Mitchell's Bay

[Rizzo]

Well lets start with any free launches at Mitchell's Bay? Even if not free any place you'd recommend? Taking the new boat out for its maiden voyage in search of pike tomorrow. Any tips would be greatly appreciated as well (ie areas to avoid...I hear there are some sandbars out there).

Edited May 21, 2013 by Rizzo

[Raycaster]

Isn't there a free launch right in Balsam where it meets Mitchell?

You have to drive slow for 15 mins to get to Mitchel thru the channel though...

 

I could be wrong, first time visiting Mitchell last year from Balsam.

[Terry]

there is, but I think Mitchell's Bay is on St Clair

[Ron]

Thames River, Light House Cove is closer than Mitchell Bay.

[bow slayer]

Bass Haven in Mitchels Bay is good,...there is a free launch at the lighthouse at the mouth of the Thames but it is a good ride from there to mitchels bay or st.lukes....but there is plenty good fishing out from the lighthouse.

[Handlebarz]

The water is very dirty to bad stained at stlukes today the best looking water was around the xe2 marker area just north of it. We got a couple pike OOS SM big sheep head also had a musky or big pike that cut my 20lbs power pro like it was 2 lbs mono. Will be back out tomorrow. There are a lot of perch around xe2 area if you bring minnows.

 

I would suggest going to the main marina in the bay with your first voyage they dredged it over the winter it's $15.50 to launch there. Then you have a short ride to the xe2 area.

 

Good luck out there tomorrow.

[Rizzo]

hey good idea! Maybe go after some perch instead...now to find where xe2 is!

[bigmac1984]

you can use this map of LSC...

 

XE2 is at N42^o25.609 W82^o27.044 right off the end of Mitchell's point.

 

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

[Rizzo]

thanks Mac, I found the same map in my search. Basically we are just going to go out and explore, these are the first minutes on the new motor so time to break it in and our first time on st clair so we'll likely just tootle around for a few hours looking around. We heard Mitchells was a good spot for pike so we thought we'd give it a shot. Told my buddy about the perch option and he seems to like that idea

[bigmac1984]

usually have had good luck for early season pike in middlegrounds (between bass haven and marine park), but have caught them out around XE2 and XE4 as well. Middlegrounds might be unaccessable with the low water levels, its only a few feet deep at the best of times. XE2 and XE4 are good for pike too, about 8-10' deep with good weed growth.

[FloatnFly]

used to fish mitchells bay all the time when i lived in sarnia, used to be a regular trip for me and my dad, i forget which launch we used thoughm, been about 12 years since i been there

[Djeep]

I launched out of bass haven yesterday. i had no problems with my small 16'. I also layed a beat down on the pike. Consider the water temps when youre looking for a good spot to fish.

[Rizzo]

Bit of an update...finally got the new boat out on the water and all went well. We launched at Marine park and headed out to XE2 in search of pike. Since the motor was new, we broke it in by trolling out there in varying speeds (rather than bombing out there like everyone else!). Good thing we did, first fish to grace the boat was a 25 inch pickerel not too far from the channel that leads to the marina! This was very fitting for me that a pickerel wouold be the first fish caught in the new boat. I have a habit of catching these dang pesky pickerel when I'm after something else. After that surprise visit, the pike were particularly cooperative. We lost count how many slimed us. There are a lot of hammerhandles around that xe2. We caught lots, and saw many other people pull in slimy esox as well. Thanks for the info, we had a good day.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Rizzo

[RickOnt]

Hey Rizz

Nothing wrong with a 25" Pick!!

 

Some nice Pike ya got there too!!

 

Great to have the 'New' boat out

 

 

Cheers

Rick

[kickingfrog]

Nice, maybe my first fish in your old boat will be a 25inch eye as well.

Edited May 21, 2013 by kickingfrog

[bigmac1984]

Rizzo,

 

how were the water levels leaving marine park? I know they dredged, but on the way to XE2 I know there were some shallow spots before that might be even shallower now.... Any sandbars on the way out to XE2 that might have been under water previously?

[Handlebarz]

Bigmac I did not launch out of there but can say the Thames river is about the same as late August level. The lake is Down a bit but I could still run across the shallow areas that are 5' around the xe2 area. I did not get to check out a area that's normally 2' maybe this weekend.

[Ron]

Bigmac I did not launch out of there but can say the Thames river is about the same as late August level. The lake is Down a bit but I could still run across the shallow areas that are 5' around the xe2 area. I did not get to check out a area that's normally 2' maybe this weekend.

 

Hey,

 

What do you think you doing? Those lures won't get tied by themselves yo know...... Now put the boat back int eh driveway, give teh keys to Danna and get your sorry *@@ back to work.

[Handlebarz]

Yea mon

[Rizzo]

hey bigmac. In a brand new boat I gotta tell you that was a white knuckle ride heading out from the marina! At times the finder was reading 2.5 feet in the channel! The 90 Yamaha on the back of the boat is super heavy too so when going slow I sit pretty low in the water. I had it trimmed up pretty good but that thing is one BIG engine. Once we got out of the channel everything was ok. We were probably a km away from the xe2 marker though mainly in 8-10 feet

[Ron]

Glad to hear you Christen the boat in it's maiden voyage Rizzo.

 

First ride is always the scariest, eventually it will become ol hat and you will be able to navigate that machine with confidence.

[Rizzo]

Thanks Ron. I was definitely more tentative than I would have been in my last boat, you don't know how it will respond. A couple of times I accelerated faster than I wanted and other times I bogged down rather than just popping up on the take off.