iFish Lake St. Clair

Been a while since our last report, so here you go with the most up to date Lake St. Clair fishing report on the web.

Smallmouth Bass Report

Lots of reports of some smallies being caught off the mile roads.  The fish are in deeper water – 12 to 14 feet.  Go for the usual tubes and cranks in natural colors.  Also getting reports of some nice bass being caught off of Metro Beach in 10-12 feet of water.  Go for tubes and try some Erie Darters and DS Darters on a drop-shot rig.  Set yourself up for a good drift once you find the weed beds.  Stick to the edges.

Perch Report

Steady reports of perch being caught off of the St. Clair Light area.  Set-up around 15 feet of water with perch rigs and emerald shiners.  You’ll have to weed through some small ones, but some jumbos are out there.

Musky Report

Reports from the Salt River area of Anchor Bay from casters and trollers.  Big blades and big tubes for the caster and body baits in perch and jailbird colors have been catching fish.  Get near the weed beds in 12 feet of water.  Grassy island has given up some fish as well.  Towards the south end of the lake we’ve been getting reports from the Dumping Grounds.  Try different depths as the fish are fluctuating based on cloud cover and temperature.

Walleye Report

Getting some reports of walleye being taken out by the Firecracker on planer boards.  Guys are fishing natural colored bombers and rapalas. haven’t heard a depth, but you’ll probably see a few guys out there.

That’s is for now. Good luck and be safe.

Well it’s that time of year again when the fishflies (mayflies) hatch and fish get full bellies. Fish with full bellies are harder to catch.  Still getting some reports of walleye being caught in the dumping grounds area on crawler harnesses.  Smallmouth are still plentiful but are starting to move to their post-spawn deeper water haunts.  Unfortunately, there haven’t been a lot of reports lately to relay as many fishermen are not catching many fish.  Musky have been fairly active around Grassy Island and the Salt River area both casting and trolling.  Go with the perch colors for the toothy critters.  Hopefully the flies will end soon.  Good luck.

You may have seen Brian Schram on television shows “The World’s Greatest Fishing Show” with Mark Zona or “The Next Bite”.  He may be just as well known for his Music.  He’s a serious musician and tours with the Brian Schram Band performing locally and across North America.  Don’t let that fool you however; this guy can catch some serious fish.  Here is an excerpt about Brian from his website at WWW.BRIANSCHRAM.COM

Fishing has been a passion of mine since I can remember. While growing up in Michigan I spent all my free time fishing and dreaming of becoming a professional fisherman. The only thing that got in the way of my fishing was school, music and a conventional job for a short period of time.It didn’t take me long to realize that I had “the bug” and had it very bad. I would head to the lake right after school and fish for giant top-water smallmouth bass all through the night. In my mind I could spend the rest of my life on that canoe and I would die a very happy man.

Since then I have been fortunate to experience some amazing fishing in some beautiful parts of the world. I have been lucky enough to meet and fish with some of the greatest anglers in the business such as John Gillespie, Gary Parsons, Chase Parsons, Keith Kavajecz, Mark Zona, Kevin Van Dam just to name a few.

I have appeared on many Nationally syndicated fishing TV shows as the guest “fishing rocker” as well. Pete Maina is a co-host for one of these TV shows called “The Next Bite”. I was lucky enough to become a very good friend of Pete’s on and off the water. Pete has “taken me under his wing” so to speak and shown me the pro’s and cons and a whole lot more about Muskie/Pike fishing and the importance of conservation. In his words he saw the passion and drive that I had just to feel that next bite. Pete is always pushing me to my limits to focus and perfect my angling skills in which I am forever greatful.

Well the rest is history and I have been able to enjoy a fun career in music and fishing. Realizing that I absolutely enjoyed teaching and putting anglers on big fish, in 2010 I began my own guiding business called “Rockin Fish Tales Guide Service”. My home base is the most popular tackle/marina shop on Lake St Clair called Anglers Point Marina. Anglers Point has quickly become the favorite on the lake and the live and artificial bait selection doesn’t get any better for all species that swim in the best multi-species lake in the world. It is located at 28955 Wm P Rosso Hwy, Chesterfeild Township, MI.

At the end of the day us “fish heads” wanna catch fish. I stop at nothing to put you on those fish and a chance at your trophy of a lifetime. That’s how I fish and that’s just my style…. For Booking call 734-709-4728

Give Brian a Call Today.  Dates are booking up fast!

Spoke with a couple guides and got reports of muskie being caught in Anchor Bay, some still around Grassy Island. Make sense since we are getting reports of the bass starting to move in as well. Caster are using spinners in silver and perch colored body baits. Trollers are using perch colored body baits as well, along with bass and walleye colored body baits too. Look for the action to pick-up once the weather clears and the temps. drop a bit.

Author: Robert Phillips

Most anglers think big when hunting lunker muskie, but if you want to catch more muskie think smaller baits and tackle. I caught my biggest muskie while fishing walleye with a plastic worm in September. More often than can be coincidental people catch a muskie while fishing other species. Most anglers look to heavy tackle, large baits and trolling as the way to catch muskies. Personally I become bored or just tired of trolling all the time.

Now one of my most successful tactics used especially in the fall is used for fishing large walleye and at the same time muskies. I use medium size tackle and large walleye baits especially jigs. Fishing weed lines, drop offs and shoals as you would for walleyes will also attract as many muskies as walleyes. The first time I realised this I did have some success for large walleyes and had just caught and released a nice 7 pounder that was followed to the boat by a large muskie.

The only change I made was to make sure I was using wire leads and good stong swivels. Using 6 inch plastics worked just fine and the result was a fun great day of fishing. In all the two of us caught and released 9 walleyes from 5 to 8 pounds plus 5 muskies all in the 15 to 20 pound range. Although not the lunker; that most muskie hunters look for. But it proved to me that the muskie can be caught on lighter tackle and smaller baits.

Conventional thinking tells us that in the fall; the remaining muskie, are large, therefore bigger is better. However, my experience is that smaller baits are often the perfect morsel for that elusive muskie.

Equipment And Presentation

When I say smaller baits I am referring to large or oversized walleyes jigs. As mentioned this approach evolved on a body of water with a large population of large walleye. Now using the idea that big baits means big fish or walleye. I began tossing 5 to 6 inch plastic shad-bodied jigs along weed lines. I landed a number of big walleye, but to my surprise, the muskie were also going for the same bait. The big plastic jigs became an important part of my muskie fishing arsenal. All large plastics work just fine.

Colour seems less important than creating a real flash. Two-toned baits, mainly dark and light combinations, create more flash when drawn through the water. Adding some metal flake also ads that extra flash. Just experiment and you will find a combination that will work for you and get that strike you want.

Generally I use ball-head or stand-up-head jigs with medium gauge wire hooks. It’s surprising how well a single hook can handle even a large muskie. Often you will hook the fish in the gristly flesh in the corner of the mouth. Jigs also make landing and releasing muskie easier; there are then no large treble hooks flopping around to damage the fish or you. Deeply hooked fish can be released by clipping off the hook with pliers.

Single strand wire leaders seem to work best especially along weed beds. I use a hay-wire- twist to attach the wire to the jig head at one end and a small swivel at the other. Watch for kinks in the wire, but these leaders are more weedless than the standard models because of the snaps and swivels.

I prefer a medium action 6-foot spinning rod and a reel spooled with 12 to 14 pound test monofilament. A medium-heavy bait-casting outfit also does the trick, in both cases make sure the drag is working properly.

Even if you prefer the conventional approach, keep a lighter outfit close at hand for when muskie follow, but don’t hit, or they strike short. Using lighter tackle and a jig is also a good approach when there are two of you fishing muskie. One angler throws conventioinal baits, and the other throwing jigs. Then you are always ready to react to follows and misses.

Vary the speed of your retrieve when jigging up muskie. I have had luck in late fall, by using violent rip-jigging motion. It’s tiring, but effective. Experiment and you will find something that works for you.

When battling a muskie on light tackle, be careful not to fight it to exhaustion, thereby increasing the chance of delayed death if you plan on catch and release. Ideally, you should release a fish by simply grasping the single hook with a pair of needle nosed pliers, while it’s in the water at the side of the boat. Cut off the hook if the fish is hooked deeply. Muskie fisheries are a fragile resource, so do your best to release that muskie no worse for wear. Now next season that muskie will be ready to fight another day and make that day a great day for another angler.

About the Author:

Rob Phillips has been an avid Canadian angler for over 50 years. Fishing Canada provides solid advice for walleye, bass, pike, muskie, a variety of trout, arctic char bass and more. Idea’s on when and where to go on your next trip to Canada. Ice fishing tips. Delicious fish recipes also!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/muskie-fishing-tips-jigging-fall-muskies-54962.html