Finally made it out on the southern side of Lake Erie's Western Basin. We've had our eye on this particular area for some time, but the weather
hasn't permitted us to fish it as of late.
I'm sorry to say this new area didn't live up to Jim and my expectations. Air temperatures in the morning were pushing close to the 30's, but it later warmed up into the low 60's. Water surface temperature was running 59 to 61 degrees. We logged 22 miles in the boat today in search of the smallmouth. I have the feeling we were on them several times, but didn't manage to figure out how to get them to bite consistently. The lake laid down early, and it left us mostly with finesse tactics. Plus covering water became a little more difficult. I suppose you take the good with the bad. The lack of wind helped warm us up quickly, and also enabled us to survey the bottom contours and structure.
We fished:
tubes
creature baits
jerkbait
spinnerbait
crankbaits
darters
flukes
Berkley gulp baits
spiderjigs
finesse worms
and probably a few others I'm forgetting.
Smallmouth came on darter, crankbaits, & finesse worm.
Largemouth came on creature baits, and crankbaits
Totals:
Smallmouth 7
Largemouth 8
Walleye 1
Sheephead 4
Nothing too big. All the smallmouth were cookie cutters in the 2 to 2 1/2 pound range. Below is a photo of one of those.
Tough bite, but a nice day on the big lake.
I'm sorry to say this new area didn't live up to Jim and my expectations. Air temperatures in the morning were pushing close to the 30's, but it later warmed up into the low 60's. Water surface temperature was running 59 to 61 degrees. We logged 22 miles in the boat today in search of the smallmouth. I have the feeling we were on them several times, but didn't manage to figure out how to get them to bite consistently. The lake laid down early, and it left us mostly with finesse tactics. Plus covering water became a little more difficult. I suppose you take the good with the bad. The lack of wind helped warm us up quickly, and also enabled us to survey the bottom contours and structure.
We fished:
tubes
creature baits
jerkbait
spinnerbait
crankbaits
darters
flukes
Berkley gulp baits
spiderjigs
finesse worms
and probably a few others I'm forgetting.
Smallmouth came on darter, crankbaits, & finesse worm.
Largemouth came on creature baits, and crankbaits
Totals:
Smallmouth 7
Largemouth 8
Walleye 1
Sheephead 4
Nothing too big. All the smallmouth were cookie cutters in the 2 to 2 1/2 pound range. Below is a photo of one of those.
Tough bite, but a nice day on the big lake.
