(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/dan-kimmel-big-lake-st-clair-smallmouth-bass2011_11-186.jpg)
My biggest smallmouth bass of 2011 caught on a blade bait
on a nice November day out on Lake St. Clair - also my biggest
blade bait bass!
I called Lake St. Clair bass tournament record holder Scott Dobson up the other day and told him I had a 1 week license for Ontario, might he have a day open to get me back out for smallmouth bass this time? Scott is a pretty nice guy besides being an excellent bass angler. Not only did he take me fishing again in a repeat of our last November toad fest, he let me catch my biggest smallmouth bass of the 2011 season!
His co-record holder Kyle Green came along with us and we picked really lucky with the weather. Scott even commented that I pick the best days! Another very calm day like last year. Fairly warm with some sun now and then. We were bundled but I've been on St. Clair so little this year that it felt so great to be back!
Scott and Kyle are Lake St. Clair experts with no question having weighed in that monster 29.68 pounds limit of five smallmouth bass last fall! So it didn't take long at all and we were whacking toads! I mean, not all of them were toads but all of the smallies we were catching we fence pandas all the way to slaunches (for Z)!
The water was much warmer than last year and Scott said the bass haven't fully setup in their wintering holes yet. In fact, they were still moving out into the lake some which is pretty late for that! I've always thought some waters are a little more water temp driven – and we were seeing high 40's to 50 - 51 yet this day – and some places are more daylight driven. I actually think Lake St. Clair is even a little more of an exception being more bait-driven than some bodies of water. This is only a theory of mine. Might not even be a very good theory.
Luckily, I was going this day by Scott's heavy experience rather than my theory, which is why we were into quality smallies right away! Scott is another one of those angles really good with a blade bait and he said the first spot was all feeding and the blade had been the hottest bait. But... Scott said they were taking it off the bottom more than anything.
I'm glad he said that because I had my biggest smallmouth bass of the year eat my homemade blade bait right off the bottom!! A giant toader right about 6 pounds!! We even got the net out for it just be sure though I watched Scott and Kyle flip bass pushing 5 pounds into the boat!! It was nice to get some guest treatment.
We had many doubles and even a few triples on in the first spot with 3 to maybe a little over 5 pound smallies!! For a while the frenzy got so hot that they were hitting the blade bait at just about any time. I was catching them around the back of the boat. Scott and Kyle were catching them out front. They were hitting the blades sometimes 3, 4, 5 times to get it!!
That's the thing about blades that you learn after a while – don't set the hook real hard. Though many of our bass where flat out eating them, you often have them on or near the lip because of their attempt to suck a piece of metal and lead off the bottom, or slashing at it on the fast fall. We lost some and missed some, but we caught quite a few. It was about as much fun as you can have in a bass boat!! They even got a few to hit soft plastics including a few toads but the blade was king!
Then, we wore out our welcome. We tried a few more US spots but it appeared the bass had finished moving out of some of them. So off to the far reaches of Ontario and offshore. Scott was right. The bass had not fully worked their way out in huge numbers yet.
We could see some big perch being caught and we caught a few. Those all went in the livewell for fish sandwiches! We moved around a little – me still tossing the blade bait even though Scott just said it wasn't working out there and good luck, Scott tossing tubes and Kyle being a little more adventurous with various rigs.
Scott was right on again with the tougher, scattered bite going on. Kyle struck first with a baby smallie and then a decent one. We caught them, but it was often slow with periods of no bites. Then, every once in a while, we'd catch several quick ones. We also weren't getting any real big ones like last year.
Yup, early. But very fun because they were Lake St. Clair smallies!! Scott said not to expect any real big ones probably but we did catch a few pushing 4 pounds. If you've never caught a 4 pound Lake St. Clair smallie, then you don't know how much fun that really still is!!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/scott-dobson-kyle-green-lake-st-clair-smallmouth-bass2011_11-181.jpg)
Scott Dobson and Kyle Green with some of our big smallmouth
bass from a nice November day on Lake St. Clair!
As the day progressed, it seemed like it was getting slower so we did some running around. Some water was too muddy. And other water just didn't seem to be holding bass anymore. Not enough we could get them to bite anyway. I was amazed by how many ducks that were out there though. We flocks taking off out ahead of us as we ran that looked like cloud banks! All different and interesting kinds. All nowhere near any duck hunters. Reminds me of my old duck hunting days.
Lots of bluebills and ruddy ducks. A few flocks of mallards here and there. Some other diver ducks along with a small flock of snow geese mixed in. It was a really cool site to see. One cloud of them had to be spread out over a couple miles long! We were pushing ducks all over all the way back to US waters.
We did stop on the first spot on the way. They weren't biting as good as earlier, but we each caught some more good bass including some bigger ones, more in the front of the boat this time than the back. I was missing more of the bites I did have on the blade – probably not as patient now as I was in the morning. There was a real hot streak were Scott and Kyle took turns tearing them up.
Kyle had maybe his biggest bass of the day on and a monster-giant followed it to the boat!! That happened several times but we didn't get one of them to bite so my toad ended up the big bass of the day! It was an exciting end to another great day on the Great Lakes!
Oh! One other note. A number of the bass we caught looked like they had gotten in a fight with a muskie but we saw or caught none. Oh... and I took some grief throughout the day for my Maize and Blue sweatshirt too! Apparently, Scott is a spartan... well, nobody's perfect. ;D
Nice Dan! Fun isn't it??? ;D
My favorite time of year. Not even close. I fished 4 times the previous two weeks and had a real good time each one!
Dan when was that? I just keep waiting for the winds to die down and the water to clear then I'm headed for st. clair!
The one nice day all last week - Tuesday. Water quality was pretty good. I imagine things are still changing day-to-day out there. Surprised we didn't run into you again! ;D
The next decent day you will see me out there! Had the best day of fishing in my life last year around this time. I must of had almost 30 lbs for my best five. I'm just waiting for a limp flag and clear water. I can't wait!!!
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. I got a hot tip that some Canadian bass anglers tore up the fish out there anyway in that less than favorable weather!!
thanks for the tip.
Seems like you always finish off the season with a flurry !!!!
Every year, I wait and wait and wait for fall fishing!! LOVE IT!! It helps to have lots of nice friends too!
I hope next year I can take up more of the great offers I get to go fishing with more of you. I am going to get in a little more ice fishing this winter. Looking forward to that again.
Dan, the way the bronze and green just glints of the Maize and Blue is nearly artwork.
I thought so too! Scott wasn't nearly as fond of the look as I was! GO BLUE!