Fishing Report LSC Musky … kinda?

[Fishermanpaul]

Strangest most random day ever yesterday. Coming out of the river into the lake there was a million people casting the channel (the one photo shows this even though it doesn’t do it justice). You literally couldn’t drive through without being in someone’s way. People were throwing baits all around us which is typical for Lake St. Clair but some were literally coming over our heads, and in front of the boat. We were going slowly at like 4 mph just trying to get out to the lake.

Once we did we drove a very short distance out and started moving with the trolling motor and casting. Thank god because there was line that was wrapped around my motor and would have done some damage.

As we’re moving along at 0.3 mph casting away, there suddenly was a musky splashing at the motor.. and then gone. At the time I had a bait sitting in the water as I set up other rods so I figured the fish had hit that bait.

Not much later the musky splashes and fights at the back of the boat again and swims away. Yet this time I realized that there had to be line caught on the motor. What blows my mind is no one had yelled or said anything. Also I had driven slowly by everyone until I got to the end of the maze of boats.

So we had no clue there was even line wrapped around the motor, let alone that there was a musky attached to it. We got the hook out, one quick picture and she swam away without hesitation. Hopefully the mark she got from the braid isn’t too bad, but she swam away strongly at least.

In this process we lost our net of course. We were just so focused on taking care of the fish. It could have been a lot worse, but for sure not impressed with all the people casting the way they did. I understand there’s people coming and going out of there all the time and they probably get sick of the boats, but patience is a virtue, and people can’t get to the lake without going out the mouth of the river so I don’t know what they expect when they set up there it’s not everyone, and normally people are respectful but yesterday was not ideal.

 

[Red Hering]

Strangest most random day ever yesterday. Coming out of the river into the lake there was a million people casting the channel (the one photo shows this even though it doesn’t do it justice). You literally couldn’t drive through without being in someone’s way. People were throwing baits all around us which is typical for Lake St. Clair but some were literally coming over our heads, and in front of the boat. We were going slowly at like 4 mph just trying to get out to the lake.

Once we did we drove a very short distance out and started moving with the trolling motor and casting. Thank god because there was line that was wrapped around my motor and would have done some damage.

As we’re moving along at 0.3 mph casting away, there suddenly was a musky splashing at the motor.. and then gone. At the time I had a bait sitting in the water as I set up other rods so I figured the fish had hit that bait.

Not much later the musky splashes and fights at the back of the boat again and swims away. Yet this time I realized that there had to be line caught on the motor. What blows my mind is no one had yelled or said anything. Also I had driven slowly by everyone until I got to the end of the maze of boats.

So we had no clue there was even line wrapped around the motor, let alone that there was a musky attached to it. We got the hook out, one quick picture and she swam away without hesitation. Hopefully the mark she got from the braid isn’t too bad, but she swam away strongly at least.

In this process we lost our net of course. We were just so focused on taking care of the fish. It could have been a lot worse, but for sure not impressed with all the people casting the way they did. I understand there’s people coming and going out of there all the time and they probably get sick of the boats, but patience is a virtue, and people can’t get to the lake without going out the mouth of the river so I don’t know what they expect when they set up there it’s not everyone, and normally people are respectful but yesterday was not ideal.

YIKES !! @Fishermanpaul !! Musky lure’s flying over your head’s & that’s a scary thought with the size of the musky hook’s,attached to these musky lure’s!! Sorry to read as well,that you had lost your fishing net,and the lure that you had unhooked from the musky,was it a fairly good one for your troubles? I heard over the past year’s the chaos that the Fall musky fishing season brings there,and “NO THANKS!!” Beautiful weather that we just had this past weekend,which didn’t help either,to bring the angler’s to the Thames Rivermouth and into Lake St. Clair,for some musky fishing. Be Safe & Tight lines & Musky ON!!

 

[Tyler0420]

And here I thought musky anglers were some sort of elite angler that showed the utmost respect for the fishery and here they are closing off a river mouth to snag a fish.

 

[Red Hering]

And here I thought musky anglers were some sort of elite angler that showed the utmost respect for the fishery and here they are closing off a river mouth to snag a fish.

Soon perhaps @Tyler0420 angler’s might need to wear safety helmets/gear,due to the fact that musky lure’s are flying over their heads,as @Fishermanpaul had mentioned in his post! Some musky lure’s I believe are built out of wood,( or plastic), but either way,they would definitely hurt, like these 10 inch Believer lure’s if they were being casted around!!

