260Bass365

I've fished LSC a lot the last few years. Going in I typically have 3-4 different kind of areas picked out, cycle through those Day 1, and let the fish tell me what I should be doing and where I should be going. After that the you can find patterns of similar depth/structure. But to someone's point, the entire lake is a huge bowl and any random spot could hold a giant. My PB came on my first cast after drifting for 5 minutes to tie on a new lure. If that fails and there's a fair amount of boat traffic you can always look to the horizon to get a general idea of where people think they "should" be depth wise. As you look north to south you'll see boats aligned in a particular depth range.

This won't settle a bet, but it might help educate. Early spring, prespawn, beating the bank with Chatterbaits. What would the typical ratio of bass caught: guy on the trolling motor versus guy in the back? We settled on 3:1 but I'd like to your take.

Back from Lake St Clair and it's understandable why they lake is held is such high regard. I've fished the lake before but never for longer than a single day. We fished 5/31 to 6/3 entirely on the American side from Anchor Bay down to the 9 Mile launch. I've caught bigger smallies out of LSC, but consistency of the bite and number of 3+ pound smallies we caught over 4 days was unreal...a very healthy, amazing fishery. Day 1: Finding the right depth isn't really challenging. When you're motoring to a spot, you'll see a line of boats lined up parallel with the shoreline for 1/4 to 1/2 mile at a time. That will give you an idea of the approximate depth, we zig-zagged for a couple hundred yards at a time dropping waypoints as we caught them. Zoom out, check the line of waypoints that were created, and look for similar structure/contours/depths. We put 54 bass in the boat and majority were 2 to 3.5 lbs. Your 3+ lb fish typically are 18.5 to 19.5". Day 2: Best day of the trip. We fished new water in the morning, but went back to some Day 1 locations in the afternoon and managed to catch 75 bass in 4 hours. The action was non-stop and our top 5 would've gone 16 pounds. Not huge bass, but every bass seemed to be 2.5 to 3.5 pounds no dinks, but no monsters either. Day 3: Moved further south from Day 2 and the quality picked up...caught some 4 pounders. Hint: if you're fishing with a partner and they have one hooked cast near the hooked fish. The smallies are super aggressive and will try "stealing" from each other, we doubled up 3 or 4 times using this technique. Nothing like hooking a 17" bass, yelling to have him cast to your fish, and watching him land a 4.2#...Happy Father's Day ? Top 5: 19 pounds. Day 4: Fished Anchor Bay and Selfridge. Managed to catch a 4.2 on the first cast of the day...that never happens! Wind was non-existent prior to that day, but when it did pick up there was a consistent jerkbait bite. I did hook a 6.5 lbs sheephead (freshwater drum) which wasn't even the biggest of the trip. 6-7 pound sheephead might be the cruelest joke played by the lake. We stayed at the rental linked below and it was a great location. It is at the north end of the lake and a 2 minute drive from a launch. Note: depending on where you're at the lake will fish COMPLETELY different. For example, Anchor Bay water temps were 56 to 58 while the southern end of the lake had bays 68 to 72 degrees. https://www.stclairrental.info/lake-st-clair-area-vacation-rentals/totally-hooked/

Rod is a St Croix Avid 7' 6", Reel is a Lews 3000 Mach Crush. I appreciate the bait recommendations, it'll be my first time staying in Anchor Bay but I've fished the Mile Roads about a dozen times. I second the comment on green.

What's your line/terminal setup for dropshot? I'm headed to St Clair in a week and I'm sure I'll have some time to experiment. Swivel? I've never use one before, but I could be convinced. Knots? Here's mine, but I'm looking for some recommendations because I'm not 100% satisfied: Seaguar Smackdown HiVis (10) to Seaguar Gold Label (8) with a double-uni. 15 to 20 feet on the fluorocarbon. Size 1 or 2 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G Finesse. Palomar knot on the hook, which creates a slight bit of memory when I tie it. Run the tag end to roughly 3' and that becomes the lead to a 1/4 oz tungsten weight. I'm the least concerned with the weight because it's weather/structure driven.

I'm headed to St Clair in a few weeks. I've fished St Clair multiple times, but I've never fished north of Selfridge. This year, I'll be staying in Anchor Bay. Structurally, does Anchor Bay set-up similar to the Mile Roads? Similar bottom composition? Is there anything unique about that area? Anyone have a preference on one vs the other? I'm sure we'll figure it out over a couple days and I think we're timing it right. Hoping to get that 6+ smallie.

I'm in northern Indiana and water temps have probably jumped 20 degrees in 10 days (58 degrees). This morning I saw COUNTLESS bass (LM and SM) up shallow in 3-8 FOW...but it's like they were there only for the sun. No inkling to eat. Anyone else run into this? Maybe they're still behind on the calendar even though the water temps are rising. I backed way off and went finesse: marabou jig, ned, tube but they were not having it. The couple bites I had came from seeing them roam and tossing a ned rig in front of packs of 2-3.

First one was a nice one. 4.25# and just over 20".

Pretty new to the board. Open water in mid-February is not common for Northern IN, but I did catch this one on Feb 19. Vision 110 in 8 feet of water, 38 degree water temps. 6.25 lbs

First time poster, but I got out on Feb 19th and did catch one real nice bass...2nd largest I've caught in Indiana. Water temp was 38 and this past weekend it just cracked 40.