Big Motown-Area Smallmouths Playing Harder To Get

By John Johnson
Senior Editor

It's been 4 years since the FLW Tour visited the Detroit River. If anything, the smallmouth fishing in the vicinity has gotten even better during the interim, but right now it's probably not quite as good as it was a month ago.

Bags bulging with big, beautiful brown fish will be weighed this week – some exceeding the 20-pound mark. But it's been a weird weather year across much of the country and the upper Midwest is no exception.

It was ridiculously hot for an extended period earlier this summer and now it's cooled off during a time of year when temperatures are often at their highest. That's one of the many possible factors that are making the 4- and 5-pound bronzebacks harder to find than they were when the Bassmaster Open circuit visited last month. In that derby, an average of 17 pounds a day left an angler outside the Top 50.

The weather that the field will encounter this week is predicted to be about as good as possible from a navigational standpoint. Those who want to venture to haunts far out on Lake Erie should be able to do so without too much trepidation that they might not get back in time for check-in.

Before delving into more about the bite, here's some info about the venue itself:

BassFan Lake Profile

> Name: Detroit River (along with adjoining lakes Erie and St. Clair and the St. Clair River)
> Type of Water: Great Lakes system
> Surface Acres: 9,940 square miles (Lake Erie), 430 square miles (Lake St. Clair)
> Primary structure/cover: Offshore ridges, islands, isolated rock (Erie), grass, weeds (St. Clair and rivers)
> Primary forage: Gobies, crayfish, various minnow species
> Average depth: 62 feet (Lake Erie), 11 feet (Lake St. Clair)
> Species: Primarily smallmouths, a smattering of largemouths
> Length limit: 14 inches
> Reputation: Perhaps the finest smallmouth fishery in the country
> Weather: Forecast for the tournament days is for mostly sunny skies and mild temperatures, with only moderate winds
> Water temp: Low to mid 70s throughout much of Erie and St. Clair
> Water visibility/color: Variable, depending on location, but generally good (up to 4 feet) in Erie and St. Clair
> Water level: Normal
> Fish in: 2 to 40 feet
> Fish phase: Summer
> Primary patterns: Dropshotting or dragging tubes (predominant on Erie), crankbaits, jerkbaits, Carolina rigs, jigs, jighead worms, spinnerbaits, grubs
> Winning weight: 78 pounds
> Cut weight: 34 pounds (first 2 days)
> Check weight: 30 pounds (75th place)
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 3 for Erie-St. Clair
> Biggest factor: The sometimes-unpredictable weather (as always)
> Wildcard: The river bite (some big largemouths live there, but not a lot of them)

A Bit of a Slowdown

Seventeen pounds a day was worth nothing at the Bassmaster Open last month, which launched in St. Clair. That number will almost certainly get a guy paid this week.

"I think 75 percent of the field would take 17 a day right now and go to the bank," said Joe Balog, a longtime regional smallmouth maven who competed in the Bassmaster tournament and is also in this week's field. "From the reports I'm hearing, a lot of guys are struggling to catch that.

"For whatever reason – whether it's weather or time of year or the location of the fish – St. Clair has dropped off over the last couple of weeks. (In the Bassmaster event) you could go anywhere and catch 3 1/2-pounders, but that's not the case right now. Somebody will catch them, though."

Much of the field will head for Erie on day 1, but Balog says it's not in its peak form, either.

"Erie's marginal at best. In a normal year at this time you'd have a really good deep-structure bite, but it's pretty tough. On a scale of 10, I'd give it maybe a 5. A guy could definitely get on a place and catch them really good, but to catch 4 days' worth, you'll need a lot of areas and some luck on your side. It's just tough to catch the numbers of the right fish.

"In St. Clair you can keep moving and find fish, but Erie is more difficult because it gets a lot rougher and it's harder to move around. If you make the wrong call on day 1, you can put yourself in a bind real quick."

Make no mistake, though – the fishing, from a general perspective, is still really good

"It's kind of a coin-toss as to where most of the top finishers will come from. Both places have potential for big stringers, but whoever wins will have multiple areas. Before you could find the motherlode on St. Clair and just catch them and catch them. Now that might get you a couple days' worth, then you'll have to go somewhere else for the last couple days."

Notes from the Field

Following are practice notes from some of the anglers who'll compete this week.

Glenn Browne
"I spent 2 days on St. Clair, half a day on Erie and half a day in the river, and I really wish I had another day. I saw some interesting stuff on Erie, but I just don't know how many I can catch. I caught two big ones, but that was it. If somebody can figure out how to catch five of those, they're going to have a bag.

