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Lake St. Clair Bass, Perch, and Walleye Report - September 7, 2025
This is Artificial Lure with your Sunday, September 7th, 2025 Lake St. Clair report, straight from the banks and bays.
First light came at 6:59 a.m., and we’ll fish until that sunset slips in at 7:59 this evening. The air kicked off cool at 61 degrees, and the water temp near the NDBC buoy hovered right around 66.6 degrees. Winds were out of the northwest at just under 10 knots, keeping the surface choppy but nothing to keep anglers off the bite. No tide to chase on the Great Lakes—current comes more from wind than lunar pull—so plan on focusing your search by structure and wind direction instead of tides, just like we always do out here.
Reports from local boats in the Metropark and Harley Ensign launches over the weekend point to strong early September numbers for smallmouth bass, with fish staged on the flats and breaking off points. According to a recent Lake St. Clair, Michigan Fishing Report Daily, anglers are seeing steady catches of both smallie and walleye, with bonus perch showing up around Anchor Bay and the Mile Roads.
Best action today centers on those classic late-summer patterns:
- Search for **smallmouth bass** on sand-to-rock transitions and deeper weed lines. Early hours are prime for topwater lures—popper-style baits drew a pile of strikes just off the points near Strawberry Island yesterday. By midmorning, most switched to soft plastics and Ned rigs in green pumpkin and shad imitation, wacky-rigged Senkos, and drop shotting small minnows. According to videos from Major League Fishing, topwaters are still scoring aggressive chases right now.
- **Perch** fishermen have had luck drifting live minnows and perch rigs along Anchor Bay's edges, with some boats bringing in limits when they dial in the right school. Reports say the best size class is running 8 to 10 inches—a solid pan for the table.
- **Walleye** are scattered, but have shown up early morning on crawler harnesses with chartreuse blades dragged along deep breaks near the St. Clair Light.
Most productive baits and lures this week:
- Green pumpkin or watermelon tube baits and Senkos for smallmouth
- Chrome and blue or perch-color crankbaits when searching mid-depths
- Live emerald shiners on slip bobbers for perch
- Crawler harnesses and silver or gold spoons for walleye
Hot spots:
- The **Mile Roads** area, especially from 9 Mile to 12 Mile, continues to put up consistent smallmouth numbers, and with today’s temps, fish should be cruising the outside weed edges.
- **Anchor Bay’s** east side—look for the cabbage patches and perch schools just off Selfridge.
If you’re heading out this afternoon, don’t forget to pack a rain jacket—barometric pressure is steady but falling, hinting at a possible front pushing in later in the day as reported by the NDBC buoy. Expect the bite to pick up as that change moves in.
Big thanks for listening in! Keep those pictures and reports coming, and don’t forget to subscribe for your daily Lake St. Clair updates—it helps keep us on the water and you in the loop.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago