New small mouth bass fisherman needs advice

[Slick]

Hello all this is my very first post and I am looking for some help or should I say all the help I can get.. I have fished the Saint Clair river for 17 years just for walleye and this old dog would like to learn a new trick and that would be to catch some of those hard fighting small mouth bass..

I would like to know whats the best methods to catch small mouth on the Saint Clair river and what are there movements during the seasons shallow or deep and what water temp get them feeding on diffrent types of baits.. I have a buddy that dives the Saint Clair river and he tells me all about how many small mouth bass there are down there..

Just to help you all understand what kind of boat I am running so you can understand if I can present the bait properly or not I am running a 18' StarCraft Superfisherman 70lb bow mount trolling motor.. I know when I am helping other people catch more walleye it makes the job a lot easier when I know the boat there going to be using..

Well guys shoot away and see if you can teach this walleye fisherman how to catch some small mouth bass.. Thanks again Cya Slick


PS..I forgot to mention that I would do a swap a trip, I would take some one walleye fishing and show them how I catch my limits and some one show me how to catch these bass.. I live right about 5 min off the river here in the city of Saint Clair..

[Genie]

Wow, can I ride along on this post?  I need to learn those waters better myself.  I think half this board will actually be riding along on this post for more information.   

[canvsbk]

 This is a very slippery path you're on - turn back now! Mr. Bronzeback has been the undoing of many a good man....
                                 

[Cheetam]

So where is your buddy diving that he is seeing all of these smallmouth?  Someone may just have to check that out 

There are many more qualified people to be giving advice on the St. Clair River than me, but typically, the rivers turn on in the summer when the main lake starts warming up.  Tube baits and drop shotting seem to be the preferred baits/methods for catching them.

[Slick]

Well my buddy dives all over the river but he told me about the small mouth while diving off the board walk here in Saint Clair..

Ok I figure drop shotting is like vertical jigging pretty much, I drop shot for perch on lake Simcoe with 1 1/2 twister tails and I find it to work better than minnows.. I guess the question is what type of bait do you use with a drop shot rig for smallies in the Saint Clair river?

My buddy clued me in to this new hook I have never seen before while he was fishing a FLW walleye tournament http://www.standouthooks.com/
looks to be a great hook for drop shotting..

what size of tube and color of tube do you find to work the best in the Saint Clair river, for some reason I figure gobie color would work well? I have more than likley seen a lot of you guys out there fishing the river because I spend a lot of time on the water, at least three or four times a week.. I also have watched where the bass fisherman have been fishing while I am out there walleye fishing..

what would be a good jig weight for a tube in that heavy current? and what is the best way to present the tube in heavy current.. Cya Slick

[Cheetam]

Well my buddy dives all over the river but he told me about the small mouth while diving off the board walk here in Saint Clair..

Ok I figure drop shotting is like vertical jigging pretty much, I drop shot for perch on lake Simcoe with 1 1/2 twister tails and I find it to work better than minnows.. I guess the question is what type of bait do you use with a drop shot rig for smallies in the Saint Clair river?

My buddy clued me in to this new hook I have never seen before while he was fishing a FLW walleye tournament http://www.standouthooks.com/
looks to be a great hook for drop shotting..

what size of tube and color of tube do you find to work the best in the Saint Clair river, for some reason I figure gobie color would work well? I have more than likley seen a lot of you guys out there fishing the river because I spend a lot of time on the water, at least three or four times a week.. I also have watched where the bass fisherman have been fishing while I am out there walleye fishing..

what would be a good jig weight for a tube in that heavy current? and what is the best way to present the tube in heavy current.. Cya Slick

On the drop shot, pretty much any soft plastic can be used, but finesse worms and Goby lures seem to be the go to baits for many guys.  There are many finesse worms out there, but RoboWorm and Yamamoto brands are my personal favorite.  Check out Poorboy Baits for the dropshot goby.  McCarter (also a member of this board) is working on a pretty sweet looking Goby bait that should be available by this summer as well (a mod or two to his mold and he will be all set).

For tubes, anything 3.5 to 5 inches.  Browns and greens do well, but there are many combinations that will work (including goby variations).  Click on the Extreme ad on the right of the board for a sample of what is available.  You may also want to look at Mizmo, ISG, and Schubert's and Laketown for examples.  Depending on the strength of the current, anything from 3/8 to 3/4 ounce jig heads will work.

[canvsbk]

 Looks like it may allready be too late - jcheetam's advice is quite fundamentally sound. Shouldn't cost you more than 3 or 4 hundred bucks to get a nice assortment of tubes and jig heads and a few packs of gobies and stuff.
You realize of course, that your walleye rods are no good for smallies? Loomis, Kistler, Airus among others make some very nice stuff just for the brown bass. A little pricey, but nice. A months pay should set you up pretty good.
It won't be long and you'll want to expand your lure selection a bit. Early on those smallies like jerk baits. Lucky Craft makes some nice ones in various sizes and colors, a dozen or so should cover the basics. Figure $20 a piece. Pike love 'em!
One of the most productive and easiest lures to fish is a whacky rigged Senko. Might as well get the best. Yamamoto. Around fifty cents a bite would be the way to figure it. You'll need a couple sizes in several different colors, with duplicates, just in case. Another hundred should cover it BUT - your drop shot hooks will work here!
And then -
Fishing a bass tournament is as much fun as you can legally have in a boat. This is where the 2nd mortgage on your house comes in....
Good Luck!
(Follow around the guys in the Tritons. I'm not sure if they're smarter than everone else or just luckier, they catch the big ones!)

