Early spring

Wow, what a poor excuse for a winter that was. I will take it though, I hate the cold. With the mild winter came alot of wind and rain. The river stayed dirty pretty much for a couple of months. Worst steelehead season I have ever had. The brown trout fishing was amazing though, kept us busy throughout the whole winter.
I was really excited to get out on Erie to do some smallmouth fishing. Finally got out and the temps were in the high 70's and the water was flat calm. I went out with a couple of buddies and we just smashed the fish in shallow. Most came on jerkbaits, got a few on the blade bait and a few on the dropshot. Its hard to put down the jerkbait when the bite is on. We caught well over 60 fish and the biggest was 6.4. It was the earliest I have ever fished Erie for smallmouth.
Went out again today with my brother. Conditions where alot different. High in the mid 40's and a stiff northwest breeze. We tried shallow, but the fish didnt seem to respond so we started drifting in the mid twenty foot water and caught well over 30 fish with the biggest at 7 lbs even. We also got one over six and many in the five lb range. Here are some pics from the last two trips....what a difference in the weather.

Mid winter report

Not much of a winter actually, however like I suspected, wind and rain has kept the river dirty for weeks at a time. Thank god there are still a lot of browns in the river to keep things interesting. The steelhead are there as well and can be caught using the right techniques. Looks like its going to be an early spring, looking forward to getting back on the lake for some trophy smallies.

Winter trout action

Fall trout started off slow in early November because of warm water temps, steelhead runs pushed past most of the slow Canadian drifts and headed up to the fast water where shore fisherman were reporting great catches. Thank god the brown trout showed up in great numbers to keep us busy until water temps finally cooled enough to get the steelies to hang around.



The browns are like the smallmouth bass of the trout world, their aggressive nature allows for fisherman to use all kinds of presentations to catch them. When the water got dirty from the rain and wind, kwik fish really did a number on them as did dropshotted soft jerk baits. Roe and egg imitations worked well when the water cleared.



Now that water temps have reached the low forties, the steelhead action is heating up. With weather being as mild as it has been, I suspect we will be having problems with water clarity. Usually warm weather this time of year is accompanied with big winds and heavy rains. Don't put those kwikies away yet.

Recap fall smallmouth

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, the rest of the summer was great as usual, lake Erie did not disappoint. Lots of dropshot action as well as jerk bait action in the fall. My good friend Lonnie king was down from Ottawa, he was working on an article for Ontario Out of Doors on the best trophy smallmouth spots in southern Ontario. We had a great day, Erie layed down flat for us and I put on a drop shot clinic for him.



We caught fish at will, however finding big fish is always a chore with so many rock piles and rocky flats on the Canadian side to scan. Lake held its own with such fisheries as the St Lawrence and Simcoe and we boat several big fish with the biggest topping out at 6 lbs. Lonnie also added a beautiful 8lb walleye on a jigging spoon.





It won't be long until I find my way back onto the lake again to fish the NY trophy season.

Ontario opener

Wow, what an opener its been, I had a feeling with the late spring that the opener was going to be terrific, and it has been. I have never seen so many fish shallow before. Its a great time to get away from the usual dropshotting and tube dragging and start fishing some really fun baits like topwater, spinnerbaits and rattle traps. Tubes and grubs still account for alot of fish. We have been getting fish as shallow as I can possible get the boat, your probably better off fishing from shore. I did start looking for post spawn females and have located a good bunch in that 15-22 feet of water just off spawning sites. I suspect alot of fish will remain shallow this year due to the late spring. This happened a few years ago and there were alot of big fish shallow all season.
I dont know if anyone has noticed this, but the water offshore looks really dark blue. It may be due to the colder water down below. Very strange. Here are some pictures of fish that we have caught in the last few weeks.

More Lake Erie trophy smallmouth

What a great week of fishing, finished it off with Steve, Mike and Bob from West Virginia. I never laughed so hard in my life. Those guys are a blast to fish with. Steve knows every line of every funny movie ever made, he kept us laughing the whole two days.
Steve was up with his dad a few weeks ago because I told him how good April was last year but unfortunately, mother nature had something to say about it and we had the worst spring that I could ever imagine. Steve was looking for redemption and he got it, two glorious days on Erie with very little to no wind. We caught a rediculous number of fish on jerkbaits, tubes, Poor Boys Erie darters and dropshot rigged emerald shiners.
Both Steve and Bob broke 6 lbs, with Steve's fish coming on a jerkbait, very cool. Here are a few pictures to recap their trip. Thanks alot guys for making the trip.

Weather finally coming around on Erie

Had a real great week, weather finally started to co operate and the smallies really came around. There is still dirty water moving around the lake, I think its from all the creek run offs on the south shore. One days its starting to clear, the next its brown and cloudy. The fish dont seem to mind to bad and really hammer the blade baits in the off color water. However, if you can finds some nice clear water, the bite is very good.
I had one of my best days last week with a couple from Oklahoma. They flew up to fish Erie because they had heard so much about it. Well, she didnt disapoint and made them feel right at home. Julie counted every fish they landed, up to 85! They probably lost a good 20 or 30 as well. All came on plastics dragged on the bottom and blade baits. We had a real stiff west wind up to 15 mph. There were small white caps but it didnt seem to bother Julie or John and fishing out of the Ranger was a real pleasure, they absolutely hammered them. I was really impressed with Julie, she didnt complain about the wind or waves or cold all day...I guess when you are too busy catching fish you dont rally notice the nastiness!
They did well the next day too, however they seemed a bit disapointed they only caught 55 or so. The bar was raised too high, we didnt get the wind the next day and they had to work for bites with dropshot rigs.
Here are some pics from the last weeks trips with some great clients, some real slobs in there.