The Starting Spot: McKinney Details St Clair Win, Winter Tube Techniques, and Cold November Bass Baits

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.

Today on The Starting Spot: McKinney Details St Clair Win, Winter Tube Techniques, and Cold November Bass Baits | Photo by Julie Mazurek

In this edition of The Starting Spot:

-Bassmaster Elite pro Trey McKinney has made a big mark on professional fishing in an astonishingly short amount of time. The 20-year old bass phenom gets into the details of his epic win on Lake St Clair this past summer.

-Where Wisconsin Bassmaster Elite pro Pat Schlapper comes from, you learn to catch bass when it’s cold or you don’t catch bass. In this video he shares some great tips for fishing a tube for winter bass.

-Shaye Baker shares what lures he’s throwing in November. Excellent choices! What are you throwing?

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I did not see St. Clair coming

by Trey McKinney

From a story on Bassmaster.com: The 2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair was such a special tournament. It meant a lot to me. I had no indication I could win that thing before the tournament began. I was just hoping to get a good enough finish to stay in the Progressive Bassmater Angler of the Year running. To then lead the tournament wire-to-wire was unbelievable.

I did not see it coming at all, but it was such a blessing. It was one of those tournaments you couldn’t get out of the way of. Everybody told me that when I was younger, and I didn’t really believe it. I didn’t get to experience it that much at Lake Fork either. But at St. Clair, I felt it. When you know, you know. It just happened and there wasn’t anything I could do to get out of the way of it…MORE.

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How to Catch Winter Bass with a Tube – Pat Schlapper's Go-To

by BassResource

From a video on BassResource’s YouTube channel: Elite Series pro Pat Schlapper shares his proven tube fishing techniques for catching smallmouth bass during the cold winter months. While true winter in northern states means ice fishing, Pat explains how "winter" fishing from late fall into early winter is prime time to catch bass as they group up in deep water. Learn how Pat rigs, retrieves, and locates smallmouth with a stubby tube and football head to get bites in water temperatures in the 40s. Perfect for anglers fishing 15–25 feet of water…MORE.

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What Lures We’re Throwing in November

by Shaye Baker

From a story on Wirde2Fish.com: November is here. No more pump fakes in the South where I live — it’s actually starting to get cold now. The nightly lows are in the 40s and the highs often hovering below 70. Now, I could all but hear the audible scoffing of my northern brethren. I understand this isn’t what you’d consider cold. But for us southerners, anything south of sweltering is a nice change of pace. 

Along with this cooler weather across the country comes a change in the fishing as well. Massive schools of baitfish are on the move, migrating from deeper to shallower water, for the time being. This creates tons of opportunity from midrange points and humps to shallow banks and flats. With all this in mind, here are the baits I’ll be fishing in November in the southeast as well as a few suggestions from other anglers around the country…MORE.

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