03 September 2025
Late Summer Bounty: Lake St. Clair's Bass, Pike, and Baitfish Bonanza
Lake St. Clair, Michigan Fishing Report - Daily
About
Artificial Lure here, your local hookup for fishing and angling news around Lake St. Clair, Michigan, with the midday report for Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025.
Lake St. Clair kicked off the day with a solid sunrise at 7:03 a.m., looking to wrap up with a sunset around 8:07 p.m. The weather’s a true late-summer cocktail: partly cloudy skies, humidity that makes the morning bite comfortable, and a steady south wind coming in at 8 to 12 knots—just enough chop to keep the oxygen moving. Air temps are sitting in the mid-70s, creeping toward 80 by late afternoon. There's no tide to talk about in Lake St. Clair, being a freshwater body, but wind-driven surface movement means you’ll see most activity on windblown shores and points.
Recent action has been lively—anglers are reporting excellent catches for **smallmouth bass**, **largemouth bass**, and **northern pike** in the area. Fishbrain notes more than 28,000 largemouth and 6,800 smallmouth logged through Mount Clemens and up the St. Clair River so far this season, with pike numbers strong and occasional 30-inchers showing up just outside the weed lines.
The bite’s picked up since those fish fly swarms (mayflies) that hit last week in metro Detroit pushed fish up to feed in the shallows. Early September means baitfish schools are on the move, attracting predators everywhere from docks to rocky breaks. According to Bassmaster’s coverage, Lake St. Clair's shoreline restoration has the flats loaded, and recent tourneys saw anglers hauling in limits of smallmouth up to 5 lbs, especially on the Canadian side and near Anchor Bay.
Best lures this week? Locals are swearing by **white swimbaits**, **chartreuse tubes**, and **spinnerbaits** for smallmouth and largemouth. Pike have been hammering **red-and-gold spoons** as well as bigger **soft plastics** worked along weed edges. If you’re tossing live bait, big golden shiners and fatheads on a slip bobber work great, especially for less aggressive fish.
If you’re after trophy-size catches, two hotspots are standing out:
- Anchor Bay: Shallow flats with scattered weed beds—ideal for topwater around sunrise.
- The mouth of the Clinton River: Especially productive in the afternoon with crankbaits and finesse jigs, as baitfish move through and stir up the predators.
Bottom fishing around the Metro Beach breakwall gets you consistent largemouth, while trolling just off the Mile Roads on the east side put several boats onto active schools early this week. Captain Experiences clients landed boat limits on light tackle trips—double-digit numbers of bass per outing and steady midsize pike, with reports of “always on top of the fish” and “filled our bucket.”
Fishing pressure is up as the Labor Day vacationers wrap up. My tip: hit those windblown points in the late afternoon, working baits slow as temps climb, and don’t be afraid to switch up colors if the bite gets picky.
Thanks for tuning in to your Lake St. Clair fishing report. For daily updates, tips, and local stories, make sure to subscribe. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
Lake St. Clair kicked off the day with a solid sunrise at 7:03 a.m., looking to wrap up with a sunset around 8:07 p.m. The weather’s a true late-summer cocktail: partly cloudy skies, humidity that makes the morning bite comfortable, and a steady south wind coming in at 8 to 12 knots—just enough chop to keep the oxygen moving. Air temps are sitting in the mid-70s, creeping toward 80 by late afternoon. There's no tide to talk about in Lake St. Clair, being a freshwater body, but wind-driven surface movement means you’ll see most activity on windblown shores and points.
Recent action has been lively—anglers are reporting excellent catches for **smallmouth bass**, **largemouth bass**, and **northern pike** in the area. Fishbrain notes more than 28,000 largemouth and 6,800 smallmouth logged through Mount Clemens and up the St. Clair River so far this season, with pike numbers strong and occasional 30-inchers showing up just outside the weed lines.
The bite’s picked up since those fish fly swarms (mayflies) that hit last week in metro Detroit pushed fish up to feed in the shallows. Early September means baitfish schools are on the move, attracting predators everywhere from docks to rocky breaks. According to Bassmaster’s coverage, Lake St. Clair's shoreline restoration has the flats loaded, and recent tourneys saw anglers hauling in limits of smallmouth up to 5 lbs, especially on the Canadian side and near Anchor Bay.
Best lures this week? Locals are swearing by **white swimbaits**, **chartreuse tubes**, and **spinnerbaits** for smallmouth and largemouth. Pike have been hammering **red-and-gold spoons** as well as bigger **soft plastics** worked along weed edges. If you’re tossing live bait, big golden shiners and fatheads on a slip bobber work great, especially for less aggressive fish.
If you’re after trophy-size catches, two hotspots are standing out:
- Anchor Bay: Shallow flats with scattered weed beds—ideal for topwater around sunrise.
- The mouth of the Clinton River: Especially productive in the afternoon with crankbaits and finesse jigs, as baitfish move through and stir up the predators.
Bottom fishing around the Metro Beach breakwall gets you consistent largemouth, while trolling just off the Mile Roads on the east side put several boats onto active schools early this week. Captain Experiences clients landed boat limits on light tackle trips—double-digit numbers of bass per outing and steady midsize pike, with reports of “always on top of the fish” and “filled our bucket.”
Fishing pressure is up as the Labor Day vacationers wrap up. My tip: hit those windblown points in the late afternoon, working baits slow as temps climb, and don’t be afraid to switch up colors if the bite gets picky.
Thanks for tuning in to your Lake St. Clair fishing report. For daily updates, tips, and local stories, make sure to subscribe. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn