Fishing The St. Clair River from shore

[sleeper]

Although we're moving away from the area, I have a sister that lives in Marysville by the St. Clair River and she keeps saying I should fish when I visit. She said that people can catch sheephead and walleye there (which I like), but when I visited once without fishing, I didn't see anyone catching anything, and the current was real fast.

I thought I'd ask the regulars here if people can do good from shore there and what rigs people use to fish in that current for sheephead or walleye.

[alex-v]

Not sure what words to use in doing a search but maybe just go back page by page through all the old msg threads looking for related msg titles.

There have been many threads discussing where, when, and how to fish that river from shore.

[rjt]

I haven't spent much time fishing from shore. But I've always wanted to use a in line planer board and walk the walls. I bet it would produce. Using snap weights to get your bait down of course. Any one ever try it?

[WALLEYEvision]

I haven't spent much time fishing from shore. But I've always wanted to use a in line planer board and walk the walls. I bet it would produce. Using snap weights to get your bait down of course. Any one ever try it?

I would think wall walking with an in-line planer board would be difficult because it would be hard to keep the planer release from tripping in the current (not to mention all the friends you'll make trying to get past all the guys fishing the rail.) I suppose you can tighten up the release, but if the board were to go under in the swift current...:rant:

Casting pink leadhead jigs/pearl Culprits is popular in Marysville at night time in the spring. You'll see a lot of guys casting at the GC. Wall walking with a jig and twister does produce walleye during the spring/summer months in PH.

As alex-v suggested, run a search on this site for SCR, PH, Marysville, shore fishing, ect...lots of great info here.

I'm sure Stinger63 will chime in here soon, he knows more about wall fishing in PH than anyone I know! :)

[inthenet]

I haven't spent much time fishing from shore. But I've always wanted to use a in line planer board and walk the walls. I bet it would produce. Using snap weights to get your bait down of course. Any one ever try it?

You can use the inline boards,but only early spring and later in the year when the numbers of fisherman are down.If you try this (which does work)when to many people are fishing you will end making a few enemies.The other info passed on about the jig heads is right on the money .The spring is the best time and the Marysville board walk is a great place to fish.

[sleeper]

Ok, I'll search for old threads. Thanks.

[Laid Back 57]

The easiest way to fish from shore would be casting twister tail type grubs.Culprits have been the rage for quite a few years with 3/8 or 1/2 oz. jig heads.I used these for a few years but went back using 3 inch twisters tipped with 1/4 oz. jig heads.I catch more fish on the smaller rigs because I can slow my retrieve more.You will see people using all sort of color combo's but I'll bet I have caught 95% of all the walleyes so far with white or pearl bodies and a pink head or chartuese bodies with black or chartuese head.I have been using Shimano spinning reels and Ugly Stick poles for years.If it's a good year and you land a good spot,you are going to need a dependable reel that can take the abuse.Can't go wrong with a Shimano reel.Can you catch a lot of walleyes casting?You bet.If I'm not in the boat,I'm casting from shore.Keep in mind every year is different.Been fishing like this for over 35 years and still having fun.Good luck this Spring.

[fishinthed]

After really fishing the big waters from shore this fall, I've cone to realize it's a very good idea to use very long steelhead or surf casting rods to get your lures out to the reasonably deep water and cover a lot of water. Like Laid Back 57 says, Ugly Stiks are good rods, and not too expensive, either.

Hard to go wrong with any sort of curl tail grub jigs for walleyes and many other species of fish. I've heard that walleyes literally inhale jigs, so the lightest head possible to get down where you want to be is best. You can cast slightly up and across stream to keep down without too much weight.

When the walleyes are inshore feeding after dark I like to throw large (12cm) X-Raps and X-Rap jointed shads at 'em, and use a darting, stop and go retrieve. Walleyes caught like this tend to run pretty big, and they'll hit hard right at your feet.