# Lake St. Claire (First-time muskie trip) ...a few questions:



## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Hey guys,
I'm excited to try musky fishing for the first time, and I'm heading up to St. Claire the second week of June. My friend seems to have a pretty good idea what's going on. He goes musky fishing all of the time at Caesar's Creek and never catches anything, so we know exactly what NOT to do 

We'll be docking around Angler's Point Marina. I don't think we are going to troll so it's all casting the grass flats around there. I'm a little worried that anything with a treble hook is going to get snagged. Do people modify a lot of their tackle for fishing grass by removing treble hooks and what not? I feel like @ $20 bucks a pop, I might end up diving in after one if it gets snagged!

I have to buy complete new gear and tackle for this trip. I'm heading out to Bass Pro and will probably pick up an Medium-Heavy UglyStik with a baitcaster that I can use for catfishing back home...as well as 5 good muskie lures.

I'm unsure what lures to buy, but I've been told to invest in a few bucktails, a jerkbait, and a surface prop. After looking online, I made a wishlist and think I will buy these following lures. What do you guys think? Is color and bait selection similar to bass fishing...overcast & windy = spinners? clear water = natural lure colors? stained water = chartruesse or firetiger? I posted on the Michigan-Sportsman forum also for some tips. (LINK)

Thanks in advance, especially to LittleGuy for getting me going!
-House


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## little guy (Apr 11, 2009)

Subsurface weeds won't be an issue until mid July. Don't change any trebles, but do make sure they are so sharp that you are scared to look at them.


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## record holder (Mar 15, 2011)

Hey Little Guy Im going up to Lake St. Clair the 15th og June On the Canada side Michal bay location have you ever fished that area ? Any tips would be great Thanks Chris


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## little guy (Apr 11, 2009)

I fish a lot over there in July after bass season opens. I would advise against fishing for them out of season or you will get busted by the MNR. Might be some walleyes around if you troll harnesses in 10-12 fow. What are you planning to target? I got into the perch one time real good on Memorial day over there in 9 fow.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Make sure that you have baits in your prop wash! Heavy duty rod holders are a must!


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

I am starting to pack up some gear for the trip 
I ended up buying a 7ft heavy action BPS pole with an Abu Garcia baitcaster. 50 pound Spiderwire braid. I ordered 2 packs of Mason leader material online, but it is only 50# and 40# mono. I think that should work. Isn't that more for the shock factor when I cast out those heavy lures and to keep the muskie's teeth off of the main line?

I have a white bucktail spinner already and bought the STORM WildEye Live Pike. I'll take your advice and buy the rest of my lures up there when I get to St. Claire. I also ordered an Olive Green Rapala X-Rap SubWalk Lure, but I'm not sure if it will show up in time. If it does, I'm going to paint black stripes on it and see if I can make it look more like a perch. Isn't that the main muskie baitfish in this lake?

What do you think about this idea:


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Never used anything but wire leaders for muskies (though I'm now carrying a fluorocarbon leader that hasn't quite inspired me to trust it yet) but my partners who use fluoro or mono NEVER use anything less than 100#.

It's for the teeth....


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

Trolling in St Clair you'll want 3-4' 80-100lb flurocarbon leaders... for casting bucktails a 2' fluro is fine, but again I would go with min 80lb.

For casting jerkbaits- its better to use a steel leader so you get more action during the 'jerk'.

Make sure you use high quality snaps! Casting heavy lures all day takes a toll on your arm but even more on your snaps... I lost a double 10 $20bucktail becouse I was using cheap snaps... that heavy bucktail broke right through the thin wire.

Warehouse- another good resource for you would be: Muskiefirst.com

You'll spend hours on there- lot of serious muskie fishing information on there.

When I cast St. Clair- I have gliders/jerks and bucktails handy at all times.
I like and most of the guys I know use natural colors- that lake is like fishing the caribeaan, very clear and beautiful.... you won't want to fish anywhere else! 
Don't rule out walleye, perch & shad colors- whichever colors you have the most confidence in.

I'm a caster by heart, but trolling works and at St. Clair if you find the packs of skis... you can catch incredible numbers quick!

Good luck man! I'm hoping to get there in 2 weeks as well.


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## bigdino81 (Mar 26, 2009)

i was there mem day weekend caught 3 while walleye fishing using my med action spinning rod and a worm harness they hit crankbits and spinnerbaits also going back sat morn for a week cant wait


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## little guy (Apr 11, 2009)

Anglers Point will have everything you need for lures. Buy 2 Hi Fins and throw them all day. I swear that's all you need. When you hit a fish make a waypoint and fish around it for an hour or until you quit seeing fish.