 

[Dmanwithnoname]

That’s a crazy story. I’m guessing you’re going to need a prop seal now. Good job on the catch and release, that’s one for the books- can’t even make up a story like that lol Jesus

 

[Fishermanpaul]

YIKES !! @Fishermanpaul !! Musky lure’s flying over your head’s & that’s a scary thought with the size of the musky hook’s,attached to these musky lure’s!! Sorry to read as well,that you had lost your fishing net,and the lure that you had unhooked from the musky,was it a fairly good one for your troubles? I heard over the past year’s the chaos that the Fall musky fishing season brings there,and “NO THANKS!!” Beautiful weather that we just had this past weekend,which didn’t help either,to bring the angler’s to the Thames Rivermouth and into Lake St. Clair,for some musky fishing. Be Safe & Tight lines & Musky ON!!

beautiful weather plus there was a musky tournament bringing extra guys too... but yeah I didn't even want to be at the mouth I just wanted to get into the lake lol but it was nuts and ill have to agree on the "no thanks" ahahah.

And here I thought musky anglers were some sort of elite angler that showed the utmost respect for the fishery and here they are closing off a river mouth to snag a fish.

Snagging fellow fishermans boats too and almost the fisherman themselves LOL

Soon perhaps @Tyler0420 angler’s might need to wear safety helmets/gear,due to the fact that musky lure’s are flying over their heads,as @Fishermanpaul had mentioned in his post! Some musky lure’s I believe are built out of wood,( or plastic), but either way,they would definitely hurt, like these 10 inch Believer lure’s if they were being casted around!!

I swear they were very similar in size to those, not nice to have flying over your head... my buddy I brought out had his girlfriend along and she actually got scared and ducked a couple times... which is insane.

That’s a crazy story. I’m guessing you’re going to need a prop seal now. Good job on the catch and release, that’s one for the books- can’t even make up a story like that lol Jesus

We did check the motor and everything looked fine (although were no experts).. I think I got lucky because I drove for a very short time (literally 1-2 mins) and it didn't tighten up at all on the motor and then I started using the trolling motor... If i had ran to one of my weed patches to see if it was still around I would have been in big trouble!!

 

[Reel-ist]

Fishermanpaul: I concur with the “no thanks” assessment completely. Might I suggest for anyone headed that way that you bring a tennis racket with you to return then to sender. If you say your photo doesn’t do justice to the actual situation, then I would avoid it at all costs. I wonder if it’s less crazy on weekdays.

 

[Lizzy_911_]

That's a great muskie story!
Sorry to hear you lost your net though....

I've been fishing down there for years, and you get all kinds of people.
I would not classify the mentality at the Thames river in the fall as any type of "elite angling".
I've seen guys catch each other, put muskie into garbage bags and into the backs of their cars, guys muskie fishing with their bass gear....... list goes on.
Any time there is a REALLY nice day, it looks like that at the Thames.
Do yourself a favor, and if the weather's nice, take your boat out of Ruscom or Belle river.
It's a much nicer experience and a lot less idiots.
I'll be there for 3 days starting tomorrow.
Hopefully I can find a couple fish

 

[Fishermanpaul]

Fishermanpaul: I concur with the “no thanks” assessment completely. Might I suggest for anyone headed that way that you bring a tennis racket with you to return then to sender. If you say your photo doesn’t do justice to the actual situation, then I would avoid it at all costs. I wonder if it’s less crazy on weekdays.

For sure less busy on weekdays.. there was a big musky tourny too so that didnt help!

That's a great muskie story!
Sorry to hear you lost your net though....

I've been fishing down there for years, and you get all kinds of people.
I would not classify the mentality at the Thames river in the fall as any type of "elite angling".
I've seen guys catch each other, put muskie into garbage bags and into the backs of their cars, guys muskie fishing with their bass gear....... list goes on.
Any time there is a REALLY nice day, it looks like that at the Thames.
Do yourself a favor, and if the weather's nice, take your boat out of Ruscom or Belle river.
It's a much nicer experience and a lot less idiots.
I'll be there for 3 days starting tomorrow.
Hopefully I can find a couple fish

I've been there a few times before and it certainly wasn't as crazy as that day... but I would agree any time there's a nice day it's going to be chaos around that rivermouth. Also good to know that those places aren't as busy.. I've only ever gone to lighthouse cove so I'll have to try there!

Good luck!! I'll be waiting to see some giant musky pics from you!

 

[live2fish]

I was fishing sun out of belle river. I refused to go towards lighthouse cove as I knew there was crazy boats. We only got a pike but still happy no crazy lures casted at us. We did however have 4 boats come flying at us in the fog that all stopped within 20’ of our planer boards. The fish were definitely closer to lighthouse cove from what I’ve read on facebook from the fall brawl. Hoping to get out again this sun.

 

[ch312]

Are all those people targeting Muskie?

 

[Fishermanpaul]

I was fishing sun out of belle river. I refused to go towards lighthouse cove as I knew there was crazy boats. We only got a pike but still happy no crazy lures casted at us. We did however have 4 boats come flying at us in the fog that all stopped within 20’ of our planer boards. The fish were definitely closer to lighthouse cove from what I’ve read on facebook from the fall brawl. Hoping to get out again this sun.

pike are still awesome to get, anytime not getting skunked is a good time!

