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Late October Fishing on Lake St. Clair - Chasing Smallies and Perch in the Autumn Chill
Artificial Lure here, bringing you today’s Lake St. Clair fishing report for Sunday, October 26, 2025. The lake’s just waking up after sunrise at 7:52 a.m., with sunset coming in at 6:38 p.m. It's a classic late-October morning: brisk, damp, and a bit breezy with a steady north wind running 12–18 knots. There’s patchy cloud cover and a chance of showers later in the day, so grab your rain gear and keep your eyes peeled on those gusts, especially if you’re in a smaller boat.
No tidal swings up here, but local conditions are changing quick with fall’s chill. Water temps are cooling down fast, sitting right around 63 to 65 degrees. This shift has bass and perch moving deeper and hunting current edges and breaks—classic autumn pattern. Shallower flats are slowing, while deeper structure is heating up for bigger bites.
The past week’s action has proven that Lake St. Clair is stacked. The Tackle Shack tournament just saw Jonathan Brock and Christopher Martin haul in a 25.29-pound bag, mostly landed in the first hour with Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits tossed into 2 to 5 feet of water. Their best fish, a whopping 6.6-pound smallmouth, came off mid-lake structure. Other teams loaded up on finesse swimbaits like the ever-popular BAFA F8 jighead paired with 2.8" Keitech and Spark Shad. Another big story: a 7.45-lb smallmouth pulled from the Detroit River on a crankbait late morning—record-setting for the season.
Anglers are reporting the topwater bite is slow right now, in part from those cool nights and heavy winds. The go-tos have been jerkbaits, spinnerbaits in bluegill patterns, and tubes rigged light—especially brown and green colors for rocky transitions. Crankbaits are scoring big when run along hard-bottom drop-offs and river seams, mostly in 10–12 feet.
If you’re after numbers, finesse swimbaits and small plastics like Spark Shad and Keitech are tough to beat for roaming schools of smallies and active perch. Chatterbaits work best on sunny, breezy afternoons in and around those weedlines. For bait, folks drifting minnows and nightcrawlers are stacking panfish and even snagging bonus walleye, but artificial lures are out-fishing live bait for bass all week. Families and beginners—drift shiners or soft plastics around Anchor Bay and the Metropark; perch and crappie are biting strong.
Now for a couple of hot spots:
- **The Mile Roads (9, 10.5, and 12 Mile):** Nonstop smallmouth action in mid-morning, especially as the wind calms and the sun creeps up.
- **Metropark South Shore:** Spinnerbaits and tubes are killer here, working breaks that drop from shallow flats to deeper water.
- **Detroit River Seams:** If you’re after giants, crankbaits along current breaks and rocky seams have paid off in a big way this week.
Fishing pressure is steady but manageable—tournament traffic is up, but St. Clair’s got plenty of room. Small boaters should hug the shoreline if winds pick up; deep-Vs will get you to those mid-lake haunts safely.
The buzz around shore this weekend is still about those big bass, but don’t sleep on mixed bags of perch and walleye in the river channels. Word from the Michigan DNR is that yellow perch spearing opens up December 1 through March 15, so get ready for that if you’re into alternative methods.
One last note: watch out for that algae muck along some parts of the lake—especially near launches on the north shore. The cleanup’s set to kick into higher gear next year, but for now, just keep your gear out of it and you'll be fine.
Thanks for tuning in—make sure to subscribe for fresh weekly tips and keep your eye on the next bite. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artifici
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago