The Lake St. Clair Fishing Report 7/17/2024

[@DJshoreÆngler]

I caught an absolute Hog walleye last night in the Boat canals by metro at around 12:30 am Came out at around 26” and 8.9lb

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

What a gorgeous tiger musky! Been seeing them In the lake a lot the last few years!

[@MUDDRAGGERRC]

Great report, For me , I look forward to these reports as I work a lot of hours lately and I have minimal time to get out there and search for fish. So in my opinion even if Not much is changed.I think more frequent update type reports would be very beneficial for a lot of people. Just. My opinion. Thanks again for all you do for us

[@SportsmensDirect]

We can’t physically do reports every week. We do them as often as we can and when appropriate to changing conditions.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

anyone else see all the dead bass last week near metro? i counted 37 starting 100ft from beacon cove all the way up to metro. i heard from another who saw them that apparently there was a tournament that day. it's sad they don't do immediate release like MLF. it's all about getting their "money shot". Michigan DNR and EGLE were notified.

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

Damn that's sad man. I'm strictly a catch and immediately release fisherman. Unless I'm literally starving and need to catch some food but that's super rare.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

@@ericsfishingadventures4433 yeah i've always heard that say 30-40% of tournament fish die within 24 hours after being released. didn't really believe it until i saw it first hand last week. atleast MLF caught on how to do it the right way

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

@@jakeyxjakey1 yeah it's just a shame. With all the equipment and technology that is available these days there's many ways to keep the fish alive and healthy

[@pirate959]

I only noticed dead sucker's. I stopped at a few and did not see any bass.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

@@pirate959 if you didnt see it, it must not have happened then

[@TheOutdoorConquest]

I’ll try to send you that clip John from in the spillway but I will tell you the water temp was the exact same as the lake and even cooler in spots within the spillway. Significantly cooler under the bridges.

[@SportsmensDirect]

Thanks!

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

I haven't been able to musky fish since last October! I got the itch man!

[@DJshoreÆngler]

Im brand new to muskie fishing and am excited to really get started this fall

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

​@@DJshoreÆngleryou're going to absolutely love it, it is sooooo addictive but in a good way. Just be prepared to spend hours and hours not catching or even getting follows a lot of time. It can be very frustrating but it's the most rewarding. Typically I'd recommend to go out with a guide if your new but it's not absolutely necessary. Are you a caster or troller?

[@TheOutdoorConquest]

@@DJshoreÆnglerstart now

[@Supertech-86]

Barometer flat for foreseeable future signals tough fishing days ahead.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

yeah the bassmaster fisherman really put up some impressive numbers killing trophy sized bass

[@DJshoreÆngler]

Yeah that hurts my soul

[@centrebassoutdoors4791]

That’s not true at all. The vast majority of us that fish these events take fish care extremely serious especially on a lake like St. Clair where a 4oz penalty per dead fish could easily mean 20 or more places. Even in fun recreational catch and release fish there are always going to be some unfortunate mortalities. When your looking at 400 guys bring in 1700 fish a day you’re bound to see some mortality and than to top it off there was a BFL event on St. Clair on Saturday as well that’s an additional 1000 fish being brought in. It sucks and everyone tries their best to keep em healthy but the odds are against a 100% mortality free event especially in the summer whether it’s instant or delayed mortality.

[@blackops44711]

Bass Masters. Rude and obnoxious. Just playing video games. That’s not fishing.

[@SportsmensDirect]

The contestants and their families generally carry themselves very well and are good ambassadors for the sport as a whole. They try to take of the fish and keep them healthy for live release. But it’s not easy given summer time conditions.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

easy fix to that issue you pointed out... catch, weigh and immediate release like MLF does now.... but bassmaster needs their money shot holding 5 fish at once on land 🤮 ​@@centrebassoutdoors4791

[@jeffmorand4796]

How are the water levels?? just curious

[@SportsmensDirect]

Water levels locally have been rising, but that’s not a bad thing at this point.

[@saboteur4079]

Commenting for the algorithm gods

[@jeffpops5290]

Went fishing on last Saturday and seen a lot (50-60) dead bass floating near metro. Miles roads and selfridge few dead fish but nothing like near metro. Did you hear this from other guys or know why there were dead fish floating on top of the water? Posted about it on the lake at Clare forum with pics.

[@jakeyxjakey1]

same! all the assholes on facebook "don't believe me" because i didn't take a picture???? they were spread out over 2 miles.......

[@jakeyxjakey1]

i counted 37 from beacon cove to metro point

[@jakeyxjakey1]

i know the bassmaster tournament was that same day

[@jakeyxjakey1]

i called the DNR and EGLE to make a report because i thought there was something wrong with the water. that was later when i found out a tournament was the same day (or prior day)

[@briancloutier2781]

Dam shame!

[@Basspro1234]

Need to get rid of forward sonar. Don’t even care to watch on TV now. Bring back the Kim Sticker, Davey Hite and Larry Nixon days.

[@geostrong3606]

Wishful thinking not going happen

[@SportsmensDirect]

Couldn’t agree more. We could get back to guides and charters using them and tourneys using only for prefishing...that’s not a far fetched compromise. We could even see circuits develop that don’t allow the tech to be used. We hold the keys to the future in our pockets. If we cave and buy the tech for our boats to “keep up with the Jones’s” then it will stay unless legislation takes it away (which is unlikely).

[@robertgilchrist9372]

Cancel panoptics

[@Ripsaw17]

If you can't catch Smalley's out in Lake Saint Clair then you are not a fisherman that's the easiest fish to catch out there

[@geostrong3606]

Really how

[@markthatcher9925]

F forward facing sonar. Not fair chase anymore. Tech is cool until it ruins everything.

[@SportsmensDirect]

I don’t disagree. Trying to keep an open mind, but not feeling it....

[@Ripsaw17]

You know the new electronics I think make it a little too easy to fish I'm still using electronics for 20 years ago as long as I can find structure down there I can find the fish I don't need to see the fish to find them

[@Ripsaw17]

Yep and that's exactly why I didn't go to the lake fishing last weekend or the weekend before the weekend before was all the 4th of July idiots getting drunk and driving their big ass boats and just creating waves everywhere on the lake and then last weekend all the people that want to come fish for the green currp I understand tournament spring money to the area blah blah blah great for businesses put local guys that have lived on this Lake their whole life 200 extra boats is quite a bit and it creates some nasty waves out there and it makes it really hard to fish

[@SportsmensDirect]

Honestly, the tournament boats don’t add any extra traffic to the lake as whole. The only congestion they add is to the site that they launch from. The big bass master event happened during the week with the 200 boats. Only the top 10 boats fished on Saturday and didn’t fish at all on Sunday. Pleasure boaters create far more traffic every week than tournament fishermen.