Are all those people targeting Muskie?

Yeah I might have saw one person trolling for walleye but the rest were fishing musky

 

[jamieharrower24]

Are all those people targeting Muskie?

I keep my boat down at Lukens up the river, I pulled my boat early this year a few weeks ago and skipped the chaos down there this fall. Last cpl years has been enough for me. Some guys sitting right in the channel and wont move and give dirty looks/one finger salutes to crafts coming and going in the channel like the they are in the wrong is just unbelievable. Some real special people can be found down there this time of year.

 

[Oldgal]

Strangest most random day ever yesterday. Coming out of the river into the lake there was a million people casting the channel (the one photo shows this even though it doesn’t do it justice). You literally couldn’t drive through without being in someone’s way. People were throwing baits all around us which is typical for Lake St. Clair but some were literally coming over our heads, and in front of the boat. We were going slowly at like 4 mph just trying to get out to the lake.

Once we did we drove a very short distance out and started moving with the trolling motor and casting. Thank god because there was line that was wrapped around my motor and would have done some damage.

As we’re moving along at 0.3 mph casting away, there suddenly was a musky splashing at the motor.. and then gone. At the time I had a bait sitting in the water as I set up other rods so I figured the fish had hit that bait.

Not much later the musky splashes and fights at the back of the boat again and swims away. Yet this time I realized that there had to be line caught on the motor. What blows my mind is no one had yelled or said anything. Also I had driven slowly by everyone until I got to the end of the maze of boats.

So we had no clue there was even line wrapped around the motor, let alone that there was a musky attached to it. We got the hook out, one quick picture and she swam away without hesitation. Hopefully the mark she got from the braid isn’t too bad, but she swam away strongly at least.

In this process we lost our net of course. We were just so focused on taking care of the fish. It could have been a lot worse, but for sure not impressed with all the people casting the way they did. I understand there’s people coming and going out of there all the time and they probably get sick of the boats, but patience is a virtue, and people can’t get to the lake without going out the mouth of the river so I don’t know what they expect when they set up there it’s not everyone, and normally people are respectful but yesterday was not ideal.

The same thing happened to us going from river into the lake.It was ridiculous .Something should be done about that

 

[Lizzy_911_]

The river can be crazy.
And unfortunately it's one of those scenarios where a couple morons give everyone a bad name.
We've been out the last couple days from the river mouth.
A little outside the mouth of the river.
5 fish so far. Nothing massive.

 

[rickr]

Strangest most random day ever yesterday. Coming out of the river into the lake there was a million people casting the channel (the one photo shows this even though it doesn’t do it justice). You literally couldn’t drive through without being in someone’s way. People were throwing baits all around us which is typical for Lake St. Clair but some were literally coming over our heads, and in front of the boat. We were going slowly at like 4 mph just trying to get out to the lake.

Once we did we drove a very short distance out and started moving with the trolling motor and casting. Thank god because there was line that was wrapped around my motor and would have done some damage.

As we’re moving along at 0.3 mph casting away, there suddenly was a musky splashing at the motor.. and then gone. At the time I had a bait sitting in the water as I set up other rods so I figured the fish had hit that bait.

Not much later the musky splashes and fights at the back of the boat again and swims away. Yet this time I realized that there had to be line caught on the motor. What blows my mind is no one had yelled or said anything. Also I had driven slowly by everyone until I got to the end of the maze of boats.

So we had no clue there was even line wrapped around the motor, let alone that there was a musky attached to it. We got the hook out, one quick picture and she swam away without hesitation. Hopefully the mark she got from the braid isn’t too bad, but she swam away strongly at least.

In this process we lost our net of course. We were just so focused on taking care of the fish. It could have been a lot worse, but for sure not impressed with all the people casting the way they did. I understand there’s people coming and going out of there all the time and they probably get sick of the boats, but patience is a virtue, and people can’t get to the lake without going out the mouth of the river so I don’t know what they expect when they set up there it’s not everyone, and normally people are respectful but yesterday was not ideal.

Ya those guys pile in there quite thick. Im pretty sure they try to see how close they can get. I stay to the far side to keep out of range. I don’t condone their actions by any means but I do respect that they only have that area to fish and the rest of us have the entire river and lake. We’ve caught many fish over the last few seasons there. ( three this past Monday and lost one at the side of the boat ). not once did I feel the need to get in their strike zone

 

[Fishermanpaul]

Ya those guys pile in there quite thick. Im pretty sure they try to see how close they can get. I stay to the far side to keep out of range. I don’t condone their actions by any means but I do respect that they only have that area to fish and the rest of us have the entire river and lake. We’ve caught many fish over the last few seasons there. ( three this past Monday and lost one at the side of the boat ). not once did I feel the need to get in their strike zone

how do you not get in their strike zone? you literally can't get into the lake through the channel without going through the "strike zone" and I'm not taking my boat into the shallows on either side of the channel