Couldn't get bit...what would you have done?

[Revtro]

This is a St. Clair specific question.  I was out this AM (Friday) and the wind was blowing right out of the North which made the water pretty rough early on.  The whole area around the cutoff was muddy but clear water was found South of the 400.  We couldn't get bit.  We dragged a Carolina rig, tried to fish tubes and Jerkbaits, but came up empty.  Fished all the way down past 9 Mile.  Couldn't fish some of the offshore structure I wanted to because of the wave action.  So the day was a bust with only one small largemouth to show for my efforts.

What would you have done?  Perhaps we should have launch in Anchor Bay and fished the North end..  Open to suggestions.

[smbassman]

When there is wind on St. Clair, there is usually muddy water and that can shut the bite down some.  But, if you found clear water, I have never found wind to bother smallmouth.  I guess I would have been chuckin' blades and cranks to locate active fish and probably tried to stay as shallow as the clear water(and waves) allowed. 

Other than that, if I knew there were fish on some off shore structure, I would have been right on top of them.  Either standing on the TM and taking waves over the bow or making short precise drifts.

[Revtro]

Didn't try blades.  That might have been an idea.  Maybe we were fishing too slow.  Surprised a jerkbait didn't elicit a strike though.

[Cheetam]

When those pesky brown fish don't seem to be cooperating, you can always try the docks in metro or the shoreline between metro and harley for largemouths...

[Dropshot]

I would have probably grit my teeth and made the run to the Middle or South Channel. Then fish around the mouth of the channel and every cut I could find where the wind was pushing water into the channel.

[fiker]

Muddy water, no fish. 
That's what we experienced last Thursday. 
We made the decision to keep heading towards the Detroit River to find clear water. 
When we did we found the bite.  Had you gone another mile or so from Ford's Cove you'd have found it.
Caught em in 8-10 fow on tubes, spinnerbaits, deep diving cranks. 
We also found that we had to keep moving to find the schools.  We didn't give any one spot much more that 10-15 minutes.  If we didn't catch fish, we moved. 

[yukonjack2]

Tom:

went to  the mouth of the south channel and found a few.  The schools are moveing rapidly right now, and you have to chase to find em - its really frustrating till we get in the full blown summer pattern. 

I found one in the horshoe (barely keeper), and a few down in front of the Johnston (6 FOW), and then out deeper 12-14 FOW, buit the water silted up from the north wind.  Ran down to the hump knowing it was muddy, and found a few there is well out on the tip, but tough fishing in the wind and mud. 

Over in the boulders at askins was no better - no fish and muddy big waves.  Took a butt beating on the US side heading for home, and stopped out between 12 and 14mile - water cleared up, and the smallies cooperated.  We had back to back 3 lb doubles, and packed up and left hopin gthey were there for the BFL.

Tatal for the Day would have topped 20+.

Jack

[SODY]

Two or three thoughts, as I love fishing muddy water. Keep the basics in mind the fish are on the bottom (usually looking for clear water to hold in) they will be tight to cover so fish the rocks heavy, remember just because the water is muddy it may not be muddy all the way down on the bottom. I go heavy 1/2 oz with a rattle and fish a slightly bigger tube (Dream tube etc). Primary colors would be a dark green with bronze metal flake try dipping the tube in Garlic Chartruse  spike it dye. Purple also shines at this time...Nest position your boat so that you have a bow in your line if drift fishing, this is very hard but watch for the bow as you watch a child's bobber, keep your finger on the line for felling the tick of a hit. Use two sea anchors if needed. Use a line you can see above water.

Find the same fish you had been fishing before as they will not have traveled far perhaps 1-2 hundred yards to the first available cover.
Just some thoughts that have worked for me when she blows..Rich Soderquist

[rudycard72]

I experianced the same thing on St, Clair Friday, the only fish i could catch were in the channels in the morning not a lot of fish but all quality. Spent the whole afternoon working Selfridge,Campau bay,and the mile roads without getting bit.Water was very dirty. Saturday i fished a few miles south of 9 mile and found clearer water, also found the fish, but too little too late for me, I didn't even weigh a limit.

[McCarter]

When we ( ABA ) had our paper T on LSC a few weeks back, the guy who won with over 20lbs and his 2nd place finishing co angler were both throwing traps in the mud.  They caught em good.

I have done good on smallmouth with a chartreuse on chartreuse spinnerbait when the water is muddied up.  Didnt catch numbers, but the ones i did catch were the right ones. 

If nothing works, there is always ice cold beer and hot wings at Hooters.  Tell em PoorBoy sent ya.

PB himself

[joshimoto son]

Tom,

Don't get discouraged... this weekend was a REALLY tough weekend to get bit.
I was out there on Saturday with a friend who has logged a lot of hours and has
a tremendous amount of confidence (well maybe not now) out there.

A couple more of my buddies that fish TX's out there to pay for their out of towners
only caught a handful of fish.

Something definitely was wrong this weekend and don't let any of the arm chair fishermen
get to ya, if they weren't out there, they don't know how bad it really was.

[smbassman]

OUCH!!!

Arm Chair Fisherman??  That hurt!

I was out there yesterday and didn't have much of a problem getting bites.  Getting keepers and keeping the toads hooked up was a problem.  Lost a six and two fours - but managed to get all 14-17"ers in the boat???  Caught probably 30-40 fish, but only 15 or so were keeper size.

That was yesterday though, and the water was pretty clear where I was.

[joshimoto son]

SMBassman...

Don't take me the wrong way... I've just had too many of my friends telling me what I should have done from their cosy air conditioned house.

I just wanted to reiterate to Tom that it was a tough bite "for most" and not to get too discouraged.

[smbassman]

I got the sarcasm and was attempting to send some back - I have to remember them dang smiley face things to show when I'm joking.

I've had plenty of the monday morning quarterbacking from others while explaining a bad fishing day.  And you are right - I was watching the weather last week and dreading having to fish on Sunday with no recent pre-fishing to go off of.  Luckily the weather improved greatly on Saturday and settled things down for a good bite on Sunday!

[joshimoto son]

Smbassman,

That's what I found out last night... Sunday was a much better day. To make things worse...
the same buddy that was giving me all the grief was the one that went there on Sunday and caught a bunch.

Sometimes... you just can't win... 

Have yourself a great day!!!

[Revtro]

Some good feedback here guys.  I have an NBAA out there tonight and since I had to fish Maceday last night, I have no idea at all what I'm gonna try out there.  I guess I'll just head South and look for clearer water.  Not anticipating a great bag tonight, but maybe I'll get lucky.  This is the kind of feedback that really helps.  And it also helps to know that I'm not the only one out there that has a tough time when the weather does this.  Hopefully I'll get better.

Same goes for inland lakes.  I usually find a few fish in the canals and on docks in Maceday and Lotus, but last night I could only manage about a half dozen non-keepers.  Took 10lbs to win.  It was another very frustrating night.  Wish I had a personal fishing coach to help me figure out things when it's that tough out there.  But I'm thankful for all you guys who are willing to help a fledgling tournament angler like myself out.  Still have a lot to learn, but having a ball.  I just have to keep reminding myself that it's only my 5th year doing tournaments.