Lake St Clair Ontario, just north of the city of Windsor, has been a long-time provider of quality fishing opportunities for the Fish’n Canada crew. Our latest trip this month gave us plenty of stories to tell. Despite ridiculously hot and sunny conditions, the warm waters between Lake Erie and Lake Huron provided boatloads of bass, walleye and even gar. But our catch wasn’t limited to just fish.

This smallie Angelo netted was impressive enough, but imagine our surprise when she ejected a small bundle of feathers – a baby duck!

“In my 30 plus years of fishing, I’ve never experienced anything as remarkable as this”, exclaimed host Angelo Viola. “Of course we’ve had fish spit out smaller bait fish or other creatures, but never have I seen a duck ejected from the belly of a caught fish … and certainly not from a smallmouth bass!”

We’re not sure what exactly happened to this smallmouth on the left. Handicapped by an eye that didn’t survive a previous hook, or through infection, the remarkable thing is this nearly handicapped bass still took our lure! This is a testament to the tenacious nature of these aggressive fish combined with world-class fishing conditions present on the water. Proving the fact that even a blind squirrel can sometimes find the nut.

These fish survived after a quick photo and release.

But the ducks on Lake St Clair between Ontario and Michigan may share the same fate as our feathered friend.