Lake Erie is a renowned smallmouth fishery. It
is talked about and talked about how Lake Erie's smallmouth population
is so high and that people from all over the world come to chase
these big brutes. Well... I'm sick of it. Lake Erie is a great fishery
for plenty of species. Walleye, Rainbow Trout, Northern Pike and
of course jumbo yellow perch are all common game in this lake. There
always seems to be one fish left out in the cold though, as if he
doesn't exist here. His name is old bucketmouth, and I can tell you
from experience... he not only lives here... he thrives here! With
the massive amounts of people coming here for tournaments or for
pure fishing pleasure, I must tell you
all about not only how great the largemouth fishing is in Lake Erie, but
also how to go about catching them consistently.
By Comparison
First of all, I am in no way saying that
the largemouth fishery in Lake Erie is better or even equal to the
smallmouth fishery.
Trust me, the smallmouth fishery is in a league of it's own. But
year after year tournament limits are often won with our old friend
Mr. Largemouth in the creel. Why is this? Well, in my opinion it's
simply because largemouth here are more reliable. Think about it.
If you're fishing in 30 feet of water on a hump and the smallies
stop biting, you're left waiting for them to start biting again.
It may or may not happen that day,
that week or the rest of that year! They may have left and you'd never
know about it. And if this happens in a tournament, you're out of the
picture. Luck plays a fairly large role in Lake Erie smallmouth fishing.
Now just say you're in that same tournament fishing
for largemouth in 6 feet of water, near a trough on the right and
a bunch of docks on the left. A perfect spot. You're getting them
on the edge of the trough through the weeds on a white spinnerbait
ripped through the weeds. All of the sudden your fish stop biting.
Now you have plenty of choices. You could start dropping finesse
baits like plastics into holes in the weeds. You could start fishing
the docks on the left, looking for a reaction strike. You can still
catch fish throughout the day, and you can bet that lazy old largemouth
won't roam very far from a prime feeding ground.
So largemouth are the sensible choice in a tournament
right? Well.. not necessarily. There is a big reason why so many
tournament fishermen on Lake Erie choose to target smallies.
If the fish a re there, and they're biting... you've got it made.
You can scrape up a limit of 6lb+ fish in one day when you target
smallies sometimes, while largemouth's average size on a good day
would be about 3lbs a piece with the odd 6lb+ thrown in.
They both have their up-sides and their down-sides,
but in my books largemouth are the sensible choice, since I am not
a gambler. Hey, go ahead and take chances out there, that's what
tournament fishing is about! But it's also about careful planning
ahead of time and estimating if your smallmouth will be there or
not. A good strategy in the past in 2 day tournaments has been to
get your decent limit of largemouth the first day, to get yourself
on or near the top, then
gambling on the second day. Whatever you choose, just remember that
old Mr. Largemouth isn't too far away.
Why Are Largemouth More Reliable?
We've covered this a little, but I thought I would
add some more points. If you want to go chase smallmouth on shoals
in unprotected water, you need it to be relatively calm. Well, in
a tournament of course you would go out there no matter
what, but I'm sure you'd rather go the comfortable route. Plus high
waves and high wind make it very difficult to fish and detect strikes
from smallmouth that are 30ft down. Meanwhile you can go to protected
bays, rivers and canals and catch largemouth all day as though there
was no wind whatsoever! That's another reason largemouth are just
the reliable choice.
Where To Start?
Now that we've covered the why, let's
start to cover the how. First of all this can change seasonally and
in some
parts of Lake Erie there literally is no largemouth. First of all,
any places with large, shallow bays (i.e. Long Point Bay in Ontario,
most of the Western Basin, tributary rivers, etc.) will hold largemouth.
For the most part, Lake Erie largemouth will not venture out to water
deeper than 20 feet. In fact, the majority of Lake Erie largemouth
will be found in less than 10 feet of water. Weeds are extremely
important. Make sure the area you are fishing has weeds at certain
times of the year, or some other oxygen source, and plenty of baitfish.
