HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Trevor McKinney had never been to Lake St. Clair before the start of practice for the St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN. But after one of the best days of fishing he’s ever experienced, he’s already planning return vacations in his head.
“I’ve never been somewhere as unique as St. Clair,” he said. “I’ll definitely be back. I was telling my wife that I’m going to start coming up here in the summers just to vacation. It’s an incredible place.”
On a day where 64 bags over 20 pounds hit the scales and 202 limits were weighed in, McKinney stood above the rest by catching a remarkable 27 pounds, 12 ounces to lead after one day of competition at the renowned smallmouth factory. The Noble, Ill., angler holds a 3-pound advantage over second-place Jack York.
After the remnants of Hurricane Beryl created treacherous conditions the final day of practice, sunny skies and lighter winds prevailed on Day 1, allowing the Opens boaters to catch more than 3,800 pounds of bass. Sunny conditions are expected to continue the rest of the tournament as well.
The 2020 College Bracket Champion had a good feeling about this tournament almost the moment he began practice. He caught more than 20 pounds of bass each day of the warm-up period but didn’t expect an increase in quality during the tournament.
“Everywhere I went in practice, I caught big ones,” McKinney said. “My worst day of practice I had 22 pounds. I was so excited to start this tournament, but I didn’t know I was going to catch 27 pounds.”
McKinney credited much of his success to an unreleased bait. That one presentation accounted for all 40 of his keeper bass Day 1, including three smallies that hit the 5-11 mark.
“I have a bait really dialed in,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about it, but they eat it. Every one I throw at bites, and they are all big. I think I caught probably 40 smallmouth. I caught 15 over 4 pounds and was culling constantly. It was unbelievable.”
While there is some grass around his primary area, McKinney has noticed the smallmouth are relating to a hard sand bottom between 8 and 12 feet of water and one sweet spot within that area is attracting more of the quality bass. Surprisingly, it’s an area he has mostly to himself.
Using his forward-facing sonar in practice involved learning to tell the difference between a drum and a smallmouth. Now that he knows what to look for, the McKendree University graduate can identify the bigger smallies in the area and make accurate pitches to them.
“There’s probably 100 there,” McKinney said. “To get my weight, I bet I made 100 casts. I made 50 casts where I didn’t catch one, and the other 50 casts I caught one. I don’t cast unless I see one, and I don’t cast unless it’s big. There are quite a few little ones in the area, but a lot of big ones too.
“They are pretty tight to the bottom.”
McKinney filled out a limit around 8 a.m. and was constantly culling during the morning hours. By 11, McKinney stopped fishing in his primary area and started looking for new water he may need as the tournament progresses.
“After I caught the last 5 pounder, I couldn’t do it anymore. I went and did something else and kept catching 4-pounders after that. I’m pretty optimistic about tomorrow. My best area, I didn’t even hit it.”
Coming off a Top 10 at Lake Eufaula, York landed 24-12 in his Lake St. Clair debut. Unlike McKinney, however, York did not have the same level of confidence about catching over 20 pounds. The Lake Fork guide only picked up his trolling motor one time on Day 1, electing to mill around one popular area of Lake St. Clair. He caught bass between 9 and 12 feet of water.
“I picked up the trolling motor one time today, and that was to come to the weigh-in. I found the area I wanted to hunker down in. I felt like if I was running around a bunch, I would just be missing out on bass. I hunkered down and made the most of it.”
Three baits contributed to York’s success, notably a 6th Sense Party Minnow that landed four of the five smallies in his final tally, which included a 5-pounder.
“I literally don’t make a cast until I see a bass.”
York was able to separate himself from other competitors in two different ways. For one, he has located several sweet spots that other anglers haven’t fished. One particular sweet spot is loaded with perch, crawfish and goby.
“It’s the mecca of life there,” York said. “I’m not seeing a lot of bass in there, but when I get bit, it is a good one. Hopefully we can go catch some 4-pounders and then get a few key bites.”
York has noticed the smallmouth are nomadic and tend to show up randomly, so he is fishing faster than others in the area in an attempt to pick off as many as he can.
“They are random. You’ll try and get keyed in on ‘Oh, they are floating today,’ or ‘Oh, they are on bottom,’ but I haven’t been able to get anything like that keyed in. I just roll around as fast as I can. I went twice as fast as everyone else.”
Aaron Jagdfeld took advantage of his local knowledge to catch 24-4 and land in third place after Day 1. It is the first Open for the Rochester Hills, Mich., native, who is hoping to reach the Elite Series in the near future.
“I love this place,” he said. “I was super pumped when the schedule came out last year. I was coming to the tail end of my college career, and this is the path I want to take. There’s not a better way to start it than on Lake St. Clair.”
A recent Adrian College graduate, Jagdfeld targeted smallmouth located around a ½-mile stretch of hard sand and cabbage grass in 19 to 24 feet of water. There is plenty of bait for the smallmouth to feed on as well, including perch.
In the morning hours, he found the smallmouth were in big groups. In fact, Jagdfeld said there were three or four groups of 50 to 100 smallmouth in the area. As the day wore on, the bass spread out.
“It was insane. When you panned over on the ‘Scope, you could just see them stacked up on the bottom. I was throwing a drop shot and a Damiki-style bait and I would cast it in there, and 20 or 30 of them would come up to fight over it. That lasted an hour before they broke up.”
His first catch of the day was a 4½-pounder, and he caught the majority of his bass within the first hour and a half of the day. Late in the day, he caught a 4¾-pound smallmouth close to the ramp to upgrade one final time.
New Market, Minn., pro Seth Feider landed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day, a 6-1 lunker smallmouth.
Niko Romero of Coldspring, Texas, leads the nonboater division with a three-bass limit measuring 12-13. Jay Jackson of Clio, Mich., is second with 12-12 and Joe Digiovanni of Sterling Heights, Mich., is third with 12-1. Kevin Newcomb of Saint Albans, W.V., caught a 5-2, which leads the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors.
The full field of anglers will launch from the Harley Ensign boat ramp beginning at 6 a.m. ET and will return for weigh-in beginning at 2 p.m. The Top 10 pros after the Day 2 weigh-in will advance to the final day while the co-angler champion will be crowned at the end of Friday’s festivities.
Tournament coverage begins Saturday at 8 a.m. on FS1 and runs through 1 p.m. Bassmaster LIVE will be streaming on Bassmaster.com daily. All coverage times are ET.
The Detroit Sports Commission is hosting the tournament.
