Lake StClair Baits

[TOXIC]

Thought I would do a little rundown on what I used for the week we were on St Clair (05/17-05/25). Any rigging or other questions feel free to ask. 

 

Here’s a recap of what “I” used on St Clair to catch “My” fish.  There were 5 other anglers in our party who also caught 50-60 fish a day using some of the same, and some different baits/colors.  I am primarily a plastics fisherman so my catches reflect that. It was amazing to me how different groups of fish would bite different colors of the same bait in different locations.  Every color I threw caught fish but not necessarily in the same locations.  If I listed the color name/number once, I did not repeat it for every bait, I just used the number. 

 

5 inch Senkos in 297(Green Pumpkin/Pepper), 305(Baby Bass), 306(Natural Shad), 901(Watermelon/White Laminate), 967(Goby), 968(Perch).  Rigging was Texas Rigged weightless and Texas Rigged with a small screw in nose weight. 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, 8lb mono, spinning rod. For pitching and dragging, a 1/4oz Gamakatsu football head jighead hook exposed, no skirt, 30lb braid, wide spool spinning rod. 

 

4 inch Senkos in 297, 305, and 925(Green Pumpkin/Small Red).  I rig my Ned rigs with this bait.  I like the extra bulk of this Senko. Buckeye Lures Ned, 1/8th oz, 6lb mono, spinning rod.

 

5 inch Pro Senkos in 297, and 208(Watermelon With Large Black And Small Red).  Rigged Texas style on a dropshot. #1 Gamakatsu EWG , 1/4 oz QuickDrop dropshot weight, spinning rod 8lb mono. 
 

4 inch Paddle Tail Zako in 981 (Green Pumpkin/036 Laminate) rigged on a Buckeye Lures, The Shocker light wire jig head. Baitcaster, 10lb mono. 
 

5 inch D-Shad in 297, 9006(Pro Blue) and 364 (Pearl White) rigged weightless on a 4.0 EWG Gamakatsu hook. Spinning rod, 6lb mono.

 

3 inch Shad Shape Worm in 297, 305, 306, 9004 (Smallmouth Magic), 967 and 968 all rigged on a dropshot, Texas style with a #1 Gamakatsu EWG hook and a 1/4 ounce Quick Drop dropshot weight.

 

3.5 inch Yamatanuki in 297 and 363(Green Pumpkin/Blue) rigged weightless on a 3.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook.  
 

Other baits I threw were a combination of Bill Lewis and SPRO crankbaits in various sizes and colors.  Those were all thrown on a baitcaster with 12lb mono.  Plastics ruled the day most of the time.  I did throw 3/8 oz SteelShad blade baits for a limit of walleye.  I vertical jigged them in 35 foot of water in the St Clair river with a spinning rod and 10lb mono.  I have already posted up pics but wanted to follow up with specific baits.

 

[Swamp Girl]

How did you fish those T-rigged Senkos? Slow retrieve? Drag them on the bottom? Something else?

[Brian11719]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Other baits I threw were a combination of Bill Lewis and SPRO crankbaits in various sizes and colors.  Those were all thrown on a baitcaster with 12lb mono. 

 

Why mono?

[Pat Brown]

7 hours ago, Brian11719 said:

Why mono?

 

Because fluorocarbon sucks and braid to leader also mostly sucks.  Monofilament is cheap and catches the snot out of fish and is less likely to snap when I'm fighting a giant.

 

Maybe @TOXIC has other reasons but these are MY reasons!  😁

[IcatchDinks]

43 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Because fluorocarbon sucks and braid to leader also mostly sucks.  Monofilament is cheap and catches the snot out of fish and is less likely to snap when I'm fighting a giant.

 

Maybe @TOXIC has other reasons but these are MY reasons!  😁

Mono FTW. I tell people I use mono because it's cheap and works. I don't tell them the real reason: I'm intimidated by the other types of line. 

😆

[TOXIC]

14 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

How did you fish those T-rigged Senkos? Slow retrieve? Drag them on the bottom? Something else?

All depended on the depth we were fishing.  We fished 3 ft to 13 ft.  Weightless was in weeds and shallow fished out to about 5ft traditionally by casting and letting shimmy to the bottom, reeling in about 3 feet of line and letting it repeat, it was a toss up between that and a DShad many times both worked equally, nose weighted was in deeper where I wanted a fast trip to the bottom and football head was for deeper and dragging.  Keeping in mind none of the smallmouth were suspended, all were relating to the bottom.  
 

13 hours ago, Brian11719 said:

Why mono?

I’ve covered this in many, many posts and it’s all my opinion.  I have many reasons why “I” like mono and don’t discount others reasons.  I occasionally use fluro on my crankbait baitcaster and I use straight 30lb braid on flipping/pitching/dragging and frogs, but for me, mono is what I have the most knowledge of as far as rigging and action for specific baits.  Quality mono has always performed well, has great knot strength, abrasion resistance, castability, float/sink action and on and on.  I’m not fishing for $100,000 and don’t have a line sponsor to promote, so I fish what works best for me and most importantly, I consider myself a finesse fisherman as much as possible and get great enjoyment out of doing a good job matching rod/reel/line to my fishing style and not overpowering the fish.  The thrill for me is in the fight as much as the catch.  As a side note, I very, very, rarely break off.  
 

