Photo by Ron Sinfelt

The Michigan waters of Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie along with the Detroit River that connects the two are some of the most productive smallmouth bass venues in the state. And if you fish the right spots with the right techniques and lures, they're not all that hard to catch.

Jim Francis, senior fisheries biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, reports that the smallmouth situation is "real good" in Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and Lake Erie. The water is clearing and the sight-feeders -- muskies, pike and smallmouths -- are taking advantage of it.

"I was sampling on the Detroit River last year while a tournament was in progress," said Francis. "The fish were big, fat and healthy, absolutely beautiful."

That's a pretty good synopsis of smallmouth fishing in the three venues.

The improvement in water clarity is largely due to the migration of zebra mussels into the area. At first glance you wouldn't think they amount to much. After all, they're tiny, no bigger than your thumbnail. Their shell is triangular in shape, a glossy tan in color and operates with a pointed hinge. They don't look potent.

Looks can be deceiving, however. They do amount to something. They live by filtering suspended solids from the water. They do this very efficiently. A mature adult zebra mussel can filter up to two liters of water in a 24-hour period. An adult female can produce up to 1 million eggs during one spawning season.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where we're going with this. Simple math tells the tale: millions and millions of zebra mussels, times 2 liters of water, times 24 hours per day and 30 days in an average month equals a lot of filtered, clear water.

Along with this clear water and increased feeding opportunities for sight-feeders comes the weedbeds. As the water gets clearer every season the weedbeds get bigger, thicker and grow deeper. This gives baby fish -- both forage and predator -- more places to hide, and mature predators more places to hunt. It also pumps oxygen into the water. It's a good thing all the way around.

Then shortly behind the zebra mussels came the round gobies. Most will measure around 4 or 5 inches in length but a few monsters have been known to push 10 inches. They're prolific little critters. They reproduce several times during a season and can lay 5,000 eggs at a time. On top of that they certainly don't lack for something to eat. They dine on zebra mussels for the most part. Interestingly, their invasive history is much the same. Both are believed to have entered the Great Lakes via the ballast water of trans-Atlantic ships, but probably not at the same time.

Gobies range in color from gray to black to brown -- most are splotchy colored -- and many have some green on their dorsal fins. They look much like a sculpin. The goby has a fused pelvic fin, however, and the sculpin doesn't.

All this seems to be just fine with the smallmouths. They like to eat gobies. In fact, gobies may now be the primary forage base in Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Francis reports heavy populations of both zebra mussels and gobies in all three waterbodies. "There's really no difference," he said.

Successful local anglers keep this in mind when selecting lures and places to fish. Here are their recommendations for southeast Michigan's big three smallmouth bass waters.

LAKE ST. CLAIR
Lake St. Clair is a tremendous smallmouth fishery and is no secret to locals, but on a regional or national level, it gets overshadowed by Lake Erie. That's a shame because it'll produce super catches of smallies.

Paul Sacks (248/819-3192) is a well-known local bass angler. He believes that while St. Clair may not be producing the big fish it once did, the numbers are fantastic. And he is quick to point out that there's more to the big-fish story than meets the eye.