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Lake St. Clair Fishing Report: Late Fall Bite Heats Up for Bass, Walleye, Perch & More
Good morning, folks. Artificial Lure here with your Lake St. Clair fishing report for Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. The clocks fell back yesterday, so sunrise hit at 7:13 AM and sunset’s coming early, just after 5:30 PM. The air’s chilly, but the bite’s heating up. Water temps are in the high 40s, and the late fall pattern is in full swing.
The wind’s out of the east at about 15 knots, and the waves are running around two feet. The air temp’s just under 47 degrees, so bundle up if you’re heading out. The barometer’s steady but starting to drop, which could mean some unsettled weather later.
Smallmouth bass are schooling up tight along the rocky points and deeper flats. Captain Billy Howe’s charters out of the Detroit River and onto the American side of St. Clair came back with multiple 18-21” smallies, some pushing four pounds. The best action’s been jigging blade baits in silver or gold, or working natural-colored tube jigs and swimbaits slowly over rocky humps in 10-15 feet. The Berkley Chigger Craw and a standard 4” green pumpkin tube are solid choices. If you’re after a true bruiser, don’t sleep on large soft-bodied swimbaits—Skeet Reese of Major League Fishing always reminds that even in colder water, big swimbaits fished slow can trigger heavy bass.
Walleye are thick from the mouth of the Detroit River north along the shipping channel edges. Trolling and vertical jigging with chartreuse or pink blade baits and heavy jigs tipped with live minnows or Gulp! alive in emerald shiner are top producers. When the breeze lays down late morning, try drifting the deeper cuts east of Grosse Pointe and up toward the Metropark launch—most boats running there have been boating several eaters per pass.
Perch action is decent, though a bit hit or miss. Those doing best are anchoring near the weedlines off Strawberry Island and dumping small spottail shiners or bits of worm on perch rigs. Fewer limits are reported, but a patient stick can put a couple dozen slabs in the cooler if you’re willing to weed through the dinks.
Northern pike are still cruising shallows and weedy shelves near Anchor Bay and the south shore—work flashy spoons or suspending jerkbaits parallel to weed edges for a shot at a trophy. Muskie diehards are squeezing in late troll runs from the St. Clair Light toward the Belle River hump. Big rubber baits in fire tiger or walleye pattern, trolled slow, accounted for multiple 36- to 45-inch fish over the weekend.
Hot spots this week: the Mile Roads (especially 9 and 11 Mile reefs) for smallmouth, Windmill Point for late walleye, Strawberry Island drop for perch, and Anchor Bay weedlines for pike. For less-pressured action, the Canadian side near the Thames River mouth is still quietly producing.
Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s Lake St. Clair fishing report. Subscribe for fresh updates, share your own catches, and keep those lines tight. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago