MACOMB COUJTY, Mich. — Luke Palmer was struggling on Day 3 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite on Lake St. Clair. He entered the day in third place. But, based on the way his day started, he feared he might fall out of the top 10 and fail to qualify for Sunday’s Top 10 Championship
“It was a grind,” Palmer said. “I started in an area that I’ve started in every day. I think the fish have got conditioned to me.”
The 32-year-old Colgate, Okla., pro, who won an Elite Series event earlier this year on Santee Cooper, had been throwing a variety of drop shot baits and tubes all week.
“I finally said I’ve got that little ol’ Great Lakes Finesse Jig over there,” Palmer recalled. “I pick it up and first cast – 4-pounder. Next cast I catch another one, a 4. I moved at 10 o’clock and caught a 5 and another 5. Then I put the bait down and picked up a dropshot and tubes. I should have had 25 or 26 pounds today.”
The lure Palmer had so much success on was the Great Lakes Finesse Drop Minnow. It’s been making some headlines lately for big results on smallmouth waters.
“It’s 2.75 inches. It looks like a tiny minnow,” Palmer said. “I threw it on a 3/16ths jighead. I fired it out over those suspended fish. It wouldn’t fall two feet and they would hit it. You just slow reel it.”
Palmer thinks it’s similar to the small hair jig that’s long been known as a smallmouth killer. But this is a ribbed soft plastic lure. The hardest part about fishing it is putting some distance on the cast with such a small bait.
“They never hit under 30 feet (from the boat),” Palmer said. “It had to be out there – 50, 60, 70 feet.”
Palmer is fishing in an area he found on the second day of practice when he estimated he caught a 26- or 27-pound bag. It’s got a mixture of short sand grass and taller cabbage. The main attraction for smallmouth is the abundance of yellow perch there. He said everything is there – walleye, drum – and he even caught two or three largemouth bass in the area.
“They’re kicking out perch when you reel them in that are alive and swim off, so they’re feeding,” he said. “It’s very healthy habitat.”
But, like all smallmouth bass in Lake St. Clair, they’re guaranteed to roam – sometimes short distances, other times longer. In the first three days of this tournament, there have been three different leaders. It was Shane LeHew on Day 1 and Taku Ito on Day 2. And Palmer’s lead is only ounces over his two closest competitors. Joey Cifuentes III is in second place, 12 ounces behind Palmer, and Taku Ito is third, 13 ounces back.
The entire Top 10 is separated by only 3 pounds, 3 ounces.
The wind hampered everyone Saturday. “If it gets slick calm (Sunday), watch out,” Palmer said.
