Detroit River weekly fishing reports and information from Walleye Kid, local guides, and bait shops. Lots of the patterns you read about repeat themselves every season. Use these older reports to plan your strategy for this year. Send me an e-mail with your questions click here
June 14, 2009 - River & Erie
Here is a report from Mike W:
We fished saturday at the bannana dike and sunday at the north tip of grassy and the north tip of grosse isle. caught 2 fish sat and 2 fish sunday, walleyes, and a really nice smallie water was dirty from all the rain plus lots of floating weed, boat traffic was heavy on the river sun. the fish are there,lots and lots of white perch too, if you are going to try using bait, bring lots!
May 30, 2009 - White Bass Action Again
We took our friends Justin and Tyler out on the river for their first white bass trip ever. They had a great time and boated about 50 fish in a few hours just south of the Trenton stackes. One of our friends likes to smoke them so we brought back about 30 fish for him. Kept it simple - trolled small shad crankbaits upstream in 8-12 feet of water. Justin even managed to pull in a walleye from the Trenton Channel.
May 28, 2009 - Buoy 92 Hot Again
Talked to several people that took fish from the Buoy 92 area again today. Bouncers and crawler harness can produce good catches this time of year. It's a great place to drag bouncers in 25-35 FOW since it's a pretty clean bottom. Easier to do if you have a north wind to push you just slightly faster than the current. If not, use you trolling motor up front or even your kicker. Need to make sure the crawler harness blades are turning next to the boat before you drop it in to the bottom.
Buoy 92 Location: Red buoy near the south end of Fighting Island in the main shipping channel. Almost directly across from the Wyandotte hospital.
May 18, 2009 - Walleye are Biting
Report from today is that fish are still biting good in the river. Many of the guys at the Wyandotte ramp were coming in with 4-10 fish per boat. Handliners seemed to be doing better than jiggers. Most of the action was on the north end of Fighting Island - particularly on the Canadian side of the line. Guys that fished this past weekend did well again around Buoy 94 and the usual school of fish for this time of year on the northern end of the river - Roostertail, Belle Isle Bridge, etc. The fish hang out here before going back into Lake St Clair. If you can deal with the white bass there are walleye to be caught. We generally launch out of Erie Metro Park with the idea of fishing Erie but if it's windy we go back into the river. Good luck, be safe, and wear your life jacket if you are heading out to the lake.
May 15, 2009 - White Bass Fun and Video
We went out to the river with a few of my frinds today. Caught about 150 white bass in two hours. Anything you throw in there catches a fish. We trolled shad raps and rip shads upstream and downstream in 6-10 feet of water south of the Trenton stacks. Lots of fun if you have never tried it. Fish up to 2.5 pounds with most around a pound right now. My dad even caught two on one lure. To make it easier we cut one of the hooks off each treble hook. Makes it a lot easier to get then unhooked at the side of the boat with a pliers. E-mail me if you need more info. See a video
May 14, 2009 - Rain and More Rain
Lets see what last nights big rain and high winds do to the river. It generally takes a day or two for the mud out of Lake St Clair to work it's way down the river. Last reports we had still had lots of fish in the middle to upper portion of the river. Ambassador Bridge, Ren Cen, Belle Isle Bridge, Race Track (Canadian side) to Sand Piles (Canadian side) were all producing fish. The lower end of the river gets very difficult to fish around mid May with all the Silver Bass moving in from Lake Erie. Most of our friends have moved out of the river and are heading to Saginaw Bay or Lake Erie. We will start up the Saginaw Bay reports this Monday.
May 8, 2009 - Great Day on the River
Fished this morning with our friends Len and Randy in the middle areas of the river. We ended up with 13 walleye - 7 keepers and 6 smaller throwbacks. Green 7/8 oz jigs and brown worms took all the fish. Best areas: Buoy 94 in 37 FOW, Mud Island flat (east side of the channel) in 18 FOW, deep water channel in front of US Steel (near the red buoy 104 on the Canadian line) in 38 FOW. This buoy is in Canada so watch where you are fishing if you don't have a canadian license. Lots of fish in the river right now. Water temp in the upper 50's and very clean. Get out and catch some fish this weekend!
May 8, 2009 - Silver Bass have Arrived!
Take a Kid Fishing. This is a great time to take a kid on the river for the time of his or her life. We caught 40+ silver bass in about one hour this evening. Massive schools in 5-10 FOW south of the Trenton stacks. Small crankbaits, spoons, rattle traps, pink and silver inline spinners - you name it they will hit it. Lots of fish up to two pounds are arriving right now. If you have never fished specifically for silver bass give it a try. It's a blast. See my video on fishing the river for silver bass.
May 7, 2009 - New Locations Added to Detroit River Tour
We just added five new landmarks to our Detroit River Tour page. Check them out and see if you have fished these locations. If you try all these great spots and don't catch any fish it's time to turn in your license and start golfing! Good luck and send us any questions you have about these hot spots. Lets check it out
May 5, 2009 - Mud Island and Buoy 94
Fished a couple hours this evening and picked up two walleye. Once from 35 FOW south of Buoy 94 (Fighting Island Channel US waters), and one from the Mud Island Channel in 31 FOW. Lance Valentine said they had a great morning along Fighting Island north and south of the candle stick. Give the river a try the water is clean and there are lots of fish in the system right now. Send us your report and pictures!
May 3, 2009 - Lots of Action
Every species of fish known to mankind is now in the river. We caught walleye, smallmouth bass, white bass, rock bass, suckers, and saw three sturgon landed and released. Ended up catching about 15 walleye today - kept 7 and threw back 8 or so undersized fish. This is the first year in a long time where we are catching 13"-15" fish again.
Best areas were Fighting Island between the candle stick and the water intake, Buoy 94 (south end of Grass Island), Mud Island (west side), and the Golf Course. The fish are headed deeper and we caught most of our walleye in 31-38 FOW - shallower around the golf course. Best rig was a green / chart jig with brown wyandotte worm or a live minnow. Guys that hit the water early had a good bite around Fighting Island. We got there late and missed the bite. Things heated up again around noon. The silver bass are in and causing trouble. We hit a big school around the golf course - all big females. The boats are lined up south of Trenton stacks fishing for them already.
Get out now before the silver bass make walleye fishing impossible.
May 1, 2009 - Lake Erie Reports
Walleye Kid and his friends will be starting to fish Lake Erie more as action in the Detroit River starts to wind down. If you're new to fishing Erie the action can be unbelievable. Launch from Erie Metro Park and head south towards the banana dike, fermi, or stoney point. All these areas hold fish from mid-May until early-July. Trolling bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses is the ticket. If we get to Erie Metro and it's rough we just make a left turn and head into the river to fish. The Detroit River holds fish well into June if the water stays cool. View our Lake Erie Fishing Reports page
April 26, 2009 - River Looks Good (except wind)
The river water clarity is looking good on the American side. Non stop west and southwest wind moved the mud over to Canada. The bite should be hot now with lots of fish in the river. The MWC tournament on Saturday and Sunday produced some pretty good results. Top team weighed 53 pounds of fish for the two day event (10 fish total). Here is a link to the results.
Tim D Report: Had a good day on the river. Ended up with four fish over 23 inches from the area around the steel mills on Friday April 23rd. One fish was a female with eggs that Tim released - good work! The picture shows the fish he kept.
If you plan to fish the next week or so don't be afraid to fish deep with a one ounce jig. Lots of males move off the spawning areas and into DEEP water. It's not uncommon to catch fish in 40 feet of water by the south end of the mills or by the Ambassador bridge. Try it and see. Set the hook hard and keep winding, it's easy for the fish to get off if they get any slack line in the current.
April 24, 2009 - Mixed Reports
Heard some guys caught a bunch of fish today - mostly from Mud Island north. Also talked to a couple people that struggled with the strong south winds. Wind blowing against the current is the most challenging for boat control. MWC starts tomorrow morning - good luck to all our friends fishing the event. I'm sure we will get the real story Sunday night.
April 23, 2009 - Better Action
The river is clearing up around Wyandotte. Several guys had 3-4 fish per boat from the Mud Island and Steel Mills area. I'm sure there were probably some better results but with the MWC tournament coming up nobody is talking. The river was rough and will get worse as the wind picks up from the south at 20 mph. Be careful, the wind pushing water against the current can create some dangerous conditions Be safe and let us know if you get into the fish.
Just received a picture of a 11.5 lb fish caught by Mick W. while fishing with Capt. Paul Doute earlier in the week from the slag piles! Still full of eggs. Here is another picture with Mick weighing the big girl! This one was released! Congratulations Mick on a great fish.
Get Capt. Paul Doute's contact information for booking a charter. Click here
April 21, 2009 - Mud Again
The river is pretty ugly right now. The American side is fishable and several guys we talked to did get some fish today. The Canadian side is a mud hole. Rouge River and Lake St Clair are sending mud down stream. Best bet when this happens is to bulk up your presentaion so the fish can find it. Go with a 3/4 or 1 ounce jig and a big 4" plastic. White shad baits seem to do well in mud. We also found that we do better in water that is slower moving since it stays in front of the fish longer. Look for some slack water areas - Trenton Channel shallow, couple spots by the golf course, even Mud Island has a few slower moving spots. Lots of fish in the river right now and once it cleans up the action should be very strong.
April 19, 2009 - Fighting Island and Boblo Docks
Both areas produced fish on Sunday before the front came through. This was Day 2 for the MWT Detroit River Tournament. Look for a link to results once they are available. We heard some teams caught over 30 pounds for five fish Sunday. Looks like the river will be a mess based on Monday's rain and wind. Good numbers of fish are in the river if the water cleans up.
See Detroit River Tour if you don't know where Boblo is...
Report from Tom S: Fished from 9 - noon Sunday (4/19) near the Sand Piles on the Canadian side of the river across from the DelRay boat launch. Caught 4 fish - biggest 22 inch 4.5 pounder. Saw other boats with their nets out also. Water was clearing up.
April 18, 2009 - Need Some River Reports
We fished the Lake Erie reefs in Ohio today - New Lake Erie Reports! If you fished the river and would like to share a report and help everyone out for tomorrow just e-mail me. Might not get too much info since the MWT tournament is going on today and tomorrow on the river.
Report from Mike T: Fishing Report for the afternoon of the 18th. Got my limit out of the Trenton Edison warm water discharge. Orange Jigs in 9-10FOW. all but one caught on the stinger. 3 8lb-ers. Most people I saw were netting fish. Love your site!
Report from Dean C: Fished Friday and Saturday (4/17 & 4/18) Friday we caught fish at the post office in 20fow, Ft. Wayne 24fow, and Ecorse channel, ended up with 3 and lost a couple more. Saturday had 8 by 9:30 fishing the 30fow channel close to Mud Island. This seems to be best early in the morning. Ended up catching 15 but had to work at it all day. Every spot we stopped we caught one or two and then nothing. We'd move and then the same story. Fish from Cobo to Wyandotte and caught them on just about everything.
April 17, 2009 - A Few Fish
We ended up with two fish tonight from the Trenton Channel and lost one more. Green jigs - one on a brown worm and one on a minnow in 10 FOW. This fish was caught by our friend Russ - his first Detroit River fish of 2009. Lower end of the river has about 18 inch visibility. Middle of the river by Mud Island not so good and the wind was blowing pretty good this afternoon. Upper river is pretty clean as well. We really didn't see more than about 6 fish caught from 3:00-8:00pm so it was pretty slow. We talked to a few guys that said the bite was better in the morning. Water should clear up a little more tomorrow with the light winds and St Clair looks pretty good as well.
April 15, 2009 - Mud Bowl..
Stopped by the Wyandotte boat launch after work today. River looks pretty bad from all the mud coming down from St Clair. Probably about 6-8 inches of visibility at best in front of the ramp. There were about 10 trailers in the lot so that should give you an idea about the fishing. Most looked to be guides.
The FLW Walleye Tour had Day 1 cancelled today. They are fishing out of Port Clinton on Lake Erie but we heard that a bunch of the tournament guys were planning to fish the Detroit River because the mud is so bad on the lake it looks like you could walk on it - or plow it. Hope to hear from a couple guys that were out on the river today. Let us know if you got out today. See you on the water, Ron
April 11, 2009 - More Wind...
