Lake ErieCold Water Small Mouth

The key to cold water small mouth 6lb or 8lb test line, 1/8 oz. jig, and a lively emerald shine or spot tail.   Fish very slow and low every so lightly bouncing on bottom.  These two fish were caught in 30ft of water by the Hammer Mill intake crib.  Note the dark color of the fish and the winter mud spots on  both fish.
Soon as the water worms up a bit most of the spots will fade out, Don't get to rambunctious to chase small mouth just yet, two- three a day is a good outing.And for small mouth being hooked up in the bay? Someone is full of extremely good luck, highly skilled or full of something else.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

well the pictured didnt work sorry guys. how do you post a picture?

Whats with blacking your face out.

Nice SmallMouth.

Tom.
 
Only three fish weighed in by the WINNER, would suggest that there AREN'T a ton in there. YET

ummmm no offense but it was a 3 fish limit 1 person so thats a 4.33 lb avg , trust me there are a ton of smallies in the bay

smallies have been in the bay for a while now!!!

Yeah, now it will be REALLY hard to find a spot to fish on that little stretch of water, called PI bay.

ORIGINAL: dealinsteel
even if the whole bay is open they'll climb in your pocket cause you know where the fish are.

 
It's even a bigger lake and the same thing happens there too.  So many guys fish the bent rod pattern.  Then they motor all over your drift and complain "there ain't no fish here."

ORIGINAL: dealinsteel

Andy, have you ever noticed parasites on the smallmouth in the colder water?  I caught one this weekend out of French Creek and it had what appeared to be small leeches around it's gills...  Kinda weird, I took a pic but they don't really show up cause they were under the gill plates.   

That sparked a memory from last year.  I caught a drum err...sheephead  last year on erie that had like 20  leech like things under its gill plates.  I noticed that he didn't fight at all for his size and when I lifted him by the gill plate I felt them.  They were little dime sized leech colored balls with a sucker firmly attached to the flesh.  I wasn't sure what to do so I took a pair of pliers and pulled them off of it. (yes I may have saved a sheepheads life)  Since then I've noticed a few more sheepheads with one or two of these things attached.  Anyone else seen anything like this?

It happened to me on 4/18.Was fishing with the current eastbound in front of Cherry Street Marina,two guys in a brand new 21 foot Triton with probably a 225 or 250 hp engine on it(beautiful boat),were haulin'****from the head of the bay.There were only maybe 50 boats that i could see in the whole bay but they came right up to me and my brother and fished on the inside wall of the marina while I was fishing the outside.We were around a casts distance from each other with the wall in between,but it's a big water,not like it is a 10 acre lake.I kept trolling along thinking "Hey,I'm out here to have fun,no need to get upset.It is way better than working."I wasn't lighting the world on fire and neither did they since I didn't see them hook a fish.That was not the thing that ****ed me off.Less than 5 minutes later a 30 foot charter boat with 6-8 guys on it came hauling****full speed into Cherry Street Marina with a full load of guys on it from a half day charter around 11am or noon.The "captain?" was putting out a 4-5 foot wake until about 50 yards from the marina.I've got a 20 foot newer bass boat.As my boat plowed into the waves from the charter and residual waves combined bouncing back off the metal wall sent water over my bow causing my bilge to come on later,all the guys in the charter looked intently(or amused) from inside the marina to see how my "little boat" handled the waves.I understand that bigger boats put out bigger waves,it is part of the territory.However,I have always taken the utmost care in not trying to swamp another boat,like a canoe or small aluminum boat.It is just common courtesy and boating etiquette.Whoever was driving that boat had no care for anyone at all.Let's all try to pay attention this year to others.Don't go full speed though a pack of boats obviously fishing.If you cross lines with someone else anywhere in PI bay or Lake Erie,you're an idiot and need to take up(fill in your dumb****sport here).
 

CATMAN610 Quote: "nice tom,,once again Mr. Erie was put in his place,,,,not so informed afterall."
 
Best quote so far this year.  Funny stuff