It's their mouth size and body shape mostly,.....Erie smallies are shorter and more "football" shaped with much smaller mouths. St.Clair smallies tend to be much longer and some can have a mouth that's huge...not much smaller than a largemouth!!
A 5lb Erie fish might be 18-19" long and thick as a brick...and a 5lb 'Clair fish could be 21" long and leaner. Might have a lot to do with the currents from the rivers.....I think the St.Clair river/lake/DetRvr fish get more "exercise",......the Erie toads can just cruise the rock reefs and gourge on gobies...much less current to deal with!
That wouldn't explain the size diff's in their mouths though,....but there is deffinitely a distinct difference.......probably a slight diff in genetic strains I'd guess!! Last spring, Mini and I noticed a diff in the bedding smallies that we were catching.....they looked more like Erie fish......not as long overall as in years past and they seemed to have the smaller mouths. We just summized that we're catching more "transplants" from tournaments......caught in Erie,...released in 'Clair...and staying in Clair. No need to cruise back to Ohio, when you can eat like a BIGDOG in Michigan and Ontario!!..LOL
