Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Bass Fishing Reports => Lake St Clair - St Clair River Bass Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Revtro on May 29, 2007, 10:52:52 AM

Title: St. Clair 5-28.
Post by: Revtro on May 29, 2007, 10:52:52 AM
Got out at 5:30 am and headed to some typical spots for a quick 5 minute check on each before heading down to the Mile Roads.  We didn't get anything until we go down there.  I learned a very important lesson yesterday having to do with line size.  My partner and I were throwing the same color tube as we made our first drift.  On our first drift, he got 6 fish and I had 0.  Hmm.  What's the deal here?... I asked.  Same tube... 1/4 oz jigheads, same drag technique...what's different?  The only difference was the leader we had tied on.  I loaned him a spinning rod with a 10lb floro leader and he was whacking them.  I was too lazy to retie my leader from the previous day at Kent lake, so I had a 20lb floro leader on.  Could that be it?  Could something as simple as leader thickness make that big of a difference?  Long story short, I retied my leader with a long 10lb piece of floro.  Second cast BAM, 3.5 pounder.  A few casts later, his twin brother.  By the end of the day my best 5 probably went 16 or 17lbs.  I even got a nice 4lb largemouth... she had lots of junk in the trunk. 

Needless to say, I was quickly reminded of why it's so important to use light line in clear water.  It was one of those obvious moments where it was perfectly clear to us what was going on.  I should have thought about that earlier because I had a similar experience fishing with langer on St. Clair the previous weekend.  He was whacking them and I was struggling to get bit.  Have you ever been "that guy" who was not getting bit while the other guy on the boat was tearing it up?  Check your line size, it might have a whole lot more to do with it than you realized. 

Oh yeah, the report part.  We got most of our fish in two locations.  First, the Mile Roads were on fire, but we had to be in almost exactly 7.5 FOW to get bit.  When we went shallower or deeper it was famine.  7.5 was the deal.  I threw a jerkbait quite a bit and a Rattle n Vibe, but the tube was the most consistent and got the biggest fish.  Watermelon with black flake was the best color on a 1/4oz jighead.  Popping the tube off the bottom didn't work.. we had to drag it and let it tick the weeds.  The area we were fishing had sparse but consistent weeds.  When the weeds thinned, so did the bites.  And we had to stay away from the mossy bottom. 

We also got lots of fish around deep seawalls.  I was concerned with the flat water and bright sun, but it didn't seem to affect the fishing.  They were on for sure.  Lots of fun.
Title: Re: St. Clair 5-28.
Post by: Mojo on June 11, 2007, 07:36:45 AM
nice input !