work up the North Shore towards Grand Marais.  But then again it's all about timing the weather.  When the salmon were running in decent numbers you could get huge crowds, but the salmon are pretty much in the past, it's all about the steelhead.  Weekdays in the mornings were fairly quite, but you will still see other anglers out.  Most of the anglers are fishing for steelhead so they'll will be from the first impassable barrier downstream to the mouth.  On most streams the barrier is not far from the mouth, this is where you'll see most of the fisherman.  Past the barriers, the crowd thins out quite a bit, but then so do the steelhead :)

As the day goes on, the fish see alot more angler pressure, just like fishing any where.  There are days where you might hit the jackpot and catch 10 steelies in one hole, then not catch nothing for days.  Don't forget that your not just fishing with fly fisherman, but with all kinds of different techniques, so carving out a little spot to fly fish is tricky some days.  Don't get me wrong, steelies are a blast to catch, awesome fighting fish and the DNR has done a good job to keep the stock going.  It's just that you have to compete a little bit with all the other anglers trying to do the same thing.

Good luck out there.  You also have an option to hire a guide for a day, learn a few things, then take that knowledge and do it on your own.  Thats another option.