# Muskie charter lake st Clair



## woodworker2001

Would like to take my dad on a Muskie charter on lake st Clair this summer. What times are best and does anyone have a recommendation for someone they have used before?

Thanks
Dan


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## Saugeye Tom

Dan, Justin Clark reports its on now for the water wolf He will steer you in the right direction for a guide. Very honest hard working bait shop owner google him on youtube


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## Saugeye Tom

woodworker2001 said:


> Would like to take my dad on a Muskie charter on lake st Clair this summer. What times are best and does anyone have a recommendation for someone they have used before?
> 
> Thanks
> Dan


we catch them on bass gear all the time 3 different strains great lakes, tiger and common!!!


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## woodworker2001

Do you have a number or the bait shop he runs?


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## Narwhal

I'm going in two weeks, can't wait. It will be my first trip there and we are going out with heatwave.


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## Saugeye Tom

Ill get it for ya


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## Saugeye Tom

woodworker2001 said:


> Do you have a number or the bait shop he runs?


Try Sportsmans direct 586 741 6052. They will guide you in the right direction!!


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## woodworker2001

Narwhal said:


> I'm going in two weeks, can't wait. It will be my first trip there and we are going out with heatwave.


Let me know how it goes. Kinda wanna charter to learn and start rigging my boat to go up every year


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## Narwhal

woodworker2001 said:


> Let me know how it goes. Kinda wanna charter to learn and start rigging my boat to go up every year


Will do for sure


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## island troller

woodworker2001 said:


> Let me know how it goes. Kinda wanna charter to learn and start rigging my boat to go up every
> 
> I started out green and been going almost 10 years now with good success. PM me and I can at least recommend the set up that works for me. Going again in a couple weeks.


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## kx36594

I am taking my dad up July 21 to fish with Mike hulbert .....he is casting only.... I asked him what his recommendation was for timing when I booked with him in February and he said mid July to mid August.....


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## Bassthumb

kx36594 said:


> I am taking my dad up July 21 to fish with Mike hulbert .....he is casting only.... I asked him what his recommendation was for timing when I booked with him in February and he said mid July to mid August.....


Sounds to me like he is trying to fill scheduling gaps in the mid summer. Spring and late fall are markedly better for Muskie in St Clair....and every other lake too.


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## kx36594

Ok...I fish for Musky 95% of the time....mid summer is definitely great time for Musky.... Fall accounts for larger fish due to feeding for winter....you can't even fish St Clair for spring Musky....


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## Whopper

Mike Parker will put you on fish casting. Great guy and a lot of fun to be around, he really likes to take great care of the lake's resource. Very reasonable and with the exchange rate you can't go wrong

https://www.handlebarzfishing.com/guiding


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## K gonefishin

If you want to fish Canada (which is where you want to be without question) call Greenhead guide service out of Bell River. http://greenheadfishingcharters.com/fishingcharters/ 

July is a great time to fish St Clair. I fished last weekend and it was slow still, going up the next two weekends as well, bite seems to be picking up


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## woodworker2001

K gonefishin said:


> If you want to fish Canada (which is where you want to be without question) call Greenhead guide service out of Bell River. http://greenheadfishingcharters.com/fishingcharters/
> 
> July is a great time to fish St Clair. I fished last weekend and it was slow still, going up the next two weekends as well, bite seems to be picking up


Would like to but will have to cross on the water because dad doesn't have a passport yet. Thanks for the recomendation


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## Bassthumb

You no longer need a passport. Birth cert and drivers license, you just cant go on shore. Believe they changed it last year


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## woodworker2001

Bassthumb said:


> You no longer need a passport. Birth cert and drivers license, you just cant go on shore. Believe they changed it last year


That is true. The charter company above is located in Canada this ruling it out for us


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## K gonefishin

They changed the law last week, you can cross into canada by water and not worry about calling in any longer, alot of the michigan charter if not all go fish canada, you don't need a passport. I will say this with absolute confidence michigan musky fishing sucks unless it's late fall, summer don't both, I just pissed away two days this weekend and never caught a fish, guys in candada getting em, i talked to a charter at the dock said don't waste your time in MI until water gets cold.


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## Fishballz

We were up june 22-26. It was slow, only landed 3 fish... But my dad who has never caught a muskie and was using a bait caster for the first time was able to land this 51 1/4 incher on friday. Straightened the siwash hook on the back of the spinner bait and ripped a hole in the net. She almost escaped without a pic! That fish made the whole trip worth it!


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## woodworker2001

That is awesome. We are going up July 27&28


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## island troller

I will be up there from July 6th to July 15th. Switching the boat over from walleye gear to Musky gear.


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## Narwhal

Weather for my trip Friday looks a little questionable


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## BMustang

Congrats to your dad!!!

That's a fantastic fish.