[Slick]

Sounds great guys, I will have to pick up a few things this winter , I have fished lots of tournaments for salmon and walleye in my time and won a few and I am not much into the big money tournaments anymore even tho I am putting on a nice friendly walleye tournament this summer on the Saint Clair river with guys and gals from another message board with about 34 boats..

I also do a lot of muskie fishing on lake Saint Clair and I get the biggest kick out of them small mouths hitting them big azz muskie baits  them small mouth are ruthless.. Well guys I need to see if I can find some of the things you guys mentioned on this website and in my hard cover Cabalas catalog..

I have two Quantum Accurist 2 reels that I like to use for jigging for walleye I would imagine they would work well for them small mouth bass, I love using this reel for jigging because of the flippin switch..

I guess I will have to pay more attention on my fishing shows when there fishing for bass because I always would fast forward it thru it to the walleye segments .. Alright guys keep the info coming I still would love all the info I can get and if any of you bass fisherman want to trade a trip for some walleye let me know I have lots of secrets to putting lots of walleye in the boat .. Cya Slick

[Slick]

Hey there jcheetam, I look in the website store and did not find any baits there and I looked to see if this poorboy baits was a sponsoring member to this website and did not find that.. So if you could point me in the right direction I would apperciate it..

While I was looking around the website I found you had a link to KD outdoors Ken is a nice guy.. He knows me from the other message board I spoke of in this thread..Cya Slick

[fiker]

Another sponser of the board is Xtreme tackle. 
Wayne specializes in tubes for St. Clair, and in fishing information.
You can click on the link to the right, or I know that Combat fishing will have a booth at the Lansing show.

He has written two books called No Secrets Lake St. Clair. 
In them he mentions spots in the river system as well as the lake.   Sometimes there's even pictures as well as GPS coordinates. 

[Cheetam]

Slick, here's some links:
Extreme Bass Tackle (Board Sponsor): http://www.combat-bassfishing.com/
ISG: http://www.isgfishing.com/
Poorboys: http://www.poorboysbaits.com/Poor%20Boy's%20Web%20Site_files/product%20list.htm
Mizmo: http://www.mizmo.com/
Schubert's and Laketown: http://www.laketownmfg.com/shop/
RoboWorm: http://www.roboworm.com/roboworm.htm
Yamamoto: http://www.yamamoto.baits.com/

BTW, Welcome to the Board!

[Slick]

Thank you sir

[djkimmel]

One other thing I've setup to try to make it easy to spend all our fishing money is a Basspro.com / BoatersWorld.com catalog search right here on GreatLakesBass.com. You might find this handy since Basspro has a big selection of brands and terminal tackle: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/store/glbbps.html

Sponsor D & R Sports Center - graphic link also top right - also does mail order and online - they are still building their Internet store - things are added every day: http://www.dandrsports.com

(I will be adding lures to the store eventually along with more fishing accessories...) I've been using the Standout hooks - they work pretty good for hooking and are convenient for the vertical presentation, but you have to watch how they helicopter when you reel them in - creates more line twist.

[djkimmel]

Also - here's an article on dropshotting written by one of our forum members - Duke: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/articles/abdropshot0611.html

[fishon1219]

Hey slick,
Welcome to the GLB community. I always enjoy reading your posts on the MS forums. You always know what is going on. There are lots of us here that fish the river alot and I am sure you will have several takers on your offer when the water gets soft again. I might even take you up on it, but I will for sure take you out and show you what little I know about catching smallmouth. Once again welcome to our family and hope to see you posting alot.

[bshaner]

Hey slick,
Welcome to the GLB community. I always enjoy reading your posts on the MS forums. You always know what is going on. There are lots of us here that fish the river alot and I am sure you will have several takers on your offer when the water gets soft again. I might even take you up on it, but I will for sure take you out and show you what little I know about catching smallmouth. Once again welcome to our family and hope to see you posting alot.

True spirit of this site right there.

B

[Revtro]

Slick, make sure you get some St. Clair Goby and Canadian Mist 4" tubes from Xtreme when you check out their selection.  For the river, these two colors meet the need just about all the time.  Once in a while you need to go to a green tube of some kind, but I have caught Smallies practically all summer long on these two colors.  They're definitely "Go-to" colors for the river. 

When in heavy current, I have learned to go to a heavier jig head.  It gets snagged a little more, but personally I haven't seen a huge difference in bites or hookups by using a 3/8 or 1/2 oz head most of the time in the current.  It just makes things so much easier.  As for location, you should definitely have your diving buddy turn you on to some spots.  That's quite an advantage.  Then mark them with your GPS and email them to me and I'll help verify if they're really good spots.     

[Slick]

fishon1219 thanks for the kinds words there buddy, I know you know me from the MS forums and you know how I enjoy showing so many members on there how to catch more walleye, it gives me enjoyment to watch a guy catch his limit when he was struggling to catch his limit before I showed him what I do, I just dont go for the mentality of a lot of fisherman that say I got a secret and I am not going to tell anyone how I do it, heck with that..

Fishon 1219 your welcome on my boat any time there is just one thing you need to remind me other wise I tend to forget, I have short term memory lot of irons in the fire at times..

Question of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I have picked out three diffrent colored tubes that I am going to buy that Revtro recomended from combat fishing Canadian mist, Saint Clair Goby, and a craw collored one, Oh boy I really like poor boy's gobie baits pretty sweet for drop shotting I cant wait to get a few..

well here is my question of the day? What type of hook do you all like useing for tube baits??? here is the one I picked out tell me what ya think

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=20799&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Cya Slick

[canvsbk]

 DJ's 60 degree jig head with Gamakatsu hooks. IMO no contest on this one.

[Slick]

I take it your talking about these here..Cya Slick

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120025439501&rd=1&rd=1