GRAYLING, Mich. — It was supposed to be a walleye trip. Unfortunately, no one told the walleyes. So Captain Steve Jones moved his boat, Predator, a little way along Lake St. Clair and went to Plan B.

"It was a great trip. We had over 40 (smallmouth) bass, some perch and a bunch of sheepshead. Some of them were this big," said Nino Iaconis of Westland, Mich., holding his hands a couple of feet apart.

Jones took Iaconis and five other anglers out for a morning trip and had warned them in advance that walleye fishing had slowed dramatically.

But these fishermen understood the odds and were willing to make a change if the primary plan didn't work out.

"Not everyone is that flexible," said Jones. "There are some people who say they only want to fish for walleyes, even though you tell them that the walleye fishing isn't very good. But they insist, and then when they don't catch any fish, it's the guide's fault."

Walleye fishing in Lake St. Clair slowed down three weeks earlier this year than last, probably a result of the high temperatures in June.

"It got up into the 90s quite a few days then," said Jones. "The walleyes we had in the lake headed up the St. Clair River, and we didn't get a fresh batch up from the Detroit River to replace them."

Phil Lowery, a Roseville angler who fishes Lake St. Clair a couple of days a week from April to October, said, "Last summer, we were still getting limits way into July. Now, we're getting two, three (walleyes) if we fish all day. It's not worth it.

"When the walleye bite slows down, we switch over to bass and perch. The bass fishing is great, and the perch are pretty good. What's been weird this year is the number of muskies I've had hit when I was bass fishing. I've only landed three of them, and the biggest was 45 inches, but I've had at least a dozen break me off in the last two weeks. It's hard to hold them when you're fishing 6-pound line."

Bass guide Gerry Gostenik recently fished with his pal, WJBK-TV weatherman Wyatt Everhart. They started out by catching largemouth bass around the harbor at Metro Beach Metropark and then headed offshore to fish deeper water for smallmouths.

"I've had more guys tell me this year that they've seen big muskies following (hooked) bass right up to the boat," Gostenik said.

"Fishing has just been phenomenal this season. Typically, we get a slow (bass) period about now, but not this year. It seems as if there's more cabbage weed in the deeper water offshore. It's growing right up to the surface, and the bass hang around it."

"There are a lot of fish about three miles off the mile roads," Gostenik added. "We've been catching them all kids of ways, deep-running crank baits, jerk baits, tube baits and drop shotting. I don't think this lake has ever been better."

Everhart will soon return to the Delaware area where he grew up fishing for saltwater species, but he said that he'd make trips back to Detroit to fish.

"I'll certainly be back. I love saltwater fishing because it's what I grew up with, but for fresh water, there's nothing like here," Everhart said.