"I've got a couple places with some fish that are close (to the takeoff), so I'll go to those first thing and see how that goes. That'll tell me which way I need to go next – if I need to go to St. Clair and try to just catch a couple decent ones or somewhere else to try for a big bag."

Brett Hite
"I fished all the places up here in the past and sometimes one is way better than the others, but I don't know if you can say that this time. (On Tuesday) I went to Erie, but they're not schooled up and not in the areas I usually catch them. There was one or two here and another one there and there were some decent fish, but it wasn't consistent, so I think I'm going to spread my time between the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair.

"I just don't see guys going anywhere they want and catching 17 pounds. I'm going to get in some areas where I've had some 3-pound bites and just try to weed through them. If you're catching a lot of 3 1/4s, sooner or later a couple of 4s should show up."

Dave Lefebre
"I really didn't have that good of a practice until (Tuesday). I spent most of my time eliminating water – I've been to a bunch of different launches and I've run 400 miles and spent $600 on gas. I finally found something better that what I was on, but I don't expect it to be like it was in the Bassmaster a few weeks ago.

"I'm 100 percent committed to Erie. I wasted half a day on St. Clair and couldn't put anything together – they were all tiny fish."

Chad Grigsby
"I was here before the (off-limits period) and I don't want to say it was easy, but you caught a lot more numbers and you could usually throw in a big one. Now there aren't as many numbers-wise and there aren't as many big ones.

"I found a couple of areas and I caught 17 to 19 pounds a day (during official) practice, but that was all-day fishing and you don't get 12 or 13 hours in the tournament. You need a couple of those key bites – those make or break you here.

"I've got one real good spot, but every time I went by it there'd be a boat sitting on it. Evidently it wasn't that hard to find."

Top 10 to Watch

With the above in mind and more, here are BassFan's recommendations for the Top 10 to watch in this event.

1. Jason Christie – Who better to put in this slot than the guy who won the Bassmaster Open here just 5 weeks ago? He bombed in his only Tour appearance at this venue (186th in 2008), but he has a much different feeling toward the place now.

2. Terry Baksay – Medical issues have derailed him a bit over the past several years, but he can catch smallmouth anywhere and has a particularly strong track record here (a 3rd and a 13th in the last two Tour visits).

3. David Dudley – He's never been particularly spectacular at this place, but the No. 1 angler in the BassFan World Rankings has never been as hot as he is right now, either. Confidence counts for a lot in this game.

4. Shinichi Fukae – He's usually a major player just about anywhere that quality fish can be caught on a dropshot rig, and he's traditionally fared pretty well here.

5. J.T. Kenney – This place wouldn't seem to suit him all that well, but his record says otherwise. He was 5th here in '08 and has fished well just about everywhere he's been this year.

6. Steve Clapper – He might be a little out of form after a bout with cancer, but he has so much knowledge of this place that it's extremely difficult to keep him off this list.

7. Glenn Chappelear – The Georgian has had a year to forget, but his ledger here is hard to ignore (Top 20s in each of the previous two stops). He's due for a good showing.

8. Joe Balog – Few anglers possess the wealth of experience he has on these smallmouth fisheries, and it's about time he made that pay off for him.

9. Jay Yelas – He's alternated single-digit finishes with mediocre or poor ones since March, and this one will be on the down side if that pattern continues. Trends don't go on uninterrupted forever, though, and this place holds special significance for him as the site where he wrapped up his second Tour Angler of the Year title in '07.

10. Jeff Gustafson – The Canadian rookie surprised many by finishing in the Top 20 in the year's first Open at Okeechobee – his first-ever visit to Florida. He's much more in his element at this one.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

Anglers will take off from Elizabeth Park Marina (202 Grosse Ile Parkway in Trenton, Mich.) at 6:30 a.m. daily. Thursday's and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at that location beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday's and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Walmart at 23800 Allen Road in Woodhaven, Mich., beginning at 4 p.m.

Weather Forecast

> Thurs., Aug. 23 –Sunny - 86°/64°
- Wind: From the S/SW at 7 mph

> Fri., Aug. 24 –Sunny - 86°/66°
- Wind: From the S at 10 mph

> Sat., Aug. 25 – Mostly Sunny - 87°/67°
- Wind: From the S at 8 mph

> Sun., Aug. 26 – Partly Cloudy - 87°/63°
- Wind: From the S at 10 mph

Notable

> BassFan Big Sticks Jay Yelas and Luke Clausen both said they'd head in the direction of Lake St. Clair when the event got under way this morning. To read their practice wrap-ups, click here.