My one complaint about our last trip was that Yamamoto is coming out with a lot of new offerings and with only a week on the water, it’s hard to try all of them out.  Especially when I have an abundance of baits I know work. 

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, @TOXIC

[casts_by_fly]

So basically if you showed up with some green pumpkin pepper in a range of baits you’d be in pretty good shape. 

[Brian11719]

9 hours ago, TOXIC said:

All depended on the depth we were fishing.  We fished 3 ft to 13 ft.  Weightless was in weeds and shallow fished out to about 5ft traditionally by casting and letting shimmy to the bottom, reeling in about 3 feet of line and letting it repeat, it was a toss up between that and a DShad many times both worked equally, nose weighted was in deeper where I wanted a fast trip to the bottom and football head was for deeper and dragging.  Keeping in mind none of the smallmouth were suspended, all were relating to the bottom.  
 

I’ve covered this in many, many posts and it’s all my opinion.  I have many reasons why “I” like mono and don’t discount others reasons.  I occasionally use fluro on my crankbait baitcaster and I use straight 30lb braid on flipping/pitching/dragging and frogs, but for me, mono is what I have the most knowledge of as far as rigging and action for specific baits.  Quality mono has always performed well, has great knot strength, abrasion resistance, castability, float/sink action and on and on.  I’m not fishing for $100,000 and don’t have a line sponsor to promote, so I fish what works best for me and most importantly, I consider myself a finesse fisherman as much as possible and get great enjoyment out of doing a good job matching rod/reel/line to my fishing style and not overpowering the fish.  The thrill for me is in the fight as much as the catch.  As a side note, I very, very, rarely break off.  
 

My one complaint about our last trip was that Yamamoto is coming out with a lot of new offerings and with only a week on the water, it’s hard to try all of them out.  Especially when I have an abundance of baits I know work. 

Thanks @TOXIC I was actually looking at mono vs fluorocarbon so figured I'd get your thoughts on it. Do you notice any issues with the crankbaits and depth specifically? I get using mono for something like a walking bait or a senko but you mentioned you mentioned using it for crankbaits and one of the concerns I had was with the lure depth since I've read mono can impact that. I also usually throw cranks and jerkbaits from a kayak so my rod is usually a little higher already than it would be if I were on a bank or a boat and so it already seems like the lures are a little higher in the water column than they would be otherwise especially with the jerkbaits...

[TOXIC]

11 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

So basically if you showed up with some green pumpkin pepper in a range of baits you’d be in pretty good shape. 

😂😉There’s a reason 297 is Yamamoto’s #1 color.  It works.  If you take color selection out of things you have to consider, it eliminates one piece of the puzzle and then you can concentrate on things like shape and size and presentation.  297 works universally in gin clear to coffee stained water.  I’ve fished it from Michigan to Wisconsin to Florida and a lot of areas in between and it’s a producer. 
@Brian11719 I have used different brands of mono for so many years, I have refined how it works on all of the techniques I like to throw. For example, with mono if I want a crank to run deeper, I throw it on 10lb.  If I want it to run shallower it’s 12lb.  Mono will absorb water as the day goes on.  Fluro sinks better so I will use that for deeper running cranks.  I’ve used co-poly and other blends but never noticed a big enough difference to switch vs the cost.  

[Reel]

12 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

So basically if you showed up with some green pumpkin pepper in a range of baits you’d be in pretty good shape. 

That's pretty much so in my part of the world ( Goby planet ).  Green Pumkin = food for smallmouth.  Like Red = food for people.  

 

But it's changing I think.  White is gaining.  

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

😂😉There’s a reason 297 is Yamamoto’s #1 color.  It works.  If you take color selection out of things you have to consider, it eliminates one piece of the puzzle and then you can concentrate on things like shape and size and presentation.  297 works universally in gin clear to coffee stained water.  I’ve fished it from Michigan to Wisconsin to Florida and a lot of areas in between and it’s a producer. 
@Brian11719 I have used different brands of mono for so many years, I have refined how it works on all of the techniques I like to throw. For example, with mono if I want a crank to run deeper, I throw it on 10lb.  If I want it to run shallower it’s 12lb.  Mono will absorb water as the day goes on.  Fluro sinks better so I will use that for deeper running cranks.  I’ve used co-poly and other blends but never noticed a big enough difference to switch vs the cost.  

 

I have a pack of yum dingers in the same color so haven't bought that in the senko.  GP/GPblack flake/GP blue craw seems to be my best producer here no matter what bait I'm throwing.  Rage bug, craw, palmetto bug, worm, etc.  I don't throw a stick worm as much as I should, but when I do its probably that wacky dinger in GP.  

 

Separately, what mono(s) have you settled on?  I too am a mono fan unless its braid for specific applications.  Supernatural has become my general favorite aside from heavy big game for swimbaits/big pitching.

[TOXIC]

Until I see a reason to change, Bass Pro Excel in blue photochromic purchased during spring and fall sales has been fine.