Muskies on the tittabawassee river system

[PikeKiller]

I know there is Sanford, Wixom, Smallwood, and Secord but what one is best? and what are some ways to catch them?

[Steve S]

You need to talk to Pete, Duke & Srappy.

[Bomba]

Due to the fish escaping through the dams, there aren't the amount
of fish in these lakes that there should be. Fish the old river channel edges, but be prepared to put in ALOT of time to contact just one fish.

[Duke]

Don't forget Ross Lake in Beaverton too. Most of those fish were flushed down into Wixom when Ross was completely emptied for dam repairs a couple years ago, but muskies were restocked in 2011 (of course those are still just babies though).

It's tough to get a good comparison b/w the lakes because:
1) the populations are low enough that very few people target them,
2) it is a LOT of ground to cover to fish them all enough to gauge the lake's fisheries,
3) they change depending on recent stocking & success rate - there is some natural reproduction throughout but not a lot,
4) they change depending on lake drawdowns like in Sanford and Ross recently- both the drawndown lake and the receiving lake change. First, it flushes more out the dam (muskies are more prone to downstream migration than other fish), and second the fish that stay are more vulnerable to harvest such as via spearing. These two reasons are likely the cause for Sanford being down right now.

So with this in mind, a half-wild guess ranking right now for general odds of contacting a muskie would be a close 3 horse race :
1) Smallwood 2) Secord 3) Wixom, with Sanford a distant 4th and Ross gets an incomplete grade right now I think.

[weatherby]

Has anybody ever put the time into chasin them below the Sanford lake dam in the actual Tib? I seen someone mention them on another site but that is the 1st i heard on them in there

[Duke]

Yes. They are there and worth fishing for.

[chris]

Has anyone one been out on ross fishing yet?

[Scrappy]

A 54 incher was taken and harvested below the dam earlier this year and I know of a couple in the 30's caught over the last couple of weeks below the dam in the river as well. I also know of a 50 incher caught and released on Sanford this week. Not sure I'm in complete agreement with Duke's rankings of the lakes but he's not far off either. There is a lot of water to cover with a ton of cover and a very heavy forage base on all these lakes. Add to these facts the trickle down theory and loss over the dam into the river and this makes musky fishing very tough on the Titt Chain. The Titt Chain lakes are not for folks looking for numbers and consistent fish contact. As such, these lakes, IMO, are not really good for folks just starting to musky fish. However, if you put in the necessary abundance of time out there, be patient and fish during prime times, you will eventually be rewarded.

Even though I live on Sanford, I spend the majority of my time fishing muskies elsewhere because targeting muskies alone on Sanford can be a very humbling experience. Duke is right though, the system is constantly changing and I'm hopeful that the down turn on Sanford over the last several years will rebound. If we could get more consistent stocking on the chain that would be good as well but after 12 years living on the lake, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the MDNR to make that happen.