St Clair 2024

[TOXIC]

Grab a cup of Joe, sit back and I’ll tell you about our trip to Lake St Clair in Michigan for this year.  We were there 05/17-05/25.  We stayed on Harsens island in the same cottage we have used the last 4 years.  It’s on a canal in the St Clair river with Canada meeting us halfway across.  This year we had 6 anglers, my self and my regular fishing partner that I have gone up with for the last 21 years in a 2022 Ranger Z520L with a 250 mercury 4 stroke, a friend who lives in Maryland and is a DC fire Chief who has gone the last 9 years and his nephew who was a first timer from Massachusetts in a 2023 Ranger Z520L with a 250 Evenrude and finally our last boat of first timers were a Fireman from Pennsylvania and another friend of ours who has gone on some of our Florida trips from West Virginia in an early 2000’s Bullet 21 foot custom built hull with a Mercury 300 race modified motor.  I had major concerns with this boat taking on St Clair but luckily we had pretty good weather and his biggest concern was keeping that motor fueled up.  He did run out of gas one day.  On to the fishing……We missed the first big wave of spawners due to a long warm streak 3 weeks before we got there.  Then the cold weather moved back in and pushed late first wave spawners back a bit.  We got there during a warming trend and a full moon.  We hit the stragglers from the first wave post spawn, the second wave just moving in for pre spawn and bedding fish.  We actively try to stay off the community holes and catching fish that have been previously caught.  During the entire trip our boat only caught 5 that had previously been caught.  Considering all 3 of our boats with 6 anglers caught on average 50-60 fish per angler, per day, I was satisfied with that.  We did take the newbies to Big Muscamoot and Little Muscamoot to show them what smallmouth beds looked (we had a slew GPS marked) like and to teach them some bed fishing techniques but we didn’t stay there for long.  We also took them to one of our more secret spots off the Middle Channel that you would never find unless you were looking for it.  This spot produced some largemouth, smallmouth and even musky/pike.  Areas we fished….Big and Little Muscamoot, the wreck in front of Metro Beach, Metro, Mile Roads, Anchor Bay, Selfridge, mouth of the Salt river, the St Clair River for Walleye and in front of the 400 Club.  None of these are special or secret but it’s more of a spot on a spot that we’ve learned on our many trips. Takeaways….It was a total blast watching the first timers experience this lake for the first time.  Granted, they had some serious experience putting them in great locations with us being very familiar but after reading and hearing all of our stories over the years, it finally hit home how magical this place is.  They also gained a higher level of respect for me and my fishing partner after following us to the St Clair River and watching us jump up on deck in 3 foot rollers and jig for Walleye in 7 knot current.  They never even took of their pfd’s and headed off to calmer bays.  Couple of downsides that we saw this year.  First, one of the prime spawning areas is Little Muscamoot.  The water averages 1-3 feet.  It’s fairly easy to spot beds in the crystal clear water and the locals complain about “tourist” fishermen going in there and ravaging bedding smallmouth.  While we somewhat agree and try to stay out of there unless forced in by weather plus we try to fish for “roamers” more than bedded fish, if we do go in there.  Locals have -0- room to talk after what we saw this year.  Since it is so shallow, Little Muscamoot warms quicker and has become a bay for party boats and weekend raft offs.  We saw so many red solo cups, beer cans, soda cans, vape pens and other assorted trash laying on the bottom it was disgusting.  What was even more saddening was the smallmouth beds that were trampled and totally destroyed from people walking on them.  For those that don’t know, smallmouth reuse existing beds from previous years in addition to making new ones.  Second downside and my last negative is not so much a gripe as it is a frustration.  When we pull up on a spot, we try to stay a respectable distance from other fishermen.  Since we had 3 boats fishing together, it was almost guaranteed that we were going to get encroached on but……we had multiple instances where we would catch a fish and immediately there were 4 or 5 boats within a cast length of us.  We even had boats come off plane and settle 30 feet from us and we had guys motoring through at idle who would stop and drop the trolling motor if they saw us catch a fish.  We warned the first timers this would happen and to keep their cool but it was frustrating.  We had a little grass bed from years past marked out in front of the 400 Club on the Mile Roads.  There were 3 boats in there when we pulled up with our 3.  6 boats on a spot on the weekend is like a beacon to bent pole fishermen and I’m not kidding you, we counted, there were almost 100 boats in that area when we decided to leave.  It was the weekend if that is any consolation.  Even with those gripes Lake St Clair is a very special place that we will return to every year as long as we are able.  I’ll post some pics just of me since I don’t like to put up other people.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Awesome!

