Launch advice - belle river and thames river

[eyesncoke]

Hey guys. Planning my first ever trip to st.clair this weekend to try our luck trolling for skis. Totally unfamiliar with the area and the ramps. What would be best for a 22 foot walkaround? We also might slip it sat night and sleep on it. Any suggestions for the best marina for this? Thanks in advance.

 

[apps]

I would say Cove Marina in Lighthouse Cove for the Thames River and Belle River Yacht Club for Belle river both nice marinas and nice ramps to get in and out with , hope this helps .................apps

 

[eyesncoke]

Thanks apps.....would you happen to know what they each charge for the ramp?

 

[apps]

@eyesncoke , Cove Marina is $10 in and $10 out =$20 and Yacht Club is $8 bucks , Terry at the Yacht Club real nice guy , he can probably even hook you up with a room for the night , he usually does a 3 night thing but this is the off season for him so I would think he would help you out ! His # is 519-257-3095 ..........................apps

 

[eyesncoke]

Perfect. I actually did talk to Terry, only issue is we're taking the dog, so had to find somewhere else. His spot does look awesome, really convenient to have the boat right outside the room. Sounds like we'll launch there. Thanks Apps, much appreciated.

 

[Schenley]

Deerbrook marina at 1023 County Rd 2 P.O. Box 70 St. Joachim, ON is great. The owner Al has cabins right at the ramp you can rent for cheap and slips so you can leave your boat in the water overnight. Just did a trip a few weeks ago and we met him at the launch. He offered us the cabins for $20 a head for the night. They sleep 6 i think.

 

[eyesncoke]

Thanks schenley. We followed your advice and we are here now. Great place. Now just need the north winds to back off so we can get out

 

[eyesncoke]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. We stayed at Deerbrook, great facility, Al was awesome. Gave tips and reports from other people he knew that were out. Cottage was super clean and worked well. Would be a great spot for a large group as it has lots of sleeping room. Apparently it was a tough weekend from the reports Al gave us. Spoke with a few guys at the ramp, seemed that 1 fish per trip out was the norm. We managed 4 fish over the weekend. Only had one come off, but it was a heartbreaker as it was a monster. Came out of the water twice before it came off. The wind really made it a challenge to maintain boat control and speed with only 2 people. Was blowing hard north on Sat AM, hard east on Sun AM, and moderate south on Mon AM (the nicest of the days). Largest fish was 40". Caught on 8" jointed perch. Was the GF's PB so excuse her excitement, she forgot how to hold a fish.

One thing I did learn over the weekend on our first visit to the area is that it seems that all the spots to stay that have slips or marinas are on the south side of the train tracks. So if you guys have boats with hardtops like me, you won't probably make it under the bridges. Found this out as we made our way down Ruscom and had to turn around, take boat out, and head down to launch at the Belle River Marina. Nice marina and ramp, we were just hoping to be able to leave the boat in the water all weekend. But for you guys with lower boats, those places are great. Could be out to the lake in 5 minutes tops.

 

[apps]

@eyesncoke ......nice fish ! GF looks pretty happy about getting a little slimy ! ............nothing wrong with that hold it's called the Joe Bucher hold and he's one of "the greats" ................apps