DETROIT, MI — Lake St. Clair's spring is splitting into two halves. The Detroit River walleye run is sliding past peak, and a smallmouth bass population that has held back through a cold, fluctuating spring is — in the words of Sportsman's Direct host John Backrell — "ready to blow." His May 8, 2026 report, the first the shop has filed in 16 days, lays out a system loaded with fish but stratified by water temperature.
Water temps at Belle Isle are still hanging around 50°F. Main-lake readings range from low to mid-50s along Metro Beach and the southern mile roads, while the north end of the lake — closer to the channels — is still showing 48 to 49. That patchwork is exactly why Lake St. Clair fishes the way it does in May.
"That's just the way this system is, and that's what makes it one of the things that makes it so special," Backrell told viewers. "You have different fish at different stages this early in the spring — for walleye and smallies and perch and everything — different stages of the spawn based on the water temperature at different areas on the lake."
Backrell flagged a strong Canadian-side perch bite that has been firing for three to four weeks, with reports coming in from 11 to 21 feet of water. Anglers running forward-facing sonar told him the schools are not the small pots they look like from the surface.
"I've had guys tell me that they're on a pot of fish and it's like 50 yards wide, and then I've had guys tell me that are over there scoping with the LiveScope that the schools of fish that they were on was like a mile wide," Backrell said. "There is a lot of big perch action going on over there on the Canadian side, and it's a whole lot of water."
On the Detroit River, Backrell said the walleye run is past peak based on water temperature alone, and the playbook has shifted from jigging to crawler harnesses pulled in slightly deeper water for spawned-out fish. Some of those post-spawn walleye are already pushing up out of the river mouth and along the lake's mile-road shoreline. White bass are starting to show in the lower river — early but on schedule for a Memorial Day push.
The headline call, though, is the smallmouth. Backrell said the brief warm spells of the past few weeks pushed a small wave of fish through the spawn, but the bulk of the population is still pre-spawn and stacked. With the 10-day forecast threatening mid-70s air temps, he expects a complete flip.
"There's going to be a huge shot of fish, especially those fish from the Lake St. Clair Metropark down through the mile roads and down into the south end of the lake, which is where you're going to have the warmest water," he said. "Those fish are going to pile in and it's going to be spawn city. They've held back a long time and they're ready to blow. These fish are fat right now and they are going to go in and they are going to start spawning."
That urgency is shaping how he is talking to small-boat owners walking into the shop. Walleye are within shore-casting range right now in front of Lake St. Clair Metropark, and a handful of guys casting flickers and crawler harnesses from the bank are putting fish on the rocks.
"This is the time of the year, if you're a small boat owner and you don't have your boat ready, you are missing it right now, because now is the time when all of these fish are the easiest and closest to shore," Backrell said.
The St. Clair River is also producing what Backrell called a quiet bonus. His friend Fly Rod John pulled a 7-pound, 12-ounce king salmon from gin-clear water this week, and shop staffer Spencer followed it with a coho the next day. Salmon and steelhead remain in the system.