Lake St Clair
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Lake St Clair Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Perch
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Tubes
Structure
Rock Pile
Finding rock veins in 8-10 feet was key. Dragging tubes slowly through the rocks seemed to trigger them the most. Most bites seemed to come right after it popped free from a rock and just let it drop back down on slack line.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Alewife
Fished about 12' look for rock and find the fish. Wind was from the east at about 8-10mph. The fish seemed to be in small hunting packs, you would catch a few out of a spot and then they would move on. best to keep moving and searching for that hard bottom with rock. Best technique was to make long pauses, I mean looooong. I would get it to about 8' and let it soak. sometimes it would take 10 seconds before they would take it. Ended up with about 30 in the boat, no absolute monsters, but all decent fish none the less.
Josh Lopez
Bronze Ambassador
4/28/23
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Tubes
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Crawfish
Water Temperature
50°
Fished isolated rock piles in 6-10ft. Caught 75 fish on the day. It’s starting to heat up out there.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Boulders
Smallmouth are moving up on the flats and are congregating on rock
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Tubes
Structure
Boulders
Forage
Minnows
Water Temperature
53°
We started out at 0900 hours in 54 degree air temps. Water temps were at 53 degrees. We scouted multiple locations - shallow, deeper, muddy water stained water and clear water. Bluebird skies. Calm winds and mild chop. Mile roads on LSC. At about 1030hrs the bite turned on and while we were getting hit on swimbaits, they wouldn’t commit. Dragging a tube along bottom, on a tube jig, worked the best. Various colors were used but the green pumpkin was what they bit on. The NEW Shimano Mastiff FC in 12lb cast the 1/4oz tube jig a mile, was supple and not too stiff, no backlashes even casting into the wind. Seems very durable and disappears in the water. Much needed with these clear water areas we were fishing in 8FOW and you could see bottom. It’s still early pre-spawn, but the warming water is going to bring them in QUICK!
Shimano Mastiff FC Fluorocarbon 12lb
Out of Stock
Species
CrappieSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Bobbers
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Target prespawn crappie around the mouths of bays with large shallow flats. Locate fish by fan casting, drifting, trolling, or utilizing FF sonar. Once found, spot lock or anchor and pick those fish apart by casting 3/16 or 1/8oz ball head jigs with 1 1/2” - 2” plastics suspended under a float. Utilize the spring time winds and breeze to add movement to your offerings. Have fun!
Matt Belletini
Bronze Ambassador
4/27/23
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Perch
Water Temperature
51°
A fresh wave of fat pre-spawn male smallmouth bass pulled up on Lake St. Clair last week. Lots of 2.75-3.5lb fish with occasional four pounders mixed in. Lots of numbers right now on shallow flats in 5-9 ft of water, feeding on small 2-3” perch (see picture). The best bait was a Keitech Swing Impact Fat 3.3” Sexy Shad on a 3/8 oz jig head. The tail had a light amount of Spike-it chartreuse marker to help match the small perch. I also added some wacky o-rings to the head of the swimbait. The rings help hold the swimbait on the jig head and I was able to catch over 40 fish on a single Keitech. The fish are not super aggressive right now and require a slow retrieve. Your rod would just load up while slowly dragging the swimbait on the bottom. When you catch one, just hit anchor mode and cast all around the boat. Lots of fish are roaming the flats, with some groups of fish holding on isolated rock and wood. Watercolor ranged from clear to mud, the best fishing was in the stained water. It’s only going to get better as the water warms up!
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Boulders
Water Temperature
49°
Smallmouth fishing is picking up on Lake St Clair. Caught a dozen smallmouth 3-5lbs in 7-10FOW with clear visibility to the bottom. Finding hard bottom, shells and boulders were key.
