September derby

Lake St. Clair muskie fishing is going strong. This weekend was the September derby for the Michigan Ontario Muskie Club. There were alot of big fish caught, even though we had strong north winds. The north winds in general shut down the fishing, but it did not seem to bother the fish this weekend. There were 3 fish entered a 34.1, 32.4, 32.1. Two fish were caught near the Thames River area and the other by the South Channel area. The first place fish was caught by my dad and mom, again they showed up at the scales with another winner. They caught that fish on one of the baits I made a few years ago called a ripper. It ripped a nice fish for them again. Way to go mom and dad. The second place fish was caught by my friend Dave G. he was fishing the South Channel area. Dave is a good fisherman. He is in the money quite a bit. This happened to be the first time he was out fishing on his boat the Special T this year, luck would have it, he scores. The 3rd place fish was caught by Jim and Scott D. aboard the Shelly Kristy, they were fishing the Thames area, again these guys know what it is like to be on the winners stand. It was good to see good fishermen get the big ones this derby. All the winners fish a lot and fish hard, my hats off to the winners.
The last two weeks have been pretty good fishing, every time out we've caught fish over 30 pounds. It's been a bit on the windy side and sometimes the weeds are bad, But the muskies are still biteing. The good fish is still to come so don't let the cool weather stop ya from going out the monster muskies will be hitting. Good Luck to all .

August Derby

Another awesome tournament for Lake St. Clair muskie fishermen. The fish were biting and BIG fish were caught. A 41.9 pound muskie was caught Saturday evening. This is the largest fish ever to be weighed in by the MOMC. Goes to show you there are some big ones out there. There was a fish a little over 33 pounds and another a little over 32 pounds entered as well. The muskie fishing is really heating up and October is still to come.
My boat caught 12 and loss 3 on Saturday and Sunday we boated 9 and lost 3. We had one fish on Saturday that was 50 plus inches and a little over 30 pounds. No large fish on Sunday. The wind was blowing pretty good Sunday morning and the fish were snapping, as soon as the wind died down, the fish stopped biting. I like a good chop for fishing muskies, it seems to get there appetite going. The hot colors for us were the dark frogs and the black perch. Bucktails got a few too.
I will be out Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Look for the pictures coming soon.
Good luck to ya all and see ya out there.

Awesome fishing

Lake St. Clair muskie fishing has been awesome this week. By far the best of the year, Monday we boated 9 and lost 6, Tuesday was 14 boated and lost 8, Wednesday we boated 18 and lost 6, Thursday we boated 9 and lost 5. Today we boated 9 and lost 6. I believe the word got out to all and the fisherman came by the herds. There were boats everywhere last night, that really changed the fishing, they moved out. Today we rarely even marked any in the area we have been fishing. I moved too. I found a nice school of fish and worked them over, surprise they started to bite and the good thing no other boats, the fish were not riled up. I have heard some good reports on some fish being caught through out the lake. So the lake is starting to produce some good numbers and size.
I am off for the weekend, but back at it monday. See ya out there

Muskie Slam 07

Last weekend was the 10th annual Muskie Slam tournament and what a success it was. Never before has there been so many BIG fish entered in any one tournament. A 54.25, a 54 and last a 52 incher. These are some big fish for Lake St. Clair. There were 63 boats entered in this tournament and 90% where fishing by the weather buoy, of course that's where the big ones came from. Lots of fisherman caught 30 pound fish and better, but they did not have the length(this was a length tournament). There was a fish caught that was 51.750 that was weight at 38.9lbs. These are big fish for this lake. Lots of fish were caught of all sizes but never this many big ones.
My boat was 9 boated and 5 loss on Saturday and 4 boated and 2 loss on Sunday. Our best lures were the dark frog colors and the perch colors, 2 fish hit the buck tails also. Again we caught some nice fish but no winners, as they say can't win them all.
Going out tomorrow for a afternoon charter, so see ya on the lake.

Good Fishing

Muskie fishing on Lake St. Clair has been pretty good. Went out for a 6 hour charter yesterday and we boated 8 muskies, ranging from 15 lbs. to 34 lbs. The start was a little slow but we got into the swing of things quickly. Capt. Mike P. was aboard and I must say he is an awesome fisherman, he works hard and knows his stuff. His boat will be running tomorrow and he will be back on the muskies. I will miss taking him out, he is a great captain and a good guy. We did impress our charter with a 34 pounder, it was a little over 51 inches long with a girth of 22 inches, real nice fish. We did throw her back to swim another day. We caught her on a dark frog, one of my homemade baits. The pictures will be posted this week.
There was talk of another large fish caught yesterday, too. Capt. Kevin B. caught a 38 pounder. He was fishing the south shore. Capt. Kevin also threw that big fish back, congratulations to him and good sportsmen ship to his crew. Not quite sure what he caught it on , but I do know, he landed several fish yesterday.
This weekend is the Muskie Slam tournament. This is the largest tournament of the year. Every muskie fisherman on the lake knows about it and it's truly the talk of the town. For most of us it is a long weekend of hard fishing, perseverence is the name of the game. My good friend Scott D. and his crew did the unbelievable last year, he won first and second place in the Muskie Slam. My hats off to the Contender crew. I know they will certainly be contenders this year as well.
I have to go paint some baits for the weekend so, good luck to all.

