Lake St. Clair draws rave reviews from Bassmaster field

MACOMB COUNTY — The beauty of having a massive body of water like Lake St. Clair at the tip of your fingers is the endless fishing and boating opportunities to be had.

The downside is that, because locals are so accustomed to it, it may not hold that spark of glamor that outsiders may view it with.

Well, for anyone who needed a reminder, the 2023 American Fishing Tackle Company Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair from July 27 to July 30 brought out the best sport anglers from across the globe, and they couldn’t get enough of what Lake St. Clair had to offer. For those unfamiliar with professional fishing, the Bassmaster Elite Series is at the top of the food chain when it comes to professional bass fishing tournaments.

“This has just been an incredible week,” said Maryland native Bryan Schmitt, who finished in fifth place. “I would really like to come here every year. I’ve been all over, and the crowd is off-the-hook, too, here by the way. But, I mean, this is incredible. We go to St. Lawrence, Champlain and all these really, really good fisheries, but I’ve never caught the same amount of fish as I have here. There’s a lot of fish in this place, and it’s very, very special.”

Macomb County pulled out all the stops at Brandenburg Park in Chesterfield Township as the Friday to Sunday event showcased beverage tents, numerous food trucks and barbecue vendors, fireworks, a cornhole tournament and live music.

In front of a rowdy Sunday crowd, Bassmaster’s current rookie of the year points leader and Arkansas native Joey Cifuentes III took home first-place honors with a total weight of 91 pounds and 8 ounces.

Cifuentes, sporting his signature cowboy hat, raised the trophy, smiling from ear to ear after collecting his second win of the season, but not before announcing some life-changing news for his family watching at home.

“I’ve got a little bit of a surprise for my parents that are watching right now,” Cifuentes said. “My wife is pregnant. We’re going to have another baby. Nobody knows about that really, but we’re just going to go ahead and tell everybody. I told my wife that if I won this thing, I was going to tell my parents.”

While it was hard to top the day Cifuentes reeled in, Lake St. Clair was on full display worldwide as the tournament was broadcast on Fox Sports FS1.

The Bassmaster circuit used to be a regular occurrence on Lake St. Clair from 2014 to 2020, visiting Macomb County five times in that span.

Now, after a three-year drought between events, the hope is that this year’s showing will be a massive steppingstone for years to come.

“Lake St. Clair is an incredible fishery,” said Eric Lopez, director of event operations at Bassmaster. “In fact, it ranked in the Top 10 (#7) on Bassmaster Magazine’s 2023 100 Best Bass Lakes list. There are so many options for our anglers, which makes for a more exciting tournament.”

Luke Palmer, Taku Ito and Cooper Gallant rounded out the top five for the tournament.

It’s a tight race for the Progressive Elite Series Angler of the Year race as only two tournaments remain on the season for the elite series.

Lake St. Clair provided some much needed points for some anglers looking to get back in the chase, but for Louisiana native Greg Hackney, a three-time Elite Series champion and 2014 Angler of the Year, he enjoyed the little things Michigan had to offer.

“This place has always been great ever since I’ve been coming here, but it has so many bass in it now that it’s unbelievable,” Hackney said. “When I said it’s been like a vacation this week, it really has. It’s over 100 degrees every day at my house, so to come up here and fish in pants and catch 50 smallmouth a day and big ones. I live a bad life, what can I say?”

Anytime a professional league comes into town, it brings attention with it, and Macomb County and Lake St. Clair are expecting that to translate to the waters.

“The real impact is from all the people who see this televised worldwide that come and they start fishing this lake as soon as ice is off right through the walleye season,” said Gerard Santoro, Macomb County program director for land and water resources. “It’s pretty remarkable the response that we get, and I’d say that on any given weekend, Lake St. Clair in Macomb County has the three busiest DNR boat launches in the state.”