The best waters for trolling St. Clair are along the southern shore off the Belle , Thames and Puce rivers. Absolutely unreal numbers and big fish mixed in. One guy last season boated 642 with 36 inch average including several over 50. Two rods. Simply unreal.
Michelle and I fished out of Nine Mile for most of 2010 and had some great days but we did cross into Canadian waters. If you have a good G.P.S. and ride the line on the U.S. Side from the Dumps North along the Shipping Channel you can find pockets of fish. Out in front of the Tower in 15/16 foot is okay as well. I would fish both sides of the shipping channel looking for 15 to 18 feet of water. Use planer boards and set 6 to 8 inch plugs back 25 to 35 feet with inline weights of 2 to 4 ounces. Keep leaders about 5 to 6 feet. Lokes, Slashers, Wiley and other 6 to 7 inch straight and jointed plugs all run at about 3.5 to 5 mph with 3.8 to 4.5 being best speeds. You can troll Big Buck tails as well though they require heavier sets,rods and tighter reels for better hooksets. We run 30 pound Mason P-LINE as main line on all our boat and board rods for St. Clair. Leaders are 60 or 80 pound Triple fish Florocarbon leaders or 60 pound Trilene Big Game. Anything heavier will suck the action(wander) out of the lures. With Bucktails you can go much heavier on both the main and leaders. I use 50 pound main and 80 pound Floro for Bucks. The main thing is to run crank baits that wander and good Buck tails like Spanky baits double tens. Jason at Michigan Musky shop carries our Slasher and Stubby Slasher baits.
Another type bait that has been hot over the years are smaller shad style lures like Our Rippin Shad, Fat Shad and others like the Tuff Shad and Boss Shad. These baits run a little deeper and in areas where Shad are being targeted they can not be out fished. In close along the south shore off the Belle and Thames river mouths these smaller Shad baits accounted for over two thousand Muskies last season. Match the hatch? Most likely. Mike Any questions best to call me. 231-821-9020
Thanks Mike I got some of those Fat shad from you last season & never got back to LSC to really use them. I was planning on running those along with some of my other big stick baits like Belivers & Flat sticks. The only landing I've ever used over there is Selfridge. The 9 mile rd landing is open to the public isnt it? Are there any other good landings that that area?
The dumps are usually pretty productive for june trolling the american side, muskies tend to be in loose groups out there so if you catch a fish make a waypoint and work that area well. I have also seen guys trolling in June out in 9-12 FOW out in Anchor bay aways from shore like off lottivue and marsac. Trolling is cheating though and should be illegal for anyone under the age of 50. 😈
"ERJake" said:
Thanks Mike I got some of those Fat shad from you last season & never got back to LSC to really use them. I was planning on running those along with some of my other big stick baits like Belivers & Flat sticks. The only landing I've ever used over there is Selfridge. The 9 mile rd landing is open to the public isnt it? Are there any other good landings that that area?
I would stick with nine mile as the launch is SAFE . They have a guard on duty and yes it is public but there is a 10 dollar fee. It is well worth it however as the piece of mind knowing your rig is safe is well worth the money. I would fish the strip between the dumps and the Canadian line as far towards the river as you can. Then back towards the middle of the lake staying just off the Line. Like I said bigger fish are going to be in 17 to 18 feet. You dont get bit as often there but there some nice ones taken in there every year.
Still the 45 bucks it costs for an enhanced drivers license is the way to go. Just drive over to belle river and deal with customs on the bridge not in your boat. You will not regret fishing out in front of the Belle or Ruscom rivers. That is where those Shads will shine. There are so many fish over there its insane. Mike
A warning if launching out of 9 mile…. Don't launch boat in too deep! 3 years in a row now and I've seen too many trailers stuck due to the fact of several idiots power loading big boats over the years. I don't know if they have packed it back up at the end of ramp this season but don't take any chances. There was and still might be a significant hole once the cement ends at the end of ramp. Powerloading is illegal in Michigan and I see too many guys powerload out on LSC. If done properly there is absolutely no need to powerload a boat. Just a warning on the 9 mile ramp for all…
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