Lake St. Clair Bass Report 07-20-2016
Deep Schools
The main focus this week was to find schools of smallmouth in deep water. We put the odds in our favor by hitting the Canadian side and fishing several proven spots. We failed to come up with the quality of bass that we were looking for between those spots, and others chosen later on the U.S. side.
Shallow Aggression
One of my axioms is, “There is no such thing as bad information” and this is definitely the case here. We eliminated large stretches of water on this day and will go for other spots the next time out. What did work was a spot we hit at the end of our day in eight feet of water. There were bass in the 2 ½ pound class and one nearly three pounds on this spot, and they were aggressive. This is the second week in a row that we found aggressive fish in shallower water.
Mark scores on a rare 12 1/2″ perch by the Belle River Hump
Perch
It didn’t seem to matter where we went but perch were there, nipping away at our baits. Without a doubt, I have experienced more of this activity by perch in the last three weeks than I have in the last 20 years. Since the supply of gobies has been falling this could mark the start of an increase of feeding on perch. We might want to keep that in mind when choosing a “summer bite” bait.
Our multi-species day was out of control. Our first fish was a drum and last fish was a walleye. My friend Mark also managed to pick up a 12 ½” perch along the way. Being in an area with multiple species is a good sign that it is fertile and the bass will be there too.
Mayflies
There are still small hatches of mayflies. You can see the slicks of husks just about everywhere in the Lake. What we did not see are any fresh hatches where mayflies are on the surface with their wings up.
Spots over Areas
It’s time to start running down spots. In large areas, smallmouth cruise around and occupy spots for periods during the course of a day. The “summer bite” creates an opportunity for anglers to take advantage of a single spot or spots to go to each day. The only question is will there be big bass or small bass on the spot on any given day.
Lake over River
So far it still looks like the Lake is dominant when it comes to finding numbers of smallmouth bass. We have caught a few in the river and some positive reports are coming in so there are a few opportunities up there. I would consider pre-fishing to be a must if the river is your destination.
First fish a drum
Fishing for bass, catch a walleye. It was that kind of day in deep water
One more walleye for the road. This one caught in 8 feet of water in bright sunshine. Go figure
Category: Bass Lake/River Reports, Feature, Uncategorized
