# First Time St Claire Muskie Trolling



## dgfidler

I’ve been trying to catch a Muskie trolling on Alum Creek for years. I’m going to St Claire this weekend with the goal of getting my first Muskie. I am equipped for pretty much all methods of trolling. I know the best advice is ‘go on a charter’, but I’m going to give this a shot on my own on Sunday. My approach is going to be to leverage my trolling experience and ability to troll a lot of lines and troll in areas where other boats appear to be Muskie trolling. The giant net is usually a dead giveaway on an inland lake and I assume the same there. I plan to run a 10 line spread as follows. I’m looking for feedback on whether I have anything ‘stupid’ in my spread:

2 ‘down rods’ off corners. One with 12 oz inline weight 10 feet behind my kicker with large buck tail. The other with 8 oz inline and foot long crankbait 20 feet back on the ‘clean’ side without the kicker

2 slide divers set shallow with leader that goes from 20ft to 5 ft when tripped. I plan to run these 5-10 ft below the surface with a bulldawg on one and a giant Muskie sized spoon on the other. 

3 big board lines per side with 1oz snap weight on outside line, 2 oz snap weight on middle line, and 3 oz snap weight inside. The varying weights are meant to deal with the tow line being significantly higher above water than inside lines. Plan to run all lines same amount back with assumption that a caught fish will rush back away from spread rather than towards boat into the other lines. It’s my understanding the snap weights are needed to allow shorter leads and catch floating weeds. 

Is there anything in this plan that’s outright dumb for targeting Muskie on St Claire. The slide diver part is something I’ve never seen mentioned in the context of Muskie trolling but seems to me to be easier than a flat line which it’s replacing. If we actually start catching fish, I’ll make the spread smaller, but I suspect these fish don’t hit often and it’s easy to drag 10 lines around if nothings biting. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Earthworms

You are gonna hate life with that set up. That many lines 10? Big boards out, then set the spread up. You know those baits need to be run at different speeds and techniques? When I run that lake l run Alley Cats, ziggies, tuff shads, bucktails and move from there. I only cast rubbers


----------



## Snakecharmer

How many people? How deep are you planning on fishing with the down rods in the corners? What lures are you running on the boards?


----------



## dugworm

Good luck. Please post a report next week.


----------



## MuskyFan

Personally, I’d start small and work up on the number of lines. The boat traffic can be incredibly heavy and having them cutting behind you, in front of you and sometimes, it seems, over you, having a smaller spread is helpful. A big net is not always a give away but big boards are. You can troll near shore as well as far offshore and be equally affective. 

Don’t underestimate the effects of the wind on that shallow lake as well as boat driven waves. Combined, they can be hard to deal with while having a large number of lines out.


----------



## dgfidler

Snakecharmer said:


> How many people? How deep are you planning on fishing with the down rods in the corners? What lures are you running on the boards?


Four people and will be staying on US side. Launching from St Claire shores. I have no idea how deep the down rods will be. I did a lot of reading on the Michigan Sportsman site to come up with that scheme. I troll with a Livescope and can watch one side or the other. If it runs too deep, I’ll go with smaller weights. Assuming 3-4 mph troll. I’m going to try just dropping in a tackle store, and buying 4 or so lures they recommend and hope they’ll give me a general idea where to start. I have an assortment of bucktails and crankbaits from the Muskie section at cabelas. These are the items I bought specifically for this trip











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dgfidler

MuskyFan said:


> Personally, I’d start small and work up on the number of lines. The boat traffic can be incredibly heavy and having them cutting behind you, in front of you and sometimes, it seems, over you, having a smaller spread is helpful. A big net is not always a give away but big boards are. You can troll near shore as well as far offshore and be equally affective.
> 
> Don’t underestimate the effects of the wind on that shallow lake as well as boat driven waves. Combined, they can be hard to deal with while having a large number of lines out.


