The Lake St Clair bug!!!
fished the Lunch Money Lures/KD Outdoors Monster Quest II yesterday and now all i can think about is fishing LSC again. We went out there completely blind, and i mean we had nothing. I have not been out there in 2 years, my partner has only been out there 2 or 3 times in his life and we had zero waypoints on the gps. Luckily a friend of mine threw me a bone a week before and gave me some coordinates. I had them scribbled on a piece of paper in my wallet. We started out looking for Charlie Gaebberts 'Bird out in the middle of nowhere. I was throwing a crank and had a solid fish follow on my first cast. an hour and a half later, we had nothing. So we decided to scramble. We fished various spots from the mile roads all the way to windmill point and back up. We managed 9 keepers for the day and countless short fish and even a good sized muskie. We lost 2 good ones that would have helped up our weight a little bit but not enough to get us into the money. We ended up with 12.20 lbs. Towards the end of the day, i finally pulled the secret spots out of my wallet and were able to cull 2 fish out on the 2 spots we fished. Thank you Chris Sloan aka csfishslayer. Those spots gave up a few nice fish and made the end of the day very exciting.
The problem now is i am freaking out to get back out there. It was the first time i had the Skeeter ZX200 on big water, and while the weather held up nicely, there were some monster boat wakes out there. I was concerned going into this tournament with how well my boat would handle the lake. I was very impressed and happy with her. That boat handles rough water perfect and it is a very dry ride. Now, like i said, i want to fish out there every day. I used to fish out there quite a bit before my Merc blew up on the old Ranger. I am excited to get back out there and re-learn that place. I managed to mark a couple spots that looked good while floating around aimless out there sunday so i have a few waypoints to check out later, but i need to get back out there and find some hot spots. That to me is the best part.
Tonite im going home and pulling out all my old combat fishing newsletters and marked maps and sitting in the boat plugging everything in. I dont know why i didnt think to do that before hand but oh well. we still had fun and like i said, now im hooked again!!!
the wife will not be pleased with me ;D
McCarter himself :-\'
Brian, the finest smallie fishing on the planet! Let me know when you want to get out. I can hook you up on some cool stuff. ;)
tonite good for you? LOL. dude, im thinking about taking a week off here soon since i have like 3 weeks vacation time built up at work. But, i might wait for the river to turn on before i go doin that. thats my favorite!
McCarter himself :-\'
The river hasn't done much the last 2 years but as warm as it is and the water level being down a little I would be willing to bet that this will be a good year for the river....
I hope so..
I hear you loud and clear Mc Carter. I have been sitting here on the west side dreaming about going back over there since I got home from the DK Open. I was planning on going over on May 30th, but work really screwed that up, and I would have had to fish from my buddy's fish and ski. Now that I have upgraded my boat, my dad and I are going over on Friday, July 9th. Can't wait! I was just beside myself when I got on that lake the first time, and I can't wait to share that with my dad. I just wish that the launch was only 5 minutes from home, like the one on Muskegon lake.
Personally I think if you live in south east michigan and you dont fish st clair as much as possible you are freaking insane!! Its probably the best smallmouth lake in the country and gets the biggest tournament action in our state. Good to hear you wised up there McCarter.
i dont know if i would call it wise. The reason i have not been out there in the past couple years is money. It aint cheap to spend a day out there. let alone multiple days. Besides that, i finally got a boat in working condition. i did most of the damage to my Ranger on St Clair and Erie so i wasnt in a real hurry to start banging up another boat. if i break something like a trolling motor, or blow up the big motor, or lose a Humminbird SI unit, my season is over. so im keeping my fingers crossed. times are tough and there isnt a lot of extra cash laying around for boat repairs.
McCarter himself :-\'
One of the main reasons I've now got a boat payment is cause of that lake. My ole Tracker would let me fish all my other lakes. But not Clair.
As soon as I get my electronics, I'm on my way over.
And, I gotta go get an enhanced drivers license.... and an Ontario sportsmans card, .... and an Ontario license.....
LOL Brian, that's awesome. Hey man, if you ever want to get out there during the week and need a partner, gimme a call.
Fiker, I hear ya. I need to get my Canadian license this week. CHA CHING! $$$ Ugh.
I agree, I wouldn't want to fish anywhere else if given the chance, but St. Clair is an EXPENSIVE girlfriend for sure. ;D
Just wait till you discover Pelee! Now there is some gas money!!! :o
Not sure where I am going this weekend. The wife is going up north so I will most likely either be wandering around Canadian waters of LSC or Erie....
BTW, I called Ontario directly for my licence - I had it 3 days later.
Seth
Good idea. What's the number?
How I miss that lake. I didn't make it out there too much but I did have some amazing days. Champlain was fun, but I never had the numbers or size that I had on LSC. Down south here there is nothing like either of them. It's not always great (remember that tourney we fished a couple years ago?) but overall LSC has probably been my favorite to fish.
Make sure to check out http://marinecruiser.com , good map.
Quote from: McCarter on June 22, 2010, 08:37:43 AM
i dont know if i would call it wise. The reason i have not been out there in the past couple years is money. It aint cheap to spend a day out there. let alone multiple days. Besides that, i finally got a boat in working condition. i did most of the damage to my Ranger on St Clair and Erie so i wasnt in a real hurry to start banging up another boat. if i break something like a trolling motor, or blow up the big motor, or lose a Humminbird SI unit, my season is over. so im keeping my fingers crossed. times are tough and there isnt a lot of extra cash laying around for boat repairs.
McCarter himself :-\'
I understand about the cost and risk on equipment but 2 years since you been out there was kinda surprising. I hope to make it back out there soon, sounds like you got Jason hooked too so maybe we will make a trip over there one of these days.
you can have all my waypoints. after 17 hours out there last week I told Kev as we left the lot I was waving bye bye to SC for this year. I will spend my $$ on the inland lakes. I am still sore today from sundays boat ride. Old age is a terrible thing.
i dont know if he was hooked. he was a little cranky cuz we werent catching the big ones. either way, we had fun. shoulda done better but coulda been worse, too.
McCarter himself :-\'
B - gimme about 30mins notice and I'll be on my way there w/ or w/out the Champion.
Scott
for sure man, im bring the boat to work tomorrow and might fish the ROI Erie wed nighter if my partner comes through. if not, im headin to Clair. I work at 14 and groesbeck so i can be to harly in about 20 minutes. i will give ya a call if im heading out there.
McCarter himself :-\'
Same offer here Brian (and Scott T.) I am off on Wednesdays and you will almost ALWAYS find me out there chasin down the pigs. I am totally addicted to St. Clair. I pretty gave up fishing inland stuff about 3 years ago, even when I am inland catching little 14-16" fish all I can think is..............If I was on St. Clair I'd be catching all 3 and 4lb class fish right now..........
Scott M.
Wonderland Marine West