Anyone catching smallies on St. Clair?

[bigjc]

since the Musky opener a couple of weeks ago, I have not done any smallie fishing on LSC.  Anyone getting them?  Anyone care to share what? Where" and/or how?

JC

[Revtro]

Man it's been S L O W.  This year has not been like years past for me.  Caught plenty during the spawn, but got skunked today for Smallies.  I can't find em.  Gonna get away from the Mile Roads next time and maybe try some stuff in Anchor Bay. 

[Revtro]

Apparently no one shares any info anymore.    I was out last Friday and yesterday.  Bombed both days.  I fished everywhere.  Shallow, deep, wrecks, rocks, humps...a couple drinks and nothing else.  Did a little largemouth fishing yesterday and that was predictably easy. 

Man, I just don't know what's up with the Smallies out there.  IMO things have really changed during my 2 seasons off and I don't have a clue why.  I'm not going to conjecture because I know that will tick some people off, but I really do believe things have changed.  I have fished St. Clair for 25 years and I have never NOT at least been able to load the boat with average/small size post spawners along the Mile Roads this time of year. 

Anyone else want to put their heads not the chopping block and conjecture as to why the Smallies are more scarce this year?  I'm hearing from MANY people that it's extremely slow for Smallies, so I'm pretty sure its not just me.  Not trying to stir up anything, just wondering if anyone knows something we don't. 

Sorry this isn't more helpful BigJC.  If I figure anything out in the next couple of weeks, I'll let ya know.  One strategy might be to go get my Canadian and head to the South Shore where there is less pressure on the fish.  In year's past, that was fairly reliable.   I just don't know if I want to bother with the cost and having to call in before fishing. 

[t-bone]

I haven't been out but will get it out in early July. I'll share what i find.

[Hollada]

Will be interesting to see how Canadian waters produce.  I fished the mile roads last weekend.  First fish was a topwater long thin 5.2 lber.  Caught maybe 7-8 more after that.  Typically no more than 1-2 in any one spot.  Caught fish on many different baits but none on a drop shot. Wacky, popper, spybait, jerkbait,    Might have had 13-14 lbs total best 5.

[SethV]

Hey Tom, we went out last Saturday.  Started up shallow in Goose / Fischer / Muskamoot areas.  Found 1 nice one, but they were pretty much done up there everywhere we looked.  What we did find was a huge, massive mayfly hatch.  Biggest one I have ever seen.  Way more than the last few years.  Wonder if that is making the fish tougher to catch with so much food just floating for them?

Later in the day we moved out to the cabbage beds.  Its already up in places - look for it in 7 - 9 FOW and you will find fish.  We didn't find big ones - who knows where they went?  But, we did find lots of numbers.  Try slow falling "mayfly" like stuff.  Brown tubes, hair jigs, brown drop shots.  Multiple doubles and lots of fish until about 1:00.

[Revtro]

So I think Seth's experience is a pretty good indicator and clue about what I suspect is going on.  There is a TON of pressure these days on the Mile Roads (duh) and while it may not be adversely affecting the fishery as a whole, it's having a pretty big effect on the Mile Roads flats.  For example, I was out a couple of weekends back and saw so many boats fishing key community holes, it was like you could walk from boat to boat all the way to shore.  There were literally hundreds of boats pounding the Mile Roads from 9 Mile up to the 400 Club.  Yesterday I pulled up on a hump a lot of people know about and there were 15 boats on it all fishing within 10-20 yards from each other.  My problem is taking a couple years off is making it hard to adjust.  It's almost like learning the lake all over again.  I sit there and feel like an idiot not knowing where to try next. 

It's only my opinion based on observation, but 3 or 4 years ago it wasn't so tough.  While there was still a ton of pressure on the flats back then, to me it seems dramatically more so now.  I have the advantage of taking a couple years off and noticing more of change I think.  It's kind of like not seeing someone's kid for a couple years and being amazed at how much they've changed and grown up.  To my mind, the pressure and sheer amount of out of state boats has risen fairly dramatically in the last few years. 

