Lake St Clair - Advice Needed

[ballen91]

We'll be headed to St Clair the first week of August. I'm a little worried about getting some days when the wind kicks up, we'll be fishing out of a Skeeter FX20. When it gets rough is there a part of the lake that is protected, are there smaller inland lakes close by, etc. Traveling from Texas and don't want to spend days sitting at the Air BNB, all advice is welcome!

[castforcash]

There are lots of canals and marinas to fish for largemouth if the lake is too rough.

[bmwnc2]

Also depending on Direction you can stay protected. Anything from the West is just fine.... South can get messy but can be done.
There are canals a plenty, that hold nice largemouth as castforcash has stated.

Plenty of inland lakes nearby as well, but i havent fished any to give a decent report, but there are several i would check out! No farther than a 40 minute drive from st clair shores.

[dartag1829]

Stoney Creek no wake lake great fishing. Lake Orion, Cass Lake, Union Lake are all sports lakes with great fishing.

[castforcash]

White lake and kent lake are 2 more....

[dartag1829]

White has dropped off. Used to be 17-19 pounds would win. Now it is 14-15 on a good day. Still love fishing there. We fished it 2 weeks ago. We caught close to 40 keepers in a 7 hour derby and only had 12.5.

[piketroller]

If it’s too windy for the main lake, drive around the lake and launch at Algonac on the river delta. Tons of protected water to slop fish for largemouth. And John Cox almost won the Elite Series tourney last year fishing the river almost exclusively, so that should tell you there are quality smallmouth up there as well. You could spend a whole week fishing the channel and cuts if the delta and not even cover 25% of it.

[datbasstho]

If it’s too windy for the main lake, drive around the lake and launch at Algonac on the river delta. Tons of protected water to slop fish for largemouth. And John Cox almost won the Elite Series tourney last year fishing the river almost exclusively, so that should tell you there are quality smallmouth up there as well. You could spend a whole week fishing the channel and cuts if the delta and not even cover 25% of it.

Is it possible to access Algonac from Anchor bay through the Pearl Beach entrance or is it too shallow or hard to do so?

[gary_fritz]

Is it possible to access Algonac from Anchor bay through the Pearl Beach entrance or is it too shallow or hard to do so?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but... you can get to Algonac from Anchor Bay by going though the North Channel of the St Clair River, and if I'm not mistaken Pearl Beach is a community along the North Channel, and that channel is deep.

[piketroller]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but... you can get to Algonac from Anchor Bay by going though the North Channel of the St Clair River, and if I'm not mistaken Pearl Beach is a community along the North Channel, and that channel is deep.

That’s right. I didn’t really understand what he meant by the Pearl Beach Entrance. Every one of the river channels where they enter the lake are deeper than Anchor Bay. But the bottom end of the North Channel is a no wake zone so you can’t buzz it. Same with the bottom of the Sni.

[datbasstho]

Ya I’m sorry, I got confused because of the shallow water surround the channels like muscamoot bay. But after looking at my navionics maps, it’s deep.

Thanks for clarifying guys.

Since we’re talking about it, are there bass to be found in those channels this time of year?

[gary_fritz]

Ya I’m sorry, I got confused because of the shallow water surround the channels like muscamoot bay. But after looking at my navionics maps, it’s deep.

Thanks for clarifying guys.

Since we’re talking about it, are there bass to be found in those channels this time of year?

No problem

I've never fished the deeper stuff in the main channels but after reading piketroller post in another thread I think we will give it a shot. But we have fished the sides of the main channels with success as well as the smaller canals off the main channels with success. We just started fishing that area mid-late summer last year and enjoyed it.

[MI bassassassin]

I’ve never fished the north channel but I have the middle and south and have had very good days in 18-30’ of water. I’ll drag a tube or drop shot not quite vertical using 3/8-1/2 oz weight. I know of some guys that throw a Carolina rig and do very well but it hasn’t produced for me.

[datbasstho]

@MI bassassassin I can’t get myself to throw a Carolina lol

I was out today near the south channel not too far off from the lighthouses and fished the sides and didn’t have much success using drop shot.

A lot of boats were there today and it didn’t seem like they were catching them as well.
I seen some muskie guys around the channel as well.

I got a question for you guys, in about 18 fow a few miles out from the 9 mile tower, I see massive splashes and fish jumping but every time I go in to get a better look, it doesn’t happen close enough but they are huge huge splashes.

Those got to be Muskie right?

[SAL321]

Sometimes you see huge carp slapping around the surface for whatever reason. I've also seen muskie come out of the water to attack a school of perch/walleye. The coolest one was a monstrous sturgeon at first light. That thing looked like Jaws.

[datbasstho]

Sometimes you see huge carp slapping around the surface for whatever reason. I've also seen muskie come out of the water to attack a school of perch/walleye. The coolest one was a monstrous sturgeon at first light. That thing looked like Jaws.

wow that’s crazy, had no idea Sturgeon were in St Clair.
I didn’t even know there was carp.
I understand it’s a huge lake but never heard of anyone carp fishing here so didn’t think there were many.
I wasn’t too far from one that jumped and it did look dark in color so most likely carp I’m assuming.
They must of been massive because the splashes were huge.

[gary_fritz]

Sometimes you see huge carp slapping around the surface for whatever reason. I've also seen muskie come out of the water to attack a school of perch/walleye. The coolest one was a monstrous sturgeon at first light. That thing looked like Jaws.

It had been several years since I'd seen a Sturgeon and a couple years ago while fishing the mouth of the middle channel we saw a fishing come out and I had a wth was that moment until it jumped a few more times and I could see it was a Sturgeon.

[gary_fritz]

wow that’s crazy, had no idea Sturgeon were in St Clair.
I didn’t even know there was carp.
I understand it’s a huge lake but never heard of anyone carp fishing here so didn’t think there were many.
I wasn’t too far from one that jumped and it did look dark in color so most likely carp I’m assuming.
They must of been massive because the splashes were huge.

That's probably the thing I like most about LSC, it's diverse enough to satisfy most anglers. I enjoy the days we go out and catch multiple species.

[SAL321]

That's probably the thing I like most about LSC, it's diverse enough to satisfy most anglers. I enjoy the days we go out and catch multiple species.

Our one day tally on species is SM, Perch, Pike, Muskie, Sheepshead, Drum, Walleye. Crazy what can be on the other end when targeting SM.

[datbasstho]

Our one day tally on species is SM, Perch, Pike, Muskie, Sheepshead, Drum, Walleye. Crazy what can be on the other end when targeting SM.

On Erie Id go nuts when I used to pull up 7lb monster smallies to the surface only to get a closer look and see it was drum lol
Sometimes they’re just as brown and look exactly like them when they’re under. But man they are tough to handle. Fun to catch for sure. I couldn’t imagine a Muskie or Sturgeon. Never caught either yet.