MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — How’s this for a dream day of smallmouth fishing? You catch 40 smallmouth weighing over four pounds, including a trio of five pounders, most all of them in the same area. The five biggest weigh 27 pounds, 12 ounces. And you do all that damage in a morning of fishing.
That sums up the morning of Trevor McKinney, the Day 1 leader of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at St. Clair presented by SEVIIN. McKinney had an equally as remarkable practice; his worst day produced a weight of 22 pounds. And all this from a first-time visitor to St. Clair.
What is even more incredible is McKinney never visited what he believed to be his prime area.
“There are over 100 smallmouth in this one area,” said the Illinois angler. “There are so many smallmouth in this lake it’s amazing; they are everywhere you go,” McKinney said.
A key to his success was the ability to hunt and pick out individual smallmouth visible on the screen of his forward-facing sonar. McKinney intentionally searched for the biggest bass in his area, choosing to ignore any fish in three-pound range.
While most of the leaders interviewed credited the highest densities of baitfish, depth variations and aquatic vegetation, McKinney did otherwise.
For him it was more about the lure.
“It’s an unreleased lure, something the smallmouth have never before seen,” he said.
And with that cliff hanger, we give you other notable notes from Day 1.
Post frontal conditions?
The remnants of Tropical Depression Beryl passed over the area on Wednesday, delivering tropical conditions, even though the storm made landfall as a hurricane some 1,000 miles away in Houston.
Heavy rain, gusty winds and otherwise miserable fishing conditions played out on the final practice day. Many of the field of 221 boater anglers chose not to practice, choosing instead to make final preparations for the first day.
Day 1 presented post frontal conditions—and weather more common to the area—with light winds, sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s.
When interviewed about the post-front conditions, most anglers focused answers on changes in wind direction. All it takes is looking at the weights to know the fishing was unaffected.
At St. Clair, setting up drifts over expansive areas favored by smallmouth is a prevailing strategy. Tactics are adjusted based on the best favorable wind in a given area.
“Wind direction and speed is more about boat control than fishing positioning,” said Paul Marks, whose home water is nearby Lake Erie.
Anglers wisely choose areas with the best wind direction allowing maximum boat positioning over the strike zone.
“The best strategy is to have multiple areas where you can go based on changes in wind direction, which can happen up here on a frequent basis,” said Marks.
What’s so great about Anchor Bay?
On a clear day you from Anchor Bay you can see the skyline of Detroit, some 25 miles away. Anchor Bay is a seemingly routine freshwater bay that lies in the north side of Lake St. Clair, generally encompassing a line between Point Huron and the middle channel of the St. Clair River. Why the fuss over mentioning this small area in an otherwise massive lake? Read on for more.
Anchor Bay is big, covering a surface area of over 90 square miles, or about 9 miles from north to south, and 10 miles from east to west. Depth ranges from one to 11 feet.
Anchor Bay ranges in depth from one to 11 feet, and because of that and all of the above, the place is loaded with a microsystem of smallmouth. The bay and its shallower offshore area are ideal for supporting an entire food chain. Areas of aquatic vegetation provide habitat for baitfish, including round goby and even smallmouth. In sunny conditions, that habitat provides shaded hiding places and ambush points for smallmouth.
Anchor Bay has a long history of being in the tournament spotlight. By sheer size, it fishes big and supports a viable population of smallmouth that can be reliably caught over multiple days of a competition.
Last year’s Bassmaster Elite Series event wasn’t won in Anchor Bay, although most of the field of 102 anglers fished there. Overall, 33 bags weighing over 20 pounds were caught on Day 1, while 48 more came to the scales on Day 2. You can bet that a majority of those 20-pound plus weights came from Anchor Bay. I can personally attest to it, having flown the Bassmaster drone over the massive area both days.
Here we are again, two weeks early than last year’s Elite derby and it’s no surprise the Top 10 were seen fishing there by our photographer Seigo Saito. And with a record and fertility like Anchor Bay, why would they go anywhere else? It’s just a short boat ride from the main tournament sites on the lake, this time at Harold Ensign Memorial Access. And above all else, the tournament winning catch could happen there.
