2023 Bass Pro Tour Revisits Lake St. Clair for Stage Six

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. – The Bass Pro Tour visited Lake St. Clair to wrap up the 2021 season, and Michael Neal won the September event. Now the Bass Pro Tour will return for Stage Six at a much earlier date on the calendar, June 24-29. This will make for a completely different affair, according to Michigan pro Jonathon VanDam.

“It will depend on the spring we have, but there is the potential for some spawning fish in some places in the system, but the majority of the fish will be postspawn,” VanDam said. “There should also be a mayfly hatch, which could make for great topwater fishing. Overall, the fish will be much shallower than usually seen in most pro tournaments on St. Clair.”

This event will come at a busy time, as it’s the opening day for Michigan and Canadian bass anglers. Before the third weekend in June, only catch-and-release fishing is allowed on the Michigan side of the lake and the Canadian side is closed to bass fishing.

“We’ll see a lot of local traffic and there will likely be some other tournaments that weekend,” VanDam said. “But, having the Canadian side open will open up a lot of water, and guys can spread out. There is also great fishing over there, which should improve the overall weights.”