# St. Claire...6-2 thru 6-9



## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

Took a group of guys to st. claire last week. stayed at water way camp over by mitchels bay...nice guy owns it (Roman) Only have to launch once..park it at dock...saves a ton of money.. So here is the report:
Sunday we caught 80 smallies all about 2 to 4 lbs 
Monday we caught 80 smallies all about 2 to 4 lbs
Tuesday got bored went to walpole..caught 20 smalls and 25 large 2 to 4 lbs
Weds finally caught a big musky and some northern pike 8 pike 5 musky
thursday caught 60 smallies 3 to 6 lbs (went in early to drink...) 
friday caught 14 walley 4 musky and some huge smallies...

all smallies came in 14 feet of water 3 miles southwest of big bouy
all walley came in at 18 feet on a weed line 5 miles southwest of big bouy

smallies caught on dark brown creature baits
waleyes came on crome with black back walleye diver (planer boards helped when it got calm


Got bored 1 day and slammed the smallies on a big Joshy swim!!!


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

this one is only 4 lbs


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

couple of the biggest eyes


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

caught these two at same time with 1 jig twins at 3lbs a piece


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## fished-out (Dec 20, 2005)

Those are some nice fish, and nice totals! If I knew what I was doing, I'd make that trip!


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## island troller (Nov 14, 2007)

Where can I get a permit for the Walpole waters. Will be staying on Harsens Island and fishing for Musky and would like to get that permit along with my canadian license.


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

Sweet! Love the pic of the smalie, Beautiful fish!


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## little guy (Apr 11, 2009)

Assuming you were fishing Canadian waters since you purposely stayed in Canada by Mitchells Bay to save on launch fees, you do know that you were blatantly targeting bass out of season in another country... Would hate to see someone read your post and go do the same thing, get busted, and face huge fines. Bass season on the Canadian side of LSC does not open until the 4th Saturday in June and does not have catch and release season like the US side does.


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

Very true..bass season does not open till the 4th saturday in June (i believe) we where targeting Pike and Musky...Good weeds and a nice drop off at the location we where in. 

You can get a walpole at any place that sells a liscense...?


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

some more pics


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## ohiojmj (Apr 16, 2004)

If i recall correctly, there is no prohibition against targeting and catching smallies before the season opens in Ontario, just not allowed to possess/keep.


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## little guy (Apr 11, 2009)

sady dog said:


> Very true..bass season does not open till the 4th saturday in June (i believe) we where targeting Pike and Musky...Good weeds and a nice drop off at the location we where in.
> 
> You can get a walpole at any place that sells a liscense...?


I'm glad you had a fun time. Just wanted to make sure that while you were comfortable with the thought of possibly trying to convince a MNR officer that you were targeting pike while reaping on 250+ smallmouth bass on creature baits, others who may not knowingly want to do such a thing might get confused that the season was open over there. That area you were fishing is great all season long for big smallmouth. I've caught them there from opening day through October.


ohiojmj, you are not allowed to target them. They do not have a C&R season. People get busted every year just like the guys that can't wait until late April on the US side. There are lots of paper tournaments on the US side in May and June and Canadian waters are off-limits for that reason.


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## BMustang (Jul 27, 2004)

The Mitchell Bay enforcement folks take a whole different view to targeting smallies than do the Northern Ontario enforcement folks.

Years ago while fishing the Walpole area, one of their enforcement guys watched us catch a huge smallie and commented that it was a shame that it wasn't in-season and that we couldn't keep it.

In Northern Ontario (North Channel area) pre-season targeting smallies is strictly taboo.

Ontario is Ontario and the regs strictly forbid targeting smallies, catch-and-release or not. The difference in the two areas is that the St.Clair folks realize that tourism is vital to their economy, and that bass fishermen make up a large majority of St.Clair fishermen and are much more tolerant.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

So how do the authorities enforce the targeting of smallies? It is not like you are fishing a visible bed and pulling fish from it. I guess if someone fished an area for an extended time and that was all they were catching and several of them it could be determined (or at least interpreted) that one was targeting them. But how do they really know that guys are not targeting pike/musky? I have never quite understood that concept unless they were to say that a certain area is off-limits because it is a spawning sanctuary.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

So how do the authorities enforce the targeting of smallies? It is not like you are fishing a visible bed and pulling fish from it. I guess if someone fished an area for an extended time and that was all they were catching and several of them it could be determined (or at least interpreted) that one was targeting them. But how do they really know that guys are not targeting pike/musky? I have never quite understood that concept unless they were to say that a certain area is off-limits because it is a spawning sanctuary.


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