# st clair county rivers?????



## Night_Fisher (May 17, 2005)

I was wondering if any of you knew if there was a dam on either the pine river in st clair or the belle river in marine city...I really enjoy fishing around dams have lots of good luck at them..Use to go back to the dam on the black river but since they redone everything back there it just isnt the same...:sad:


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

Nope. I'm not aware of any. ONly one in the area is Yates dam and the dam that you use to goto.


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## Ed Stringer (Jan 27, 2004)

If you go up the Belle River just before you get to Puttygot Rd. there is site where there used to be a Dam it's deep in front. I used to catch huge Crappies there. Black Rivers Ford Dam is still good for crappies. Welcome to the site


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## Night_Fisher (May 17, 2005)

THank you for the information guys...i went over to rochester hills today at yates and did good, i never thought there was that kinda fishing that close by me.


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

What did you catch?


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## Night_Fisher (May 17, 2005)

Well when i went there i didnt know wat to expect i looked some stuff up on here bout paint creek and clinton river,,All i was using was night crawlers with a few splitshots up above it to get it down so it could bounce along thebottom..i caught 2 walleye one 18 inches the other 16....one chanel cat bout 22 23 inches..and a rainbow that was 15 inches.i threw that back cause i didnt get my trout stamp yet..but trust me next time i go back i will....Also under a few log jams in the river i seen 2 nice size steel head dead down in the logs....when i was reading about that place they said steel head ran up there i thought it was a crock i seen it im a beleiver now......


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

Outstanding. Good for you. It's always good to hear a local having success in our own backyard. Fun day eh? It's always nice to cast out something and never know what might grab your line. Congrats.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Night_Fisher said:


> Well when i went there i didnt know wat to expect i looked some stuff up on here bout paint creek and clinton river,,All i was using was night crawlers with a few splitshots up above it to get it down so it could bounce along thebottom..i caught 2 walleye one 18 inches the other 16....one chanel cat bout 22 23 inches..and a rainbow that was 15 inches.i threw that back cause i didnt get my trout stamp yet..but trust me next time i go back i will....Also under a few log jams in the river i seen 2 nice size steel head dead down in the logs....when i was reading about that place they said steel head ran up there i thought it was a crock i seen it im a beleiver now......


I used to live and work in Rochester back in the early 80's. I sometimes sat and ate my lunch right by the river downtown. Once watched a kid probably all of 12 pull a beautiful Brown Trout (maybe 18") out right there in town. That river and Paint Creek are real sleepers!  Whooops! I probably just spilled someone's secret :evil:


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

There is a dam on the Black R. accessible by water only, let me find a map..........


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

ESOX said:


> There is a dam on the Black R. accessible by water only, let me find a map..........


Don't bother...here's the map http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/huntingwildlifehabitat/sga/porthuron.pdf although it really doesn't show as a dam. It's about 1/2 mile upstream from M-136 where the river widens on the map, and is known locally as "Ford Dam". Built many moons ago (but not by the Ford Motor Company Fords) it was a private hunting club, but somebody bought it about 10 years ago. There's quite a mansion back in there too, which I had a chance to visit a few years back with my Brother who knew the guy quite well. 

How do I know the area so well you ask? Spent my teenage years in Port Huron, and spent many a time fishing and canoeing that stretch of river.

An interesting story about this dam that I'll try to make as short as possible...my bud and I used to take an annual Labor Day canoe trip from up near the Sanilac Co. line all the way down to Port Huron, and obviously came through the dam. One time on this trip about 25 years ago, we were in the backwaters of the dam when we heard somebody yelling. Mind you there ain't nothing back there for miles...it's all private property. We finally saw a filthy guy over in the flooded willows waving and screaming. We took the canoe over to where he was, and about 50 feet from the water we saw a tarp and a sort of camping spot, and a woman on the ground having what we thought were some kind of seizures. Just as we got out of the canoe, a county deputy comes through the brush...turns out the two of them were back in there "camping", and the woman was on a bad "trip" of some kind, and the "boyfriend" had walked a few miles out to a road to call the sheriff. So the deputy says to us "do you know where the he#$ we are, 'cause I'm lost". Knowing exactly where we were, we not only told him where we were, we told him how to get an ambulance back in there to the dam. Fortunately he was able to get out on his old radio (no cell phones back in those days), and called for an ambulance to meet us at the dam. So now we loaded the girl in the canoe, I told the deputy to "sit on her" because she was squirming all over and screaming about "the snakes", and my buddy and I paddled them down about 3/4 mile to the dam, just as the ambulance pulled up. We helped get her up to the ambulance, then my buddy and I went back for "jethro". When we got back to the dam, the deputy was thanking us up and down, saying he never would've gotten her out of there without us....yeah, no kidding :yikes: 

Sorry for the length of the story, but trust me, there's a lot more to it. We heard later from the deputy that it was LSD, and these two holdover hippies were back in there illegally camping out. So anyway, now you know where the dam is. As long as you stay in the water, you can canoe through there. The state game area comes close, but the dam and backwater is completely private property.


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

The backwater isn't private property is it? That river had to be considered navigable at a point??


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## Night_Fisher (May 17, 2005)

Thank u for the information on the river and the story, very interesting.:lol:


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Heres another dam, about an hour west of Port Huron. Halloway Dam on the Flint River.


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## Night_Fisher (May 17, 2005)

I fish the halloway alot in the spring for waleyes, and do some catfishing in the warmer months..But thank for trying to help me


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## redneckdan (Dec 14, 2004)

is there a portage around the ford dam? I've lived in port huron my whole life, but I've never seen the dam.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

WILDCATWICK said:


> The backwater isn't private property is it? That river had to be considered navigable at a point??


Wildcatwick,
The "water" is navigable, so if you come in from one of the bridges upstream towards Sanilac Co. you can come all the way through without technically tresspassing. You just can't get out on shore back in there because it's private on both sides. It's all pretty swampy shoreline anyway, although there are a couple of islands back in there that are actually a little higher. Lots of people do it, and it's an enjoyable trip.

redneckdan,
Yes there is a portage of sorts on the west side of the dam...basically just a short trail up and over. Since the river is navigable, they can't block you from crossing over and getting back in the river. We occasionally ran into security guards back in there at the dam, and as long as you were just moving through, they never had an issue. So you can carry a canoe up and over without much trouble. However, you can't stop and fish or hang around the dam because it is private on both sides. They used to patrol the area quite regularly, but like I said that was in the 70's and early 80's.

If you put in at Norman or Comstock Road bridges, you can make it all the way down to Wadhams bridge in a half day. About 1 1/2 hours longer down to Port Huron. Like I said, we used to do it all the time.


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## stinger63 (Nov 25, 2003)

I have heard stories about how good that fishing is below that dam on bell river.From what I have been told somebody else bought the property and farm and made it all private so nobody can access that area.I heard that it was 1 heck of steelhead and salmon spot when you can get back there.

BTW welcome to the site and thanks for sharing your story about that place on the black river.I have heard similarish night mares from other people about the place.


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## redneckdan (Dec 14, 2004)

Did the river from comstock to M-136 yesterday with my girlfriend. The portage is on the left side (east side) of the river. Don't try to portage on the west side, you will end up going over the gates.


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