TOXIC

Last year while on St Clair jigging SteelShad blade baits for walleye, I did a hookset and thought I was snagged. Then it moved. We followed and I worked that fish for over a half hour and couldn’t get it to the surface. I finally reached max frustration lever and really put the pressure on only to feel a massive release. Reeled the lure in and 2 of the arms on one of the trebles were gone. We estimate I snagged a big sturgeon. Honk, Honk.

So if my Dentist asks me about fishing (he is also a fisherman) do I get to charge him for a guide trip? That’s ridiculous and I would take it up with the doctor.

I tie a palomar 99.9% of the time with 6lb straight mono. I set the hook like I am trying to cross their eyes. My best guess is that you need different line. Either that or the bait you are throwing is cutting your line. Here is a 6lb mono fish on a Ned rig from my trip to St Clair 2 weeks ago.

Tournament guys will normally give wrong info and go out of their way to protect “spots”. When I tournament fished in Florida, I fished with a very good St Johns river fisherman as a co. At blast,off he would run a ways and pull into a spot that he knew contained zero fish. We would fish there until all of the other competitors went by, then he would pull up and go to his spots. I would never tell anyone where they were because I didn’t find them. When I was a guide, I had a pretty noticeable boat and on tough days I would always have other bass boats around me no matter where I went. When I was asked at the dock, I would give good information about patterns and general locations. If you wanted exact locations, you’d have to hire me for the day. 😂😉

Here we have a product called “Crush and Run” that compacts into a hard surface not prone to washouts or loose gravel. I went with an asphalt extension to my driveway which has held up well but I don’t know how suitable it is for your area.

SPRO Little John crankbait in the Cell Mate color had schools of them chasing it back to the boat. Great backup plan when the smallmouth are picky. Also caught them on a Nichols white spinnerbait until your arm gives ou.

I’ll admit we catch our fair share on St Clair and we have a bit of a machoistic release method. If you lip them and give them a good spin in the air when you release them, they will spiral down slowly and if there is a musky or pike in that crystal clear water, you can watch them become a snack. If no toothy critters, they just look like a toddler who got off the merry go round too fast.

Funny story, I took my truck in for one of my negotiated free oil changes at the dealer (I got 8 free) and told them to replace my wiper blades. Went to the cashier and my bill was $79. I went back out to the service tech and reminded him my oil changes were no charge. He told me that was the price of the wiper blades. I told him that was ridiculous. He said maybe, but he gets a lot of people back to buy them over parts store wipers. Those d**n wiper blades lasted over 5 years without ever streaking or hopping on the windshield. I just replaced them not long ago and decided to order OEM off Amazon and guess what….. they were $60.00, so not so bad after all. 😂

Chatterbaits. They are the Bain of my existence. I can throw any gear from Zebco to Shimano and make it work.

I am very tuned in to the characteristics of my truck. Sight, smell and sound. So much so in my old truck I could tell there was a different sound when the truck was turning over to start. Took it to a shop telling them I needed a battery. When I picked it up the mechanic asked me how I knew and I told him it turned over differently. He was amazed because they tested the battery and there was one cell that was starting to go bad. With my new truck (2016), I replaced the battery after 6 years even though it was starting fine. To quote my mechanic friend, “Things rarely, if ever, fail in your driveway” 😂. How lucky do you feel.

We don’t use FFS to locate beds and as a rule we don’t normally go hunting for beds but they are pretty easy to see on a good side scan setup.

I have said, I am a dedicated finesse fisherman. My range for baits starts with 2.5 inch Ned baits and ended with a 5 inch class of pro Senkos or Kut tails which are smaller diameter than regular 5 inch Senkos. Then the massive, huge, heavy, swimbait fad started and I watched catches where the bass was smaller than the bait and it ruined my entire perception of what is a productive bait size. 😂

If you fish big water, you better be a close follower of wind. It’s not only a safety thing is a fishability thing. I just got back from the most brutal week on St Clair we have ever had. 30mph wind gusts, brutal cold and lockjaw fish. We trailered across the lake 2 days from Harsens Island and probably should have a third day. My back and kidneys are paying the price. On St Clair the water muddies up in different areas depending on the wind.

I have a lot of “branded” material from Yamamoto and I do wear their hoodies and t-shirts as casual and fishing wear. I have various “jerseys” for shows/seminars but I don’t wear those on the lake or when I’m not doing events. I have fishing sun shirts that I wear on the lake, some are plain and some have the manufacturers logo on them (Columbia/AFCO, etc.) and I have BPS Pro Qualifer and 100mph rain suits. I have various jackets that may or may not have logos. Hats are all branded. So, most of the time since I am retired, my off the water casual wear is usually branded but could not always be classified as “fishing”. Wearing jerseys as off the water wear is a little silly to me.

I have a totally different consideration, I fish often in my fishing partners boat and I am limited on how much gear to bring. It needs to fit in the rear compartment of a 20 foot Ranger. I ended up with a Plano salt water bag that holds 4 3700 boxes and there’s enough room in the locker for a couple more by themselves. I also wanted a clip style lid and not a zippered lid. The only bag that had that was salt versions.

I am in a quandary. I swore my allegiance to Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits 20+ years ago and as a result swore to never have another plastic in my boat. For so many years there was never a temptation to venture beyond that even though top management wanted me to throw others creations to report back on how they worked and what GYCB could do to make their line better. I begrudgingly threw a Stanley frog before Yamamoto came out with their own version, I occasionally made color suggestions for other baits and some made it to market and remain in the lineup today. But here’s where I am getting exhausted, since the acquisition by GSM, Yamamoto has gone from what I call a “boutique” bait line to a “utilitarian” line that has exploded with new offerings, styles and colors. It is my job to be able to truthfully represent ALL of the Yamamoto product line, the best way to do that us to fish the entire product line and as a result, the bait monkey can’t get past the boxes of Yamamoto for me to try anything else. The good part is that so many of the new offerings are winners.

