# Clinton River Steel 9-25-12



## Pikewhisperer (Sep 9, 2011)

Went out today after work and after a few misses the past two weeks, finally landed a nice hen. She inhaled my little clio on my first cast after my friend Ogie and I changed locations. Had another hit not 5 min. after that and lost that clio. Ogies friend caught a nice 29" 5.5 lb. Steelhead saturday. I had hook ups the past two weeks with no sucsess on hot n tots, eire dires, and clios. they are scarce, but they are there. next rain and its definitely on. other than that its been all Pike and Small Mouth. hope to have more news soon.


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## Fishing2much (Jun 29, 2011)

already....


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## Shift7609 (Aug 9, 2011)

Nice

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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Fishing2much said:


> already....


 It is almost October. I got my first fall run steelie in August.


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## Lubbs (Jan 7, 2012)

Nice catch and all I caught this weekend was two 3 inch chubs


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Nice

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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

The 29 1/2" fish Pikewhisperer was referring to:


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## Afterthaut (Sep 7, 2011)

I love how people erase the background in these fish pictures lol... especially on a river that gets as much traffic as the Clinton does.


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

seen the low river temp about a week ago and was wondering if steel were in now i knows. thanks for sharing and nice fish. i did not want to bump the thread up with a title of "any one seeing steel on the clinton or huron" i think it maybe a few before the huron. i am just glad i seen you get a fish. it shows people are helping buy buttoning up when not able to head down there them self's. any ways nice job on the steel!


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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

Afterthaut said:


> I love how people erase the background in these fish pictures lol... especially on a river that gets as much traffic as the Clinton does.


Well I can't give you guys EVERYTHING. People might actually leave yates and check out the rest of the river. :lol:


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## mrjimspeaks (Aug 23, 2009)

I thought I recognized you from somewhere else Ogie, internet is a smaller place than I thought.


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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

mrjimspeaks said:


> I thought I recognized you from somewhere else Ogie, internet is a smaller place than I thought.


That's funny, I thought the same thing when I saw your username. Redditers unite?


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## mrjimspeaks (Aug 23, 2009)

ogie said:


> that's funny, i thought the same thing when i saw your username. Redditers unite?


we are legion!


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## flyfisher4life1 (Sep 5, 2011)

It's nice to hear that steelhead season has started! Might hit the river some time this month.


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## Pikewhisperer (Sep 9, 2011)

0 for 1 today. Hooked up on a Pearl Ghost Fish hot n tot. Noticing sizable Pike lately also. Spot the Steel along the broken pieces of concrete. Tried 4 different lures before it hit the totty.

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## TheSage (May 8, 2008)

Now that they Paint is closing. I'm gonna have to get into steel on the Clinton. I'm guessing I will be disappointed looking for steel. But ya know? I was an amateur on the Paint at one point. Now I'm pretty good there. Could anyone give me suggestions on what type of presentation is best?


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## The Downstream Drift (Feb 27, 2010)

TheSage said:


> Now that they Paint is closing. I'm gonna have to get into steel on the Clinton. I'm guessing I will be disappointed looking for steel. But ya know? I was an amateur on the Paint at one point. Now I'm pretty good there. Could anyone give me suggestions on what type of presentation is best?


Fall is "bulk up" time as the fish are preparing for the months ahead of very cold water and slower metabolism. Until the water gets really cold they will be chasing bigger than expected flies/lures. This is why alot of fly fishermen throw stupid big streamers in the fall. It is also why the guys throwing Hot n' Tots, Thundersticks, spoons and spinners do so well in the fall. It took a long time for me to get rid of the flies under an indicator technique for the fall but now I throw alot of Blue Fox spinners in the fall.

Once the water gets colder (most likely mid to late December) the fish will slow down to conserve energy in the colder water. They simply won't chase "big" offerings as much as they do in the warmer fall water. This is when I go back to the indicators and start throwing small (like 12-16) nymphs. Alot of the center pin guys do very well in the winter with small waxies under a float as well. The key here is to put the bait right on their nose. They won't really chase in the cold water so fishing a run might take a ton of casts before a fish actually takes.

From now until the start of the spawning run it is pretty important to understand the biological science that motivates the feeding tendancies of these fish to be successful. Alot of the guys here on MS have figured this out over years of trial and error, which has made them very good fishermen.


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## tannhd (Dec 3, 2010)

The Downstream Drift said:


> Fall is "bulk up" time as the fish are preparing for the months ahead of very cold water and slower metabolism. Until the water gets really cold they will be chasing bigger than expected flies/lures. This is why alot of fly fishermen throw stupid big streamers in the fall. It is also why the guys throwing Hot n' Tots, Thundersticks, spoons and spinners do so well in the fall. It took a long time for me to get rid of the flies under an indicator technique for the fall but now I throw alot of Blue Fox spinners in the fall.
> 
> Once the water gets colder (most likely mid to late December) the fish will slow down to conserve energy in the colder water. They simply won't chase "big" offerings as much as they do in the warmer fall water. This is when I go back to the indicators and start throwing small (like 12-16) nymphs. Alot of the center pin guys do very well in the winter with small waxies under a float as well. The key here is to put the bait right on their nose. They won't really chase in the cold water so fishing a run might take a ton of casts before a fish actually takes.
> 
> From now until the start of the spawning run it is pretty important to understand the biological science that motivates the feeding tendancies of these fish to be successful. Alot of the* guys here on MS have figured this out over years of trial and error, which has made them very good fishermen.*


He's talking about my next level angling skills here.