I hadn’t considered the boat traffic. I’ve never been there, but I’m used to working through packs of boats on Lake Erie Western basin. I have an autopilot that can hold a line in some pretty nasty stuff, even crosswind. If the lake is a total zoo, I’ll tone it down. I learned big board trolling on a Lake Erie charter and very comfortable with it, at least for walleye. I’m also assuming I might get just a couple hits all day. That’s why I plan for so many lines. Im trying to make up for lack of knowledge by throwing more lines out because I am very good at managing a spread. I’m not new to trolling, just to this location. I have easily put in over 100 hours on my local reservoir with 3 lost fish and I decided to try someplace with a decent population. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Snakecharmer

The lure colors you bought look good. Nine Dollar Bass was popular the last time I was up there but it s/b renamed Twenty Dollar Bass now....( Believer)


----------



## island troller

Lot of lines will pick up a lot of floating grass. You will be constantly cleaning lines. I will max 6 lines and no more. Always have one right in the prop wash. Have caught some big ones there. My go to lures are the shallow super rapala shad raps 6" long and the longer Bucher Raider jointed shallow diver. Run them both 50 back off boards. Shad and perch best colors. Also buck tail spinners with 2 oz weights. Speeds 3.5 mph . Have caught a lot of Muskies this way with 51" the biggest.


----------



## burnsj5

Lots of good advice, I've been up a few times and I can't imagine if the floating weeds were bad messing with so many lines. I made longer leaders and used spare muskie hooks bent out with points cut off as weed catchers and even then there were days it felt like I was pulling 10lbs of weeds off. You seem well planned and thought out I'm sure you will have some success. 
I've never been up and seen tons of boats piled on each other in the summer. There will be fish chasing schools of bait mid lake and can escape other boats versus places like Green Bay in the fall where everyone is piled on top of each other with tons of boards out. Good luck.


----------



## dgfidler

This is all I have. I plan to give some business to a local tackle shop and let them recommend four lures. When I bought all this stuff, I paid no attention to the speed requirements, just that it mentioned trolling. I threw all the packaging away so I have no clue whether this stuff is compatible. I combine deep divers with shallow divers for walleye so I never have it a thought. Makes me realize I really am just going to put some lures in the water and hope for the best. The spoons cost about half what I’m used to paying for walleye spoons. The packaging said cast, troll, vertical jig. I think they were 2.99 on clearance. I figured those might be unique because I doubt many people run them. The bottom lure will make a great walleye lure. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Snakecharmer

Good luck on your trip! Tight lines.


----------



## burnsj5

Just run 3.5 to 4 as you planned and as long as the lures stay down youre good which I'm sure they will be. The lake isn't very deep and the water can be very clear the fish have no problem coming up for baits. Also as mentioned being shallow if the winds kick up it gets nasty out there and even if your boat can handle it imagine landing and handling a fish in those larger waves just a reminder to maybe have a backup plan if that happens. I reread your post and dang 12oz seems heavy to run, the heavier weights will get you down there and keep the bucktails from twisting your line for what gets passed your swivels, I've never run such heavy inline weights, maybe there is something to it though. Update how the trip turns out when you get back.


----------



## dgfidler

I’m pretty excited. I now have a relative living in the area so I’ve got a place to stay the night before where I can park my boat in front of their house in the suburbs instead of trying to find some hotel that will allow it. That’s the primary reason I’ve never gone there. I love the thrill of catching and releasing big fish. Some like the hook set, I like a screaming drag. I go to Lake O once per year to satisfy that need and I go on a King Mackerel charter out of Clearwater annually and offshore out of outer banks whenever I can land a make up spot. 

Sometimes you end up with more than you bargained for. Last summer I had a charter captain telling me ‘come on man - you’ve got a citation tuna on and if you don’t get it in quick, the sharks will eat it. I ended up exhausted and no fish and I even used the fighting chair. The other guys were bringing them in stand up no problem. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## island troller

I see you have one super sharp rap, bluegill color, good. Now get a perch color and run it 50 back...Trust me !!


----------



## dgfidler

burnsj5 said:


> Just run 3.5 to 4 as you planned and as long as the lures stay down youre good which I'm sure they will be. The lake isn't very deep and the water can be very clear the fish have no problem coming up for baits. Also as mentioned being shallow if the winds kick up it gets nasty out there and even if your boat can handle it imagine landing and handling a fish in those larger waves just a reminder to maybe have a backup plan if that happens. I reread your post and dang 12oz seems heavy to run, the heavier weights will get you down there and keep the bucktails from twisting your line for what gets passed your swivels, I've never run such heavy inline weights, maybe there is something to it though. Update how the trip turns out when you get back.


