When Everything Comes Together
Posted by Scott Hammer on Jul 10th 2021
By Scott Hammer
How do you make an epic, bucket list fishing trip even better? You manage to time your trip to Lake St Clair perfectly to coincide with the big Smallmouth migration to the shallows for their annual spawn.
I have been going to St Clair for 18 years straight on what many would call a bucket list trip. The same group of people, give or take, rent a cottage on Harsens Island each year. Have we had banner days in 18 years? Yes we have. Have we caught freakishly large Smallmouth? Yes we have.
But this year may have topped them all. We arrived a week earlier than our usual dates and it just so happened it was on the heels of the first real warming trend on the lake. Mother Nature blessed us with low winds and 75 to 85 degree daytime temps which allowed us to go anywhere on the lake we wanted. And we did, putting over 100 miles on our boat. Our reward? Multiple 90-100 fish days.
The most fun part for me was being able to catch them on an array of Yamamoto plastics. Here is a list of what I fished:
As you can see, that is a small sampling of Yamamoto baits but they are the ones I have the most confidence in and always produce well. What colors and how were they rigged you ask? You bet – I’ll give you the breakdown.
When it comes to St. Clair, there is usually one bait that rises to the top of the list every year. Not so this year. In past years we have had luck with hard baits (crankbaits, jerkbait, spybait) but this year was a plastics bonanza and I enjoyed catching them in a multitude of ways. What I used was totally dependent on where and what we were fishing.
Because the weather cooperated so well, we were able to fish everything on the American side (Canada’s border is still closed at the time of this writing) from reeds, weed lines, deep structure an drops, to ditches and wide open water.
5-inch Senko: My advice is to just never leave home without it. I fished it two ways; weightless and with a 1/4oz or smaller screw-in Bullet weight, depending on wind/current. Weightless worked on suspended fish and the weighted version could be pitched to beds or drug on the bottom. Favorite colors were 297 (Green Pumpkin) and 305 (Baby Bass).
4-inch Senko: I threw this bait on a Ned Head from 1/32 to 1/8th ounce. I even dropped down to a 3-inch Senko if they got finicky. Colors were the same as the 5-inch but add in a little red flake.
5-inchPro Senko: This is one of my favorite baits because of its versatility. I rig this bait on a dropshot, a Ned Rig, a ball head jig and a shakey head. Favorite colors are 297 and 306 (Natural Shad).
5-inch Kut Tail Worm: Same applications and colors as the Pro Senko. I find that sometimes they prefer the action the tail provides and sometimes not. Be forewarned, every Bluegill, Perch, Whitebass and Rock Bass will attempt to bite the tail off this bait.
5-inch California Roll: Exclusively used as a Ned Rig bait. When they want this bait, it is a top producer. Colors that worked for me are 297 and 926 (dk Green Pumpkin w/ purple, black, emerald flake, and transparent Amber laminate).
D-Shad: Works wonders on suspended fish or whenever they are looking up. Rigged weightless on a 4.0, EWG hook. Favorite colors are 229 (Bubblegum) and 957 (Blue Pearl laminate).
Shad Shape Worm: My go to dropshot bait, hands down. Colors are 306 and 935 (black/clear w/ large black flake laminate).
Paddle Tail Zako: While most use this bait for a trailer on a vibrating jig, I use a belly weighted hook and fish it like a swimbait. Colors are 973 (Electric Shad) and 981 (Green Pumpkin/Cream White laminate).
A little commentary on colors. If you browse through the catalog on www.baits.com and look at the color charts for all of the baits I’ve listed, you can easily get overwhelmed. Here’s how I make it simple and choose my colors. First I choose a “base” color that I have confidence in, take for example any of the greens (Green Pumpkin, Baby Bass, etc.) and then I choose the “secondary” color to match my target bait (craw, baitfish, etc.). Secondary would include flake colors, laminates and core shots. The only exception to this is when bed fishing and I want a color I can see well. Color is a confidence factor so always choose colors you have confidence in.
Chances are slim that we will ever get the perfect combination of wind, weather and fish movement to match what we experienced this year, but you can bet we will continue to fish this beautiful lake every year.
