Detroit river in April.

[Fisherman1792]

I was just looking through the Ontario fishing regs and I see that the Detroit river is open for walleye (no closed season).
Would early april be to early for them? I think I might be able to get my boat out as we have not much snow and its melting pretty fast.
Would it be worth a trip to go?

Fisherman 1792

Yup should be in full swing then. As long the weather is good and they don’t shut down the ramps again like they did last year.. if you’ve never jigged the Detroit make sure you have an electric motor and are capable of using it too keep vertical.

[Fisherman1792]

Originally Posted by Windsor guy

Yup should be in full swing then. As long the weather is good and they don’t shut down the ramps again like they did last year.. if you’ve never jigged the Detroit make sure you have an electric motor and are capable of using it too keep vertical.

Thanks, I know you have to use fairly heavy jigs been watching youtube. Do you recommend a good boat launch? Looking on google maps but not sure.

Fisherman 1792

[jfaisten]

Take a look at MichiganSportsman.com and go to the Detroit River and Lake Erie section. They have up to date water conditions from guys who are fishing as well as all kinds of where to and how to fish the river.
Good idea to get a Canada license as well
Good luck

Gil maure park in lasalle behind the TD bank. Puts you in the middle of the middle of the river. Several good drifts just up river from there,, you will see the boats. Need 3/4oz jigheads and buy or make stinger hooks. Plastics id be using fin-s-fish in early April and would be changing to the rubber worm soon as water hits 48*. Minnows are nice too have but not necessary. Strictly fishing on sandwich street will have everything you need. Don’t cross the imaginary line in the middle of the river,, we are not allowed to cross the border to fish.

[kzoofisher]

Ice is off St Clair so your timing should be good. Wind and mud will be your limiting factors. South wind is the worst for everyone. East and west will change water clarity radically from one side to the other. Early weather is the most unpredictable, surprise surprise. Water temp at Belle Isle is already 38 and things really get rolling once its in the 40s. Should be another quiet year on your side with tens of thousands barred from crossing over. I'll second MSF for the latest up to date info on conditions and hot bites. It's not nearly as civilized a forum as this one but they cracked down a while back and it's better. Not all the reports are to be trusted and Canada specific reports are a little hard to come by these days but hey, once the river is full of fish it's full of fish. Jon Bondy guides from that side and sells plastics etc. for the river, no idea about best launches or bait shops, sorry. Everyone will tell you so but the lower river is the snaggiest and it gets pretty snag free starting about the top of Grosse Ile and up.

I know some guys who were getting them on the river a week ago. The wind muddied it up this week. I'm on call next week and won't be able to go but I'll start hitting it the week after.



https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick....t#.YFXuey1h18c

[dvl2700]

STAY HOME !! Just kidding. It can get really busy on the water and the ramps. Be patient. Went two years ago. Limited out in four hours with four guys. Use hi visibility braid in 10 lb test Must fish vertically. Any bow in your line reel up and reposition and get the drift right with the current. All of the above info is good. With Covid us US citizens cannot fish Canadian waters.

[Fisherman1792]

Thanks for all the info Guys!!Still a bit up in the air if I will be going, just waiting on getting a dump of snow like the day I get off work, lol!
I wish I was able to cross into the US and go through Michigan as it would save me a ton of hours and miles pulling my 20 foot boat.
So we cant cross that imaginary boundery, good to know, but what would happen if you did? Stupid idea that is because I would have bought my Michigan license again.

Again thanks for the info!

Fisherman 1792

[Wallychowder]

Originally Posted by dvl2700

STAY HOME !! Just kidding. It can get really busy on the water and the ramps. Be patient. Went two years ago. Limited out in four hours with four guys. Use hi visibility braid in 10 lb test Must fish vertically. Any bow in your line reel up and reposition and get the drift right with the current. All of the above info is good. With Covid us US citizens cannot fish Canadian waters.

I wonder why that is so much different than fishing Rainy River in the spring ?

[kzoofisher]

You’ll have to tell me about the Rainy. The D normally runs 2-3mph though it can get up to 6 or 7, can have pretty good clarity once the early dirty water flows out and a lot of the jigging is done in 20-40’. Often that much water is quite close to shore. Pretty easy to stay vertical in the shallows but the fish aren’t necessarily there. Most guys use 1oz jigs but there’s some who swear by 5/8. Not uncommon for 3/4 to be used especially by the guy on the tm. I enjoy it most when the fish are <20’. When they’re deeper I won’t play c&r. Almost no one in boats casts largely because it’s crowded. Banky’s do well casting in the limited areas they can fish. There’s actually a new pier that I expect will be pretty crowded this year. It was built near a popular run and will no doubt break up the current quite a bit.