iFish Lake St. Clair

It’s that time of year again when the catch and release bass season starts on Lake St. Clair.  There will undoubtedly be reports of 100+ smallmouth catches per day.  The season opens this years on April 28th and all of the public launches are open.  For those that may not be familiar with the catch and release laws; here they are.

Catch-and-Immediate-Release seasons: On the following waters, bass may be caught and released during the seasons listed. All bass caught must be immediately (see common terms p. 5) returned to the water: L. St. Clair, St. Clair R. and Detroit R., from the last Sat. in April – Fri. before the 3rd. Sat. in June; All Lower Pen. waters including Great Lakes: Last Sat. in April – Fri. before Memorial Day; All Upper Pen. waters including Great Lakes: May 15 – Fri. before Memorial Day.

Good luck to all of the bass fishermen who come to enjoy such a great resource.  Please do your best to protect our fish so that we can continue to enjoy them for years to come.

The Ultimate Fishing Show—Detroit, January 12 to 15 at Suburban Collection Showplace, 46100 Grand River Ave. in Novi, is the Midwest’s biggest pure-fishing show in America’s largest freshwater market. More than 150 booths of new rods, reels, lures and other tackle, plus outfitters, lodges, guides and charter fishing destinations are in the show, along with 200 new fishing boats representing 40 brands. Led by Kevin Van Dam, nearly 100 free seminars are planned for novice to expert anglers. Special features: 110,000-gallon Lake Ultimate, Shore Lunch Fish Fry, kids Trout Pond and much more. Hours: Thursday, 2 to 9:30; Friday, Noon to 9:30; Saturday, 10 to 9; Sunday, 10 to 5. Admission: $10 adults, $4 children 6 to 14, free for children 5 and under. Information: www.UltimateFishingShow.com or 800-328-6550.

A new bass tournament series will start this year on Lake St. Clair. It will be called Cash For Bass. The series is the brain child of Terry Melvin of Lunch Money Lures and Steve Eisenmenger. It is planned to be a small 5 tournament schedule with a championship tournament at the end of the season.  One of the title sponsors and founders is KD Outdoors.  The group put together the Cash For Bass tournaments to offer more of a low key and fun tournament experience as opposed to the high pressure, and at times high temper tournaments that exist. All of the information can be found at www.cashforbasstour.com