Little late Report

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Sorry this is late.  As soon as I got home last Thursday night we turned around and left on Friday to bring our daughter home from college.

   Took a St. Clair newbie up with me last Monday morning to fish thru Thursday.  Drove up through rain and a small storm.  I hate driving in the rain !!!  We arrived at Crocker about 10:30 after stopping at the hotel.  Readied the boat, then had my buddy Phil drive me around to the ramp.  Hmmm while getting the boat ready the winds were light and the skies fairly light.  Forecast was for showers and storms.  We pull around and all of a sudden I feel winds coming from the southeast.  How could we not feel this at the prep area?
 
    We get the boat launched and head out.  We head south of the Apartment building and decide to make our first drift.  The water was not conducive for a newbie.  There were 2 to 3's rolling in.  Used a driftsock and tried to stay inside the boat!!!  We weren't interested in taking a dip in the 48-49 degree water.  Phil didn't feel comfortable enough to fish off the back deck.  Shoot at that time I don't think he was comfortable fishing from the cockpit area. 
   
    We didn't stay there long.  Headed farther south.  Thankfully the winds began to taper off for whatever reason.  Unfortunately it decided to rain off and on until we finished fishing at 6:30.  Forecast high was 60.  It might have gotten to 50.  Non of this would have been a problem if the fish were on. We had gone with great hopes after hearing all the great reports from the two previous days.  Well, we tried in front of Memorial, 11 mile, 9 mile, 9 mile cans, shallow, deep and only picked up 15 total fish !!!!  Nothing very big.  Threw rattlebaits, tubes, cranks and some jerks.  Extrtemely disappointing.  I was ready to turn in my license.  How could it have changed so drastically in one day??? Especially ALL over??? 

Here is a picture of Phil's first ever Lake St. Clair smallie.


      Talked with Tcook Monday night and he gave us a suggestion on where to try.  Wasn't far from where we were the day before, but we thought, what the heck.  Headed there and picked up a 4.0 on the very first cast !!!  Few casts later had another .  This was going to be a good day.  Most of it was. 7:30 to 10:00 and from 5:00 to 7:30 .  The middle hours were a real struggle.  Only one or two fish every half hour or so.  Most fish came on xr50 rattlebaits.  Like this 5.5 which my best of the trip.





   The evening fish came on StrikeKing series 5XD that I had painted by Bassfan589 from this site in a pumpkinseed pattern.  Had to have the bait on the bottom or they wouldn't hit them.  We ended up with 85 for the day. Weather was great this day (Tuesday) water temps ran 48 to 50.

    Ok, had a good day Tuesday, Wednesday should be just as good or better. Only problem with the previous day was the fact I had Phil out in the boat for nearly 12 hours.  He's been on trips elsewhere with me before but we always took a few hour break during the day.  That and he likes to fish, but usually only does it a couple times a year.  He was a trooper, but it was too much.  It was my fault.  I'll do better this day and we'll take a break.  So we fish from 7:30 to about 12:00.  Fishing was slower.     We hit the two best spots (plus others) from the day before and managed 32 fish in that amount of time.  That's ok, I'm sure they will turn on that evening.

   Here is a 4.6 that Phil caught.  Think it was Wednesday.


  We head back out about 4:00.  After a few casts the winds start to kick up.  Ok, back to trying to keep our balance in the boat.  We decide to hit channels for largemouth.  We hit the marina next to Crocker.  We get a few fish.  One at 3.3 and lost a big one around a post.  Was fun but no more smallie fishing that day.

   Tcook arrives Wednesday night with his buddy Jason and his buddy Mike.  Another St. Clair newbie.  I'm sure Tim will have a report up soon.  It will look better than mine.    lololol  They launched out of Crocker like we did.  Weather was nice after we dodged a couple thunder cells.  Winds were good and winds fairly light.  Water had warmed a little from the heat we got Wednesday.  Temps were all over really, depending on where you went. Anywhere from 49 to 53 degrees.  We hit the usual spots and worked our butts off to round up 22 fish from 7:30 to  Noon or so.  Then the winds kick up again.  We decide to fish channels at Metro Beach.  Only picked up one lgmouth.  Channel I fished with Bassfan586 last year that was so good, stunk.  lol  We head to marina by Crocker and pick up a few fish.

   Here is a 5.0 I got the last morning.  I need to lose weight !!!  5 pounds next to 255 isn't very big !!!!  HAHAHAHA



  Overall the trip was a disappointment.  Last years trip of a lifetime spoiled me. I was happy to get my first two 5 pounders and Phil tied his personal best smallie. The inconsistency was really tough.  Most fish came in 7 to 10 feet of water.  I'll be back up with Tritonman this Thursday.  Hopefully they will be extremely accommodating. 
   

[huskybass]

Congrats on getting two 5's. 

[Bigbass201]

Those are some nice fish Jeff.  I certainly wouldn't be disappointed with 2 fives anytime.  We all know there's no guarantees when it comes to bass fishing.  I was there this past Saturday and the smallmouth fishing stunk!  Condo area only had about 6" of visibility.  Further down south it was better, but the bite was terrible.  I spoke with someone who fished the weekend prior and said the bite was on fire.  He was out this weekend and it stunk for him too.  Thank God for the green fish.  They can save a day quickly.

[Skulley]

Nice fish guys. Glad the trip was good.




BD.