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