Detroit River Walleye - Late March

[KraTToR]

Never been, how does the last weekend in March sound?

 

Any pointers on where to launch, stay, fish, etc? I'll be coming out of Kitchener.

 

 

[porkpie]

I'll be down March 30. Launch out of Lasalle, excellent launch, you won't need to pay at that time either, its not manned that early. There is a Tim's near by, but lodging is sparse, I`ve located a B&B nearby but not sure if they`re still in business. We generally sleep in the truck and tailgate. Not very comfortable but OK if it`s just one night. Despite what some will tell you, a 3/4 jig is about as heavy as you'll ever need even if it's windy, try to run lighter if you can. We have caught fish up to 40fow though, so sometimes the heavy jig is needed. Just look for the boats to start you off. Once you learn the drifts, and start exploring just keep your net low when your landing fish or you'll have 20 boats on you in no time. Your headed down at the right time for big fish. Mid april and you'll catch lots of good eater males. Good luck.

Edited March 12, 2016 by porkpie

[wormdunker]

Porky (sorry Porkpie) is right on the money. The launch in LaSalle is very handy to the walleye hot spots on the river. Accomodations are not very handy. There's the Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn & Hampton Inn on Huron Church road. A little pricey at $150.00 per night last time I was there. There's also the city marina closer to the mouth of the river at Lake St. Clair. You'll be closer to the Casino as well! I've never fished that area except for perch of the marina docks, but, I have seen some nice walleye coming in on other guys boats. They use a hand line wooden frame type apparatus which I'm not familiar with. Kinda like the cod jiggers from down east. Good luck!

[gaspumper]

What color of bucktail jig do you find works the best there.

[porkpie]

One thing I forgot to add. Buy the US license in advance, or preregister with the DNR and have a smart phone handy. A lot of the time you can fish the Canadian side, but sometimes one side of the river is dirtier than the other, or their just doing better on the US side. If you have a smartphone you can go online and buy a daily license. DNR will accept a screenshot of your license as proof of purchase.