NumenOn the Water
Date: 5-11-16
Body of Water: Lake St. ClairDate: 5-11-16
Boat: Numenon
With: B and WL
Target: Smallmouth Bass
Time: 9 AM - 3:30 PM
Conditions: Started overcast with easterly winds to 10 mph, but cleared and calmed in the afternoon. Air temperatures from 55 to 65 degrees F. Water ranged from muddy and 56 F at the Mile Roads to stained and 55 F at the Edsel Ford House to clear and 49 F at the mouth of Big Muskamoot Bay (Old Channel area.)
This was a Charity Fishing event. The father-son team of B and WL had donated some cash to local school causes, and I donated the day, gear and gas to share a smallmouth adventure on Lake St. Clair. After last week's successful scouting, I was ready to go!
I had some mild concerns about water clarity/conditions based on the preceding day's winds. But these were mild concerns, because it's a big lake with lots of options and my best fishing is still several hundred yards offshore, even when the bite is relatively shallow.
We ran down to the Edsel Ford House and found just a few boats working the area. The water here was stained, but still had a few feet of clarity, and was 55 - 56 F. It offered some promise, but I did wonder where everybody was. We started fishing and within 15 minutes B landed the first smallie, a smallish keeper that hid a fire tiger, medium diver crank bait. This was a good start, so we kept plugging away, and W caught his first bass on a pumpkin green Yamamota hula grub. Meanwhile, I continued jerking and rattling up front, searching for that congregation of aggressive bass. We didn't find anything else here, so after an hour we relocated to the Mile Roads area. There were very few boats here, and the visibility was much reduced. B caught a nice, had-fighting drum, but I didn't like this combination of conditions, and so I offered three choices. Back to Edsel to grind it out; go farther south, where conditions were unknown; or across the lake, upwind, to the Old Channel area where I suspected the water would be clear and I had caught a couple of smaller fish the week before.
B was up for adventure, so we ran across the lake. We observed the water getting clearer, calmer and cooler as we crossed, and conditions seemed much improved as we started to fish near the westernmost old lighthouse. I caught my first fish of the day, a two-pounder, on a white X-Rap jerk bait, but that was it, here. The eastern lighthouse provided a pair of twin bass on this same bait and a missed fish for W.
And then we started exploring. We fished various breaks and flats. The water was clear and about 50 F, so we kept moving, looking for visible or biting fish. It just didn't happen! We moved into shore along a very prominent break wall and fished that. Despite the increased depth and sun absorption, the bass hadn't yet found this area!
We fished our way around and into the Old Club harbor. I'd never do this between Memorial and Labor Day, but it was deserted on this day. It very much reminded me of the various marinas and developments on Muskegon Lake, where one can make hay on early season bass. This harbor was connected to extensive flats on the west and the St. Clair River on the east, and featured bottlenecks to concentrate fish and room for them to make themselves home, too. But all we got own here was a couple of pike. The first ate W's grub, the second ate my shad X-Rap. Mine was small, but W's was a nice 30-incher, and at first we all thought he had a dandy bass. These were the first LSC pike I've encountered and they were beautifully colored with distinct yellow spots.
We hit a couple of prominent rock piles on our way in (W wanted to beat the worst of the traffic), but came back in with the day's catch stuck on just five bass (for perhaps 7-8 pounds with one questionable "keeper"), two pike and the hard-fighting drum. Kind of a slow day for LSC, but I'm still learning, I saw some new water, and it really was pleasant in the main.
This was a Charity Fishing event. The father-son team of B and WL had donated some cash to local school causes, and I donated the day, gear and gas to share a smallmouth adventure on Lake St. Clair. After last week's successful scouting, I was ready to go!
I had some mild concerns about water clarity/conditions based on the preceding day's winds. But these were mild concerns, because it's a big lake with lots of options and my best fishing is still several hundred yards offshore, even when the bite is relatively shallow.
We ran down to the Edsel Ford House and found just a few boats working the area. The water here was stained, but still had a few feet of clarity, and was 55 - 56 F. It offered some promise, but I did wonder where everybody was. We started fishing and within 15 minutes B landed the first smallie, a smallish keeper that hid a fire tiger, medium diver crank bait. This was a good start, so we kept plugging away, and W caught his first bass on a pumpkin green Yamamota hula grub. Meanwhile, I continued jerking and rattling up front, searching for that congregation of aggressive bass. We didn't find anything else here, so after an hour we relocated to the Mile Roads area. There were very few boats here, and the visibility was much reduced. B caught a nice, had-fighting drum, but I didn't like this combination of conditions, and so I offered three choices. Back to Edsel to grind it out; go farther south, where conditions were unknown; or across the lake, upwind, to the Old Channel area where I suspected the water would be clear and I had caught a couple of smaller fish the week before.
B was up for adventure, so we ran across the lake. We observed the water getting clearer, calmer and cooler as we crossed, and conditions seemed much improved as we started to fish near the westernmost old lighthouse. I caught my first fish of the day, a two-pounder, on a white X-Rap jerk bait, but that was it, here. The eastern lighthouse provided a pair of twin bass on this same bait and a missed fish for W.
And then we started exploring. We fished various breaks and flats. The water was clear and about 50 F, so we kept moving, looking for visible or biting fish. It just didn't happen! We moved into shore along a very prominent break wall and fished that. Despite the increased depth and sun absorption, the bass hadn't yet found this area!
We fished our way around and into the Old Club harbor. I'd never do this between Memorial and Labor Day, but it was deserted on this day. It very much reminded me of the various marinas and developments on Muskegon Lake, where one can make hay on early season bass. This harbor was connected to extensive flats on the west and the St. Clair River on the east, and featured bottlenecks to concentrate fish and room for them to make themselves home, too. But all we got own here was a couple of pike. The first ate W's grub, the second ate my shad X-Rap. Mine was small, but W's was a nice 30-incher, and at first we all thought he had a dandy bass. These were the first LSC pike I've encountered and they were beautifully colored with distinct yellow spots.
We hit a couple of prominent rock piles on our way in (W wanted to beat the worst of the traffic), but came back in with the day's catch stuck on just five bass (for perhaps 7-8 pounds with one questionable "keeper"), two pike and the hard-fighting drum. Kind of a slow day for LSC, but I'm still learning, I saw some new water, and it really was pleasant in the main.
What do I have to say about this?
I think water visibility was our greatest nemesis, but it's possible things were just "off", too. B and W were willing to accept the slow bite as just fishing, but of course I wanted more for all of us. We all might have felt a little better when a boat from West Virginia reported at the ramp that although they had caught 82 bass on Monday, their catch for this day was only four bass. We all knew now that LSC was not at her best on this day, and I may have learned to try to avoid hard easterly winds, at least for this western shoreline area.
B and I road together on the way home and got to know more about each other. He's clearly a good guy, and I invited him and W aboard, pretty much any time. We talked about possible plans for future trips, and I know that we will be back at it!
I think water visibility was our greatest nemesis, but it's possible things were just "off", too. B and W were willing to accept the slow bite as just fishing, but of course I wanted more for all of us. We all might have felt a little better when a boat from West Virginia reported at the ramp that although they had caught 82 bass on Monday, their catch for this day was only four bass. We all knew now that LSC was not at her best on this day, and I may have learned to try to avoid hard easterly winds, at least for this western shoreline area.
B and I road together on the way home and got to know more about each other. He's clearly a good guy, and I invited him and W aboard, pretty much any time. We talked about possible plans for future trips, and I know that we will be back at it!
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| B scored first. He will score again! |
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