Keep it simple.

80# leader material would be good if you can find it.


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Lake St. Clair report: June 10-12

I met a friend up at Angler's Point & South Ridge for a few days of fishing on Lake St Clair. He went up 3 days earlier and had a head start on me. Temperatures had been in the mid-90's all week and when I got there I brought a nasty cold front with me. Fishing was still productive, but not nearly as good as earlier in the week. My friends had pulled in 5 muskie and 1 pike the day before. Here's the report of my 3 day adventure: 

Friday, 6/10 (8am-7pm)
-Weather: Cold front with rain. (Temperatures the day before on Thursday were 85 degrees, Wednesday had reached 95 degrees.)
*Actual:* 63 * | * 50 Precip: 0.21 -Report: cold and wet day to fish. We started out fishing for bass along the marina with pretty good success and later moved deeper offshore to hunt muskie. I caught 5 largemouths, 2 smallmouth, 4 rockbass, 1 perch, 1 sunfish outside of the marina early on. My friend caught quite a few as well, but I do not remember the exact count. We moved to a spot farther offshore to cast for muskie and didn't get any, but we did catch quite a few more bass. My friend had two hog smallies that nearly broke the 20in mark. While bass fishing, we were throwing lipless crankbaits in various colors with chrome being the most productive. I caught a few on a white Booyah spinner, and later in the day on shallow diving shad crankbaits but lipless crankbaits fished slowly above the weedlines seemed to be the most productive. Other guys in the area had good success fishing tubes. Everyone seemed to say that the fishing had slowed down quite a bit with the cooler temperatures. I believe my friends caught close to 40 bass, 5 muskie, & 1 pike the two days before.

Saturday, 6/11 (8am-6pm)
-Weather: Cloudy. Variable wind conditions. Sun came out between 1-4pm.
*Actual:* 74 * | * 55 Precip: 0.00 -Report: We started off fishing for bass again and caught quite a few largemouth and smallmouth along the marina edge. I had good success fishing a Bomber A shallow diving crank in Baby Bass color. I pulled in 3 largemouths on consecutive casts at one point. I don't have an exact number for the day but it was better than day one. We trolled for muskie around lunch, and tried a new spot closer to the Salt River and had 7 follows while casting with two fish 40+ inches coming all the way up to the boat and checking us out. Figure 8's failed and we got skunked. I was throwing mostly an olive Rapala Sub-Walk and a Hi-Fin (black/red/white) tail. My friend threw everything under the sun at them. I finally hooked into a big fish and pulled a 32" pike in which was awesome, but no muskie for me that day. We moved to another spot near the Salt River and my friend pulled in a muskie on a white Grim Reaper once the sun came out. We finished the day back near the marina and pulled out a few more bass and then quit early to go watch the UFC fight down at Hooters.

Sunday, 6/12 (8am-1pm)
-Weather: Very cloudy, cold and windy. 
*Actual:* 65 * | * 52 Precip: 0.00 -Report: We hunted only muskie for the morning, and fished the weedline off of Salt River. The weather was difficult to fish with big waves and pretty heavy winds. We didn't have any follows like the day before. My friend hooked a nice pike around lunch time on a orange bladed spinner and later he hooked a decent muskie on a silver single bladed spinner as we drifted from Salt River back towards Anchor Bay marina. I was throwing a white bucktail and that black/red/white Hi-Fin most of the morning. Most other fishermen seemed to be throwing bucktails of some sort as well. I saw a guy pull a nice muskie out 50 yards away on a dark bucktail.

Lake Locations:









I will add more pictures this week with the muskie and pike. I was too tired after I got home to do it. I have a lot of respect for you guys that cast for muskie every day! I think my right arm is twice the size of my left after 3 days of that crap  

Thanks again for everyone that chimed in, especially you Little Guy! While I didn't catch a muskie, I got 2 pike and saw quite a few pulled out of the lake. I also saw some really cool jets flying out of SANG as well as some paratroopers preparing for the invasion of Canada. The bass fishing was great as well. I'll definitely be back some day to continue my muskie hunt.

-House


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

House, I was looking forward to seeing your report... but I hoped you got a few ski's! Casting that lake is tough. Those bass are a ton of fun. Another area to try for bass is the nine mile area... its more rocky then Anchor bay and the tubes and cranks just bounce off the bottom and into their mouths!

I just got back today from St. Clair- trolling hard for 4 days straight.
My partner and I went 16 for 22. Biggest was my fat 37. Two -35's and the rest were 25-32 or so. All our fish came in 14-17 fow. 
I'll post pics tomorrow.


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