Smallies

[Loafer]

I've heard so much about Erie smallmouth fishing I gotta give it a try. I've fished Erie for walleye but never smallies. Can anyone set me straight on Location, time of year, bait, lures, any help is appreciated.

[toothy critter]

I was up friday & saturday. Fished for eyes friday, caught 42, no size. Saturday was awful for eyes so we tried some smallies. we fished all over in between the islands. just keep an eye on your fish finder for the rock piles (9' - 15'). try to anchor as close to the piles as you can. drop soft craws down about 3-4 feet off the bottom. that should keep most of the gobies & goats off and the smallies will rise up for the craw. they'll pick it up and shoot for the surface, so pay close attention. also be careful around those rock piles so you don't beach your boat in the middle of the lake.

toothy

[bubba k]

Smallmouth fishing this time of the year is up and down unless you fish the islands area. You always have a good chance of catching #s of smallies around the islands especially around Pelee. It gets tougher around this time of the year as you move east. The larger smallmouth move in and out of the deaper water. I'm finding that more and more smallies are chancing schools of bait fish in deaper water making them difficult to find. Don't get me wrong, you still can consistently catch smaller fish with a few decent ones mixed in. Drifting tubes in 15-22 ft of water will help you to locate fish. When you find them, soft craws a couple of feet off the bottom will give you the most action. I've heard that the ruggles reef area off of Vermillion has been productive lately.

[Fishfrend]

I've been fishing smallies for over 15 years, mainly east of Fairport to Conneaut. The best time is usually in the spring starting late March into June with mid to late April producing the most fish. It also appears that the larger fish are taken earlier in the spring. I usually fish tube jigs tipped with minnows. My most productive tubes are chartreuse, white, and gray, with or without those shiny speckles. Fish in these areas average 3-4#'s with a few 5's and an occasional 6#er mixed in. 10, 20, and 30 fish days are not uncommon. If u don't have a drift, moving with trolling motor helps tremendously. Fish are usually found in 18 to 30' although this past spring some friends of mine tore them up in 8-12' with crankbaits. Softcraws are definetely the best bait but why spend $3 and up a dozen when tubes work just fine. Helgramites and golden shiners work well also. Fish with about a #4 hook and an egg sinker 2-3' above held by a splitshot. Weight of sinker depends on how fast drift is.

You can fish for smallies all year, but as previously mentioned it's tougher as summer drags on but will pick up as fall approaches. I still like the spring bite best.

Good luck!!!

[Al]

I've been chasing them on Erie since 79. The lake has changed quite a bit in that time span. In my opinion, if you can find a school in the fall, it's the best fishing. YOu can, in the eastern part of Ohio and also around Pelee, catch the stringer of a lifetime. The spring is really great too, but it's drifting and dragging and I find that in the fall, you can hold on a school, cast to them and really work them over....or is that they work you over? In the fall, they really get with the program. One sleeper is St. Clair in the fall. It can be even more fun as you can catch them on any thing that can effectively be fished fast...as in heavy spinner baits, jerk baits, and cranks. I like both places. One thing about St. Clair, you can chase them in shallow water...and when you hook them in 5 feet of water, they have one place to go.....UP and VIOLENTLY SIDEWAYS. I can't wait for September-October-November.

[Kevin /]

Once you've experienced it hard not to want more. We have excellent smallmouth fishing right out of Lorain harbor. Many times I wrestle with the idea of what fish to target, eyes, perch, or smallies ??? What a Great Lake Erie is, it's hard to wrong. Good Luck on your smallmouth fishing you won't be disappointed.
Kevin on "Born Again" - out <><