Lake St Clair Tips/Or Leamington...

[bigjimmcbob]

I'm renting a cottage in Lighthouse Cove at the mouth of the Thames in early Aug.

 

I usually fish Lake O for Salmon, but I'm hoping to connect with some big Musky and some Walleye.

 

Any tips for Musky on Lake St Clair? My equipment is geared for Lake O, copper, wire dipsy's and riggers. Anything I need to change up drastically? Lure recommendations, speed/depth for trolling?

 

For Walleye I assume they are deep, I don't mind a 10 mile run out to try for them, or is it better to just pull the boat and drive to Leamington and try for eyes and bows? If Leamington is the ticket any tips for bows and eyes?

 

thanks!

[Handlebarz]

I will help you out for LSC musky I think we have some good ideas to pass along but a bit tired right now I am off to bed again will try and remember tomorrow for now here is one you can look for she is still roaming around the 15' mark west of the thames out in the lake.Heck maybe we can get out for a bit if not please PM me just before the trip so we can help out with the latest info for ya.

 

 

[Handlebarz]

Here in LSC we do a lot of trolling I try mu luck with casting but have not had much luck later in the year its good but summer time trolling is the key here.

 

You don't need the dipsy's or down riggers they are over kill as you will be fishing 12-18FOW and your lures will be running 3-12' down. Your rods should be good just upgrade your leaders to 80lbs florocarbon (if you need I might be able to help you out with them) try and make them 5-6' long this way you can run a lead weight in front of them to get the lures down some.

 

I like canon ball style weights 1oz-4oz is the common ones but we do use up to 1Lbs to get a lure down in the prop wash.We clip them on the leader where it attaches to the main line this way it also acts like a weed guard and keeps them from your lures even if the line is loaded with weeds the lures usually stay clean. (I also make them 1oz-4oz if you need them I have lots and they don't cost much at all)

 

Speeds I start off each day around 3.5mph but do fish up to 5mph every trip and way beyond if things are slow.

 

Target the break lines or contour lines if you have a GPS and a chip for the lake if not have a look at this site it has some great info for mapping the lake and shows you the exact spot that you are looking at so you can mark them in your GPS.

 

http://www.marinecruiser.com/chart.html

 

I like to use woodies 6 1/4" they produce a lot of fish for my boat and many others here they are made in Windsor color patterns I like would be frog's olive,blue or dark frog Perch patterns with yellow belly or white belly, Special perch is a amazing color and takes many fish each year Black perch is also one of the go to colors try to stick to the "meat and potatoes" colors natural bait fish, browns, blacks and greens but always bring along something crazy for them early or late day fish.

 

 

 

I also run Jakes nils master 10" lures. I know many use super shad raps and do well with them again same color patterns you can use a lot of different baits they all have there day.

 

I run my own flashabou inline lures and have had some nice success this year with them they are a double 8 colorado blade version of the cowgirl.

 

 

We use planer boards so if you have some inline ones bring them as they will help you out a lot.

 

For my first set up for the day with 4 rods I will run two board rods 1 with 2oz and 30' of line the other 2oz 20' of line then the boat rods will have 2-4oz and 10-40' of line depending on my mood. Also look for water color here if its very dirty look for the clean edges as the bait fish here will be stacked there and the big fish follow. I like a stained water and work it hard east west north south and pay attention to the speed direction and line out so that if you get into a fish you can do it all over again.

 

The water temps have been high this year so please remember to try and keep the out of water time short. What week are you coming down? I have a few days off early Aug and will be out if the weather is on for that time. I can also give you the majors and minors for the days your here they do work a lot some laugh about it but they do work amazing.

 

As for pickerel and bows you will be better off on Erie they eyes are here but from what I heard they are in the rivers across the lake as the temps got to hot to fast but then again I ahve not chased them this year so I am not much help there.

 

If ya have some questions I can help just shoot me a PM

 

cheers Mike

[outllaw]

Here in LSC we do a lot of trolling I try mu luck with casting but have not had much luck later in the year its good but summer time trolling is the key here.

 

You don't need the dipsy's or down riggers they are over kill as you will be fishing 12-18FOW and your lures will be running 3-12' down. Your rods should be good just upgrade your leaders to 80lbs florocarbon (if you need I might be able to help you out with them) try and make them 5-6' long this way you can run a lead weight in front of them to get the lures down some.

