Lake St Clair Fishing Report – October 11, 2019
Lake St. Clair fall smallmouth fishing can be the best this fishery, or nearly any body of water has to offer. It can also have a steep learning curve. In our case, the learning curve was not as much of an issue as a week-long, persistent east wind.
Water quality was definitely off on the U.S. side of the Lake. For a day of relaxed fishing, fighting the 20+mph gusts to traverse the water to Canada wasn’t in play. We did, however, manage to boat a nice 3lb 7oz smallie from the Mile Roads. The downside is that it took an hour to get the one (with three rods in the water), and the prospects of improving the catch ratio looked bleak.
Randy Forszt from Indiana with a 3lb 7oz Mile Roads smallmouth
We relaunched further north and made our way into the bays and the channel system.
Water temps in the Lake and St. Clair River were hovering around 60 degrees, plus or minus one degree. This type of equalization in water temperature generally leads to a fall period called the “changeover.” Without a thermocline, Lake St. Clair doesn’t turnover, but there is a period of mass bass confusion between summer and fall. That’s what I think we are seeing right now.
The good news is that we should be emerging out of this slow bite as the St. Clair River cools down even more.
No calm conditions forecast for the near future
Optimal fall conditions come when we get a period of calm in October. The winds usually lay down for a few days, maybe a solid week, and we can access the entire system. As in the spring, some of the best fishing can be found in water that is the most stained.
On this trip, we managed to find a couple of other smallmouth in the Lake. In the channels, the largemouth were on fire. For better or for worse, the pike were on fire too. We threw a lot of fast moving baits but the best tube today was thr Xtreme Bass Tackle 4 inch St. Clair Goby NFT.
Category: Bass Lake/River Reports, Bass Reports, Fishing
