Lake St. Clair

[Maverickpro201]

I thought I saw a piece on Lake St. Clair here a few weeks ago but cannot find it. 

Anyway we are headed up to Lake St. Clair on the 2nd of August for 5 days. Will be putting in several days at St Clair Shores Ramp a couple days and on real windy days and maybe just for a change up, up in the St. Clair River area of Algonac. 

How whould you fish it this time of year and what baits and colors would work the best up there. 

Thanks

[Ketchup]

Having lived on Lake Erie, and fishing St. Clair a hand full of times a year, here is my suggestion:

It is a big lake. Yellow perch are the main summer forage, so get off shore and look for clumps of cabbage. Look for that 15’ to 19’ of water with grass. If you spot the perch fisherman out there, mark that spot and come back when they leave. 

Anchor Bay is probably the most popular area, and has TONS of fish this time of the year. The lake is like a big bowl, so even 2 miles out it will only be less than 20’ deep. Move until you find fish. 
 

Careful for the huge barges. They have a huge wake 100 or more yards behind them. We hit one running mid 50’s and thought we were dead. Scariest i have ever been in a boat.  

Drop shot, tubes, crank bait, and vibrating jig would be my only baits. You’ve got a great chance at landing some hogs this time of year.  Have fun and enjoy, it’s a magical lake.  

[Maverickpro201]

That is helpful. That is also the info my group has been giving me. They went up in June also. Thanks

[Mitch f]

I fished Lake St. Clair, Detroit river, and Erie all in the same tournament. You can fish all three in one day if you want. We did best where the Detroit River merged into Erie. The locals told us to find a spot along the trench where a freighter goes by and fish the eddy at the end of the rock dikes. When the freighters come by it stirs up the bottom and the smallmouth bite like crazy for 5 minutes after that. We used mostly spinnerbaits and tubes. Caught a couple of 5’s and the rest 4’s for the tourney…all smallmouth. We ended up getting 3rd in the tourney and won a boat when Alton Jones’s daughter drew our name out of a hat. 

[Maverickpro201]

Thanks

[Ketchup]

On 7/15/2023 at 7:42 PM, Mitch f said:

I fished Lake St. Clair, Detroit river, and Erie all in the same tournament. You can fish all three in one day if you want. We did best where the Detroit River merged into Erie. The locals told us to find a spot along the trench where a freighter goes by and fish the eddy at the end of the rock dikes. When the freighters come by it stirs up the bottom and the smallmouth bite like crazy for 5 minutes after that. We used mostly spinnerbaits and tubes. Caught a couple of 5’s and the rest 4’s for the tourney…all smallmouth. We ended up getting 3rd in the tourney and won a boat when Alton Jones’s daughter drew our name out of a hat. 

Tons of good water from Belle Isle down to Elizabeth Park. The Grassy Island area has some good water on the east side of it. We used to put in at Captain Jims Marina and fish towards St. Clair.  Great times. Im headed over there in late September to fish with my buddy that lives there. He’s more of a walleye guy but we used to bass fish together a lot. Going out to the bass islands on Erie to chase the smallies. 

[Mitch f]

8 minutes ago, Ketchup said:

Tons of good water from Belle Isle down to Elizabeth Park. The Grassy Island area has some good water on the east side of it. We used to put in at Captain Jims Marina and fish towards St. Clair.  Great times. Im headed over there in late September to fish with my buddy that lives there. He’s more of a walleye guy but we used to bass fish together a lot. Going out to the bass islands on Erie to chase the smallies. 

Sounds weird but I think the invasion of Zebra mussels actually cleaned that water up. 

[Ketchup]

5 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Sounds weird but I think the invasion of Zebra mussels actually cleaned that water up. 

100%. They are nasty critters but will clean up a lake in a hurry. We never left our boat in overnight but those that do have them stuck on by the handfuls.