The extensive river system, clear water, large flats, and abundant baitfish make it an ideal habitat for smallmouth. It is not uncommon to catch (and release) over a hundred smallmouth a day! I am a firm believer that smallmouth establish home ranges in which they migrate throughout the year. However, smallmouth patterns change with the changing seasons. Or more importantly water temperatures and outside weather conditions. Keeping this in mind, the most productive areas feature different seasonal habitat within close proximity (i.e. summer feeding areas are almost always adjacent to spring spawning flats).

In the spring smallmouth begin to move up onto the spawning flats in 2'-8' of water. Since they can often be sight fished they are easy targets for anglers. But keep in mind these fish are here to spawn and keep the population healthy. Because of the cool water the bass in St. Clair spawn later than most lakes and the season is does not open till the 2nd Saturday in June. As the spawning period ends, smallmouth begin to group into packs and move into their summer holding zones. This almost always consists of areas with deeper structure, current, or a combination there of. Main lake grass beds, rock piles, or drop-offs are keys as well as the river channels. Any area that has a break whether it be a weedline, seawall, or change in bottom depth should hold fish.

The key to any good area is forage. Smallmouth are always on the prowl for food. Smallmouth attack their prey in packs. Once you catch one smallmouth there are sure to be several others in the area. You will notice fish chasing a hooked fish quite often. On the flip side, since they are so tightly packed it can be difficult to locate fish. Productive spots one day may yield nothing the next. However, they are usually not far from an area where they were previously found. Depending on the circumstances it may just be a matter of waiting for a school to pass by or moving a few hundred yards. If the forage base has moved, however, so have the smallmouth.

The main forage base for Lake St. Clair smallmouth is crawfish, perch, alewives, minnows, and other baitfish. Because of this my primary arsenal consists of tubes, grubs, and spinnerbaits. Topwater and jerkbaits are also productive in certain situations. I generally stick with whites, greens, smokes, and browns in my tube baits to resemble injured baitfish or crawfish. When fishing spinnerbaits I will throw any combination of chartreuse or white with willowleaf blades to resemble fleeing schools of baitfish.

Lake St. Clair is a fabulous smallmouth fishery. But it can only stay that way with the help of fellow anglers. Proper handling of fish and conscientious conservation are essential to keeping it that way. Unless it is tournament day, I almost always use barbless hooks to minimize the handling of fish. Above all please practice CATCH and RELEASE. Good luck and tightlines.