[TnRiver46]

Great read, wow look at that bullet. 
 

nice fish, is that a jammer of a white bass I see? 

[TOXIC]

@TnRiver46 yes, it was a crazy bite.  I was throwing a SPRO Little John in the clear water and as I retrieved it, a school of white bass all that size were chasing it to the boat.  We had a multiple species trip with smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, walleye, drum, yellow perch, pike, musky, rock bass, and even a few sun fish/bluegill/pumpkinseed. 

[MIbassyaker]

what a great trip!

[TOXIC]

FYI, that Pike pic is not blood on its side.  It was actually red.  I’ve never seen that.  

[gim]

Rock bass alert! 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

11 hours ago, TOXIC said:

We actively try to stay off the community holes and catching fish that have been previously caught.

 

I like this..a lot: Protecting the resource! 

 

Congrats, Toxic. So. Many. Big. Bass!!!

[TOXIC]

@gimruis we always get into Rockies.  This year we caught some brutes.

 

@ol'crickety I just picked out a few of the hundreds of pics.  St Clair is truly smallmouth Disney Land.  

[Swamp Girl]

Just now, TOXIC said:

I just picked out a few of the hundreds of pics.

 

Impressive. So glad you went with your buddies, which makes great fishing even better. However, please don't tell your pal with the 300 HP Mercury about my quarter horsepower paddling arms. I don't want him to be jealous. 

[gim]

9 hours ago, TOXIC said:

This year we caught some brutes.

 

Brutes?  As in a "brute" rock bass?  That fish doesn't exist.

[KHNC]

How is St Clair in mid to late July? Always wanted to go, just havent made it over there yet. Erie is a total mad house from mid may to mid june. Sounds like SC is the same. Im hoping that once spawning is over , the crowds arent as bad. July is when i would have the best chance to get away and head up there. 

[TOXIC]

@KHNC, in 21 years, we only went one time in summer.  Most summer action shifts to the Canadian side, rivers and deep water haunts.  The recreational boat traffic is 50 times worse than the fisherman traffic when we go.   I would suggest you keep up on a few lake specific sites.  One of the members here @Hollada has a lake specific Facebook page.  

[Hollada]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1482708145302485/?ref=share

[HawkeyeSmallie]

Oldish thread but I thought I'd ask a question here.

 

My wife wants to take me to Lake St Clair for our anniversary as she knows it's been a dream of mine.

 

Anyone have a good guide to recommend?

 

How about a good time of the year?

 

Wedding was 9/30 so was thinking around that time. Good fall bite?

[TOXIC]

Best Guide service on the lake is Marcels guide service.  Call him with your prospective dates and he will clue you in.  
 

https://www.marcelsguideservice.com/

[HawkeyeSmallie]

22 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Best Guide service on the lake is Marcels guide service.  Call him with your prospective dates and he will clue you in.  
 

https://www.marcelsguideservice.com/

 

I'll reach out to him.

 

My wife also found the name Garrett Samsal, seemed to have good reviews.

[Bucks Bass and Bourbon]

Kind of revamping this thread (great trip report btw) and wanted to say my first time fishing St Clair was this summer. My buddy flew in from Washington State and we booked Marcel for a one day trip. Great experience and I’ll hire him

again. He had us on fish and in position to catch them all day and made sure to teach us the little techniques to have more success. 

I’m heading over to LSC this weekend for my first solo trip on the lake. No idea what to expect but I’m going to cover as much water as I can and give it my best for two days launching out of Selfridge. 
 

Thanks again @TOXIC for the excellent trip report! Those are some beautiful smallies.