Fishing the channels

[Golden Ghost]

I posted this on another site but thought I would try here also. Looking for a little help. Thanks.
I'm trying to learn the channels for smallmouth and fished them yesterday. Started at the syne and fished up to the North Channel. Continued up the north to a few spots in the river itself. Fished down the river to the south cannel and out to the lake.

Tried around firecracker: some boulders and a large buoy.

Overall around 24 fish for two guys. Maybe only 6 keepers and 2 large fish. Not too bad but not great. Not sure if it's the time of year or what. I am doing my due diligence and any advice would help as I plan to go back next week. PM if you wish. Thanks.

Most came on tubes. A few on drop shot and Spinner baits

[motocross269]

The channels are tough on me also...I need to get better fishing those areas because I have some tournament spots on the North end of the lake...Would be nice to be able to duck in there if the weather turned bad or my tournament spots didn't pan out...

[Golden Ghost]

The channels are tough on me also...I need to get better fishing those areas because I have some tournament spots on the North end of the lake...Would be nice to be able to duck in there if the weather turned bad or my tournament spots didn't pan out...

I here you. I have a 16' jon boat and can't due the main lake unless it's perfect. Hopefully someone will chime in.

[djkimmel]

The channels will be a little more challenging this year since the weather appears to have lowered the number of bass that run up them. Having said that, there are always bass moving around the mouths of them and moving back out this time of year until the water gets down to around 50F.

I love fishing the lower channels this time of year. Probably because I started out fishing there in a 14' boat also way back.

I've always done the best in the South / Shipping Channel overall but the Middle can be good to real good some days and once in awhile I hit the North and have good to real good success.

I spend a lot of time at or near the mouths as the surface water temp is dropping. Fish openings on the break between thick weed beds. Fish strips of open water between weed beds on the flats. Fish the ends of flats where they drop into the channel. Fish deeper walls. Walls that stick out more. Fish the back AND front of obstructions. Fish the ends of points into the current.

REMEMBER - feeding bass will often choose the most advantageous spots and the front of an object or point facing the current is where any passing food comes first! All objects and bottom changes slow the current. Even the bottom itself slows the current along the bottom.

I've always like the points up in the channels where two channels split. Again fishing the tip farthest out into the current first expecting the most aggressive, and sometimes biggest bass to be there.

If I'm on the water and things seem to be alive - minnows skipping, birds diving, everything seems to be active, I fish faster, generally shallower and move a lot until I've either found that day's HOT SPOT or fished all of the good looking stuff. I tend to stay shallow until it is definitely not working or seems to have stopped working on gray, drizzly days because I've caught lots of big bass off real shallow stuff in the channels later in the year on those days in the past.

If things seem blahhhh... everything is 'sleeping in' that day I fish slower, deeper and skip marginal spots concentrating on the best spots like the famous Sans Souci or the South Channel Yacht Club or A20 or the Firecracker if it isn't already loaded up with boats. Bass are ALWAYS around the key spots.

If you aren't catching them on the known key spots it is just because you aren't catching them!

Don't believe me? Just get an underwater camera and drop it down. You'll see.

Some of the other better key spots are not as obvious as the above mentioned. That is part of the reason they remain key spots. Most anglers don't look hard enough to find them. There's just 'too much water' out there. I had that problem - well, I still do at times - when I first started fishing out there.

My advice would be that you personally, Golden Ghost (most of my advice is always addressed to anyone who reads on here), are lucky to have a smaller boat. Let it force you to fish less mileage and fish smaller areas a lot harder and more thoroughly. Other than someone else giving you coordinates and pictures to the lesser known key spots need time to notice and figure them out.

I sometimes get people mad at me but I have always believed I will rarely make someone a truly better angler by just giving them spots. Spots change. Spots get fished out (for awhile only maybe but sometimes they don't recover their former glory). Spots can come and go. Ebb and flow.

Anglers fall in love with spots (a constant curse of my own). To be a really good angler you need to know why the spot is good, why and how it changes, and how to find more. Especially the 'new' ones that are hardly known or come into their own like a one hit wonder or due to weather or environmental changes. There's still 'new' spots found out there all the time. There are spots that are only good for a short time or for a particular time of the year or even time of the day.

The MOST IMPORTANT SPOTS are the ones that fit the way you like to fish, the spots that you end up enjoying to fish. The best way to get those spots is to find them fishing your way.

I see this mistake made by so many anglers - trying to fish someone elses spot the wrong way or trying to make the spot bend to their will. Sure, there are spots that are so good that many anglers can do well there at different times. It's great if you find one of those or someone gives it to you but some of my best personal spots on any lake are not considered that great by many other anglers, or other anglers have gone to them and end up asking me 'what's the big deal, the spot wasn't that great?' It's often because me and the spot just 'get along.' Those, to me, are the best spots to find.

With your smaller boat, maybe every other trip you can make over there, rather than covering a ton of water, pick a channel and a moderate stretch of it and fish every square foot of it from real shallow right out to the middle of the channel. It can seem tiresome at times or even frustrating, but that is how I have found some of my all-time most favorite spots anywhere, but especially on Lake St. Clair and especially in the channels.

I definitely have spots other people shared with me or told me about but some of them just never fit me like a glove. I've never felt they were as good as the other person did. I may enjoy fishing them once in awhile but I have enjoyed fishing the ones that fit me - usually because I found them fishing my way - a whole lot more a whole lot more times.

If systematically combing smaller areas drives you nuts (and being an impatient person, I would get that) then maybe limit it to the middle part of the day now and then - remembering that when the bite seems slow you may miss judging how good a spot really is because it's just an off day. My additional extra maybe helpful maybe not advice over there is that every dropoff of any size has the potential to hold a bunch of bass at times.

It's overall a pretty flat body of water so the size of the dropoff is a relative thing. Some of my best drops only have a 1 to 2 foot difference from surrounding water. That can be from real shallow to real deep too.

Make sure you try my light to dark colored lures thing - if you aren't getting them on a dark color, try a light color. Sometimes it makes a difference. And try heavy to light too. Some days they just bite real good. Some days a tiny presentation difference takes a days from so-so to lights out!! I rarely forget those trips!