There is no doubt that Michigan is a superb state for sports. This includes team sports as well as outdoor recreation. The region's magnificent fishery is quite possibly metro-Detroit's greatest sporting resource. From Port Huron south to Monroe, these waters are right at the top of the list of mid-west hot spots for fish such as walleye, smallmouth bass, and musky. This area is also home to a great deal of outdoor sporting history and innovative, locally invented fishing lures.

While growing up, walleye fishing on Lake St. Clair was always one of summer's biggest highlights. Dad would take my brother Ken and I to stay for a few nights at my grandma and grandpa's place on the Salt River near New Baltimore. Grandma would let us stay up late to watch the Twilight Zone, then wake us before sunrise for fishing. Out front Dad and grandpa readied the 19-foot Bayliner named the Goldfinch. We set out on the sluggish meander to the mouth of the river where it empties into Anchor Bay. Grandpa was always sure to go at a slow speed so he wouldn't cause any wake to knock moored boats around. By the time we passed under the Jefferson Avenue bridge it was light enough for Ken and I to easily check out the boats crowded along the seawalls. Many makers could be seen such as Starcraft, Gregory, Lund, SeaRay and the occasional gem, the old wooden Chris-Craft. The creative names on the back of the boats always amused us, and we looked for certain ones year after year. Some favorites were Bobby's Bobber, Stir-Gin, and Vanishing Point.

There was a special army surplus type boat moored just opposite the Sun-Up Marina. It belonged to a man my grandparents nicknamed "Mr. St. Clair." This guy was somewhat of a local figure. If fish were biting, which was more often than not, he'd be out. When he caught fish, and he usually did, he carefully covered up the spinner blade on his crawler harness so no one could see his "hot" color. My grandparents viewed him as overly secretive and perhaps a bit arrogant, hence the nickname they gave him.

As most fishers know, different colored lures produce different results on different days. Perhaps on Tuesday chartreuse works the best, but by Thursday a green frog pattern might get all the action. When one person finds a good color, others often switch to match it.

We always had plenty of crawler harnesses to choose from because grandpa made the rigs in his garage. He started with a 4-inch wire shaft, bent it 3 inches down, and put two different sized hooks in the bend so the smaller one nested inside the larger one. Next he slid on a little spring sleeve to lock the hooks in place. A few colorful beads then an Indiana or Colorado spinner blade on a clevis followed. He finished it off with a couple more beads. Lastly the wire was looped and wrapped closed. This set-up was attached to a leader and keeled sinker with standard swivels. Of course today's harnesses, using hooks snelled on a foot or more of abrasion resistant monofilament line are not nearly as stiff and give a natural roll while being pulled through the water, but grandpa made his rigs to be durable. He did not want lines snapping off in the tough St. Clair weeds. I am happy to still have some of his harnesses in my tackle box that are probably about twenty-five years old.

On Lake St. Clair our fishing tactic of choice is trolling near the B-marker with a small Mercury outboard motor, unless it is too windy and choppy, then we drift. We use bait casting reels with usually one quarter to three-eighths ounce sinkers to get the crawler on the harness to the lake bottom.

Before the days of various soft plastic bodied lures grandpa used to fish the St. Clair River at night using pencil plugs, a lure invented in the area. A number of guys, like my grandpa, made them for their own use. Some makers sold their baits on the market, especially in river towns like Algonac, Marine City, Marysville, and Port Huron. Pencil plugs are smooth cylindrical wooden lures usually between four and six inches long. Some of them are about as thick as a regular pencil, while others are thicker and more like those fat kindergarten pencils. They have at least one treble hook at mid body and one on the tail end. The front end might have a plain, rounded look, a vee shaped notch, or a small metal lip. They were painted with various colors and patterns, but as they were used mostly at night, color may not have been a very important factor in one's success.

Another unique local trolling lure is the wobbler. They are also smooth cylindrical baits but only about an inch or so long. The diameter is smaller than that of most pencil plugs. The key feature of the wobbler is a round brass lip, which circles the entire front tip and gives the bait the action it is named after when pulled through the water. A single treble hook often sits at the tail end. Sometimes people add a bit of worm to the hook for added attraction.

A McGinty is a small bait about the same shape and size as a wobbler. The main characteristic is a pair of fixed metal wings on the front which causes the entire lure to spin in the water. A swivel is needed to attach the McGinty to the line to keep it from twisting. The painted bodies are often made of either wood or canvas. A treble hook finishes off the package.

Fishing the Detroit waterways can be a very memorable and rewarding experience. Some of the innovations made in the region have been important to the development of the sport. I do not know if Mr. St. Clair made any of his own lures, but he sure took his share of Detroit walleyes by trolling crawlers on harnesses. I wonder where he is now…

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