iFish Lake St. Clair

Report of smallmouth starting to stack up at the mile roads.  From 8-15 feet of water seems to be the ticket.  Try the usual lipless and shallow to medium diving cranks.  Water temperature is cooling down into the mid 50’s which should get that fall feed cranking.

Hearing reports of smallmouth still at the mile roads. 10-12 feet of water on tubes and lipless cranks. Find the edges of the weed beds. The bass are in schools so be ready with a second rod for the followers.

Sportfishing Paradise For Bass

By Tom Morrison

Surrounded by the Great Lakes – Lake Huron to the north and Lake Erie to the south, Lake St. Clair is dwarfed in size and legend. However, this lake of 430 square miles of surface area, is responsible for nearly 30% of the sportfishing catch of the Great Lakes and 50% of all the sportfishing that takes place in the Great Lakes. It has, over the years, gained a new respect amongst the ‘world’s’ anglers, making it the ‘little lake that could’.

Lake St. Clair boasts millions of smallmouth and largemouth bass that grow to an average of 2 lbs.. This large population of North Americas favourite game fish thrives by no accident or coincidence. The ‘lake’ flushes itself into Lake Erie an average of every seven days, taking as little as 2 days or as long as 30 days to push the flow from the St. Clair River, through the Detroit River. This flushing provides plenty of nutrients for the small forage fish and creatures that make up the diet of resident bass. It also helps keep this shallow lake somewhat cooler than you would think, considering it has an average depth of only 10 feet with the deepest section being the shipping channel at 27 feet.

The smallmouth bass fishing is nothing short of spectacular. Once the summer patterns have settled in, it is not uncommon to catch upwards of 40 to 60 bass in a four hour period, with many days providing more action than that. On our charter operation, clients (2 to 4) are treated to non-stop action throughout their 6 hour trip. This ‘gamest of all sportfish’ gives them all they can handle.

Preferred Lure

It’s hard to argue with the success of the tube bait. Whether you use a salted tube like a Mizmo Big Boy or scented like Mr. Twister’s Exude, the tube is most popular lure choice in almost all situations on the lake. Competition is fierce among the bass, with the smallest most often beating the largest to the bait. With a little patience, those four pounders will come to the lure. One way to get to those lunkers among charter operators and tournament anglers alike, is to wait until your partner or buddy has a bass on and near the boat. Almost always, there is another bass lying in wait for the first one to cough up it’s catch and in most cases it’s usually the largest of bass that waits for this free and easy meal. Don’t disappoint him. Toss your tube out close to your buddy’s fish and hang on, usually it’s just a matter of a few seconds before the ‘follower’ takes the offering.

In other situations, you’ll see the bass cruise around your boat at about a depth of four to five feet. A quick toss of the tube and you have yourself a four pound trophy.

Preferred Presentation

You can spend all day running Lake St. Clair looking for productive hit and miss spots or you can let the lake come to you. I prefer to let the lake come to me. Using the wind or breeze push you over productive areas not only saves gas but lets you present your bait (the tube) to the large loners that wander the lake in search of food. This method is called the Drift & Drag. Letting your tube bait scratch the bottom, as a crayfish would, is easily the most popular and deadly of presentations. If you know the lake and have found the bottom structure you’re looking for, set up a drift pattern that allows you to slowly present your bait over the productive area. Too many times I see tournament bass anglers use their electric trolling motor over productive areas. I believe this takes them much too fast over these ‘hot spots’, thereby missing many fish in the process. Take your time. You’ll be rewarded for your patience in not only quantity of fish but quality as well.

Preferred Equipment

It’s hard to beat the spinning gear of today to make this legendary scrapper even more of a combatant. The popular line choice is 8 lb. test with some using 6 lb. or even 10 lb. Brand choice is yours, however, if you use 10 lb. test line, try to use one of the premium, small diameter lines like Maxima’s Perfexion or Berkley’s Vanish. Those of us who fish tournaments welcome the extra strength found in the small diameter lines. A little insurance is a good thing.

The spinning rod is usually in the 6 foot or 6 1\2 foot category. A good glass or graphite rod with a fast tip and strong backbone is a great choice. In addition, a reel with positive anti-reverse is almost a necessity for solid hooksets.

Lake St. Clair, whether you’re a weekend fisherman or tournament warrior, it’s hard to find more productive and dream fulfilling water to fish on. Fish On!

Author: Thomas Henricks

People living around the Western Basin of Lake Erie, the Detroit River and Lake St Clair area are “arguably” situated in the heart of the best freshwater fishing in the world. It’s is difficult to surpass the smallmouth bass fishing in this great region with all it’s rocky shoreline, open water reefs and islands and great spawning areas. The yellow perch population has made a significant turnaround in the past 5 years.

Now we get to the really good stuff. The walleye fishing in Western Lake Erie lays claim to huge numbers of walleyes and several year classes are currently represented. This signifies a better chance to maintain breeding year classes in the future. To the un-educated, a day of fishing that produces big boxes of all large fish, may seem a good thing. However to the knowledgeable fisherman that is alarming. Big fish are immensely satisfying to catch, but if you aren’t seeing small fish, the future of the species is in danger. Fortunately recent years have given up good numbers of young fish that speak well for a few years at least.

The walleye run in the Detroit River during spring warming is kind to the fisherman that masters it and starts the fishing for the year with large numbers of walleyes ranging from behemoth monsters during the early part of the season to large numbers of yearling fish in late April and May. The key to this game is conquering wind and current. Boat control is KEY to success. When you learn to manage your boat so the perfect vertical jigging is possible, a number of baits will spur the fish into action. Nearly of equal importance is water clarity. It is extremely difficult to pull fish from dirty water. The angler should search out the cleanest water of the day and work it to find and catch fish. This water color is generally most affected by wind direction and wind strength. Typically one side of the river will be clean and one side will be dirty. On days when the water is crystal clear everywhere in the Detroit River, prepare for a fun day.

Walleye fishing in the main part of Western Lake Erie really picks up steam about Mid June, although weather conditions determine the speed and direction of the movements of the large schools of post spawn walleye. In General these large schools move out of the spawning areas of the south and west part of the basin. They move north in large schools and they turn east when nearing the Canadian shallows. They prefer to nose into the current so extended winds in any particular direction do influence the speed and movement of these schools. For a great day by one of the most knowledgeable and successful walleye fishermen on western Lake Erie, you might contact John Sims who has operated Chante Charters out of Kingsville Ontario for a zillion years.

We aren’t finished yet with the good news. Musky fishing in Lake St. Clair is rated at the top of the pile worldwide. Numbers are very good and many big fish are caught by the good anglers on nearly a daily basis. If you want a good day fishing and you want to fish with a charter captain that understands these fish, contact Bob Devine who operates Chartertalk Fishing Guide Service.

Let’s finish this up with arguably the most addictive fishing we have the opportunity to experience. For several years running now, deeper waters east of Point Pelee have offered us simply unbeatable rainbow trout fishing. These fish are exciting to catch and available in large numbers generally beginning to crank on good about mid July. Methods of fishing range from wire line, downriggers and using dipsy divers. Fish will even be taken utilizing planer boards and crankbaits. They feed heavily on baitfish. Look for a big school of baitfish and then work that school. You will catch fish when the fish are on and you work the bait fish.

Well this scratches the surface of the fishing available in the Wheatley to Windsor fishing zone. Much more can be said and usually is.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fishing-articles/best-freshwater-fishing-in-the-world-376303.html

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