St. Luke's 2/2/03

[Fried Fillets]

Have been hearing fabulous reports all week on the perch fishing in the St. Luke's area. In what is becoming a common theme, I showed up and the fish were totally shut off. I was surprised at how many people were fishing the Canadian waters, and yes, misery had plenty of company.

[William H Bonney]

Thanks for the tip!

You saved me another hour drive!


I did the same thing at Selfridge today

[bounty hunter]

We were out from mitchels bay saturday and just loaded up on real nice big jumbo's . Sunday was a little slower but we still managed to get 67 between 2 guys but we had to bounce around a lot. jigging rapala with a red bead was the ticket both days for us in 10-12 foot of water about 3-1/2 miles out.

[Captain]

We were at St. Lukes on Saturday, and had a pretty good morning once we found the fish. We ended up about 4.5 miles out in 11 feet of water. 3 of us brought back about 80 fish all 10-13+"...Kens with soft beads seemed to be the ticket for us..I just wish we didn't waste the first couple of hours looking for fish.. There was a ton of guys and it looked like Simcoe..

[walleyehog]

We went to St. Lukes yesterday and the fishing was pretty good. We ended the day with at least 200 fish between 6 guys, 10" to 14", although you had to keep rotating your holes to keep them bitting. It was difficult to sit on one hole longer than 10 minutes. I have never caught perch consistantlly over 10" like this in my life. I had a great time. It was a long ride to the fishin hole and we had to cross 2 pressure cracks. But all in all, it was a fabulous day.

[duckbusters]

Hey walleyehog? How far out of St. lukes did you go?

we went on Sat. Did well , 2 of us got 70 , 10-13 inchers. we were out 3 miles to the pressure crack, we had a late start Sat due to the ferry being shut down so we werent fishing until 9am Sat morn. I think we would have limited if we hit the morning bite. the fish shut down for us around noon ,but we stayed put and they came in little schools starting again at around 2 pm. it kept us entertained. and we got to have our lunch during the wait!

We are thinking of making a mid week trip.

just wondering if you crossed that pressure crack or not? the one 3 miles out? Or are there more further out?

[walleyehog]

Duckbusters, we crossed 2 pressure cracks or the same one twice, not sure... But it was a long haul pulling six guys on a trailer. We were @4-5 miles out fishing 10ft of water. Next time I will take my handheld GPS and I will now exactly.

PS. Yesterday's key seemed to be staying mobile. I would fish a hole for 5 minutes a catch a max of 5 fish from a hole then move. This kept up for the hole day. (One of our guys was able to pull @12 fish from one hole). We worked an area about 100 yards and there were plenty of holes so I only drilled about 20 holes yesterday. Hope to make it back soon.

[Captain]

I have a pic of a couple of the hogs we caught, but I can't seemed to reduce it down in size, can I email it to someone and have it posted here? Thx

[Captain]

Duck we started at the first crack at about 3.5 miles out and wasted about an hour before crossing and going another 1.5 miles to another crack running perpendicular to the first main crack..Fish were concentrated down this crack and a couple hundred yards each way...We too would have limited if we would have started there, we pulled lines at 12:30 as we had to get back...Had it narrowed down to 5 holes in a large circle, 2-3 fish per hole and just kept jumping around..

[William H Bonney]

Is there a taxi/sled service @ St.Lukes? 4 miles is a long haul on rubber soles.

[bounty hunter]

There is a taxi but they do not cross the cracks due to safety

[Captain]

The taxi will take you to the end of the tree line at about 2.5 miles.....We were another 2 miles from there, but when we came back in all the groups around the treeline seemed to be catching fish.....

[William H Bonney]

How safe is it to cross the cracks?

Now, I realize common sense applies, but what precautions should be taken or avoided when crossing cracks?

[Captain]

See if this works.....http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/141Perch2.jpg

[gunrod]

I was trying to help Tonga post some pics and posted your pic here: Your pic (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=32228)

Those are some hogs. Nice catch.

[Captain]

Thx, Gunrod one was 13 7/8" and the other 13 3/4"....we had many in that 11-13" range.....These two were the biggest!

[bounty hunter]

Gotta love them jumbos :D

[Canadian Hunter]

Saturday was very good out there! Sunday there was a pressure change(the wind came out of the Northeast as we were driving down the 401), and that shut them down! I understand last hour of light was good for those that stayed out!

Pressure cracks have been fine, ice is 16-18", just pick your way through them! There were lunatics out 5 miles in trucks on sunday. I wouldnt go out there in an auto,, sled or quad and lets go!! East winds now and rain,, hope theres very little rain and more importantly the east winds go away FAST!

Taxi will drop you off at the end of the treeline in about 10' of water. You do not have to walk far from here to get into fish, just be smart and get away from the traffic! It only runs on weekends.

[Garret]

Where in Ontairo is St. Lukes? Can you tell me about this taxi? Round trip price? How much gear can the taxi handle? Two guys, a shanty and a couple of buckets max or is it a big trailer hauling many people? THX!

[bounty hunter]

mitchels bay taxi service phone number is 1-519-351-6198 ask for randy, he is the guy running people out and is very helpfull on where there doing good at..But he only goes out so far and the rest is not that far of a walk(1 mile or so) as for what you can bring you will need to ask him because we run our 4 wheelers out there. There were people driving cars and trucks farther then he goes but I would never want to chance it even thoe the ice was 18 inches thick...

[Fried Fillets]

I need to learn how to fish those Ken's hooks and jigging rapala's better. I caught fish on both and moved around a lot, but most of the fish I caught were 8"- 9" and there were not too many of those neither. Canadian Hunter, as I said, misery likes company and you had some company!

[Ed Michrina]

sounds like I can walk out on a weekday to the end of the trees and get some nice fish? Is Mitchells bay slowed in perch. was hot in 4fow 3 wks ago... I heard some were getting jumbos, in 18 inches of water by the marina MItchells bay. until the quads/sleds spooked them?

[Fried Fillets]

Ed, I overheard a guy saying that they fished Mitchell's on Saturday, in 18 inches of water. He said there was fish in the area, good size, and that they hit your jig like a "stick of dynamite". Unfortunately, he said that there was 300 people in this general area, too much noise to be productive.