Last week was one of my favorite tournaments of the year, the MWC on Detroit River. It is an awesome tournament because you have the opportunity to fish both the river and lake, and catch monsters jigging with light tackle on the river. Thats something you just can’t do anywhere.
We spent the majority of the week fishing the lake, but still managed to catch a few slobs on the river. 3/8 oz Northland Fire Ball jigs tipped with a lively shinner were the ticket. Most of our River fish came in the lower river at in Trenton channel or the steel mills.
We were on a great crank bite throughout the week on the lake. Reef Runner, Rip Sticks, and Husky Jerks, with Barbie being out number one color, ran in the top 8′ of the water column were the ticket. Crank baits were out fishing spinners 2 to 1 during the week with cold weather. The area we w
ere focusing on was the slightly stained water to the south off Luna Pier.
On game day, we headed south and started with our crank program. We were catching fish, but not the numbers or the size we had in previous days. Around 12:30, with the warmer temps of the day, I thought I’d try a spinner. 3 minutes aft
er I put in out, BAM! board goes back, 8.5lber. Quickly we switched to an all spinner program and caught a couple more upgrades that put us in 24th place with 29.9lbs after day one.
We were pumped and ready to rock on day 2, with big confidence in our spinner program. Unfortunately, 1/4 mile after takeoff, disaster struck, my heart sank, and we were stuck fishing near Trenton as the prop shaft on my boat broke. We went to jigs and had to make passes using the kicker to move up and down river. We had hope, but unfortunately hope only ended up weighing in 11lbs at the end of the day. It just wasn’t our day on the river.
Oh well, I should be picking up the boat this weekend, and we’ll be back at. Gonna put this one in the books, and move on!
Thanks to Valerie (Paul’s wife) for coming to help us pre-fish and catching a hawg!