Punched a hole in your net??? They'll do that. 
By clipping the adjacent cord, he/she should slide right out of the net without tangling in it. 
My "Muskie Net" is decorated with trimmed up wire ties.


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## Wmbuckeye557

I second Mike Parker.


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## Narwhal

Well folks it happened! Rained the whole drive there arrived to dock opened car door and rain stopped ! Boarded the boat and we was off. Twin 454s sounding like perfection. 30 minutes later we are trolling 12 rods in Canadian water. Had action right away and was steady all day. Was the best day of fishing of my entire life. Me wife and our 2 teenage sons really enjoyed lake st clair. We went out with heatwave and will be using again next trip Capt Craig and first mate worked hard and dialed in like legit pros. Thank god for cellphone cams because you wouldn't believe this part. BOATED 2 over 50 inches today and nothing under 40


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## BMustang

I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm sure that some of you have the answers.

I'm curious why muskie thrive and flourish in Lake St. Clair. It's obvious from the testimonies and photos provided by our membership that this is a very true statement.
St. Clair is basically a saucer, that is extremely shallow for the most part, with little or no cover, that gets quite warm in the summer and cold in the winter.
From my experience there, the Johnson River, which is more like a wide rut that runs north a few miles, has the only meaningful deep (20 ft ???) water on the Canadian side, and this is where I suspect these Muskies are caught. 
If they are doing so well in St. Clair, why not Erie or the Lake Huron area above the Detroit river.
I know that they do well here in Kentucky at Cave Run and Green River Lakes, but St. Clair is somewhat of an enigma for me. I outgrew my St. Clair horizons eons ago and gravitated to the North Channel of Lake Huron, where they do quite well.

Are the muskies that hardy that they thrive most everywhere, but that they are only targeted in specific locations, or is it something about St. Clair that causes them to grow and prosper, and that allow fishermen such as those mentioned above, to go out and catch multiple trophies in a day time.

Call me confused!!!!!


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## Snakecharmer

BMustang said:


> I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm sure that some of you have the answers.
> 
> I'm curious why muskie thrive and flourish in Lake St. Clair. It's obvious from the testimonies and photos provided by our membership that this is a very true statement.
> St. Clair is basically a saucer, that is extremely shallow for the most part, with little or no cover, that gets quite warm in the summer and cold in the winter.
> From my experience there, the Johnson River, which is more like a wide rut that runs north a few miles, has the only meaningful deep (20 ft ???) water on the Canadian side, and this is where I suspect these Muskies are caught.
> If they are doing so well in St. Clair, why not Erie or the Lake Huron area above the Detroit river.
> I know that they do well here in Kentucky at Cave Run and Green River Lakes, but St. Clair is somewhat of an enigma for me. I outgrew my St. Clair horizons eons ago and gravitated to the North Channel of Lake Huron, where they do quite well.
> 
> Are the muskies that hardy that they thrive most everywhere, but that they are only targeted in specific locations, or is it something about St. Clair that causes them to grow and prosper, and that allow fishermen such as those mentioned above, to go out and catch multiple trophies in a day time.
> 
> Call me confused!!!!!


For whatever reason St Clair has been a great lake for Muskies since the 1930's with Percy Haven and later in the 50's with Homer Leblanc. It is continuously flushed with water from Lake Huron and its full of nutrients so there is plenty of food. C&R has been a boom to the population too.


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## Saugeye Tom

BMustang said:


> I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm sure that some of you have the answers.
> 
> I'm curious why muskie thrive and flourish in Lake St. Clair. It's obvious from the testimonies and photos provided by our membership that this is a very true statement.
> St. Clair is basically a saucer, that is extremely shallow for the most part, with little or no cover, that gets quite warm in the summer and cold in the winter.
> From my experience there, the Johnson River, which is more like a wide rut that runs north a few miles, has the only meaningful deep (20 ft ???) water on the Canadian side, and this is where I suspect these Muskies are caught.
> If they are doing so well in St. Clair, why not Erie or the Lake Huron area above the Detroit river.
> I know that they do well here in Kentucky at Cave Run and Green River Lakes, but St. Clair is somewhat of an enigma for me. I outgrew my St. Clair horizons eons ago and gravitated to the North Channel of Lake Huron, where they do quite well.
> 
> Are the muskies that hardy that they thrive most everywhere, but that they are only targeted in specific locations, or is it something about St. Clair that causes them to grow and prosper, and that allow fishermen such as those mentioned above, to go out and catch multiple trophies in a day time.
> 
> Call me confused!!!!!


