Michigan Muskie Alliance

Some info. about dissolved oxygen:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa002


The good news is that Lake St. Clair is around 68 degrees right now.

edalz wrote: The good news is that Lake St. Clair is around 68 degrees right now.

The bad news, for me, is that it's three hours away!

LSC scares me. I've never been in big water with my oversize rowboat...

hemichemi wrote:LSC scares me. I've never been in big water with my oversize rowboat...

Nothing out there should scare you, just respect it and you'll be fine. Heck, that storm a couple weeks ago we had to get away from was more scary than anything I've dealt with on St Clair.

Hemi,

I think my boat is about the same size as yours, 16.5' and a 50HP Merc and you just need to use common sense. I fish LSC with some flexibility and watch the weather reports closely. I fish within 3-4 miles of the many launches and have a small hand held (see link) VHF radio that I listen to and make sure I am aware of what is going on. I only go on days with waves less than 2'.

The scary part is actually trying to figure out where to cast and that's kind of overwhelming. You can go through Will's PPT and I am sure some of the guys can give you some good ideas.

VHF Radio:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... &noImage=0
Cheap NOAA radio:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... rchResults

Weather links:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?sit ... &version=1

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/LC/423.html


PS: I found another LSC by accident and I can't tell if it has Muskies:
http://serbian.wunderground.com/global/ ... 94976.html

We were out last Sat. and LSC was still 65-67 degrees everywhere we went in Anchor Bay and North Channel areas, so it should still be good there for a bit. Haven't had time to post a good report yet, but it was still very springlike, weed growth is still far behind for this time of year, but the reeds are much more defined than when we went out on the opener (water was only 55-58 then). Muskie bite is finally picking up out there. Lots of pike still being caught even by the trollers on the open lake.

With the water warming this should be at the top.

Ovid was ~85°F on Tues... About 10° warmer than last Tuesday!

What about night fishing, does this help at all?

My thoughts exactly Steve. Will, what about planning fishing outings through the night? Even in these blistering hot days can the water cool down enough to be safe? Is there any general timeframe to wait and fish again after the water temps have dropped? I love going out at night!

As of right now the surface temps are high but a couple feet down the water is much cooler. If we get some decent wind to mix the water temps will be back down. With high surface temps you want to limit handling, unhook them and get them back down from the surface quickly. At night the surface temps only drop a few degrees by morning so actually early mornings are your best bet.

What we have right now is just hot surface water, if tyhis keeps up without a cooldown and the water gets hot down deeper then it isn't safe for the fish. Recovery for them becomes very difficult and mortality increases substantially. If we hit a point when fishing for muskies should stop it will be posted here but for right now a well handled fish should be fine.

Hey Will, what about rivers. The Lower Black and the Cheboygan never get much above 68 Degrees...especially the Cheboygan. I have dove in these rivers and the thermocline is virtually non existant.

if a river stays around 68 then there shouldn't be a problem, high temperatures are the concern here. 68-75 are the temps of most canadian shield lakes throughout summer too.

I have heard of people that use an interesting method. First they unhook the fish as normally but then they hook the fish with a small bass size hook on the outside of the mouth. This hook is tied to a leader connected to a small anchor on a rope. Then the anchor is lowered down into the cooler water as the boat is placed into a VERY slow forward movement.

This gets the musky down into the lower cooler water and the musky when ready simply breaks free of the single hook on the outside of his mouth. I can not remember where I saw this first but it seems interesting.

Rich

This is a great thread for me, very clear and helpful as I didn't have a guiding rule. 80* (Though I've always struggled during the summer doldrums and have few to release.)