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Lake St. Clair Fishing Report: Trophy Smallmouth, Muskie, and Perch Await Anglers
Artificial Lure here, coming to you with today’s October 25th, 2025 fishing report for Lake St. Clair and its surrounding waterways.
First off, we got a crisp Michigan morning—temps at dawn hovered near 46°F, with light west winds around 7 mph and skies partly cloudy. Sunrise hit at 7:56 AM and you can expect a pinkish sunset around 6:38 PM. Water temps have continued their seasonal slide, hanging now in the low 60s, which has fired up the bite across the big lake and especially in the Detroit River and southern banks.
According to the Lake St. Clair Daily Fishing Report, the main action this week has been *trophy smallmouth*, plus solid catches of muskie and some chunky yellow perch. Bass have been the main ticket for most tournament crews and rec anglers. Just ask Brock and Martin, who hauled in 25 pounds for the win—anchored by a monster 6.6-pound smallmouth. Reports are multiple teams landed chunky 4 to 5-pounders, with the largest weighed this week a jaw-dropping 7.45-pound smallmouth pulled late morning from a Detroit River hot spot.
Per the Tackle Shack report, bass are stacked shallow—2 to 5 feet—especially in wind-blown pockets and current over hard bottom. Spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits have produced best during overcast spells and early hours. Once the sun peeks out, finesse swimbaits like a 2.8” Keitech or Crush City Mayor rigged on a BAFA F8 jighead have been money for upgrading to those kicker fish. A few bass were caught on A-rigs in 10 feet, just drifting offshore structure—a solid pattern if you’re in a smaller boat and want to play it safe in the autumn chop.
For muskies, the best action has come trolling big crankbaits or casting magnum tubes along weed edges from Metro Beach east to Anchor Bay. Perch have schooled along weed beds at the mouth of the river and out from Grosse Pointe, with fat keepers taking live minnows bounced on drop-shot rigs or plain chartreuse jigs.
If you’re choosing bait for multi-species, try nightcrawlers on a drop-shot or hooked behind a split shot for perch, while small swimbaits, tubes, and spinnerbaits remain your ticket for bass. Muskie anglers should focus on oversized soft plastics and deep-diving plugs around the breaks.
For today, your **hot spots** to try:
- South Side Shoals, especially near the mile roads (10 Mile, 9 Mile, etc.), where wind pushes bait and big bass stage.
- The Detroit River channel just off Belle Isle—here, trophy smallmouth and the occasional walleye have been feeding hard on pods of bait.
- Anchor Bay near Fair Haven, which has both muskie rolling shallow and perch piling up near the green weeds.
No tides up here on the big lakes, but west winds mean drifting structure is productive. If the wind kicks up, tuck into river bends and marinas—bass and pike hunt these current seams late in the fall.
Quick reminder: please clean up after yourselves at the ramps and parks. The local authorities and fellow anglers appreciate it!
Thanks for tuning in—be sure to subscribe so you never miss a bite forecast! This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago