muskie in the St.Lawrence river

Trolling and casting are popular ways to fish for muskie in the St.Lawrence river off Clayton New York. There are public boat ramps to launce your boat. If you are not familiar with the area for musky fishing I would suggest you hire a experienced musky fishing guide. May 2 is the opening day for musky fishing but the best fishing is in the fall going into winter. It can be very cold on the St.Lawrence river fishing for musky so dress warm. More fishing for muskies include the down stream sides of any of the deep water shoals off the islands between Cape Vincent and Clayton.

 

I like to drift the deep water shoals of Clayton using a heavy fishing rig baitcasting tackle spooled with 30-pound test line or stronger and a wire leader,muskie can bite through regular fishing line. If you can find them at the local bait store a 6 to 10 inch sucker hook through the mouth is a great musky killer. I like to use a 1/2 ounce sinker placed about 3 feet above the hook to let the sucker swim around. Using a fish finder find the shoals that are next to deep water the muskies lay along the rock shoals and feed on bait fish like a sucker. Trolling a large sucker  bait is also good for muskie anglers because you can cover more water and increase the chances  of a strike from a muskie. Remember muskies take a long time to grow so its important to handle the quickly and release the muskie back into the river as soon as possible.