Here’s the thread where I got the idea of these large weights for the down rods

https://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/threads/rigging-up-a-musky-boat.50804/

The way ‘gone fishing’ fishes seemed suited to my boat setup and (almost embarrassed to say this) the YouTube videos I found confirmed to me in my mind that the big board method I use elsewhere is a legit way to fish on LSC. I bought an assortment of 6-12 oz inline weights plus a bunch of big swivels, line and crimping tools to make my own leaders from a tackle shop in NC when I was there on vacation last week. Look back at the receipt I posted spending $56 on leaders. That’s BS! I couldn’t even find weights that large online. If it’s rough, I’ll buy some bondy baits and go to the Detroit River and try using the Livescope to vertical jig. For that, I plan to eventually charter with Jon Bondy. It’s another thing I’d like to do, but not right now. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dgfidler

I had read an article where a leading charter captain has a philosophy that ‘a clean six beats a dirty dozen’. He went on to explain that six weed free lines is better than twelve lines running fouled with a bunch of weeds. I have a pair of offshore sst boards that I might use if I find we’re having trouble keeping up with the weeds. I think these floating weeds if present could seriously hinder the spread I was contemplating

I appreciate all the advice and will post how this works out. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dgfidler

Having it pointed out that floating weeds are the main deterrent to being able to run a bunch of lines threw me int McGuyver mode. If only there was some device on the line to deflect or catch grass that I could place close to the point the fishing line enters the water. Here’s the first prototype. Er70 carbon steel TIG welding wire has a thin coating of copper that allows it to be soldered with plumbing solder and flux. Solder a bundle together, add a crimp sleeve so you can run your line through and bend the individual arms to form a grappling hook. Use a snap weight to keep it where u want it and voila - you’ve just created an inline grass catcher. When it fills up, will be able to see it and know it’s time to clean up that rod. The snap weight by the lure will pick up anything this ‘grass catcher’ missed. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BaddFish

How did you do?
I guess you already figured out that St.Clair is only 10-15ft deep w/ and avg depth of 10ft?
I had success years back with one other guy, we ran 4 rods for 1.5 days and caught 7-8, nothing real big, but lots of fun...we didn't run anything with boards or snap weights, just straight lures, I seem to remember natural colors and greens were hot.


----------



## dgfidler

I got skunked for Musky. I was unable to find anything but gin clear water. There was a mild midge hatch occurring and their mayfly hatch was starting. I was able to find half a dozen boats out there running g big boards, so I dropped in about 1/4 mile behind them and ran the same line which was basically a North to South troll 200 yards East and parallel to the shipping channel. I started out with a down rod, flatline and larger offshore planer board per side. I made one long pass from NE of 9 mile where we launched to the dumping grounds. I pulled the Offshore SST board about an hour into it and went to 3 lines per side on the big boards. The fact that you must constantly check the lines for weeds is 3-4 times easier to do with big boards. These lures pull hard enough to use rubber bands and carabiner clips. Release the outside line, free spool 20 feet, place in rod holder and let it come to center as you move the inside lines to outside and work from outside to inside with one person working each side. We rarely had fouled lures and the snap weights really do catch the weed. There were more spiny water fleas accumulating on the line than weeds. I assumed the lake would have scattered fish, but I believe we were trolling dead water. I had a Livescope running and could see three of four boat rods and one planer lure by aiming the transducer back and towards opposite side of boat. If any of these lures would have had a ‘follow’, we’d clearly see it. I think the time to pursue these musky might be in the fall once the speedboats are put away and weed beds are fully grown. My impression is the weeds are 2-3 ft tall right now and cover the entire lake. I think later in the season would consolidate the fish into areas that are not weeds from top to bottom and I bet there are nice weed lines in the fall. The lake seems to be +4ft from what Navionics says. 

Here’s a pic of the Livescope with four lures running within view. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Earthworms

Looks like you didnt take much advise and you got skunked. Better luck next time.


----------



## dgfidler

I edited out my name calling. It’s disappointing that Earthworms is delighted that I got skunked. My favorite type of fishing is trolling with planer boards. When I realized people fish for Musky this way on St Clair, I wanted to try it. To me it seemed adding a down rod and flat line to what I’m used to doing would be no big deal and to be honest it wasn’t. Just had to constantly cycle they the lines and keep them clear which was no problem. I successfully ran the same spread the charters do, even amongst them and failed. Why would someone be happy about that and post a snide remark like that?

