Expect another Erie vs. St. Clair showdown when Michigan Division returns to Detroit River
After about a month off, the Michigan Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League will continue its season on Aug. 10. As usual, anglers will launch out of the Detroit River, giving them their choice of fishing the smallmouth-rich waters of both Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. Also as usual, there should be no shortage of bites to be had and limits brought to the scales, but variables like weather and fishing pressure will still make for an interesting event from a strategy standpoint.
Tournament details
Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine
Michigan Division
Trenton, MI
About the fishery
The Detroit River connects two of the most popular and prolific smallmouth fisheries in the country in Erie and St. Clair. While the Detroit and St. Clair rivers will also be in play, Michigan native Michael Sitko, who added his sixth career win and 25th Top 10 when he took home the trophy from the most recent BFL on the fishery in July, believes most bass will be in their summer patterns and thus relating to offshore cover in the two lakes.
“It’s going to be won out of either Erie or St. Clair, and it’s really hard to tell you which right now,” Sitko said.
Perhaps the biggest variable in determining where most of the field will fish will be weather. Wind can make for rough conditions on both lakes, but especially Erie. Lately, Sitko said the wind has been consistently tame, which has opened up Erie to more anglers. As someone whose most recent victory came from Erie, he hasn’t been pleased with that development.
“Right now, Mother Nature has been really kind, unfortunately, for Lake Erie,” he said. “Mother Nature has not been protecting Lake Erie with the winds. It’s been very, very calm for extended periods of time. …. I have never seen so many people on Erie.”
What to expect
Competitors can expect lots of big smallmouth to hit the scales. It took more than 24 1/2 pounds to win each of the first two Michigan Division events of the year, and Sitko believes this one will follow suit, with the winner in the 23- to 25-pound range.
The top baits likely won’t come as a surprise, either. Expect standard finesse tactics like drop-shots, tubes and small swimbaits to dominate.
That said, Sitko does think anglers will have to face one variable they’re not used to dealing with, at least to this degree: fishing pressure. In addition to the normal glut of summertime local tournaments, St. Clair hosted a Bassmaster Open in early July, and the season finale for the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals is set to blast off out of the Detroit River this weekend.
Sitko thinks a lot of anglers will gravitate to the most productive areas from those events. While he wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to produce, he thinks the winning angler will be someone who discovers a different, less-pressured school.
“That’s going to be a factor,” Sitko said of the fishing pressure. “I think the winning fish are going to come from someone who gets away from where all the boats are and finds that off-the-wall spot that just no one is around. That’s where you’ll find the least-pressured fish, and that’s where probably the winning bag will come from.”