The forage base is outstanding and the st Clair river has 5 channels that keep cold water coming in all the time. i think I heard every 7 days the water is completely renewed....Tons of weed beds due to the zebra mussels water clarity/filtering


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## Saugeye Tom

Narwhal said:


> View attachment 240332
> View attachment 240331
> View attachment 240330
> Well folks it happened! Rained the whole drive there arrived to dock opened car door and rain stopped ! Boarded the boat and we was off. Twin 454s sounding like perfection. 30 minutes later we are trolling 12 rods in Canadian water. Had action right away and was steady all day. Was the best day of fishing of my entire life. Me wife and our 2 teenage sons really enjoyed lake st clair. We went out with heatwave and will be using again next trip Capt Craig and first mate worked hard and dialed in like legit pros. Thank god for cellphone cams because you wouldn't believe this part. BOATED 2 over 50 inches today and nothing under 40


I knew you'd do well Congrats !!!!!!


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## Bassthumb

That is a ridiculously good trip. Congratulations


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## fastwater

Incredible trip for sure.
Family memories of a lifetime.
Congrats to you!


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## K gonefishin

St Clair has a grass called Cara or musk grass which is prime musky spawning habitat. Plus it's the worlds largest freshwater delta, lots of flow of clean cool water and tons of food.


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## 9Left

How could fish NOT flourish and grow to giant sizes in St Claire?? lol...The fish not only have access to pretty much every single great lake through a river system... but the baitfish also have the same freedom and access... we're talking thousands of square miles of water that these fish have access to... The water quality is very good, the vegetation in Saint Claire is outstanding ... baitfish simply Flourish...pair this up with good management and catch and release practices… And you have yourself the perfect fishery


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## fastwater

Well written 9Left.
On May 18th, Brother hooked a huge ski in the Black River a couple miles up from the mouth of the Saint Clair River close to Lake Huron. We were bass fishing and with 8 lb test and no leader, he didn't stand much of a chance getting it in. Did manage to get it up to the edge of the boat. At that point, it rolled like a big ole gator cutting the line quickly and swimming off with my old Smoo. 
We did get to see a big part of it and the girth on it was huge.


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## BMustang

Is all muskie fishing catch and release???


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## Saugeye Tom

BMustang said:


> Is all muskie fishing catch and release???


They give you a free tag for 1 ski and one sturgon per year. All others are to be released


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## Saugeye Tom

fastwater said:


> Well written 9Left.
> On May 18th, Brother hooked a huge ski in the Black River a couple miles up from the mouth of the Saint Clair River close to Lake Huron. We were bass fishing and with 8 lb test and no leader, he didn't stand much of a chance getting it in. Did manage to get it up to the edge of the boat. At that point, it rolled like a big ole gator cutting the line quickly and swimming off with my old Smoo.
> We did get to see a big part of it and the girth on it was huge.


Hmm. Jack said it was the net man's fault......


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## fastwater

Saugeye Tom said:


> Hmm. Jack said it was the net man's fault......


Lol!
He's probably right. The net guys reflexes surely aren't what they used to be. Besides, I wasn't about to let that monster tear up that beautiful, new to me, net. 
Was going to 'lip' it.


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## BMustang

In reply to the question of "How could fish not flourish and grow in St. Clair?"

I'm only familiar with the Canadian side of LSC - Mitchell's Bay/Johnson River/Walpole Reservation/St. Anne's etc..
That area is certainly not typical of a "normal" muskie habitat.
The water is EXTREMELY shallow - 4 - 5 feet deep tops.
It gets quite warm in the summer, and is susceptible to being churned up by high winds.
Yes there are plenty of weeds - whole islands of them, and perhaps the ebb and flow of cooler water from cooler climates could partially answer the question.

I'm certainly not disputing that LSC is a highly productive bass/muskie fishery; it obviously is. My original question was out of curiosity of why muskie seem to have taken hold and be doing EXCEPTIONALLY well there.

Back in the early 80's when I used to frequent LSC, the only muskie we encountered were smaller fish, called Silver Muskies, that had neither the size or girth of those photos being shared on this site. I'm also curious if this muskie phenomenon is a rather recent evolution, or if LSC has always been productive, and we simply missed out on it. OR perhaps the muskie are not prevalent on the Canadian side, and do better on the US side.


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## fastwater

I'm certainly not an expert on LSC. The trip this year was my 1st and maybe I shouldn't even comment. But the water we fished in on the west side and north end in the U.S. side was 8-12' deep. And we weren't 1000yds from shore. There was plenty of weed beds in those depths for cover as well. The water was plenty cool and I'm sure with the constant volume of cold water coming in from the St. Clair River and out the Detroit, there's no doubt excellent oxygen content in the water. Couple all that with an unbelievable food chain, I don't see why it wouldn't be excellent habitat for musky.
While there's a lot of more shallow water, the average depth of St. Clair is actually 11' deep and the shipping lane is 27'.
Again, I've not fished the Canadian side, and surely not all of the U.S. side but from satellite images of the lake, it looks as though the open water on the Canadian side for the most part is more shallow then the U.S. side.


