# Esox (St Marys River)



## Davelobi (Feb 14, 2012)

Greetings from the mitten. Lifetime Michigan resident and angler. I love Chasing pike and musky. I fish Lake St Clair a fair bit, some of our lower peninsula lakes and have made two trips into northern Canada (both Ontario and Quebec). I have never fished the St Marys but understand there are some pretty impressive musky to be found there and want to come up this year to cpr a few. I have not heard much about the pike fishery but imagine it should be good as well. 

Hoping for a little help as trips are usually short (life, ya know) and hope to cut down the learning curve. I'm not asking for gps coordinates, I know I have my own work to do. Figured I'd be able to put in somewhere near Detour and run up river to a few of the more notorious bays on the Michigan side. I do have my annual Canadian license as well so if there are better (or other) areas of note, I'm not limited to state side. Never payed attention because I've not been there, is the season the same as down my way? Cast the bays? Troll the channels? Lake St Clair when trolling we are allowed 3 rods per man in Michigan waters and 2 in Canadian. I suppose the same arsenal as we use down this way will do the trick but always up for buying more  Might bring the waders and flyrod for the rapids if my timing is right. Want to try fishing that badly as well.

Can chat here or pm if that is preferred. Thanks in advance.
~dave


----------



## Davelobi (Feb 14, 2012)

Hmm, 124 views and no response. Is it because this is "trout streams" or does nobody fish the St Mary's for Musky? Should I move this to warm water fishing?


----------



## Swampbuckster (Nov 28, 2010)

I'll bite. I'll be heading up to DeTour and doing a 6 day sailing trip during the fourth of July. We will be sailing all of Potaginnissing bay and have a lot of down time for fishing. From what I understand the cool water species fishery is exceptional. Was goingto be towing a kayak behind tthe sailboat as a fishing vessel I could easily take out early mornings and evenings. Not sure on the musky but understand the smallmouth fishing can get exciting. I am curious if you receive anymore advice as I cannot find a whole lot of writing about the area.


----------



## redneckman (Dec 7, 2005)

Might get more help in the warm water section. I am a LSSU alumni and while in the Soo we fished a ton. No one ever really targeted pike or musky that I can remember. Most everyone fished trout, salmon, whitefish, walleye, perch. I have heard rumors of a few older guys fishing around munuscong bay targeting musky before, but don't really know any details.


----------



## Davelobi (Feb 14, 2012)

Well swampbuckster, I'll share the two super secrete spots I just read about in Tom Hugglers "Fish Michigan, 50 more rivers"...
Munuscong Bay and Raber bay are supposed to hold good esox. 
I love targeting pike and musky. I release everything I catch but claim I'll have a musky on the wall some day. Lets not start the replica vs skin mount discussion here please. The esox targeting crowd is tiny for sure compared to trout and salmon with even more that chase bass. The thrill of watching a submarine following your lure in is hard to describe to those who have not experienced it. The hits by a monster while casting are awesome. The screaming rips while trolling 5mph make a reel sound like it will detonate. 

Am I teasing any of you non-musky and pike fisherman yet?


----------



## bheary (Dec 29, 2010)

People are generally tight lipped for the most part up here. Everyone fishes Munscong and Raber Bay. I don't think you will have any issues catching pike around there at all. I threw up.some info on your other post. Have you tried calling the DNR fisheries guys yet? The college might be helpful as well. They have a website, Google LSSU Live Fishcam, should take to the fisheries study for the college


----------



## kracker (Jan 25, 2013)

Check your other thread and good luck getting ANY info other than crawler harnesses from any of the locals up there.


----------



## Ontario North Fishing (Apr 12, 2011)

To be honest I think you will find the St Mary's river to be kind of slow especially if you are used to fishing lake St clair. The St Mary's isn't a fantastic Pike or Musky fishery. You will catch Pike all over but don't expect to be pulling in 40"'s regularly. Most of the Musky fishing is centred around where people have told you.


----------



## shametamer (Jul 22, 2001)

Munuscong bay offers some of the more consistent and bigger fish, but generally they come from Labor Day on..its a shallow,prop eating area as well...they get a few good size critters from the taqhuamenon river each year


----------



## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

I sent you a PM


----------



## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Ontario North Fishing said:


> To be honest I think you will find the St Mary's river to be kind of slow especially if you are used to fishing lake St clair. The St Mary's isn't a fantastic Pike or Musky fishery. You will catch Pike all over but don't expect to be pulling in 40"'s regularly. Most of the Musky fishing is centred around where people have told you.


There are some 40" pike to be caught you have to know how to get them to bite. I get a few every year lots of 30". I see some real hogs when I am spring fishing so they are there.


----------



## ajhallfr (Jan 1, 2014)

TONS of pike in the whole river system, almost to the point where it gets annoying when you're targeting other fish. As for the musky, like everyone has said, munuscong and raber. Also try upriver towards dunbar


----------



## PIKE (Sep 10, 2003)

If you live close to "Lake Ain't Fair" you are going to have a hard time finding any place in the US that holds a better Muskie population. I live in Ohio and some guys I know spend about every weekend up there. 

I understand the idea of wanting variety, but there is no place like St Clair!


----------



## Davelobi (Feb 14, 2012)

Ha Ha Ha, "lake un-fair" Never heard that, love it. Casting for the musky opener is a "don't miss". Trolling is a relaxing way to wait for the magical sound of a reel detonating. I'll be trying the jigging scene this summer as well. The smallmouths can be awesome some days too. Yep, Lake St Clair is wonderful. We do like to get away on a trip once in a while tho, see something new.


----------



## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

The Lake Huron side holds nice pike, walleye, perch,and muskie, and some big smallmouth. What is amazing and few people even know about it or fish there. The Lake Michigan side is equally as good or maybe even better fishing for perch, bass, pike and muskie. You almost need a kayak to fish the good spots on Lake Michigan.


----------



## rico1391 (Dec 12, 2007)

I've never caught a ton of pike on the St Mary's, but I've only got one on a boat under 30". Most are 32-34"


----------

