The Starting Spot: St Clair Bassmaster Observations, Big Smallies Eat Trout, and Overcome Summer Bass Struggles

The Starting Spot Daily Bass Fishing Headlines are the perfect way to start your day with some of the top bass fishing articles on the internet. It’s the quick, informative, how, where, and who you need to know. So, rub the sleep from your eyes, pour that first cup of the day, and head to your Starting Spot.

-St Clair Bassmaster Elite tournament observations -Big smallmouth bass eat trout in upper midwest lakes -How to overcome summer bass fishing struggles | Photo by Kurt Mazurek

In this edition of The Starting Spot:

-That was a pretty epic Bassmaster Elite tournament that just wrapped up on St Clair. Check out what parts of it caught Pete Robbin’s attention. Always interesting and definitely worth the read.

-Most bass anglers know that those giant largemouth on the West Coast get so big because they eat trout. But did you know that trout lakes in the upper midwest are growing some giant smallmouth bass?

-As Tim from Tactical Bassin’ says, right now is about the toughest bass fishing you’ll encounter all summer. So it’s a good thing he’s sharing his best tips for catching late-summer bass.

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Elite Analysis St. Clair – Day 4

by Pete Robbins

In a story on Bassmaster.com: Today Trey McKinney set a B.A.S.S. record for four-day weight at St. Clair with 96 pounds 1 ounce. It’s becoming humdrum – just another in a long line of records, firsts, accomplishments and accolades he’s earned before he’s completed his second Elite Series season or before he can legally drink a beer.

He savored his early success today with a seemingly endless incantation of “oh my gosh,” punctuating the line with only more and more hooksets. For a guy who entered the tournament a distant and almost-forgotten third in the Angler of the Year race, now he has to turn his attention not just to individual battles but to finishing out the overall season-long war. Records are meaningful and they matter, but titles are the foundational bricks that build a Hall of Fame career.
That might be putting the cart before the horse…MORE.

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Giant Smallmouths from Northwoods Trout Waters

by Andrew Ragas

In a story on MidwestOutdoors.com: Know what happens when trout get stocked in western American lakes? Their bass fish grow to huge, potential-world-record sizes as a result of feeding on stocked trout. Largemouths of that caliber simply don’t exist naturally in North Country waters, as we are in too cold a latitude to grow such specimens. But what our trout waters do have growing in them are big smallmouths.

Unlike out West, these trout aren’t what’s entirely feeding and growing the big smallmouths. What’s helping them to achieve monstrous sizes on these two-story cold-water fisheries is a diverse menu of pelagic species. Cisco, smelt, whitefish, and alewife forage sustains the trout while simultaneously feeding its secondary species, smallmouth bass. Their sizes, growth rates, and weights are a product of availability and abundance. To maintain their hefty weights, big smallmouths require a combination of these oily, protein-rich forage species…MORE.

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Decoding Bass Behavior: Summertime Struggles And Solutions

by Tactical Bassin’

In a video on the Tactical Bassin’ YouTube channel: Summer Bass Fishing can be fun! Forget the struggle with these key tips. From where bass are positioning, to key bite windows, Tim breaks down what you need to know to overcome the peak heat of summer. Don't let the temperatures get you down, it's time to adapt and catch more fish.

For most of the summer we've focused on how to catch bigger bass. Today, Tim is focused on making sure everyone is catching fish, regardless of size. Summer heat is real and its impact is tangible. He's got advice to help you locate fish on deep structure, and when to target them. If it were all to be summarized into one line it would be, "Find The Bait, Find The Bass."…MORE.

Thanks for starting your day with Fishing On SI. Lines in!