 

I like canon ball style weights 1oz-4oz is the common ones but we do use up to 1Lbs to get a lure down in the prop wash.We clip them on the leader where it attaches to the main line this way it also acts like a weed guard and keeps them from your lures even if the line is loaded with weeds the lures usually stay clean. (I also make them 1oz-4oz if you need them I have lots and they don't cost much at all)

 

Speeds I start off each day around 3.5mph but do fish up to 5mph every trip and way beyond if things are slow.

 

Target the break lines or contour lines if you have a GPS and a chip for the lake if not have a look at this site it has some great info for mapping the lake and shows you the exact spot that you are looking at so you can mark them in your GPS.

 

http://www.marinecruiser.com/chart.html

 

I like to use woodies 6 1/4" they produce a lot of fish for my boat and many others here they are made in Windsor color patterns I like would be frog's olive,blue or dark frog Perch patterns with yellow belly or white belly, Special perch is a amazing color and takes many fish each year Black perch is also one of the go to colors try to stick to the "meat and potatoes" colors natural bait fish, browns, blacks and greens but always bring along something crazy for them early or late day fish.

 

 

 

I also run Jakes nils master 10" lures. I know many use super shad raps and do well with them again same color patterns you can use a lot of different baits they all have there day.

 

I run my own flashabou inline lures and have had some nice success this year with them they are a double 8 colorado blade version of the cowgirl.

 

 

We use planer boards so if you have some inline ones bring them as they will help you out a lot.

 

For my first set up for the day with 4 rods I will run two board rods 1 with 2oz and 30' of line the other 2oz 20' of line then the boat rods will have 2-4oz and 10-40' of line depending on my mood. Also look for water color here if its very dirty look for the clean edges as the bait fish here will be stacked there and the big fish follow. I like a stained water and work it hard east west north south and pay attention to the speed direction and line out so that if you get into a fish you can do it all over again.

 

The water temps have been high this year so please remember to try and keep the out of water time short. What week are you coming down? I have a few days off early Aug and will be out if the weather is on for that time. I can also give you the majors and minors for the days your here they do work a lot some laugh about it but they do work amazing.

 

As for pickerel and bows you will be better off on Erie they eyes are here but from what I heard they are in the rivers across the lake as the temps got to hot to fast but then again I ahve not chased them this year so I am not much help there.

 

If ya have some questions I can help just shoot me a PM

 

cheers Mike

[outllaw]

hi just noticed this thread. lsclair is an awesome musky fishery.

if you have planer boards try running your lures in the top 6ft. if not boat rods with a system of 4 and 40. that means 4 ounce inline weight and 40ft of line out. at 3.9 to 4.1 mph its a big fish set up. .

we prefer hi action lures like woodies,,,minee mees, and the new handlebarz bucktails. as for leamington the waters very warm. the sheephead out number walleyes a millionto one. bring tons of crawlers, or wait till the water cools some for the western basin of erie.

[mpt]

Try this site for Erieau info.....

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=89

[bigjimmcbob]

Try this site for Erieau info.....

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=89

 

Thanks guys.

 

I will probably focus on Musky for most of the week, given my boat is in water on Lake St Clair. I just installed a FishHawk X4, so I'm hoping to try it out for bows on Lake E, I'll pick a day and trailer it out. I hope to try Wheatley for walleye and/or bows. I assume if I find temperature for bows and eyes with my X4, trolling patterns for bows would be similar to Lake O I assume - spoons mainly.

Edited July 27, 2010 by bigjimmcbob

[bigjimmcbob]

Thanks guys.

 

I will probably focus on Musky for most of the week, given my boat is in water on Lake St Clair. I just installed a FishHawk X4, so I'm hoping to try it out for bows on Lake E, I'll pick a day and trailer it out. I hope to try Wheatley for walleye and/or bows. I assume if I find temperature for bows and eyes with my X4, trolling patterns for bows would be similar to Lake O I assume - spoons mainly.

 

Where is the Marina/ boat launch in Wheatley exactly?

[fishing n autograph]

go for a nice perch dinner in leamington...plenty of great restaurants

[spincast]

I chartered with this guy for Walleye. My link Hit our limit with 6 guys in 2.5 hours. Between the info in this article and Mike P's posting looks like a good start.

I am hoping to get down to LSC later in August to hunt some of those too.

Let us know how you do - what works and what doesn't

[F7Firecat]

get out there and troll try different things speed colours baits etc,

 

You will have a ton of fun with the skis on St Clair and Mike Parker hit it right on the nail!

 

small baits, add some weight change it up and you will hook up!

[Handlebarz]

Hey How did ya make out down here? I had not heard back from ya hope it was a good trip. I know a couple others that were down did Ok for the musky was just wondering how things went for ya.

 

Cheers Mike