howdy yall my names keith from dayton ohio, and i joined here a week ago and have spent a week viewing info on lake st clair. searched around and flipped through forums, and well this sounds like the place to be... however i dident find exactly what i was looking for... thought maybe yall could help me out?
im planning to go to st clair the last week of may in to the first week of june but i have some concerns. ive never been there.
first off, ill be staying in canton at a buddies house.. so what ramp should i look at going to that will put me on some good fish? i dont want to put in and run 10 miles, id rather drive the 10 miles and put in... planning on putting in somewhere between the mouth of the detroit river. and southern st clair. maybe slightly north of belle island?
now ive read on here to fish grass bed for smallies, and thats really what im going for, taking a break from the largies... how do i locate certain grass beds or decide which one will work? i have a humminbird 998 in the back i can side scan for under water beds... but i dont want to spend my whole 4 days searching...will there even be grass beds there in may?
i know this is a shallow lake... are there places you cant run? kind of like kentucky lake...where you cant just go where ever, is there some sort of bouy system to run? how do yall navigate that lake?
ive heard smallies love the tube jigs... so what kinds of colors do they like up there? drop shot texas rig carolina rig? what kind of line? i assume 12 or 14 lb mono will be fine?
any tips would be great
Welcome to Michigan. Put in at StClair Shores, 11mile and Jefferson. Run between the red and green markers in and out of port. Find 6 to 12 foot flats with rocks and other structure. Drag green or brown colors . I use 8lb test mono. Respect the lake it can be vary powerful.
You don't really want to launch any further than 9 mile and that way you can fish from there north to about 14 mile and that will be all the fish you need. As got fish said look at water from 5-12' throw cranks, tubes, and a DS and you should have a lot of fun. BTW a 10 mile drive by boat isn't that far for out here.
Thanks for the replys! 10 miles aint far...but thats 3 gallons of gas!
So any info on navigation? Man im exited to get up there. Any clue on abot where to look for rock piles?
As stated before there is a launch at 11 mile, and a DNR launch is about 14 1/2 mile.
Eleven mile is nice and probably closer to where you'll do most of your fishing. It's easy to spot from out in the lake on the way home by the big blue sea wall. Just make sure you idle your way in and out according to the buoys.
Watch the wind directions. If the wind blows from an Easterly direction for very long, and very hard, fishing the mile roads gets tough.
You can check satellite pictures of St. Clair on line to see how current water conditions look. If it's muddy the fishing gets tougher.
Previous posts about tubes and color are good advice. Xtreme Bass tackle sells colors that are pretty hard to beat on Clair. Canadian Mist, Formula G3, and St. Clair Goby NFT.
Drop shot with about a 1' leader work well also. I've had luck drop shotting just about anything, but the last couple of years I've been mostly using wacky rigged stick baits.
Rattle trap type baits are a great search bait, as are white 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits, and crank baits that dig the bottom.
Be advised though. If you hit Clair on a day that's on and you find fish, you're going to be spoiled. You'll find yourself making the trip up here more and more.
I cant wait!
Remember to check the NOAA weather in the morning before you go out. St. Clair is a blast, but it can beat you up pretty bad if you're not paying attention.
No offense bud, but you're worried about 3 gallons of gas? Make sure you have plenty in the tank for the day before you go out.
Gasoline is my drug. Drive it like you stole it. ;D
Just look for all the bass boats along the mile roads, there will be a hundred of them. Just pick a group and start fishing with them.
If you put in at StClair Shores. When you come out of port. You will be infront of the blue wall
I'll be on vacation from work that week and I'll be happy to show you some stuff. I spend a lot of time there and you can follow me around. It should be an interesting spring as the water more than likely will be low. We needed ice and lots of snow this winter but didn't get it. I'm sure a lot of the marinas and launches will need dredging. PM me as the time grows near and we can set something up. I'll PM you my cell number.
BD. ;D