Elite

Dock Talk at St. Clair

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Captions by
Craig Lamb
The tournament name is the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair, although there is more to the playing field. Also open to fishing is a small portion of southern Lake Huron, which flows into St. Clair. Also open is a small western area of Lake Erie. 
All that begs the question. Who will stay in St. Clair or make the long—and potentially risky—run to Erie to gamble on potentially the winning weight? 
We set out to find out at Brandenburg Park, the McComb County venue where we’ll ultimately find out who wins on Sunday. We report, you decide if it’s “dock talk” or truth. For the record, the mention of “lake” in the quotes means Lake St. Clair. 
Matt Arey
“It’s St. Clair. It’s going to take a lot of weight. The fish are really biting here. Forward-facing sonar has changed the game. It’s almost not fair for the smallmouth out there, at this point,” Arey said.
“They can’t hide and they bite when you throw at them. It’s going to take a lot of weight. The only challenge is we are dealing with a lot of postspawn fish and they are really skinny, underweight.”
“It’s harder to find fatter fish. Those fish will be key to getting into the 20- to 22-pound limit range. The 3 1/2-pounders should weigh 4 pounds. My goal is to break 20 pounds every day; you’ll have to do that to get into the Top 10. It can be done in St. Clair.”
Taku Ito
“Practice was good. Good enough for me to maybe win,” Ito said. 
“I caught some big fish but it will take at least a five-pounder plus to win, and that is difficult to do. Sometimes fish there, sometimes gone someplace else.” 
“Lots of fish are moving. Difficult to find them again. Every day changes.”
Ed Loughran III
“Lake St. Clair is fishing about as good as I’ve ever seen it,” Loughran said. “I think we’ll see a tremendous number of 18- to 20-pound limits each day.”
“Some of the guys I’m talking to are thinking it’ll take at least 18 pounds per day to make the cut.”
“It’s fishing really well. What I found was if you find a group then there are more within 100 yards away. Forward-facing sonar and drop-shotting are the most prevalent patterns. We’ll see that all week.” 
John Crews, Jr. 
“The fish seem to be recovered from the spawn and are starting to group up offshore,” Crews said. 
“There are always some shallow fish, but for those you’ll have to go through a lot of numbers to get to the better weights.”
“There will be 20 or 30 daily limits over 20 pounds; the lake is really healthy and it’s going to show out for us.”
Lee Livesay
“Lake St. Clair is full of smallmouth bass, that is for sure. Everybody you interview is going to say the same thing,” Livesay said. “What they will say is there a ton of 2 1/2 pounders in here, and it’ll take 3 3/4 pounders or bigger every day. Some of its postspawn, but from what I can also tell that’s an overall average size for the smallmouth in this lake.”
“I honestly believe this lake has more smallmouth in it than the St. Lawrence River. They just don’t get as big, although there will be some over five and into the six-pound range.”
“I’ve been catching 50 to 60 smallmouth each day; you can find groups with a random five or six pounder, but none that size actually making up the majority of a school. I’m keeping it simple; go through the numbers until I can get to the 19-pound range.”
Larry Nixon
“There will be a lot of 20-pound limits caught every day,” Nixon said. 
“I never found any bunched up. I’ve caught singles and small groups but not any bigger fish.”
“It’s going to be different than what I’ve seen in the past.”
Joey Cifuentes III
“I’ve found what I’ve found and if I catch them I will,” Cifuentes said. “I’m done with practice (he was interviewed at 1 p.m.).”
“If I can put them all in the boat then I’m going to have a great tournament. The bass aren’t hard to catch; there are plenty of fish to go around for everyone.”
“Most of my areas are a long run, so I’ll have to stay in here if I can’t get there.”
Brandon Lester
“It’s fishing really good; as good as I’ve ever seen it,” Lester said. “The fish are skinny though, and I think we’ll see a lot of 18- and 19-pound bags.”
“Overall, those smallmouth are in the postspawn weight range. Getting over 20 pounds is going to be key.”
Koby Krieger
“You can catch a lot of smallmouth all day long,” Krieger said. “The challenge is catching the right size.”
“You can either play the numbers game until you get to the needed weight, or you can catch singles and go hunting for quality.”
“It’s one of those deals where the big schools are the same size, with an occasional 5 or 6-pounder in the mix. That latter strategy is what I’m going for.”

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