Although this was written a few years ago, it does capture some of the special qualities of this trip. Oh the stories I could tell and the things we have been through in all of the years. I feel very blessed to count myself one of the original members and organizers. We will keep the tradition alive as long as we possibly can. Gotta go gas up my truck because part of our deal is my truck and my partners boat. He’ll come to my house tomorrow and we will load his gear into my truck, hook up the boat and head out Friday morning.

Interesting looking at the majority of responses to this question and seeing the very large number of anglers who stay relatively shallow. Might explain why the forward facing sonar fishermen are scoring such huge bags.

Well, the time draws near for our 22nd straight year of a week long fishing trip to Lake St Clair. We took a bucket list trip and made it an annual affair. What started as an invite from some internet acquaintances turned into a long lasting group of lifelong friends. Originally it was 5 of us. 3 of us were pro staff for Bass Pro, one owned a tackle store and really the reason for starting the trip was my fishing partner here in Virginia whose father was the famous Marine Sniper White Feather. I was introducing him to world class smallmouth fishing. The first couple of years we stayed at one of the Bass Pros house, another year moved to the tackle store owners house and then we decided it would be a better use of our time to just rent a cottage on Harsens Island. In the following years, most were spent in the same cottage which was on a canal next to Browns Bar. Skipped a year while the owner did renovations and another year we did a week in a cottage owned by a Canadian. Ultimately the owner of our long term cottage decided to sell and it was no longer available. We have been at our current cottage going on 4 years and although a bit expensive, its a great location. In 22 years we have pretty much fished the entire lake and it takes a very special situation to keep us off fish. That comes from fishing with high level locals who have grown up on the lake as our mentors. Throughout the years we have faced unexpected death, divorce, sickness but our group has pretty much stuck together. We’ve had the sons of locals join us, we’ve had a pro from the LBT/LBAA stay with us (she is still a friend), a buddy flew in from Australia and we’ve had the privilege to fish with Zona, VanDam, Kim Stricker and a few other notables. We’ve added a guy from Phoenix, we’ve taken 2 of our Virginia friends and got to witness the sheer enjoyment they got to experience on what we call the Smallmouth Disneyland. The camaraderie has always been something to behold and we’ve since made many local friends as well. I’ve perfected my gear selection even though that lake always seems to want something different every year and I’m down to 8 rods/reels, a boat bag and a couple of 3700 Planos that go in the boat, and a backup bulk bag that holds extra plastics, new offerings and replacement gear. This year there will be 6 of us and we will each take a night to cook dinner and we save one night for leftovers or a walleye fish fry if we decide to target them. It’s always nice to bring home a couple bags of walleye fillets. We have a routine where we go to one guys house upon our arrival Friday, have dinner, rig rods, exchange baits and relax after a day on the road. Breakfast at a local restaurant Saturday morning, a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up and needed essentials, gas up the trucks, boats and portable gas cans and then take the ferry over to the island, drop our gear at the cottage, drop the boats in the lake, take the trucks trailers back to the cottage and fish the rest of the day. I’m going to take you all with me this year and will give you a little taste of St Clair.

All depends on how deep the fish are. “normally” summertime 10-15 ft. We are leaving for St Clair this week and will be in that range or shallower depending on the fish. If we switch up and go walleye jigging, it will be up to 50ft. In lake Lanier I fished 65-70ft, in Lake Powell it was 300ft deep although we didn’t fish that deep, we fished bluff walls in that depth. On the St Lawrence we often were in 40-50ft. On Headwaters in Florida, 10ft was deep. 😆

Don’t forget the General. 😉

Because it’s Mothers Day we are going to a winery for a tasting where my daughter is a vip member. As I get ready for my annual trip to St Clair, we’ve packed away a couple bottles of Jack Daniels regular and a bottle of Gentleman Jack. In the past we have done Jack Sinatra and this year I was trying to track down a bottle of Jack McLaren for our sipping pleasure, but I’m running out of time.

@gim my comment wasn’t directed at you. I was speaking in general to those who don’t think it’s ethical.

Last comment on this but you just made my point. An 18 inch fish on Erie could weigh 3lbs for example and one from St Clair would weigh 2lbs. Which fish is better? As for bed fishing, if you are dead set against fishing for “spawning “ fish then you better not fish at all in the spring. Whether or not you can actually see the bed isn’t relevant. They are ALL in some stage of the spawn and some bed deep enough you’ll never see the bed. When FWC did studies on St Clair to determine if catch and release fishing would damage the spawn they concluded it would not. Old regulation was you couldn’t fish smallmouth before the 3rd weekend in June if I remember correctly. Now it’s catch and release only up to that date, after that it’s catch and keep if you so choose.

After you read all the ways that competitors can cheat in CWR tournaments you might think differently. When you try to use length as the determining factor, I can honestly tell you anybody who fishes both St Clair and Erie for smallmouths will attest to the huge difference in body shape between those two bodies of water. Erie smallmouth are literal footballs and St Clair smallies are long and thin. Some Erie smallmouth make their way up to St Clair and it’s easy to tell them apart. Granted, you are going to catch mainly the same body type of whatever fishery you are in but I mention it to show that body length isn’t a universal unit like weight.