Goose egg for Walleye Kid this morning. We fished three hours on the south end of the river again. Water is getting cloudy down there and we heard it's really muddy from the steel mills north but we didn't go up that far. Saw five fish caught all morning and all were smaller males. Our friend Larry caught one in 18 FOW in the Trenton Channel and we saw two more caught there in about 11 FOW. I'm sure a few boats ended up with some decent fish but it looked pretty slow for the number of boats on the water this morning. If you had a good day out there let us know and we will post your report and help everyone out.
Report from James: Caught 4 fish by 11AM. One from the shallow flat below the stacks in 6 FOW. Two from the Grosse Ill side of Trenton Channel (15-18 FOW). and e from Humbug in 15 FOW. The Grosse Ill side of the channlel has been producing a few fish - mostly males. It's a pretty clean bottom and easy to jig once you get into about 16 FOW.
April 10, 2009 - NE Wind Stinks...
Fishing slowed down a little today with the strong NE wind blowing down the river. We fished the lower end of the river today from BASF wall to Erie Metro Park. Ended up with four nice fish - picked up one fish at the Golf Course just south of the maintenance building and three more by the Horse Island bridge. The golf course fish was tight to the wall in the slack water current break. The Horse Island fish came from 13-16 FOW right on the patches of gravel that are scattered through that area. Water clarity was real good in the south end of the river but the mud line was sliding over from Canada once you got up to Fighting Island and north of there. See a bigger picture...
April 10, 2009 - First Detroit River Fish!
Our friend Joe caught his first Detroit River walleye ever on Friday! What a great fish! Joe and his crew found a few pointers on our website and used the info for his first walleye trip to the river. Hopefully they get a chance to come back and fish again once the bite really heats up in late April. If you have any questions about fishing the river just let us know.
April 9, 2009 - Fish On! Get Out on the River!
Larry's Report: The river action is heating up! Our friends Larry, Al, and Ken ended up 8 fish today from the middle of the river. They jigged and trolled crawler harnesses from the bubbler down to Two Rocks (visit our river tour to see where this is). Biggest one was Larry's 8 pound beauty - his personal best on a jig!. Chartreuse jigs and the magical Wyandotte Worm got the job done. Larry's Big Fish
Walleye Kid Report: My dad fished with his friend this evening and ended up with 7 fish from the south end of the river. Water clarity was good and the fish were pretty active in 12-17 FOW. Jigging took all their fish. My dad says his friend Rich schooled him on proper jigging techniques - at least my dad's a good net man! Their fish came from Horse Island area. Rich's Big Fish
Bill at Bottomline Tackle's Report: Bill says lots of fish coming from the Trenton Channel. Smaller males from 18-20 FOW in the channel. Bigger females in the usual location - 5-9 FOW in the bay south of the Edison stacks.
April 7, 2009 - Mud and More Mud
The river does not look good today from the high winds. Canadian side looks unfishable and the American side is stained pretty good in the Wyandotte area. Water quality will depend on what comes out of Lake St Clair once the winds calm down. If you get out on the river and it's muddy you need to bulk up your baits. Move up to a 1 ounce jig and a bigger 4 inch or 5 inch plastic. If they can't find it you'll never get a bite. We have had good days even in the mud. Slow down the jigging to a slow thump on the bottom or just drag it across the bottom. Most of the charters start fishing this week so we should have some good reports to share.
April 6, 2009 - Detroit River Success!
Here is a great reason why you should get a copy of the "Walleye 101 Guide to the Upper Detroit River" DVD. What a great story and a cool picture! Congratulations Dave and Mark!
"Thanks Lance, your upper Detroit river hot spots DVD is responsible for one of the greatest fishing experences I have ever had. As we boated fish, B-Ball fans cheered and took our pics."
God bless you, thanks Dave & Mark
Get out on the water the big fish are in and hungry. The DWF tournament this past weekend was won with a fish that weighed almost 13 pounds and it was caught on one of the Detroit River DVD "Hotspots"! Good luck and be safe out there.