Also, having some deep water access nearby is a necessity for bigger
largemouth. Ledges, channels and rivers are usually deeper areas.
Wood structure tends to be less important, but things like docks
in marinas or laydowns in tributary rivers are very good areas for
Lake Erie largemouth as well.
The name of the game is finding fairly shallow,
structured, covered areas that are protected from heavy waves. Largemouth
tend to prefer a calmer setting and don't like being bashed around
by waves, although they can still be caught in rough conditions.
Marinas or channels that allow public fishing access are often good
choices for bigger bass. These usually have both wood and weed cover,
and in the colder months; some rock cover or metal docks hold heat
and will draw bass as well. Avoid any brown weeds as bigger largemouth
want nothing to do with them.
Presentations are endless and depend on season/conditions,
but there are some proven tactics for Lake Erie largemouth that I
would like to cover.
One great way of catching big largemouth on sunny
days during summer or early fall is to find blown-in weed mats in
coves or canals, and flip 7 inch plastic worms right into them. Fish
the edges of them first, but never avoid throwing your worm (or other
plastic bait) high in the air and letting it crash right down through
the middle of the mat. Or you can use holes that are naturally in
the mat and flip into them. My biggest Lake Erie largemouth have
come from this tactic, some in only inches of water!
Don't put those plastics down just yet. The most
reliable pattern for a faster limit in some Lake Erie bays is flipping
plastic baits or flippin' jigs into pockets or holes in weed flats
during the spring, summer or early fall. Make sure you have a stout
flippin' stick with heavy, abrasion resistant line (like Silver Thread
Excalibur) to be able to horse the bass out of the heavy weeds. Weeds
have very sharp edges that can cut through cheaper or weaker line
like a knife through butter. Let your bait fall right to the bottom
in these holes (texas rigs are usually best) and bounce it on bottom
for a few seconds, then pull up and find the next hole. The advantage
to this method is that you can often let the wind do the work for
you and barely touch your electric motor. If you get on the right
drift you can do this over and over again throughout the day and
keep catching fish. It also works with spinnerbaits, allowed to helicopter
into holes and pockets in the weeds.
As always, marinas are very good places to look.
They often host a variety of structure, and on the great lakes they
usually also have large breakwalls made of rip-rap or metal. During
the early hours or the late afternoon in the summer, or in spring
or fall, many times a quick limit of decent largemouth can be caught
off of these breakwalls by simply spinnerbaiting all the way down.
Any differences like bends in the wall, broken cement pieces or ladders
are obvious places to use to your advantage. Spinnerbait speed and
depth depends on the mood of the fish and the season. Vary your colors,
blades and retreive speeds until you find the one that the fish want.
Often times the larger fish on the breakwalls will smash a slightly
different bait like a buzzbait or suspending jerkbait, brought through
the areas after they've been worked over with spinnerbaits.
Of course, never overlook the obvious. Docks, boathouses
and other man-made structures inside marinas and covers are often
big bass magnets.
Some favourite techniques for fishing these areas in Lake Erie are
chucking spinnerbaits underneath or around edges of the docks, and
smacking the bait into the dock legs, skipping 3 or 4 inch tube baits
underneath
with a light texas rig, and allowing the bait to fall to the bottom
slowly. Often the fish pick the bait up before it hits bottom. Sometimes
the simplest tactic, flipping worms & jigs to the dock
legs or into boathouses can produce the biggest of the big largemouth
in these man-made fish hideouts. Often the shade and ambush point offered
by these is too much for the bass to resist!
Overall
Lake Erie largemouth are often overlooked in the
big picture. If your dream is coming to Lake Erie for it's monster
smallies, then so be it. Just make sure you get to the right place
at the right time. If you just want a reliable fish to catch, or
a good way to get a tournament limit, largemouth are probably the
way to go. Lake Erie largemouth can be very challenging, but often
you get big rewards from chasing them bucketmouths!
As always, make sure you stay safe out on the water,
especially big water like Lake Erie. Be respectful of other people's
property, and always, always have fun out there!
Good luck & Tight
Lines,
Richard Sims