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## 9Left

BMustang said:


> In reply to the question of "How could fish not flourish and grow in St. Clair?"
> 
> I'm only familiar with the Canadian side of LSC - Mitchell's Bay/Johnson River/Walpole Reservation/St. Anne's etc..
> That area is certainly not typical of a "normal" muskie habitat.
> The water is EXTREMELY shallow - 4 - 5 feet deep tops.
> It gets quite warm in the summer, and is susceptible to being churned up by high winds.
> Yes there are plenty of weeds - whole islands of them, and perhaps the ebb and flow of cooler water from cooler climates could partially answer the question.
> 
> I'm certainly not disputing that LSC is a highly productive bass/muskie fishery; it obviously is. My original question was out of curiosity of why muskie seem to have taken hold and be doing EXCEPTIONALLY well there.
> 
> Back in the early 80's when I used to frequent LSC, the only muskie we encountered were smaller fish, called Silver Muskies, that had neither the size or girth of those photos being shared on this site. I'm also curious if this muskie phenomenon is a rather recent evolution, or if LSC has always been productive, and we simply missed out on it. OR perhaps the muskie are not prevalent on the Canadian side, and do better on the US side.



This is waaaay off! A good portion of the Canadian side of Lake St. Clair is close to 20 feet deep


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## BMustang

^^ Then I am guilty of generalizing. Those areas I mentioned, with the exception of the Johnson River, are nowhere close to 20 feet deep. Perhaps there are other areas, outside of Mitchell's Bay which are.


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## fastwater

BMustang said:


> ^^ Then I am guilty of generalizing. Those areas I mentioned, with the exception of the Johnson River, are nowhere close to 20 feet deep. Perhaps there are other areas, outside of Mitchell's Bay which are.


Check this map out....(if you can read it. I had to zoom areas in and get magnifying glass out.  )

http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/14850.shtml


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## BMustang

Thanks, Interesting.
It is obvious that my impression is based upon the area that we used to frequent - the very shallow Mitchell's Bay.


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## Buckeyeguyty93

Learning to cast bulldawgs and pounders up there is the way to do it, once you find them can't beat it


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## 1more

Very nice fish! 50" plus inches?


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## woodworker2001

Buckeyeguyty93 said:


> Learning to cast bulldawgs and pounders up there is the way to do it, once you find them can't beat it


Wow what a fish. Hoping to get up there and get into a couple like that. We are going to cast and troll some while up there to learn the ropes.


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## Buckeyeguyty93

1more said:


> Very nice fish! 50" plus inches?


That was a line burner 50, buddy got a 55 and another 53... pretty darn good trip went 8-11 that day


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## Saugeyefisher

I have some old shipping maps of lake st.clair,st.clair river,and I think Detroit river to. 
Are first 2 years going up there we were soooo green. We would never leave the river in fear of all that shallow water. 
Fast forward 4 years and were making annual trips to both the lake,and the st.clair river. 
There's tons of deep moving water in that system. Add in all the primo spawning habitat. 
As many Muskie that are in the lake,there's also TONS in the river. We usually only fish the us side though. But always have more accidental muskie/pike encounters in the river then we do the lake. And everyday you see them jumping completely out of the water,doing belly flops. It's really cool to see. 
A lot of times in the river we just toss on a spinner bait and cruise the weed lines an catch lm,sm,ski,pike,rb,perch,lol walleye. It was a ball. 
Its been way to long since I've been


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## woodworker2001

Well we went on our trip Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a tough morning. No follows and one bite that I missed in a medusa. Went back in and came back out for the evening. Caught two around 40" and the guide got one about 44". Friday was tough weather conditions with cool weather and a stiff north wind. Castes for a couple hours with just a catfish to show for our efforts. Put out the trolling gear. Took a nice smallie. Had another hit and caught one. Really tough conditions. But the guide worked his butt off to try to get us fish. All in all a great trip with dad and will be back up. Used Spencer's angling adventures. They worked hard and put in long hours to try to get us on fish!!!


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## kx36594

Went up July 21 and took Dad out with Mike hulbert and dad landed this 54 3/4" tank besting his 33 year old best by 1/4"!!!









Heading back this Saturday for a week staying at Belle River with the wife....


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## Saugeyefisher

kx36594 said:


> Went up July 21 and took Dad out with Mike hulbert and dad landed this 54 3/4" tank besting his 33 year old best by 1/4"!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heading back this Saturday for a week staying at Belle River with the wife....


Oh my,what a fish!


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## woodworker2001

Amazing. What a memory. Looks like you were casting?!?!


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## fastwater

Any fishing trip with dad would be a GREAT fishing trip. 
Catching fish would just be icing on the cake.
And you guys caught A LOT of icing.
Kudos to y'all!


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## Decoy hound

Awesome fish and awesome picture! Great job!


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## kx36594

Yes... Mike Hulbert is all casting


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