St. Clair or Michigan Must-Haves Baits?

[tgirds]

Well this has officially been the worst winter in terms of cabin fever... 

Anyways, what are your guys' specific must have baits for fishing St Clair(other than tubes) or in Michigan as a whole?

[21XDC]

Blade baits, spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, jerkbaits, bass jigs and ofcoars the wacky rigged 5 in sticko type plastics.

[oldjigger]

oldjiggers copperhead jigs

[fiker]

Blade baits, spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, jerkbaits, bass jigs and ofcoars the wacky rigged 5 in sticko type plastics.

All of these for sure.  I've also had good luck with drop shotting most any soft plastics, Grubs on a jig head, and the last couple of years beavers.  Beavers can be dragged or drop shotted. 

Buss baits, pop r's, crank baits that dig deep into the bottom, and those that just tick off the top of the weeds. 

[tgirds]

It's hard to beat a watermelon wacky rigged senko. For cranks, I like the dt6 in helsinki shad.

I guess that I was itching to know your guys' exact baits.  If you can't fish, might as well buy more baits, right?

[thedude]

erie darter and a 2k jigs power lock.

[MSURoss]

Second the Erie Darter. Jerkbait for sure. I like spro, lucky strike, or rapala. I feel jerkbaits get the reputation of just Cold water bait... sometimes they outfished cranks 3:1 for me during the summer.

[bob o]

in other words bring EVERYTHING

[motocross269]

Drop shot Roboworms, Gulp, and Strike King soft Jerkbaits, Bladeless swim jigs with a Netbait trailer......

As far as "Besides tubes"..It's hard for me to exclude those because day in and day out I have caught my biggest fish on LSC with an Xtreme tackle G3 or Triple threat tube....Some days they are money in the bank....

[tgirds]

I agree with the effectiveness of tubes.. I find myself relying on tubes day in and day out because they're so good. But in trying to find productive locations and covering water I feel like it might be slowing me down. Once you find them, nothing beats a tube.

[djkimmel]

Try snap-jigging. I try to find fish with fast techniques, and sometimes catch bigger bass with things like buzzbaits (yes on St. Clair and yes on smallies too), crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs but when bass are being picky I can still cover more water faster by snap-jigging tubes and other soft plastics.

I always have Xtreme Bass Tackle Formula G3, Erie Goby, Canadian Mist, Emerald Shiner and St. Clair Crayfish handy. Erie Goby has been my over all best the past few seasons but I love to snap jig the Emerald Shiner on the sand flats.

I like big Super Spooks too out there in the summer. Caught some big smallies and bonus toothy muskies on them (usually in spectacular fashion though I may not always feel that way right at the moment of face-drenching attack!). Always have a white shad Bomber Fat Free Shad tied on from late June until early October out there. And red traps in June along the Mile Roads.

I rarely fish anywhere without a Neko Rig ready to go. Has been my almost never fail technique a number of times.

[fiker]

Oh yeah, I forgot about pink Zoom flukes.  Dyno-mite in the spring.

[djkimmel]

Pink tubes and pink Sluggos can be good too.

[PineLk 49]

Scrounger with a fluke or small swim bait. Have never heard this mentioned before. I have have 2 rods with different set ups tied on.Either snap it off bottom as Dan mentioned or work it high in the water column.

Dave

[fiker]

Not in this thread, but I have.  Also fish the fluke type baits on a round lead head jig. 
Many plastics work well with a Scrounger head.  Make sure to use the original though.  The knock offs tend to no last long.

[djkimmel]

I use the scrounger head from Mike's Rx Baits with various minnow bodies, often the Case minnow, fairly often on St. Clair. Usually for shallow water 'soft crankbait' applications.

I get bored easy so I could fill up a thread of all the lures I 'need' for St. Clair and the rest of Michigan. I asked Aaron Martens about his scrounger and he told me the latest one he has improved on is available from one of the companies. I'll have to remember which as I get back to reviewing my video and recordings. Regardless, I've had great luck with bigger smallies on the ones from Mike's Rx Baits.

[detroit1]

Dan ..those are Bubblegum....not pink.

[djkimmel]

If that makes you feel better you can call them something else. Pink is easier to spell and remember. (Plus, I'm slightly worried in this present day and age... if you call soft plastic lures 'bubblegum' it may increase the odds a little that some human will try to eat them!?! There are reasons some of the packaging now says 'Not for Human consumption.)