Yesterday Brandon Palaniuk used this quote to describe Lake St. Clair.
“It’s like a northern version of Lake Okeechobee,” he said.
Ironically, Bassmaster LIVE analyst Davy Hite made the same comparison. Both comparisons are actually valid. The average depth of Lake Okeechobee is 9 feet; it’s only two feet higher on Lake St. Clair. That’s remarkable considering it’s part of the Great Lakes system of notably deeper lakes.
The shallow depth of Lake St. Clair is an oddity, yet it’s more of an influence in other ways with bass fishing. Wind-driven current is a reason why. On deep lakes, the wind-driven current has little effect on positioning smallmouth inhabiting deep water. On Lake St. Clair, wind direction is everything when it comes to positioning smallmouth on offshore cover. The wind driven current penetrates deeper into the shallower water column.
This week will be a game of responding to changes in the wind direction, which also repositions smallmouth. Lure presentation angles will be key. So will avoiding getting too close to schools or individual smallmouth when live scan sonar use is in play. We saw how it made smallmouth “boat shy” as anglers reported seeing individual fish move off bottom and away from approaching boats. Guys could see them do it in real-time on the screens of their bow units.
A steady wind is a good thing here. When it rotates around the compass dial, not so good. Valuable time is consumed when the angler must find the repositioned fish.
It’s all part of the game and will be interesting to watch. What will be a key here this week is using those high-tech electronics to quickly and effectively find the fish.