I probably had too high expectations. I watched this video and was like ‘I can totally do that’ and gave it a try


----------



## Earthworms

People gave you advice and you didnt take it. I mearly reiterated what you stated. We went 11 for 15 same time frame exactly with the lures I listed. Tried to help you, sorry you took my comment The wrong way,


----------



## H2O Mellon

We've been to St Clair enough times now to know even there's it's a crap shoot. We've been skunked when we've went out alone but never with a guide. I would think it would be worth the $250-300 per person to take a quality guide out such as Medicine Man, here: http://www.medicinemancharters.com/rates.html. I'm saying take a guide not necessarily to catch fish but learn the set up. They will prob be running a 12 rod set up, 2-4 down rods and 8-10 big board rods, in other words what were you were running. Sitting back and watching and learning is pure gold and well worth the money. For instance you'll pick up their talk of 3 and 40 and so on (as you prob know 3 oz weight, 40 feet back, etc). You can also begin a plan after seeing a guide do it. For intance if you have 4-5 guys after seeing how a guide works that many rods with just 2-3 people you can set assignments for your guys based on what they do and be prepared or at least better prepared to handle things alone when you go.

Now on to baits, there's many more better St Clair fishermen than me but try not to make it more complicated than it is. I've been humbled a few times as when I took my boat or went with others I've taken HUNDREDS of baits. I legit mean HUNDREDS of baits. Once we began taking a gude (do it at least once a year) they have DOZENS. Again... me = hundreds, the guide= dozens. I was making it too difficult. For me, Ziggies, Lappers, Wileys, couple trolling bucktails, Alley Cats, B&N's, Xtremes and has some said Tuff Shads and maybe some Muskie Trains is all you really need and honestly you can prob cut that list in half but I proudly fish my friends who make baits such as Alley Cats, XTremes, B&N's. I've gotten to know Tery Lapernowski pretty well (Lapper Lures) who I believe lives in or around St Clair Shores. There's a couple tackle shops there but man, I've found them to be out of what I am looking for when I'm there.

Lots of people seem to think going to St Clair means easy muskie fishing but I've been humbled in the past- just trying to pass on some of my mistakes. It's a a beautiful lake, isn't it? In 12 foot of water you can see to the bottom.

Let me mention one more thing: Sounds like you are from Columbus or at least around there since you mentioned Alum. You have a WEALTH of knowledge in your backyard- join Muskie Inc Chapter 41 | https://www.facebook.com/groups/277488675595015 . These guys will help you boat fish on Alum and St Clair. You'll also learn of ALOT of hot baits and from what I hear alot of what works on Alum work at St Clair. Both Alley Cats (Cliff Honecut) and Xtreme Muskie baits (Greg Them) are memebers of the club. Even though I live in Dayton and only make a couple of the meetings year I can tell you first hand these guys are a class act.


----------



## dgfidler

Earthworms said:


> People gave you advice and you didnt take it. I mearly reiterated what you stated. We went 11 for 15 same time frame exactly with the lures I listed. Tried to help you, sorry you took my comment The wrong way,


I’m sorry too. I didn’t attempt to change the lures based on the feedback. I had already spent what I was willing to spend at the time and did just what you said and ignored the lure advice. I think you’re Columbus area. Maybe we fish together sometime. I’m 5 mins from Alum and honestly, I’d be satisfied to learn to have reasonable chance at one fish per 12 hours effort. I don’t want to let the musky baits get out of control like they have for walleye. I’ll demonstrate what I’m talking about in another reply


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## H2O Mellon

Hey, dgfidler,

Also, man do yourself a HUGE favor and go to the Ohio Muskie show in January. It's in Hilliard and man, it's amazing especially if you've never been. For close to the same price as what you got at Cabeals you can get some nice custom baits that catch muskie & gain valuable info on Alum at the same time.


----------



## EnonEye

I wouldn't be too terribly disappointed, learn from it and try again. You have to learn a new fishery. I had a failure or 2 with Salmon on Lake Huron but worked for years to get it right, found out the simpler the better. Can't argue with someone who trys.


----------



## dgfidler

H2O, I think you’re right about the charter. I’ve got enough trolling experience that I can hone right in on the finer details. They’re running the type of spread I want to do. This is what I did for walleye and it really did turn things around and it’s how I ended up preferring big boards. 

I think I will try to join the chapter 41. I was not aware of its existence. I’m sitting here at the moment considering getting some better gear to dedicate to this. I basically removed 300 ft of line from my Daiwa Sealine 27 reels and replaced with 50lb power pro for this trip. Now I have to switch all those reels back before I go walleye fishing again I’m sitting here thinking ‘if I get a half dozen Daiwa Lexa 300 or 400 linecounter reels, I can use them on Erie for dipsy, cast for Musky, and even Jig for musky with them’. It’d be helpful to run that idea by someone who knows what they’re doing before dropping $800. That tackle store at St Claire shores had them and they looked very cool. Castable line counter reels. But do they really work?

You mentioned your lure collection being in the hundreds. I’ve reached that point with walleye gear. I’ve even started painting my own spoons to keep costs down. This is what I feel is needed for a walleye trip. Not shown is a box of stick baits equal to the box on the right. If something’s working, I have enough lures to get at least 1/2 the spread to that lure/color. I cannot repeat this for Musky at $15+ per shot. I will say that I could get into making large crankbaits though if I can learn to catch first!











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dugworm

Thx for the weekend report.


----------



## MuskyFan

I use Okuma Coldwater line counters for trolling. Only have two since that’s all I can run in OH alone. I have 4 Lexa 400s and 4 Lexa 300s for casting and lime them a lot. 

One post mentioned Ziggie’s lures. They work on LSC and other lakes due to their “walking” left and right. Not a straight line lure. They will be at the Ohio Musky Show. Expensive ($30+) but worth it. I pick up a couple each year. 

Chapter 41 of MI is pretty active with many events. I can’t attend most since I live in SW OH (chapter 56 shutdown) and don’t have the time to drive but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve attended. The few guys I’ve talked to have been very helpful. 

Don’t worry about being skunked. The fish are there. Put your time in and I’ll find them.


----------



## rickerd

DG thank you for the report and story. So, I'm sure you learned alot. If you were watching the Livescope and nothing shows up, there is not much you can do until you get over fish.

I feel for you and can tell you my fishing adventures are similar. Many times I'm off on my own trying to apply what I know in new water or in a new way. Some times it works and some times not. Next time you will find the right place, lures, and be catching as good as any others.

Rickerd


----------



## dgfidler

rickerd said:


> DG thank you for the report and story. So, I'm sure you learned alot. If you were watching the Livescope and nothing shows up, there is not much you can do until you get over fish.
> 
> I feel for you and can tell you my fishing adventures are similar. Many times I'm off on my own trying to apply what I know in new water or in a new way. Some times it works and some times not. Next time you will find the right place, lures, and be catching as good as any others.
> 
> Rickerd


To me, that’s the whole purpose of having a trailerable boat. I had always wanted to do this and will definitely keep trying. It turns out LSC is only about 40 mins more drive than Catawba since it’s 100% freeway from where I live. Another item I’m interested is stripers on Lake Cumberland. From time to time we get invited to join houseboat parties on the lake and it’s be cool to take a take my boat next time the opportunity arises. I’m going to do what I did to learn walleye fishing and take a charter on LSC and go from there. I have a relative living in St Clair shores now so the lodging and place to park the boat issue is covered. He’s one mile from the 9 mile launch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## rickerd

If you are looking for Stripers, I'm sure KY is very good, but don't overlook Chesapeake Bay. It is only 6.2 hours for me on WEst side of CLE. My friend and I trailered his boat there late September 2018 I think. We were fly fishing and caught 50 fish plus each per day. Biggest was 5 pounder and most 1-2 pounders but non stop search and destroy mission accomplished type of days. And neither of us had ever been there. We got some help on areas from bait stores but that was it.

Rickerd


----------



## dgfidler

Fly fishing in salt water. They do this inshore are OBX for redfish. I’m am getting ready to leave right now for my first fly fishing ever on Friday. Was a Father’s Day gift. I may catch that bug also!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dgfidler

dgfidler said:


> Fly fishing in salt water. They do this inshore at OBX for redfish. I’m am getting ready to leave right now for my first fly fishing ever on Friday. Was a Father’s Day gift. I may catch that bug also!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Earthworms

dgfidler said:


> I’m sorry too. I didn’t attempt to change the lures based on the feedback. I had already spent what I was willing to spend at the time and did just what you said and ignored the lure advice. I think you’re Columbus area. Maybe we fish together sometime. I’m 5 mins from Alum and honestly, I’d be satisfied to learn to have reasonable chance at one fish per 12 hours effort. I don’t want to let the musky baits get out of control like they have for walleye. I’ll demonstrate what I’m talking about in another reply
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I am also 5 minutes from Alum definitely take you fishing probably in 60 days or less. That water is too hot for the muskies survival after you land them. Water hits 80 I switch to blue cats. Definitely can shorten the curve for you. H20 definitely


----------



## dgfidler

Earthworms said:


> I am also 5 minutes from Alum definitely take you fishing probably in 60 days or less. That water is too hot for the muskies survival after you land them. Water hits 80 I switch to blue cats. Definitely can shorten the curve for you. H20 definitely


I’ll take you up on that. I’ll PM you in the fall. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BaddFish

Darn! I was hoping to see some St. Clair barred muskie in pics with that swimming pool color water in background! 

I didn't want to bash you on your lure selection but I will say that using "Believers" at St. Clair would be a bad idea... those lures dive 16ft right out of the package! LOL 

Remember, muskie feed up and can move 10ft UP in a second, always better to be above them (like your friendly walleye)
Based on your story about the weed growth, i would of been using Shallow Raiders or your Rapala Super shad (in your pic) above the weeds at all times. I know those Super shads catch fish but their action is......LAME in my opinion, I don't mind running one of those with 3-4 other rods with more aggressive action lures.. never know what they may want on any given day.
The fun part of that (at least for me) is running short lines! (max 25-30ft out, you can do S curves, etc to gt them fired up..
Something else to consider is your speed you were trolling...I generally start at 3.5 and go up- especially LSC, sometimes the fish need 5mph to get going.

Some others to choose from that Ive had good results trolling on (Oh & LSC)
-Bagley Monster shads
-Wileys
-Llungen 
-Tuff shads
-Loki (i have one used green frog looking one that LSC fish love, Oh- not so much

Good luck & Have fun!


----------



## Snakecharmer

Swim Whizzes ( Cousin to Believers) were invented to use on Lake St. Clair by a Lake St. fisherman - Homer LeBlanc. Thirty years ago that's all the Charter captains used were Believers and Swim Whizzes. On my 1st trip with Captain Steve Jones on the Predator, we caught 4 ski's on Believers. 3 of the 4 were by the dumping grounds.


----------



## dgfidler

I think I trolled too slow and deep in restropect. When I was trolling from north to south I didn’t think about the current. That believer was like having a fish in the line. I tried to put it on the boards and the rubber bands I use as releases would just snap from the pull of that lure alone. 

If I’m going to run boards with short leads, the flat lines have to go because they’ll interfere with deploying the board lines. The board lines have to be about 5-10 further back than any boat rods

I’m going to try to get a day with Steve Jones. He seems to be a pioneer in this method of fishing that I’m trying to mimic. He has been featured in a lot of articles and speaks of trolling much faster than I did, especially in clear water.

I plan to keep at this. I found what I think are pretty good deals on Diawa Lexa reels at Walmart. I got a pair of Lexa LC-300H for $135 each and a pair of Lexa LC-400H for $185 each. These are going to be the starting point for my ‘real musky gear’ and I plan to use these for both trolling and casting. Now I have to pair these reels to rods. I’m planning for the 300’s to be matched to rods suitable for bucktails and the 400’s matched to rods suitable for throwing heavy baits like a bulldawg. I think since I have a Livescope system, i should be focusing on casting rather than trolling when fishing locally. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## MuskyFan

Don’t discount the Livescope when trolling as you’ll be able to “see” your leader, lure and anything that comes up behind it.


----------



## K gonefishin

Next time you go run bucktail like these you can mix and match but they need to run 3.6-3.9. Cranks can be run faster but 6 inch ziggies, rusco, boss shads, tuff shads, Wiley are all good baits you can get your hands on. You can throw some cranks with the bucktails if you have 10 rods to run you can play around with stuff. The bucktails that work good trolling in the summmer are either little snack or giant snacks with huge blades. Clair is easier said than done I could go on and on about it but you gotta cut your teeth it’s like Erie or Ontario never stop learning but harder bc musky are dicks!