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## Pikewhisperer (Sep 9, 2011)

Got out early this morning and went 1 for 2. the Steel are holding up along broken concrete or large rocks. Caught todays in a trench along a concrete sea wall. I have not been up river from Utica yet this season, and have not heard anything worth while yet either. Let this one free.


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## Lubbs (Jan 7, 2012)

Nice catch ! I plan on going out next weekend but haven't decided where to go. Either going to try my luck salmon fishing or staying local


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## TheSage (May 8, 2008)

The Downstream Drift said:


> Fall is "bulk up" time as the fish are preparing for the months ahead of very cold water and slower metabolism. Until the water gets really cold they will be chasing bigger than expected flies/lures. This is why alot of fly fishermen throw stupid big streamers in the fall. It is also why the guys throwing Hot n' Tots, Thundersticks, spoons and spinners do so well in the fall. It took a long time for me to get rid of the flies under an indicator technique for the fall but now I throw alot of Blue Fox spinners in the fall.
> 
> Once the water gets colder (most likely mid to late December) the fish will slow down to conserve energy in the colder water. They simply won't chase "big" offerings as much as they do in the warmer fall water. This is when I go back to the indicators and start throwing small (like 12-16) nymphs. Alot of the center pin guys do very well in the winter with small waxies under a float as well. The key here is to put the bait right on their nose. They won't really chase in the cold water so fishing a run might take a ton of casts before a fish actually takes.
> 
> From now until the start of the spawning run it is pretty important to understand the biological science that motivates the feeding tendancies of these fish to be successful. Alot of the guys here on MS have figured this out over years of trial and error, which has made them very good fishermen.


What type of and lb test/line would you suggest?


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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

TheSage said:


> What type of and lb test/line would you suggest?


It doesn't matter. The 29 1/2" up thread was caught on a 10+ year old ugly stik with 20lb power pro on it. I typically use 15lb power pro with 15lb fluoro leaders.


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## The Downstream Drift (Feb 27, 2010)

If you are tossing lures (spoons, hot n' tots, spinners) it seems to really not matter what type of line you are using. Power Pro works well but I am not a real fan of using a line with zero give while in a river full of woody debris. Perhaps Ogie can add a little on this since I am not as experienced throwing lures.

During the colder months when the offerings get smaller I prefer to use a 6lb Seagar Invisx leader. This is (in my opinion) the best 100% flourocarbon line on the market. It rolls out well, ties strong knots and isn't affected by the winter cold very much.


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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

The Downstream Drift said:


> If you are tossing lures (spoons, hot n' tots, spinners) it seems to really not matter what type of line you are using. Power Pro works well but I am not a real fan of using a line with zero give while in a river full of woody debris. Perhaps Ogie can add a little on this since I am not as experienced throwing lures.
> 
> During the colder months when the offerings get smaller I prefer to use a 6lb Seagar Invisx leader. This is (in my opinion) the best 100% flourocarbon line on the market. It rolls out well, ties strong knots and isn't affected by the winter cold very much.


I have a few tricks up my sleeve I picked up from the guys I fish with (IE: Pikewhisperer, I don't know what the other guys handles are on here), to get lures out of the wood. 15lb braid really isn't that hard to break, I love the no stretch line for jigging, you can feel EVERYTHING. This applies to running cranks to.

I've also recently bought a 10'6" St. Croix Wild River rod and I have to say, the extra couple of feet over a standard sized rod (6'6" rod for lake fishing in my case) is HUGE for getting lures back. There's a snap trick you can do to regain alot of lures (it's hard to explain for me, I'm not even real good at doing it) that just works sooooooooooooo much better with a longer rod. Not to mention the extra couple of feet will let you get around cuts in the bank that you wouldn't typically be able to get under with a shorter rod. Now that's not to say that a longer rod isn't all bad. Carrying that thing through the woods can be absolutely TERRIBLE, but it also doesn't help that carrying my big ass through the woods is terrible as well :lol:. 

If you're going to be running cranks I would almost exclusively stick to hot n tots (especially if it's your first time fishing a hole) as they are EXTREMELY easy to get out of cover. Alot of the time if you're stuck all you have to do is let the line go slack for a few seconds and they will typically work themselves out of whatever they are stuck in. The also go over wood VERY well, I have very little fear about a hot n tot getting stuck on a submerged branch due to the lip that they have. The "snap" trick I referred to earlier also seems to work much better with hot n tots. Add on to the fact that all fish (I've caught or seen caught almost all major predatory fish caught on hot n tots. Walleye, Pike, Steelhead, Small and Large mouth bass, rock bass, I've even had bluegill chase them down) love hot n tots and you can see why they've pretty much taken over the crank bait section of my tackle box.

Another quick tip before I go. If you're using spoons and are worried about them getting stuck on cover, go to your favorite fishing store and get the packages of weedless single hooks (adjusting hook size for spoon size of course) and switch out the trebles. One of my favorite tactics for Pike in weedy areas on lakes is to grab a 3/4 ounce little cleo and switch out the treble hook for a single hook. This give you the ability to rip that spoon throuh cover and I haven't noticed a significant drop in hook sets.


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