rough waters

The boat is back in the water again and the props are turn up the muskies. This week has been one of the windiest weeks I can remember for a long time, gust up to 35 miles an hour and blowing every day. We did manage to catch muskies everyday though and some really nice fish too.
This weekend was the Michigan Ontario Muskies Clubs (MOMC) July tournament. There were boats everywhere fishing for the mighty muskie. To win a contest like this is very difficult, there are three factors against you; 1. weather 2. good fishermen 3. lucky fisherman . I again don't know the first two winners names because they do not broadcast it on the radio but I do know the third place winner, and that was my dad, Chuck Smith Sr. He falls under the good fisherman category. My dad is one of the original members of the club since its conception. I don't know of any other member of the club alive that has been in it since it started. I must take that back I do know another member and it is my mother. They fish together and make a great team. My dad said she drove the boat like a champ while he was winding in the fish, not bad for over 70 yrs old.
My boat, boated 14 muskies and lost 6 on Saturday along with one bass and one walleye. One of those fish went 50 inches and 30 lbs. On Sunday we boated 5 and lost 5. Things got a little slower Sunday after the barrage of boats. The muskies decided to go into hiding.
Most the fish were caught off the red barn, Belle River area. In approx. 12 to 15 feet of water. It was awesome fishing on Saturday, NO WEEDS. That was not to last though, they blew in Sunday from a north wind, and bailing hay we did.
I would like to congratulate all the winners and some of the guys who threw back some large fish. A fisherman named Ed from the boat the Medicine Man threw back 2, 50 inch 30 lbers. I watched a boat named Gracie catch and throw back a fish 30 lbs. I watch Mike O from the Bottomline throw back a nice fish. There were a lot of nice fish caught this weekend and a lot of guys were great sports and threw them back. Good going to all those lucky fisherman and congratulations to the winners.
The Big Dog tournament is coming up this week end. It is the biggest tournament of the year at least the pay off is. There will be a lot of fisherman out for sure. I know I will be out this week for some practice fishing and locating. Maybe I will see ya out there. Good luck to all.

Back IN

Back in the water again. Fish finders working great, radar working great, ready to catch those muskies again. Actually we've been out twice this week. Once bye the weather bouy and the next by the red barn. We caught 4 for 6 by the bouy and 3 for 5 bye the red barn, booth trips were 6 hrs trip. Caught some nice fish by the bouy but really hard fishing with the weeds and fish flys. We ran into some weeds bye the barn and left the area. The wind was blowing from the south so we decieded to go back, we got lucky and the weeds blew out. The muskies did bite good for the short time we where there.
I am going fishing now so see ya out there.
good luck with those lake st. clair muskies

Morning Bite

We have been fishing most afternoons latley and catching some fish and a few nice one too, But like every year at this time the best bite seems to be in the morning. The guys that are out there early are doing much better. The muskies seem to be on top and much more active in the morning. When the water warms up a bit, the afternoon bite will turn on and that is the best because the bite will start earlier in the evening and last longer. This seems to be a trend I have noticed over the years. Look at your fishing logs and see if you notice this trend too. Give it a few more weeks and see the difference.
Alot of guys are fishing the dumps now and doing well. We went a little east by the wine glass and did pretty good the other night, caught some nice fish. I heard the weeds blew in last night due to the north wind. I guess we will have to wait for the south wind to clean things up a little.
I have to pull my boat out of the water for the weekend, putting new fish finder and radar on so I wont be out. Keep ya posted when I get back in, should be around the first of the week good luck

Muskie Slam 07

Lake St. Clair muskie fishing is beginning to heat up. The 2007 musky slam was held this weekend at Metro Beach. The fish had to be 51 inches or better to enter and those kind of fish are hard to come by. There were only 2 fish entered the winner was 53.25 inches, second was 51.25. I am not sure of the lucky guys' names yet, but when I do I will post them or if any of the readers know please let me know. It was a beautifull weekend, light wind from the southeast,and sunny for 2 days. A little weedy on Sunday which made for a long working day, but the muskies did bite. Aboard the Premonition (my boat) we caught 14 muskies 4 bass and one walleye we lost 8 other muskies, that was on Saturday. Sunday we only fished till 2:00 and we boated 6 muskies and lost 3. We kept pretty busy for 2 days out there staying on top of the finickey muskies.
Some of the other guys did quite well also. My good friend Matt M. was slaying the muskies. Matt is an exceptional muskie fisherman definetly one of the best out there. If you see the boat called the HUNTRESS you are in the right spot. Shelly, his wife, knows how to pick the baits though, she told Matt to run one of my lures and they ended up catching a fish over 30 pounds, their biggest for the weekend. Matt, I just want to say thanks again for your great heart.
Another lucky fisherman was Dr. Jim M. Doc only fished for a few hours on Saturday, he threw out one of my 9 dollar bass lures and caught a 31 pounder. Doc has been fishing muskies for a few years now and he is really stepping up to the plate. I am sure you will be hearing more about him in the future.
Another top dog on the lake is Capt. Mike P. Mike also put a hurting on some of those muskies as well, I'm not sure exactly how he ended up for the weekend, but he was giving his crew a good day. Mike runs Muskie Mania Charters, a good guy and a good captain. He did tell me he was catching some fish on my lures as well.
I will be hitting the lake again tommorrow afternoon and takeing out a charter wednesday. Let ya know what happens then.

June 20 2007

Went looking for fish today and found them caught some nice muskies. look for pictures on the site.

june 19 07 muskie up date

Muskie fishing has been a little slow starting this year, pretty much like every year at this time. Opening week end we only ended up with 5 fish boated but we did catch a 50.5 incher a little over 30lbs, we did release it. had a few other trips since then, catching a couple a day, one day only a strike. things took a turn for the better yesterday we fished out front of the 400 club heading to huron point about 12 to 15 ft. of water, made the troll back and forth, end up with 10 in the boat and we lost 4 so it was a good day. The guys were happy. Going out tommorrow on a search mission, lets see if we can find them. good luck

Welcome

Hello Everyone!
I hope you enjoy the fishing report and tips I offer up on this page.
Feel free to send me comments and/or questions re: muskie fishing.
Here's to a great fishing season out on the lake!
Captain Chuck Smith.