Editor's note: Industry rep Alan McGuckin is in Detroit for the Elite Series event this week at Lake St. Clair. He passed along this brief story about rookie Jordan Lee's game plan for today.
Jordan Lee is having a great rookie year, but the young Alabama pro who sits 16th in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, was quick to admit a feeling of aimlessness in the pre-dawn darkness prior to day 1 of competition at the Lake St. Clair Elite Series on Thursday.
“I’ve only fished here once before, and that was last year in a Bassmaster Northern Open when I finished 102nd,” he said. “So no, this isn’t a place where I feel dialed in.”
Jordan and his fellow rookie pro brother, Matt, cut their teeth on Lake Guntersville, a legendary reservoir where sonar shines the way to bass-holding depth changes created by the Tennessee River channel.
Conversely, St. Clair is a natural lake, and while massive in size, averages just 11 feet deep, and its contour changes are measured in inches, not feet.
“You can’t really count on using your sonar to find any significant depth changes here,” Lee explained. “You go for miles here without ever seeing a 1-foot change in depth, so you just kinda drift - and drift - and drift, until you run into a school of fish.
“I’m not running to Huron or Erie. In fact, I’m only running about 12 minutes to my first spot on St. Clair this morning. I’ve got two primary places where I gained some confidence in practice.
“There’s plenty of 4-pounders in St. Clair,” he continued, “and I actually broke-off a 6-pounder in practice. I’ll just be drifting along, casting or dragging baits along the bottom in four or five areas that I’ve got some confidence in, until hopefully I get a few quality bites.”
