Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Hey Im new to this site and I need some help. Where have all the smallies gone? I have been fishing the mile roads all summer and for the last month I can not even get bit. I have went as far south as belle isle. I use the usual dropshot, tubes, and jerkbaits. Im thinking of going straight out to the river channel and trying out there for a few hours and maybe the dumping grounds but I have never fished either. Keep in mind I have a 16 footer with a 40 horse and I launch at the clinton river cutoff. Any ideas on what I need to be doing? What depth? Also when fishing the channel should I fish the edges or the middle? By the way Im going In the morning. Thanks.

Yeah, it's been tough.  The Mile Roads are kind of a dead zone this time of year.  You can still catch them out there, but you need to go deep and look for weed edges and rock piles IMO.  The fishing is tough in the channels too, but fairly steady. 

I found fish yesterday in 17-18 FOW.  I was around good weeds and rock piles.  I couldn't get anything going shallower than that.  I fished all the way from 5' to 18' and the best action came in 17'.  It took me most of the morning to dial into what the fish were doing and even then the bite rate wasn't what I was hoping for. 

One thing you might want to consider is getting Wayne Carpenter's Marked Maps (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/store/glbstore2.html#glbmm1).  Weekly he provides staff updates that can help you figure out some general areas to fish.  Just a thought.

The river is starting to get good fish I was up there yesterday fished fawn up to the middle grounds found fish on almost every drift best 5 went 18 lbs drop shot gobie and tubes . 28 - 40 foot. still a ton of small fish but if you sort them out you can find a good bag

Thanks for the info guys. I ended up staying home saturday and buying a LMS 520c and a navionics chip, took me 6 hours to get it working. Well worth it. Went out sunday headed straight to the st.clair lighthouse( I think thats what its called) spent the whole day fishing around the river channel. 4 bass, biggest was about 4. its just getting embarassing. Oh well it was time on the water. I think Im heading to the north channel saturday, never been there. Cant do much worse.