Lake Erie Smallies...

You know you have too many fishing shows set to record on you DVR when you leave Friday afternoon with 90% available and come back Sunday night with 22% available and everything that was recorded in your absence was all fishing except the Big Blue / Tenn game (really ashame about Patterson for this guy is mature beyond his years and deserved better).

I start watching some of my recorded shows and In Fisherman Critical Concepts is one of the first. The same Mark Davis that I posted that busted his glasses with the spinnerbait on Lake Huites, who this show says is a Shakespeare something or nother, is fishing Lake Erie just after ice out. 43 degree water temps and they are fishing 1oz lead head jigs and 4 inch tubes on humps and SMOKING the Smallies. Big fish after big fish. Made me wonder what really is the difference about Dale and 43 degree water and Erie 43 degree water. Here I am SLOW fishing a 1 inch FNF suspended and they are dragging 4 inch tubes on 1oz heads. Davis also said something else interesting when he was releasing a 21 inch fish for he said that fish was a good 15 years old. I know the growing seasons are different and know the intervention of the Gobys(sp) at Erie as a food source has really helped but 15 years old sounds like a lot for a 21 inch fish. Wonder how old a 21 inch fish at Dale is? Between this show and the one that committed Fishicide on my other post has started me thinking of some alternative methods, when and if I can ever learn when to put down the Fly which is almost impossible. My first thoughts are jerkbaiting the outer edges paralleling the grass beds, weitless flukes fished slow thru the grass, rattle traps down the grass lines for these can't be moving any where near as fast as Hens's boat was on that one strike, dragging tubes thru the grass, crankbaits down the grass lines are all things that I don't do when the water is this cold but maybe I will start this mid week on my next trip. See ya, any opinions...

Planning a trip to Erie in July. Honestly not sure what to expect!

Elwood that age is probably about right. I've heard others say how long it takes to grow a pig up north. You gotta remember how long it stays extremely cold up there. I would absolutely love to get a group of us together sometime and go fish that lake. I've had people swear to me that when it's on up there 40 to 50 smallmouth days are common and alot of them over four pound. Wow, I might just live there for a few months, that would be fantastic to catch that many brown bass in a day.

[QUOTE=mhall;318199]Elwood that age is probably about right. I've heard others say how long it takes to grow a pig up north. You gotta remember how long it stays extremely cold up there. I would absolutely love to get a group of us together sometime and go fish that lake. I've had people swear to me that when it's on up there 40 to 50 smallmouth days are common and alot of them over four pound. Wow, I might just live there for a few months, that would be fantastic to catch that many brown bass in a day.[/QUOTE]

Put me in on this trip and if we can plan enough ahead so Cliff can tell the prison guards at Toyota, which I think he has to schedule the biggest majority of his vacation time for the whole calendar year by the end of December prior or something like this, Cliff would most likely go as well. My boat has a saltwater hull so I know it will travel up there. I have seen a bunch of show on Erie and the MOST common technique, other than when they are site fishing during the spawn, is big fat headed jig heads shoved up into tubes fished on the bottom. It makes the head of the tube fatter and rounder than the body of the tube. This imitates the Gobie(sp) perfectly, plus you get the shand and crawfish imitation as well. When do we leave....

I have fished Lake Erie a lot and have done really well for numerous years there. Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair are both basically the same as far as small mouth fishing goes. When I first moved here I could not catch a smallie unless I was using dynamite for quite some time. It is completely different fishing here then up at Lake Erie. I do catch some here on tubes because I continue to fish with it just to prove they will eat it but it is nothing like the Northern Lakes. I have a hard time not to use it because I know it works just not real well here. I used to catch enough smallies on tubes until my right shoulder would hurt but not down here.

J-man...if you fished the KY, which is more of a shad forage base, you'd do very well on tubes. DH is more of a crawfish base so your performance should make sense. Plus, people up north aren't nearly as passionate about smallies. It's all about the Walleye up there.

I fish mostly Cumberland as that is where I live but also I run over to Laurel as well and have done better at Laurel with tubes than Cumberland. The behavior and habitat is different for smallies in Lake Erie as well. For example during spawning season in Lake Erie you fish the banks where there a rocky edges. They will lay in very shallow water for their spawn and a lot of time you are pulling a 5-6 pounder out of 6” of water it is crazy and exciting. Many times they will be in a small pool of water behind rocks sticking out of the water. This spot may be no bigger than the opening of a 5 gallon bucket and they are laying in it, chuck a tube in their and bang there she is. The rocky edge is chunked gray rock that is laid in to protect the edge not natural rock like around here. This is a great day for catching smallies when they are doing this, 25-60 smallies is no problem to catch.

I Watched This Same Program, And It Gave Me "brownie" Fever! They Were Slaying 'em! And Each Fish Was 4+!

We Go To Canada Every Year, Up To Quetico National Forest, Soon After Ice-off. The Brownies Are Amazing Up There! It's Every Cast For As Long As Your Shoulder Can Last! Then You've Got To Canoe Back To Camp! We Catch 'em On Everything....pitching Craws, White Flukes, Top Water Plugs, In-line Spinners, Etc. However, Crawdad Patterns Defenitely Out Fish All The Others. They Kill It!

Due To The Short Growing Period Up That Far North, A Big Brownie Is 4 Lbs. That Is An Old Brownie For Canada! I Would Say Dh Brownies Have A Considerable Higher Growth Rate Due To The Mild Temps Of Ky. I Have Yet Attempted The Fnf For Smallies. Sounds Like It Can Really Produce At Times. Maybe Next Winter I'll Start. Keep Your Lines Tight!

[QUOTE=RICHYD4U;318798]I Watched This Same Program, And It Gave Me "brownie" Fever! They Were Slaying 'em! And Each Fish Was 4+!

We Go To Canada Every Year, Up To Quetico National Forest, Soon After Ice-off. The Brownies Are Amazing Up There! It's Every Cast For As Long As Your Shoulder Can Last! Then You've Got To Canoe Back To Camp! We Catch 'em On Everything....pitching Craws, White Flukes, Top Water Plugs, In-line Spinners, Etc. However, Crawdad Patterns Defenitely Out Fish All The Others. They Kill It!

Due To The Short Growing Period Up That Far North, A Big Brownie Is 4 Lbs. That Is An Old Brownie For Canada! I Would Say Dh Brownies Have A Considerable Higher Growth Rate Due To The Mild Temps Of Ky. I Have Yet Attempted The Fnf For Smallies. Sounds Like It Can Really Produce At Times. Maybe Next Winter I'll Start. Keep Your Lines Tight![/QUOTE]



My guess is that you go with Mark on this Canada trip for he tells me the same story. Love to go but Fat Man and Canoe go together like Oil and Water, it does not mix. Love to try the Erie bite for that same show had me ready to get a 5 gallon bucket of minners and head off to Buffalo. They said they were within a 1000 yards of the ramp and you could clearly see the city in the background. 4+ after 4+, doubles on and that was one disciplined camera person. To heck with the job, put down the camera and hand me a rod and a minner.

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