By MLF Communications Staff

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The MLF Bass Pro Tour is set to visit Harrison Township, Mich and Lake St. Clair this week for the sixth regular-season event of the 2023 season. Competition gets under way Saturday and runs through Thursday.

Lake St. Clair is a familiar destination for MLF and the pro anglers who compete on the BPT, as the fishery has played host to numerous major bass-fishing tournaments over the years. When the BPT last visited the fishery in the fall of 2021, Tennessee pro Michael Neal wrapped up the first pro-level win of his career targeting smallmouth at the mouth of the Detroit River and Lake Erie with a crankbait, vibrating jig and dropshot rig.

The upcoming event will take place much earlier in the year, marking the opening day for Michigan and Canadian bass anglers’ traditional season. Arkansas pro Spencer Shuffield, who has numerous Top-10 finishes on Lake St. Clair, doesn’t seem to think that will affect the tournament.

“This is mainly going to be a post-spawn tournament, with the bass backing out to that deeper water,” said Shuffield. “Lake St. Clair is shaped like a bowl and doesn’t really have much drop, other than the shipping channel that runs through it. The bass usually spawn in 5 to 7 feet of water, but by the time of this event, most of the fish should be back out to 15 to 17 feet of water, around grass patches and things like that.

“This is going to be a huge (Garmin) LiveScope tournament,” Shuffield continued, referring to the importance of forward-facing sonar. “I expect to see a lot of guys catching fish on a dropshot and Ned Rig, almost exclusively, but there will also be some deep jerkbaits being thrown.

“Big crankbaits can also be very effective on Lake St. Clair – like Norman (Lures Professional Edge) DD22’s, Rapala DT 16s or (Rapala) DT Metal 20s – crankbaits that will get down to that 16- to 18-foot-range, just cranking it out over sand and grass patches. The guys using crankbaits might not get as many bites, but they will catch really good 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-pound smallmouth doing that.”

Shuffield said he expects the mayfly hatch to have already taken place by the time the tournament begins and is excited for a really good event.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to fish the Canadian side of the fishery the last several times I’ve been there, and that’s where most of the really big smallmouth are, so I’m really excited to get to fish the Canadian side and revisit other areas where I’ve caught them really good in the past,” Shuffield said.

“The fishing should be wide open,” Shuffield concluded. “I think it will take 20 1/2 pounds per day to make it into the Knockout Round and probably 22 1/2 to make the cut into the Championship Round. The winner will probably have to have 24 pounds per day.”

Anglers will launch each day at 7:20 a.m. ET from the Lake St. Clair Metropark, located at 31300 Metro Parkway in Harrison Township. Each day’s takeout will be held at the launch location beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

On Thursday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF will welcome fans to visit Cabela’s, located at 45959 Towne Center Boulevard in Chesterfield, Mich., to celebrate the Top 10 and crown the champion at the watch party and trophy presentation. The 10 Championship Round anglers will be on hand to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The tournament will feature pros competing using the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five (5) heaviest bass per day tallied as their day’s weight. Anglers strive to catch their heaviest five fish each day while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the live ScoreTracker leaderboard.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday and the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each qualifying round is complete, the Top 20 anglers from each group advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round.

In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round,where weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.