Now I know how the locals at Falcon Lake must feel.

It wasn’t long ago that my boat trailer was, at times, the only one in the parking lot at a major boat ramp on Lake St. Clair. Known for relentless pleasure boat traffic, I would often long for rainy days that kept the cruisers at the dock. On those days, I shared the lake only with a few fishermen, most of whom pursued walleye or perch.

Boy, how times have changed.

Since naming Lake St. Clair the best bass lake in America, Bassmaster Magazine has created a whirlwind, of sorts, in our area. Never before opened overflow lots are being used at the boat ramps on weekdays. Hundreds of bass boats fill the lake on weekends, and the tournament season hasn’t even started yet.

Nowhere have I seen such a display since the opening of Stick Marsh in Florida decades ago. The fishing pressure is unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the Great Lakes for bass. Once a staunch promoter of the area’s fishery, I find myself guilty of telling white lies at the ramp, remarking “just little ones” when asked how the fishing was each day. But the local economy enjoys it, from the tackle shops to the clueless restaurant owners who don’t even know what a bass looks like. All they know is there sure are a lot of shiny boats in town this year.

I’m glad I’m not the guy who is in charge of writing “The Best Bass Lakes” list. That job goes to James Hall, the editor of Bassmaster. In the opening paragraphs of this year’s piece, he readily admits that the list will never satisfy everyone, and that comprising such a piece created a debate which solidified the idea in the first place. I’m not sure I agree with that. I mean, how can we seriously rule which lake is the best in the country? That’s like saying I make the best chicken soup (which I do); not everyone who likes chicken soup may fall in love with mine.

I must admit, though, St. Clair is a phenomenal fishery. The lake is a massive 25-mile-wide shallow grass flat, complete with a regular current, cool waters, and more forage species than can be named by a biologist, so it’s no surprise that the lake holds a great bass population. But No. 1? I guess that depends on how we rank fisheries.

Without question, there are more 2- to 4-pound smallmouth in St. Clair than anywhere I’ve ever been. But, although large numbers of trophy (6-pound range) smallmouth are caught, those numbers are far below that of other smallmouth mega-zones like Erie, Sturgeon Bay or Simcoe. There, anglers catch fewer bass, but the average size is bigger. However, St. Clair leads the charge for quality mid-sized fish.

St. Clair also boasts a very strong largemouth population. And while many days produce 50 or more largemouth per boat, very few are over 4 pounds. Largemouth are my preferred quarry on “fun days” here, and I’ve personally seen thousands board my boat, the largest being a 5-10. It’s the only legitimately-weighed green fish I’ve seen over 5 1/2 pounds.

So we’re dealing with a fishery that falls short of others for true giant smallmouth – Sturgeon Bay just produced an 8 1/2-pounder in a tournament, and you’re ignored without a 7 in Buffalo – and offers anglers no chance for anything even remotely close to what is considered a trophy largemouth. Is that our country’s best bass lake?

Take into consideration also that St. Clair lies in a major urban area, is overdeveloped for all of the waters within the U.S., offering few “picturesque natural views”, and is often pretty rough to get around. Again, just thoughts for healthy debate.

Another factor that perturbs me a little is the way B.A.S.S. went about compiling the list. It had the help of state game agencies, as well as anglers. The number of anglers polled was only 3,500, yet the last I heard, B.A.S.S. maintains a membership base of over half a million. Why such a low sample size?

And state agencies around the Great Lakes readily admit that they hardly study smallmouth populations. When sampling Erie, Ohio’s DNR reports that “Standard annual…surveys have not historically captured sufficient numbers of smallmouth bass to describe population dynamics."

In any case, we’ve got an Elite Series event coming to St. Clair this year, and, barring any catastrophic weather, fans of B.A.S.S. will see the heaviest overall weigh-in of smallmouth ever in history, mark my words. This place cranks out the 15- to 18-pound stringers like nowhere else. But does that make it our best lake across the board? Can it compare to the 40-pound limits recently at Chickamauga, or the behemoths of Amistad? What about the giant-filled mats of Okeechobee, or the waters of the Delta, where your next flip may be a 12-pounder? I’m not sure. And whatever happened to the endless schools at Guntersville, or the 7-pounders swimming the ledges of Kentucky? Maybe all the attention is to blame.

I think B.A.S.S. makes this list with their tongue in cheek a little, in order to get us, the fans, excited. I know I’m excited to see how some of the best in the world attack my home waters later this year.

I just hope that, once it’s over and all the hype dies back down, all the tourists go back to Falcon.



(Joe Balog is the often outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)