After going through some posts on here I think we have decided to stay at Bewabic. We will probably hit up Emily,Smokey, and Chicagon. The Paint River intrigues me, but I know absolutely nothing of it, what kind of fishing is it? Deep, big shallow flats???? I will be sure to post some pics from the trip. Am I missing anything. Would hate to make the twelve hour drive and then hear…."I can't believe you didn't fish……………." This will be my first time going past Manistique so I am pretty pumped. Any help is appreciated………..
Bewabic is nice . Michelle and I stayed there. You will find Emily to be a numbers lake and it is very fun fishing it. Use lots of browns . Our Copper Carp Little Claw was outstanding on that lake. Dont pass up the inside weed edge as muskies use both sides in Emily.
Smokey is Gin Clear and deep. Work the points and mid lake hump with big bucktails and jerk baits . Work the deep Cabbage on the west side with Bull dawgs and deep cranks. You can troll on the Michigan side which is most of the lake. The Launch is in Wisconsin. Trout colors work well there as it is stocked with trout.
The lower paint is pretty nice where it dumps into PEAVY Pond. Fish the bends and holes. Look for wood.That is where we fished it but you can also fish it right near Crystal falls. Stop in at the little bait shop on the corner in Crystal falls. Bewabic is the perfect place to camp and fish these waters. Chicagon is pretty big and a tough lake to get bit in. It does however have some real tankers in it. Stanley is also in reach there but low numbers and when we fished it there was a craw problem and lots of turbid water color we did get one there. The rock point at Emily will keep you coming back. Its really a nice little lake. Mike and Michelle
When are you going up? I'll be at Pentoga park(right on Chicagon) June 11-26. I'll most likely only get one day dedicated to muskies since I don't want to leave my wife alone with our 10 month old too much but I was thinking of hitting Emily. I've fished both Emily and Chicagon several times but I haven't had much luck on either( 1 folllow on Emily and caught my PB on Chicagon which is my avatar pic). Chicagon is deep and crazy clear(20 ft visibility), mostly rocky with weeds scattered here and there.
When we fished it we used our Starcraft super fisherman which is 17 feet 9 inches. I think the lower end and upper Peavy pond would be fine but check at the bait shop in Crystal falls. I have not been up there in years. Smokey is your best bet for 50 inch class fish, Emily for numbers. Lots of wood, stumps and snags in The paint. Where it goes through Crystal falls its mostly rock. Make sure you stop in that bait shop. They helped us a ton.
We had a 7 fish day on Emily moved some tankers in Chicagon and a nice two fish day on Smokey. Don't pass up smokey!! It is the Wisconsin guys Lake -X if you know what I mean. Mike
"JTAspin" said:
Thanks agian Mike,At this point I need to get somewhere with numbers to get off the schnide. Been hitting up Sanford and have seen a few but have not connected.
The thing with Emily IS THE WEEDS AND WEED ROCK COMBINATIONS. Right across from the boat launch is a rocky point with small bolders in the water. This area holds lots of fish. They love to eat walleyes in this lake so browns, coppers, golds, brown and yellow with some gold. We put 7 fish in the net during a thunderstorm with a brown and copper carp scale Little claw. Other days we did well with Mepps magnums and other smaller buck tails on the inside of the weed edge in like 3 feet of water. Dont be afraid to go real shallow on the west side. At first light just go out into deep water and watch for fish blowing up on bait. That will steer you right to the fish. Any way have a great trip. Mike
This should get you excited. June 9th 2005 Smokey. Note the depth finder (61 feet) We trolled this one up using a lavender 10 inch Jake(NIGHT SHINER) we used planer boards out over open water. This fish was 43 inches then she is 7 years older now. 
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I will be there with a buddy from the 8th of July on, We might go east to the Tahq but I am pretty sure I was going to try going west, and hitting up Emily Chicagon and whatnot. Also some great trout fishing over there, so I will be out for a day or two trying to find them. Love the info in this thread, it diefinitely helps make decisions!
Lots of miles of good navigable water on the Paint. Beautiful scenery, structure, and good muskies. You will not be disappointed if you are a river rat.
There are launches above both dams near town- the Crystal Falls Impoundment has high numbers, not much for size (but occasionally…). This stretch is only a mile or 2 before it gets quite shallow. The launch above the Little Bull Dam puts you into bigger water & better size potential. The stretch from the dam up to Mud Lake is gorgeous and you could spend a lot of your quality time here. Channel is plenty deep but with great edges & casting targets, plus a few islands & flats here and there. Whole stretch is prime. You can actually drive through the Bull Dam and down a canal into Peavy. Crazy I know, but trust me. you will see when you launch there. Fun experience but not necessarily a must do- it is a little unnerving. The canal itself to the mouth at Peavy is not interesting at all fishing-wise. Flat, shallow (man-made)
Peavy is Canadian shield breath-taking. Completely wild & remote (but fairly popular with campers & fishermen). Lots of rock in the south end, I'm talking shear rock walls into 60' of water. Lots of good weeds & awesome shallower structure in the upper ends and islands. Lots of whitefish out in the open basin. BUT- pretty low musky density. Big fish though. By the way I'm super jealous for the record. I'll bet you will be looking for permanent Iron County residence after your trip… or your trip will just never end!
Emily is loaded with these. They average about 34 inches with some over the 40 inch mark. I did have one real nice one on in there that may have gone 46/47 inches. Main forage is Walleye, perch and sucker. This one is from 2004 .
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There is also the chance of running into this guy. I caught him in 2005 and should be an adult now if its still alive. Tiger Muskies occur naturally in Emily. This one ate a Little Claw on a very foggy morning.
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We did three 6 day trips per year in 2002 through 2008 . Michelle and I fished most every Musky lake up there at least once. Duke is right about Peavy pond. It is really gorgeous but a little hairy getting into it. We caught a couple there. Emily is the best numbers lake we fished up there. Kingston had the most semi big fish meaning 43 to 48 class fish. Smokey is a miss piggy lake as is Chicagon . We never fished the Paint up from Crystal falls but the bait shop there said it was good. You will love Bewabic campgrounds. Its quiet and they have everything you need. Power for battery charging, Laundry,ice is all close. etc.
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