Verticle Jigging For Early Season Walleye
With the smells of spring in the air, most anglers in the Lake St. Clair region begin to look with eagerness toward the spring walleye fishery on the Detroit River . Thanks to a year round open season, this exciting time gives local anglers a chance to target walleye well before those in other regions can, and thousands of anglers take advantage of this fishery.
As a full time fishing guide on the river for 16 years, I've targeted these tasty critters my whole life primarily by vertical jigging. This fun technique matches light action tackle with deep water fish which is as exciting as it gets. I love jigging, and it works for all species of fish because the upward pull and downward fall movement mimics a weak or dying fish. In a typical river system, walleye are primarily facing up current and as you drift your boat, your bait simply shows up swimming in front of them near the bottom and becomes an easy meal for those fish.
Early Season Crappies
Joe BalogFishing Pro
Lake St. Clair Living
Update 03-22-10
For the few fishermen utilizing the lake right now, the goal is often crappies. As we all know, the Detroit River offers perhaps the areas greatest walleye run in the spring, and the St. Clair River is a main destination for 'eyes in April. But right now, right out of the box, if you're after a decent catch for dinner around the lake, crappies can be your best option.
Crappies spend most of the late winter period in some of the deepest water and basin areas of most lakes. What makes Lake St. Clair unique is that those deepest, basin areas are often marinas. One quick look at a lake map will show you that, in many areas, man- made, dredged marinas and boat basins provide some of the deepest, most stable areas. A case in point: the Metro Beach complex. Combine that with migration of shiners and other minnows into the canals / seawall areas, and we have the makings for a crappie "honey-hole". In general, when compared to southern reservoirs noted for crappie fishing, Lake St. Clair does not have a large population of crappies. But some decent fishing exists in the marina areas in the spring. This time of year, crappies will be in large groups, often in the "basin" or open water areas of large marinas, or perhaps near deeper seawalls. The best depths will be the deepest areas – six to ten feet. As the spring progresses, pushing the crappies toward their late April spawn, better areas will be shallower, around docks, pilings, and shoreline rocks.
Hot areas to target: Beacon's cove, the entire Metro Beach canal complex, Belle Maer and MacRays boat harbors. Overlooked areas: the weedbeds around Gino's Surf on the main lake in 4 to 8 feet of water, or the adjacent boat docks.
Fishing methods: Light to ultralight rods with four to six pound mono. Try light slipfloat set-ups with live minnows to start, flowed by small 2-3 inch plastic curly tails and tubes rigged on 1/32 ounce lead heads later in spring.
The real key: move a bunch. I use a little Minn Kota trolling motor on my duck boat this time of year to hit the harbors – it pushes me around quietly, and I can "run and gun", so to speak, to find the big schools.
A couple more things to remember: The limit for crappies / panfish on Lake St. Clair is 25 fish daily. Also, when fishing around boat and docks, DO NOT bump into the boats, and DO NOT break your line if snagged on the docks, boats, etc. Slowly motor up and retrieve the bait. Nothing angers boat owners more than to come down to their dock and find fishing line and broken off hooks or lures.
Good luck!
Joe Balog
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I'm Joe Balog, your guide to everything in the outdoors around Lake St. Clair. As LakeStClairLiving.com continues to expand, I'll keep you updated on the fishing, hunting, and outdoor opportunities that are truly unique to our area. Many of you may recognize me from various work in the outdoor sports industry, including writing and television appearances with In-Fisherman, ESPN, Bassmaster, FLW and more. 
“When the water’s muddy and moving, handlining is hands-down the most productive method for catching walleye,” claims veteran tournament angler and handline advocate Gary (“Bo”) Bowman of Howell, Michigan. “In the Detroit River in the spring, you’ll see more boats sprouting handline reels than traditional fishing rods two to one,” he said, adding: “and you’ll see the method used to catch walleyes in rivers all over the Midwest, including some of the major tournaments like the PWT, MWC and FLW. The walleye pro’s who know how to rig their boats and use handlines use them on the tournament circuit every chance they get.”