April 5, 2009 - Action is Heating Up
Lots of big fish caught this morning in the Trenton Channel. Hot bite was once again at the bottom of the bay south of the stacks in 7-9 FOW. Green looked like the hot color today. Probably 50-75 boats in the channel most of the morning. We saw a dozen fish caught that were over 7 pounds and one that was 32" and had to go close to 12 pounds. Several boats we talked to had 5-8 fish. We spent some time driving around today. Most of the river looked fishable with the exception of our favorite spot - the salt mines on the Canadian side which had about 3" visibility.
Lake Erie - we drove out into the lake to see if we could find any schools of fish near the banana dike, dumping grounds and Fermi. Water looked really good but we couldn't find the fish out there. Keep in mind this bite will heat up as soon as fish start moving out of the river at the end of April if not sooner. Most guys are fishing for small males in the river and the big females are back out in the lake. Don't miss the chance this year. Cranks and harness all produce. We will have more info as this bite takes off.
April 4, 2009 - Picking Up A Little
We fished the river today from 1:00-5:00. Ended up with one decent fish and lost one more. Spent most of our time in the Trenton Channel and a few minutes at Horse Island bridge. Guys that were out earlier in the day ended up with anywhere from 1-5 fish, mostly in the morning. Bite seemed to die off in the afternoon. We caught our fish in 7 FOW south of the stacks at the bottom of the bay. There was a decent bite for about one hour arond 2:00 and we saw about 10-12 fish caught in the same area we hit ours. Downriver Walleye Tournament tomorrow so we should have more info on the bite from those guys.
April 1, 2009 - Good News and Bad News
Talked to Bill at Bottomline Tackle today. He said some of the boats coming back in yesterday had up to four fish. That's a lot better than the 0-2 fish per boat over the past week. He also said some fish were being caught trolling out in Lake Erie - something we are looking forward to doing ourselves. Stop by and see Bill for the latest report. Bad news is the wind was blowing from the south about 30 mph today and stirring up the river pretty good. For those of you new to river fishing a south wind pushes water upstream and can create big waves and lots of mud in a hurry. The river can become very dangerous especially around Mud Island and the Ambassador Bridge with a strong south wind. Wear your life jacket and be safe anytime you're on the water this spring.
March 31, 2009 - DWF Tournament
The Downriver Walleye Federation (DWF) held their first tournament of the season on Sunday. The first place team caught four fish that weighed 24.58 pounds. The DWF tournaments allow you to have four anglers per boat. If you are not part of the DWF you should consider joining. Great group of fishermen that have monthly meetings with guest speakers to help you become a better angler. Here are a few links: Tournament Results Tournament Photos
March 28, 2009 - Goose Egg
Wow. 0-2 on our first two trips to the river for 2009. The picture is the Erie Metro Ramp at 4:30 on Saturday - that should give you an idea on how good the fishing was! Today was a NE wind at about 15-20 mph, dirty water and no fish. We saw one fish caught on the river and not a single fish at the ramp. We hit Two Rocks, Steel Mills, Ecorse Channel, Trenton Channel and Celeron Island. Water temp was about 40.5 on much of the river. We jigged for two hours then dragged minnow baits very slow upstream to try and trigger a bite on the Trenton spawning flats. No warm water coming out of the steel mills and it looks like nobody is working there right now - bad economy might even mess up the spring fishing! My advice would be to stay home Sunday and watch some basketball.
March 27, 2009 - First Monster!
Fishing early in the spring paid off BIG for Dean Cushman as he hauled in a 12 lb MONSTER last weekend! This beauty came from the warm water discharge near the steel mills. Dean was using a 1 ounce jig with a big 5" shad body and a stinger hook. This combination helped the fish find his bait in the stained water. The area where he caught the fish is in Lance Valetine's "Guide to the Detroit River" DVD. Dean is a Walleye 101 member and credits his success to attending Lance Valentine's River Fishing Seminar and reading the "Walleyes in the River" study guide. If you want to land a trophy of a lifetime just like Dean, get out on the river in the next few weeks before the walleyes are spawned out. Good luck and send me a photo of your BIG fish!!!
March 26, 2009 - Still Slow
Talked to several people coming off the water at the Wyandotte ramp today. No fish caught. The water looks pretty dirty - most of the mud drifted over from the Canadian side. Wish we had a better report but that's the way it goes this time of year. Won't be long and the bite will be hot!
March 22, 2009 - First Day on the River
We fished for about three hours this afternoon. Nothing to show for the effort. Water temp was 40.4 degrees near the Edison plant in the Trenton Channel. Further south near Horse Island the temp was about 43 degrees. Most people we talked to had 0,1,or 2 fish and had been out most of the day. We talked to one boat that had a fish that looked to be about 8 pounds. Water clarity was about 2-3 feet but the wind was blowing hard from the northeast making for tough boat control. Bill at Bottomline Tackle said fish started showing up in the river on Tuesday. Stop by and see him for the latest information about the river bite.
March 19, 2009 - Cold Water Survival
Get the facts about cold water survival. Learn about the three stages of cold water immersion. This is a 10 minute video that is worth watching if you plan to head out on the water this spring. Be safe out there! Watch video
March 17, 2009 - Wyandotte Ramp is Open!
The Wyandotte ramp is open and a couple boats have launched. River still looks pretty muddy and some junk (trees, coolers, etc) heading down to Lake Erie. No ice coming down and we may be close to being done at this point. The docks at Elizabeth Park were being put in today but the ramp is still closed. A few boats fishing the Trenton Channel according to our sources. No reports of fish yet. Click here for a bigger image
March 8, 2009 - Won't Be Long Now.....
Three days of steady rain has done some major damage to the ice on Lake St Clair. If all goes according to plan, we will be on the river on Saturday March 22nd - one of the earliest starts ever. We charged the boat batteries, cleaned the electrical connections, checked the expiration dates on our flares (had to replace ours), put new Fireline on the reels, tied a bunch of stinger hooks, and put air in the trailer tires. Remember to be safe ....wear your life jacket at all times in the spring. Water temps in the upper 30's can send you into shock as soon as you fall in, no swimming back to the boat. If you get out on the river send me an e-mail and I will post your early season report - good or bad. Here is a link to my e-mail form. See you on the water, Chris
March 1, 2009 - New Satellite Website
Check out this cool new site we found for maps of the river and other loactions. I have zoomed in on one of our favorite Detroit River spots along the golf course. You can zoom in and out with the control on the right side of the page. Lets go...
February 16 - Lance Valentine Interview
Looks like 2009 will be another great one on the river. Just got off the phone with Lance Valentine to get his perspective on what's in store for river anglers. Lance said, "I expect this to be the best season in the last 10 years. The massive 2003 year class of fish will be in the 4-6lb range and should provide a majority of the action during April and May". He also encouraged anglers to get out early while the big females are still in the river if catching a trophy is on your "To Do List" for 2009. Lance went on to say "...once we hit late April most of the big fish are back out in Lake Erie and we transition to a numbers game with the smaller males". Watch for Lance's fishing reports in the near future. Book a Guided Trip with Lance.
February 15, 2009 - River Walleye Seminars
Lance Valentine will be conducting free seminars on how to fish the Detroit River the week of February 24th. Seminars are three hours long and will take place in several locations throughout southeast Michigan Visit Walleye 101 website for more information.
February 14, 2009 - New DNR Regulations Map
The new 2009 DNR Walleye Fishing regulations map is now available. We laminated ours and will keep it in the boat. Good news is you can now use THREE rods per angler on the Detroit River! What were they thinking? Most people can't jig two rods at a time. Imagine how many snags you would get running three rods in the Trenton Channel.....2009 DNR Walleye Map
February 13, 2009 - Erie Metro Park Boat Launch Open!
The Detroit River is generally ice free from Wyandotte to Erie Metro Park. The Erie Metro Park boat ramp is open and they have put two docks in. Wyandotte ramp has some ice remaining and is closed. If you would like to get our Detroit River updates scroll down to the bottom of this page and click "Site Mailing List". We will be providing up to date info as the jigging season gets closer. Get your reels spooled up the walleyes are moving in!
February 10, 2009 - Ice, Ice Baby
The Detroit River has heavy ice flows in the Wyandotte area. Looks like warm weather coming this week and high winds might clear some of it out. Lake St Clair is frozen nearly the entire way to Canada so lots of ice will need to make it's way down the river before we'll be fishing.
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