Some of you may know, I grew up near the shores of Lake St. Clair. We spent countless hours fishing the lake back then. My older brother still lives a short drive away, and fishes it regularly. I try to get over a couple times a year. A lot of memories come flooding back every time I'm on that water. We mostly fish for muskie, but we will sometimes fish for smallmouth depending on the time of year. Due to the unusually warm summer, the muskie fishing on inland lakes has been shut down for awhile. Surface temps exceeded 80 degrees before July. Most are hovering around 84-88. Successful release of a muskie is very difficult once water temps get that high. Its best to leave them alone. Thankfully, LSC rarely gets too warm. So I ventured over there for a day last week. The muskies started small to begin the day. A couple low 30s fish is still better than no muskies. But they get big by eating big meals. And the ever present smallies keep things interesting. Its rare to catch one under 4 lbs while fishing for muskie. Every once and a while you'll stick a little 3lber. Most are in the 4-6 range. Their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. Muskies, like many fish, respond well to fronts. Both pre and post fronts can spark a bite. We were lucky enough to have two fronts roll through mid day. First front moving in... Resulted in my brother getting the first good fish of the day. After releasing that fish, we decided to get out of the way of the approaching thunderstorm. Didn't have to go far to find friendlier skies. But eventually those skiers got a little meaner. And the fish responded. Here I am with a mid 30s muskie. Just a little guy, but I'll take it. I guess he didn't like the camera, and that was the end of that fun. Not long after that my brother was into a much better fish. We called it a day after that fish. I had a three hour drive ahead of me and its always nice to end on a high note. I'll hopefully be back soon as that is the only fishable water for muskie within a 4 hour drive right now. It could take until mid September before the inland lakes rebound. What am I going to do in the meantime? Practice with my bow? Nahhhhh...
That's awesome! I wish there was good muskie fisheries here in Ohio. Erie is supposedly getting better every year but it's Lake Eire.. and those are some GIANT streamers! What weight rod are you using? Anyways, nice skies and smallies!
So your mom kills all the nice bucks and your brother catches all the big fish. I guess someone has to drive the boat. Just kidding Matt, it looks like one hell of a fun time out there! Congrats on the fish and de-stressing a little.
Thanks, guys. Young Siman, Ohio has one of the faster growing muskie populations. Like Indiana, the fishing has really increased through stocking. Not sure if there is anything close to you, but you can find quite a bit of info online. We mostly use 10wt rods and flies in the 10"-15" range. Some times we use a 9wt when throwing 6"-9" flies. The smaller stuff can work better early in the year.
Hopefully I can get the kids up there sometime this summer. It would be nice to catch up. How are you and Chris doing? I hope its not as warm up there. I haven't seen the footage yet. He had a couple fish hit closer to the boat that you could see live, but he said its hard to see on video. I wish they would make a better polarizing filter for them. Everyone I know that has tried one said it didn't help. If he actually uploads the footage, I will post it.
Great fish and pictures Matt!! Can't get any better day in the summer then fishing old familiar waters. I have rivers I fish that feel like home to me, the hours and years flood back when I step into some runs...makes you appreciate a life spent well. Thanks for sharing.
