It was a blistery cold morning for this time of year. There were local cities that had record low temperatures. Ann Arbor read 22 degrees this morning. My outside thermometer read 28 degrees when I got up. This all lead to a choice this morning. Stay in my warm cozy bed and get some rest, or head out with my buddy Jim on Lake Erie before work this afternoon. Let's just say this photo gives away what I decided to do, and let me tell you it was a cold run on the lake this morning.

Jim and I headed out to a vast area that has smallmouth scattered this time of year for the spawn. The water surface temperature read 56 degrees. This surprised me given the last few cold days we've had. The skies were bright blue, and there wasn't a cloud to be found on this high pressure day. Jim was first in the water.

It took a while to locate some fish, and a little longer to dial in on what they wanted in the morning. This first 4 lb. 1 oz. bass came on a darter.

Once we dialed them in the morning, you would hit a couple and then go through a dry spell without any bites. When they did bite, they were pretty aggressive. Here's Jim holding up a double we caught at the same time. Jim's came on a darter, and mine came on a tube.

We stuck it out for a while and had about a dozen smallmouth by 9:30 am. It wasn't fast and furious, but there were defiantly some fish in the area. Here's Jim with another chunk that came aboard.

We decided to tuck in a marina and get some green fish and warm up from the cold morning wind. Jim idles the boat in, and that's when this boat caught my eye. I'm wondering how many guy's this boat might apply too.

Jim and I proceeded to make our quick round of the marina. We targeted crappie and largemouth while fishing. The bass certainly were there, but the crappie were lacking behind. There were some typical marina chunk largemouth, and we even had one pushing 4 lbs. that came unbuttoned near the boat. Below is a photo of a typical chunk.

I think it was around 11 am that we decided to go back out for the brown bass. I'm glad we did, because they were biting better then they were in the morning. We were able to catch them on several different baits this time too. This to me is more fun, because I enjoy catching them more on traditional bass lures (power) rather than slow dragging the bottom. This double below came cranking. Jim was so kind to keep his smallmouth on the line long enough that I could cast at his buddy that was following him.

I ended my day at 1 pm, and Jim headed back out after dropping me off at the ramp. He still had a couple more hours and I don't blame him. I hope you enjoy the report as much as I did fishing for them. Tally for the day was 46 bass (probably even between largemouth and smallmouth), 2 crappie, and several sheephead.

Jim and I headed out to a vast area that has smallmouth scattered this time of year for the spawn. The water surface temperature read 56 degrees. This surprised me given the last few cold days we've had. The skies were bright blue, and there wasn't a cloud to be found on this high pressure day. Jim was first in the water.

It took a while to locate some fish, and a little longer to dial in on what they wanted in the morning. This first 4 lb. 1 oz. bass came on a darter.

Once we dialed them in the morning, you would hit a couple and then go through a dry spell without any bites. When they did bite, they were pretty aggressive. Here's Jim holding up a double we caught at the same time. Jim's came on a darter, and mine came on a tube.

We stuck it out for a while and had about a dozen smallmouth by 9:30 am. It wasn't fast and furious, but there were defiantly some fish in the area. Here's Jim with another chunk that came aboard.

We decided to tuck in a marina and get some green fish and warm up from the cold morning wind. Jim idles the boat in, and that's when this boat caught my eye. I'm wondering how many guy's this boat might apply too.


Jim and I proceeded to make our quick round of the marina. We targeted crappie and largemouth while fishing. The bass certainly were there, but the crappie were lacking behind. There were some typical marina chunk largemouth, and we even had one pushing 4 lbs. that came unbuttoned near the boat. Below is a photo of a typical chunk.

I think it was around 11 am that we decided to go back out for the brown bass. I'm glad we did, because they were biting better then they were in the morning. We were able to catch them on several different baits this time too. This to me is more fun, because I enjoy catching them more on traditional bass lures (power) rather than slow dragging the bottom. This double below came cranking. Jim was so kind to keep his smallmouth on the line long enough that I could cast at his buddy that was following him.

I ended my day at 1 pm, and Jim headed back out after dropping me off at the ramp. He still had a couple more hours and I don't blame him. I hope you enjoy the report as much as I did fishing for them. Tally for the day was 46 bass (probably even between largemouth and smallmouth), 2 crappie, and several sheephead.