That being said, it makes sense why the fish are harder to catch post-spawn on the Mile Roads.  I recall an outing about 10 years ago with a buddy of mine at the June opener.  The bass were post-spawn and the big ones were scarce, but the Mile Roads were loaded with cookie cutter 2 pounders.  We played a game: "lets catch one on every kind of lure in our box".  One hour later, it was mission accomplished.  Even though the fish weren't big, it was awesome to take people out and let them catch a ton of bass on a variety of lures.  Those really were the good ole days.    But Seth's story gives me hope that we can still have those days, just not in the areas we used to.  Now I just need to go find those areas.  But then I pretty much suck as a fisherman, so I'm not overly optimistic I'll accomplish that, but I'll give it a try.   

[djkimmel]

Other people are still whacking them out there so keep at it and try different things. You may be in a rut fishing last year's fish or the year before, whatever it may be. The lake is somewhat different from this point on every year now. I know people who never leave U.S. waters and still bring in good catches all season so they are there.

[Revtro]

I haven't really been fishing old spots per se.  I've been using the GPS to try to locate structure and trying to get around weeds, etc.  I was out Friday and it sucked again.  I should have went with my gut and headed up to Anchor Bay, but stupid me decided to give it one more try from Metro Beach, down to about 12 Mile.  Found plenty of cabbage in multiple depths and no fish.  Decided to go to some deeper stuff...nothing.  Fished a mid lake hump...nothing.  Then came the Jobbie Nooner people and it was time to go home.  I know there is always somebody that catches them good, but I'm pretty convinced things have changed quite a bit.  I just can't figure out exactly what the deal is.

[Hollada]

Based on the top bags weighed during the BFL and the MQ this weekend, I'm going to do a lot more exploring on the river next chance I get.

[mchesney]

Based on the top bags weighed during the BFL and the MQ this weekend, I'm going to do a lot more exploring on the river next chance I get.

The winning bags came from the SCR? I woulda thought it was too early to be finding winning bags of fish there.

[mikballa]

mccheney is right some bags came from st river.

[dartag]

We did a tour of the lake last Friday.  Because of the Nooner going on we went to Canada and looked around.  Found fish in Mitchells bay and south shore.  They seemed to be swimming in packs like they do in the fall.  Went south to the Delphine and only caught small fish there. Never fished the mile roads.   We fished the Monsterquest and because of the South wind most of our spots were blown out.  I know one board member who bed fished the event and had a pretty good bag.  The winners had 25 pounds.  Got no idea where you would catch a bag like that unless it was in the river. 

There are still fish in the Mile roads area.  The winners on the High School Championship fished that area.  They had good bags each day. 

Seems like this happens every year out there.  Guys get spoiled catching 50-75 bed fish a day then struggle when they move off.  You just have to work to get them.

After driving over and back a couple times I will be content to stay at the inland lakes around my house.  The traffic is worse than I ever remember on the roads over that way.

[djkimmel]

The weights this weekend were up and big for this time of year. A number of 20+ pound weights up to over 25 pounds! Wow! I know Dave Reault said they were snapping the jerkbait and he had 21 and change on Saturday, getting just in the money on Sunday. It would be curious to know how many people fished Michigan waters? How many Ontario, the river, etc.? Obviously there are big catches out there to be made somewhere. I wish I could get over there.

[1BADAIR]

There were only 5 boats last thursday for the CFB tournament . 19lbs won. 4.73 was the big bass
We werent catching many and they completely shut off at like 8PM

[djkimmel]

19 pounds is pretty good for 3 hours, or 2 hours if they stopped biting at 8pm as you say.

I guess keep plugging away because some anglers are catching them, as usual. Just need to think outside the box this year maybe. It does seem like every year is somewhat different than the previous for many people.