----------



## dgfidler

Thank you. I will. Ive been doing a lot of reading about targeting Muskie on St Clair. Speed, depth of lures, water clarity, and lures used were all off. I fished too slow for the gin clear water, lures too deep, and in too deep of water. The biggest error was fishing water that had no marks of either fish or bait. None of the articles I read said to go out and find water devoid of fish and troll there! This where my plan to fish the vicinity of charter boats failed me. Most of the articles spoke of finding stained or off color water. I have to figure out what causes that. There had been heavy rains prior to my first trip and it seemed to have no effect on water clarity. I’m thinking off color water might be minor algae blooms there and sometimes LSC is visible from the Lake Erie Modis images. For example in recent images the entire south shore (off limits now) has a bloom as does Anchor Bay. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## K gonefishin

Clair is a large toilet bowl it flushes itself every 7 days the main source of water is st Clair river that water is cooler than the rest of the lake, that flow splits the lake down the middle. The eastern end and side has way less current and Canada water are warmer and that area of the lake has some off color most times, summer time is harder to find off color water die to less wind the Canadian side has less current. In summer the fish like deeper water out in the middle of nowhere like the bouy or off stoney and Thames, The weed beds hold fish find weeds you find musky as well. The channel and dump offers structure for them with current so on USA side that’s where a lot of guys fish when they don’t fish CA, . The lake is shallow so you won’t mark a ton of them nowhere near like you would walleye. The baits you ran can catch em but lsc fish can be picky walking wood baits are most popular. Shad style baits work too as do bucktails of all sorts.


----------



## dgfidler

I went again for the season opening weekend on St Clair. This year I downsized the lures significantly and mostly trolled ziggy crankbaits in much shallower water in anchor bay. I kept my spread clean with small snap weights and constant cycling and ran the lures 2-4 feet below the surface outside the weed line making sure the lures stayed above the weeds that hadn’t reached the surface. Got skunked for second time. There were several Charters working the same area so I think I got the location right. I’m going to wait for the border to reopen before trying this again. It’s my understanding the CA side holds more stained water and that the south shore in CA waters is better place to troll. I don’t mind a 3 hour drive to fish. That’s my commute time to Ashtabula/PA line. It’s tough to make that drive and get skunked though. I saw on MI sportsman there is a Lake Erie style walleye bandit bite going on in the deep water of the shipping channel. I wish I’d checked that out, because I at least could have boated some walleye for my efforts. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BaddFish

dgfidler said:


> I went again for the season opening weekend on St Clair. This year I downsized the lures significantly and mostly trolled ziggy crankbaits in much shallower water in anchor bay. I kept my spread clean with small snap weights and constant cycling and ran the lures 2-4 feet below the surface outside the weed line making sure the lures stayed above the weeds that hadn’t reached the surface. Got skunked for second time. There were several Charters working the same area so I think I got the location right. I’m going to wait for the border to reopen before trying this again. It’s my understanding the CA side holds more stained water and that the south shore in CA waters is better place to troll. I don’t mind a 3 hour drive to fish. That’s my commute time to Ashtabula/PA line. It’s tough to make that drive and get skunked though. I saw on MI sportsman there is a Lake Erie style walleye bandit bite going on in the deep water of the shipping channel. I wish I’d checked that out, because I at least could have boated some walleye for my efforts.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sorry to hear that! I'm no St Clair expert but based on my few successful trips..I would HIGHLY recommend using a variety of styles of baits at any given time.. (Until the fish show you a pattern)
IMO- 1 Muskie hit...can almost be a pattern, 2 Muskies...definitely. But using a jointed vs non-jointed...blue vs white vs green, Large vs. small - you get the idea.
FInd the bait and you will find the muskie. In super clear water- I would only cast.
Still better then working.


----------



## Schooleylewis

St Clair is one of my favorite spots. Muskie fishing on Canada side is much better from my experience - launch from St Clair shores and head toward cell towers and wind turbines. We trolled ziggie’s last time and landed 8…that was a couple of years ago. We went this year and you can’t even fish the Canadian waters. We nailed the walleye in the Detroit river and had a great time…and it wasn’t even peak season. The bite during the day was tough so we fished from 6pm to 4am and did really well. Hard to beat LSC with world class muskie, walleye and smallmouth fishing!


----------

