Lake St. Clair Fishing Report: Early-Winter Walleye, Perch, and Smallmouth Action

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Lake St. Clair fishing report.

We’re in classic early‑winter mode now: cold, clear, and calm spells mixed with passing systems. National Weather Service Detroit is calling for temps around the low 30s at first light, struggling into the upper 30s later, with a light west to northwest breeze and a mix of clouds and sun. Sunrise is right around 7:50 a.m. and sunset just after 5 p.m., so your best bite window is that first hour of light and the last 90 minutes before dark.

No true tide on St. Clair, but Lake St. Clair water levels, per U.S. Army Corps of Engineers summaries, are a few inches below the long‑term average for late fall, with a gentle seiche when the wind swings. A north or northeast push will stack a little extra water and often bumps the bite on the south shore and in the channels.

Recent chatter from local bait shops and social posts around Anchor Bay and the St. Clair River mouth has the main action on:

• **Walleye:** Good numbers coming from the shipping channel edges and the South Channel, mostly 18–22 inches with some bigger keepers in the mix. Best deal has been vertical jigging 3/8–1/2 oz jig heads tipped with emerald shiners or fatheads, or Wyandotte‑style plastics in firetiger, chartreuse, and black. Guys running at night are pulling husky‑style crankbaits and Bandits 8–14 feet down and doing well.

• **Yellow perch:** Perch packs are tighter but still there in 15–22 feet out from Metro Beach and in deeper pockets of Anchor Bay. Minnows on spreader rigs or single hooks just off bottom are taking mixed bags, with plenty of 8–10 inch fish and some 12‑inch slabs reported this past week.

• **Smallmouth bass:** Season’s mostly catch‑and‑release mentality now, but a few die‑hards dragging tubes and blade baits off the mile roads are still sticking 3–5 pound bronzebacks. Slow is the key: 3.5" green pumpkin tubes on 3/8 oz heads, silver buddies, and small white or alewife‑colored swimbaits crawled along rock and gravel transitions.

• **Pike and muskie:** Muskie pressure has dropped, but late‑season fish are still chewing for anyone willing to grind. Big rubber baits and 10‑inch cranks along the edge of the shipping channel and off the Belle River Hump are moving a few fish. Accidental pike are hitting the same walleye jigs around weeds and current breaks.

Best lures and baits right now:
• For walleye: jig and minnow, 4" paddle‑tail plastics in natural shad or chartreuse on heavy heads, and deep‑diving stickbaits at night.
• For perch: emerald shiners or small fatheads, size 6–8 hooks, light fluorocarbon leaders.
• For smallmouth: tubes, blade baits, and subtle swimbaits in perch, goby, and smelt tones.

Couple of local hot spots to circle on your map:
• **Metro Beach / Mile Roads (9–12 Mile area):** Work 15–22 feet for perch and bonus walleye; smallmouth hanging off the deeper breaks.
• **South Channel and shipping channel edges near the St. Clair River mouth:** Vertical jig for walleye along the breaks, especially when the wind sets up a little current.

Dress warm, slow your presentation way down, and watch that first light and last‑light window – that’s when Lake St. Clair tends to give up her better fish this time of year.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI