Canadian Fishing Trip Report (non-crappie): Several firsts for us

[kybluediver]

First off, i apologize for posting a non-crappie story on the crappie board but wanted to share with you nice folks. Took 2 of my boys (10yo and 13yo) to the Canadian side of St Clair last week for a planned 4 days of fishing. This was a trip of several firsts for us. First overnight fishing trip with my youngest. First time staying/fishing in Canada. And ended up with 3 new species for us on the trip as well.

Well, trip started off badly as my 13yo was puking off the side of the boat in the first 15 mins. Had contracted a stomach bug from my mom before coming apparently. So we head to the cottage to sit it out. Luckily it was a 24 hour deal but there goes one of the 4 days with no fish. Next day, after letting him sleep, we get a late start and head out to the unknown. Was targeting smallmouth and mainly caught them but did catch several largies as well as 8 other species of fish. Didn't get on the big ones that the pros found but really only had 2 days of looking and I was fishing pretty much blind. Was happy to keep the kids catching fish of any size which they did while we were out. First day out we had maybe 40. Next day, we caught 60 with me catching the fewest. Last day, wind/weather forced us to the bank to fish for largemouth and caught maybe 25-30 in 4 hours or so with a few nice ones.

First story, after a full day's of fishing we start heading back to the ramp in pretty rough water. It was getting late. Got about a mile from the launch and got flagged down by a boater. The FLW guys were there this week and ended up having to give this guy a tow.


Very nice down to earth guy. His truck/trailer was over in the US over probably 35 miles of open water so we stayed with him maybe an hour or so until he had a solid plan to get back to the ramp. He shared some good stories with us. He practices with his wife and in this case his grandson. My 10yo and his grandson hit it off throwing rocks in the lake while he was getting things figured out.

Also, we caught a couple perch (first for us and he was more proud of that catch than any other).


We caught 2 muskie while bass fishing (actually had 4 hooked on the trip but landed these 2. Probably the prettiest fish I've caught.



And managed a few nice ones of what we were actually chasing.


out of the 10 species, we did not catch a crappie. Kind of sounds like one of my trips here on my home lake, lol. Great trip with the boys (minus the whole puking thing). Definitely want to go back. Might splurge and get a guide next time. That is some big water and a map doesn't help you find spots. Have to just magically know where there is grass/boulders out there in that flat bottom to find the big ones.

Total species of the trip:

Bluegill
Rock bass (large ones)
Perch
White bass
Muskie
Pike
Drum
Walleye
Largemouth
Smallmouth

[BarryG]

Nice! Beautiful Muskies! Thanks for the pictures!

[Crestliner08]

Awesome trip report! Those musky are just flat out gorgeous. Bet you didn't land 'em on 4# test mono though! LOL!

[scrat]

Wow! Nice catch. Thanks for sharing the report and pictures.

[kybluediver]

The muskies that we hooked almost all came on 14-15lb test on rattletraps. Did have one hooked briefly on a spinning rod and a tube. Also had one attack one of the smallmouth as we were reeling it in. That was cool to see in that clear water. Not sure how many we missed that cut the line immediately on a hookset but there were several that were either pike or muskies that did that to us as well.

[Hanr3]

Great report and memories your kids will share for a lifetime.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[SpeckledSlab]

Dynamite post and pics. Right place & right time, memories for you and your sons for a lifetime.

[ET Fish]

That was one heck of a trip! Thanks for sharing!

[Locator79]

Awesome time... It's on my bucket list

Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk

[crp4570]

great report and pics.