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Date: July 15, 2018 Body of Water: Lake St. Clair - Canadian side Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Muskellunge Time: 6:30 AM - 2 PM Conditions: Hot, clear, calm and buggy! Water temperatures ranged from 76 - 79 degrees, air temp 75 - 95. Water ranged from clear and blue to emerald green to murky green depending upon location. Lake St. Clair is likely the most productive muskellunge destination. And yet, I've not yet landed one from LSC. A couple of touches and a couple of follows; but none in the net! Armed with an Ontario, Canada fishing license and some intel on a new-to-me ramp at the head of the Detroit River, I decided to cross the border and cover some water, trolling for muskies. I'd picked a good day to try this; it was dead calm. I was able to exit the river and make an unimpeded run to wherever I chose to fish! It's about a 25-minute run from the ramp to the vicinity of the Belle River Hump along LSC's southern shoreline. This major structural element divides the southern basin in approximately half. By 7 AM, there were already congregations of bass anglers at two spots in 18 or 20 feet of water, just a bit west of the hump. There were a few muskie casters, too. I set lines in 18 feet and started my first Muskie Quest of 2018. My spread consisted of a "down" rod with a large, yellow and gold Spanky bucktail spinner in the prop wash; and a crank-bait on a flat line. I started with, and kept returning to, a Rapala Super Shad Rap (perch and white perch colors) as my confidence bait. I typically trolled between 4 and 4.5 mph, but varied speeds over the course of the day from about 3.5 to 5 mph. I varied the distance back to the cranks from 25 to 100 feet; and I checked lures for weeds or to change presentations very 15 minutes at a minimum. I introduced other spinners and lures (Storm Giant Stick Shad, various Bucher Raiders, etc.) over the course of the day. I covered lots of water, from the surface to about 15 feet down, in depths from 10 to 20 feet of water. Perhaps the water here was too clear, or perhaps the weeds were not yet fully developed. But, after working the hump (both edges and the spine) for an hour and a half to no avail, and having not encountered any muskie trollers here, I ran another 20 minutes east to near Stoney Point. The water here was quite a bit greener, and there were a number of muskie trollers and casters between here and the east side of the Belle River Hump. Some were in 10 feet of water, and some were in deeper water along the horizon. Despite my confidence in the stained water here, after a couple of hours I decided to relocate again. Mitchell Bay, on LSC's eastern shore, was within easy reach; but with this being my first effort at this, I decided to fish my way back towards Detroit. I picked up the southern shore around Puce River and worked my way westward in 10 to 14 feet of water. With no action and no other fishermen around, I bailed on this pretty quickly and located the Dumping Ground and The Ridges in the Michigan waters between the shipping channel and the international border. Here, I could use three rods, so I added a flat-line with a Bucher Depth Raider to the spread. At about 1 PM, along the northern border of The Ridges in about 17 feet of water, the white perch Super Shad Rap (30 feet back) got crushed at about 4 mph. It wasn't the muskie I'd hoped for, but it was a dandy smallmouth from a new-to-me area! The skunk had been avoided! But I was hot, tired and due home. I'd covered at least 40 miles at high speed, had trolled for over 20 miles, and had an urban drive home. I gave it another half hour before taking advantage of the easy run back to the St. Jean boat ramp. Other than for a traffic delay on I-96, I'd have been home on time. What do I have to say about this? I'll do this again! Other than the incredibly abundant insects in the hot, humid, calm conditions of the morning (at least they didn't bite), this was a pretty pleasurable way to access the Canadian side of this fishery. I'm not quite certain what was "off" for my muskie fishing; I tried to vary speeds, lures, depths, etc. as much as possible, and I tried several areas. While no muskies revealed themselves this day, they will, eventually. And I did find this more engaging than throwing Big Rubber to the expanses. Once the fish reveal themselves, I can do that as a follow-up, with confidence! I saw a couple of dandy bass get caught around the Belle River Hump, too. The Ridges might be a good, future jerk-baiting or swim-baiting area, and the eddies, marinas and shoreline cover of the upper Detroit River probably warrant some attention, too. Once I re-fill Numenon's gas tank, I'll be able to better judge my fishing range for the day. Maybe I'll be adding the vast Canadian expanse of LSC's basin and/or Mitchell Bay and the Thames River mouth to my list of reasonably realistic day-trip destinations. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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