The 2023 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair is nearly upon us. This is the seventh stop of the nine-event Elite Series schedule, and the first leg of the Northern Swing, with Lake Champlain and the St Lawrence River still to come in the next few weeks.
Just one month from the start of this event on Thursday, the 2023 Elite Series season will come to a close. The anglers fond of finesse fishing for giant smallmouth have been hankering for this last month of Elite competition all year. We caught up with one such angler, Chris Johnston, to see how his practice has been on St. Clair.
Johnston finished sixth during the Elite’s last visit to St. Clair in 2020; his brother Cory finishing second.
How things are setting up
“The fish are a lot skinnier than I’d like to see,” stated Johnston at the onset of the interview, midway through practice. “Caught a lot of fish that are 3 , 3 1/2 pounds, that should be closer to 4 pounds. Even the big ones seem to be skinny. And I’m also finding the fish are very spread out right now.”
Johnston didn’t expect this to be the case coming into the event, but he was not overly surprised, blaming the fish being both lighter and more scattered on a late spawn.
“They’re just now kind of getting out to where they want to be for the summer, and they just haven’t fed up yet. And they’re not all out there yet grouped up like you want them.”
Johnston believes the fish are still in transition, and they really need a couple more weeks to fatten and group up. But the anglers don’t have a couple weeks to wait. It’s almost go time, and this go-round 4-pounders seem to be at a premium.
“I got a couple 4 and 1/4s today that should have been closer to 5 pounds. That’s how light they are.”
Despite the fish weighing less on average than usual for this time of year, Johnston still predicts anglers will catch lots of fish and quality bags will abound.
“I think it’s going to fish well. The anglers are going to be spread out all over St. Clair, for the most part. There’s going to be a lot of fish caught because there are a lot of 3-pounders.”
When asked to predict the winning weight, Johnston landed around 22 pounds per day for a grand total of 88 pounds.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of 17-, 18-pound bags. I’ve seen years where it has been a little heavier, but I just don’t think the fish are fat enough yet to get that kind of weight out of St. Clair.”
How St. Clair fishes
When asked to compare the fishing on St. Clair to some of the other famed fisheries the Elite Series visits, like the St. Lawrence River for instance, Johnston put it this way.
“It’s very random. Where St. Lawrence, you can find rockpiles, breaks, contours and they set up on them. You can kind of bank on it. Where St. Clair, a lot of times you can almost delete your waypoints every year and start over.”
Because St. Clair has little to no contour, with most of the water being between 15 and 20 feet deep, it’s essentially a blank canvas that paints itself differently year to year.
“It’s just a giant bowl; it all looks the same, and you’ll just find a group of fish set up in a little area. Maybe there’s a little clump of grass or a bare spot, and they’re just there. And they usually stay there.”
Though finding the bass can certainly be challenging on St. Clair, Johnston noted they do bite well when he runs into them, and that figuring out what to fish with isn’t all that complicated.
“A drop shot is basically all you need with LiveScope nowadays. The fish are very aggressive and easy to catch. They’re biting, they’re just not weighing as much as I’d like.”
Plenty of room to fish
The eligible waters for this week’s Elite are expansive.
“Everything’s open this year. There are no boundaries. You can go to Lake Erie, you’ve got the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River and Huron. So there’s a ton of water to fish.”
Even with decent weather forecasted most days and lots of options, Johnston expects most of the field to stay in St. Clair, with a few venturing to Huron and a few more to Erie.
“If the weather is right, I think you could see a couple guys do really well in Lake Erie this year. It’s a haul, and the wind becomes a factor. But I think those fish may be a little fatter and further along. I just have a funny feeling it could play this year. But it’s a gamble going there.”
Not only do potential winds pose risks for anglers looking to make the run through the Detroit River out to Erie, competitors will also have to contend with the infamous Miracle Mile if they choose to run to the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes.
“The Miracle Mile is where guys bust their boats up. There are cement walls all down the river so the waves just bounce off the walls, and it’s like a washing machine. I know someone, their motor fell off the transom there two tournaments ago.”
The allure of less fishing pressure and slightly larger fish may beckon a few anglers to venture south into Erie. And a few more still may be tempted north, up through St. Clair and into Lake Huron.
But the weather looks to be “pretty spotty” at least one day per Johnston. So, selling out on either of the big bodies of water will be hard to do.
“I dabbled on Huron today. And I wouldn’t be able to go there if it’s windy. So you’ve got to have a plan B for that windy day. You’ve got to stay in contention. And then the next day you can go make a run if you want.”
The winner’s strategy
As obvious as it might be, Johnston still felt the need to shine the light on what he believes will be the biggest factor here this week.
“You’re going to need LiveScope this tournament. It’s going to be the biggest player.”
Forward-facing sonar is perhaps more important here than on any other smallmouth fishery, since there is little to no contour and cover. The fish are scattered out at random, so panning around with the trolling motor gives Johnston a much better chance of locating fish than his mapping or even the side-scanning capabilities of his stern-mounted transducer.
“I have noticed they get spooky further away from the boat. They are starting to get used to it. It’s not like it used to be. But, if you can get on them before they know you’re there, they are very aggressive.”
Find out who figures them out the best by following along with all the action on Bassmaster.com, starting Thursday morning at 7 a.m. ET.
