rickydbasser
3/23/2012 9:21:00 AMA question I always had was how deep bass will reside in off colored water, such as tanic, which is what St. Claire and so many other lakes are. This sorta answered the question for me. I lost an outboard motor in Ohop Lake, which, at the time, was about the same color as St. Claire, if not clearer. Some scuba diving friends volunteered to look for it. The motor went down it about 21 ft of water. When they came back up they told me that at 15 ft it was so dark they couldn't see their hand in front of their face. Kind of opened my eyes on how deep I'll fish bass in tanic water. By the way, found the motor several days later dragging a grappling hook.
fretzca
3/23/2012 9:50:00 AMThanks for the comment rickydbasser. Has me re-thinking my whole strategy. Interesting story about the motor too. Glad you got it back. I've been reading your reports on American. I fished it this time last year and struggled to find them all the way up until my tournament date. Then on the day of the tourney....... they were all over on there beds! It was night and day.
arniejl
3/23/2012 8:32:00 PMHow far do you think that you could drag a grappling hook in St. Clair? I don't even know how fretzca fishes a dropshot. I have tried and I break off like every 5 casts:(
rockjiggr
3/23/2012 9:50:00 PMI have caught bass in St Clair year round and consistently find them at about 15-25 ft during the cold periods. Look for bottlenecks- areas where the the wider body of water narrows down to a channel before opening up to another cove. Find weeds nearby and, of course, wood, and you will likely find bass. There are lots of spots like that at Clair. Drop shot and T-rigged plastics seem to work best. And, yes, you do snag up a lot.
fretzca
3/23/2012 10:21:00 PMArniejl- it's funny you mention the break off problem. I was just talking to a friend about it yesterday. I have never lost more gear at any other lake bass fishing then I have already lost here at St Clair. haha. I found that instead of casting the drop shot setup and and dragging it back to the boat, it was better to find structure on the depth finder and fish directly over it. I am very curious of what the bottom of this lake looks like though. It doesn't matter what depth I was in...... there was always something to get caught up on.
rockjiggr
3/24/2012 6:54:00 AMLogs, branches, snags, stumps, wood debris, tangled trees, bushes, more logs, and yet even more logs. Clair is literally covered with deadfalls pretty much all around the lake out to a minimum of 30 feet from shore. The steep shorelines are mostly gravel and the basins are thick silt.
arniejl
3/24/2012 8:35:00 AMI get so snagged up out there that anymore I just fish a jig or a weightless weedless senko. Only fished topwater once and had a good time with some blow ups in the main lake in the lilly pads, but no fish caught. Oh, I have caught a few out of there with a spinnerbait:)
This is a lake that I really like and I was bound and determined to figure it out. But, I keep finding myself fishing elsewhere. I did have plans to hit St Clair this weekend, but not so sure, now.
This is a lake that I really like and I was bound and determined to figure it out. But, I keep finding myself fishing elsewhere. I did have plans to hit St Clair this weekend, but not so sure, now.
rickydbasser
3/29/2012 9:12:00 AMWhen the fishing gets tough on St. Claire, I dropshot. But I use a weedless dropshot hook. Spendy little devils. About a buck a peice, but they really cut down on the hangups. Though a long drive from Federal Way, I make 4 or more trips to St. Claire every year. It has some hawgs. I've caught an 8-7 there. The year before a fishing friend caught an 8-3. And a mammoth 10-3 was pictured in the Tacoma Tribune a couple years ago, the photo taken just off the boatlaunch. Anyway, its a lake that keeps me coming back.