Lake Erie fishing charters 

It happened to be a slow day on Lake Erie last May and the walleyes were taking a siesta. After experiencing an unusually cool spring and many windy days on the big lake this year, it seemed like a dream just to be able to finally get a suntan. The day was hot, calm and gorgeous, but the walleye fishing was as cold as the spring. You could sense that my clients were getting a little restless not catching fish and they hinted for a change. Lenny turned and asked me, "What do you think about catching smallmouth bass, .... do you think we could take a break and catch some?" My reply with a big grin was simply, "You bet we can!" Over the next two hour's we fished for spring `jumpers' near Middle Bass Island, caught and released over forty, before returning to walleyes at the re-start of the day's wind and afternoon bite. Undoubtedly, one of the fastest times for these hard battlers is during the springtime, when the water begins to warm and the smallmouth bass leave their deep water haunts for food, warmth, and preparation for them to be `getting down to business'.

So when it's springtime and the smallmouth bass start moving into shallow water for the sole purpose of spawning, guess what, ..... they're now easy to catch! Have you ever tried them this early? When the water temps reach into the mid-50ø's, stable warm weather triggers the smallmouth bass to move into shallow waters flats quickly. They are there for the ideal spawning habitat found there and to feed heavily before the spawn. This is the time when the Lake Erie bass anglers should start targeting the lake's best fighting game fish. Needless to say, this is also one of my favorite times of the year to target these battler's because, 1) You're in shallow water during the pre-spawn period, 2) The willingness to take artificial and 3) They're eager eating machines.

It's not unusual for anglers to begin catching smallmouth as early as late April with a warm and sunny spring day, in and around protected areas along mainland and island shoreline locations. Begin looking for the fat and sassy bass on the 3-4 ft. shallow water flats and into areas as deep as 15 ft. [Tip: Good areas to key in on when looking for springtime smallmouth bass, are shallow flats with various types of structure and nearby deep water.] During spring spawning periods, smallmouth bass are very object and structural oriented. When you find these prime areas, they can hold an unbelievable amount of fish without anglers having to go far to find more fish. Try and remember that structure in this case can be any type of transitions from hard to soft bottoms, rock piles near sharp drop areas, large isolated boulders on flats or even sharp drop-offs with fish moving up or down the side.

Prime examples of this type of choice smallmouth locations are found just about anywhere along the eastside of South Bass Island from the lighthouse to the N.E. tip of the island, downtown areas of Put-In-Bay and along the state park ramp on westside of South Bass. Just about anywhere along the shorelines of both Middle and North Bass Islands, with particular interest paid to the N.E. corner of North Bass and S.W. corner of Middle Bass. Don't ever overlook Kelleys Island for smallmouth bass, .... anytime! The entire shoreline of Kelleys Island is a particularly good area for spring jumpers. To find these preferred spring smallmouth haunts, you must start by having a good depthfinder/fish finder onboard and carry an up-to-date lake chart of the Islands and reefs to help you key in and locate prime bass spots once your there.

Weather and water temperatures will help dictate locations and activity of spawning bass. While hot sunny days may draw bass into shallower water, a sharp cold front can push the fish back into the adjacent, deeper water just as fast. This causes the angler to search more areas and adjust his type of presentation. Often times, I try to adjust to the wind and waves conditions for the structure and shoreline I'm fishing. For any type of structure I'm fishing in relation to the wind direction, I either start my search for bass going deep-to-shallow or shallow to-deep. Sometimes smallmouth will hang at a certain depth due to water temp, food, structure or just because they want to be there. [Tip: Because there are so many good springtime smallmouth spots, there's always a lee-side of an island so you can fish on windy days. If it's to rough on the lake to motor out with a small boat, anglers can ferry to the island and usually ramp from a protected side.]

There are alot of good spring smallmouth baits, depending on their activity level, worth noting for taking Lake Erie Smallmouth Bass. The real key here is to experiment with different baits and be flexible. If fish are sluggish, an often preferred and favorite bait of charter captains is a jig-n-plastic type lure. This includes tube baits (gidzits), rubber craws, plastic worms, and grub/twister tails. When fishing during more active feeding periods, crankbaits like rattle traps, fat raps, bombers, and even spinner baits can take plenty of fish. An overlooked method on Lake Erie for springtime bass is the use of top water baits like the zara spook, a variety of floating and suspended baits like thundersticks jr. or a Rebel Pop-R. [Tip: Remember your fishing shallow, clear water, so you want to use light or thin diameter lines.]

All Lake Erie smallmouth anglers must remember that these fish are a valuable resource. When spring fishing, protect and allow them to spawn before taking them home. Since bass are territorial, it's possible to fish-out a location. Exercise good catch and release practices during this spring period in order to keep the fishery strong. This way everyone can enjoy one of the finest gamefish that swims in the great lakes and keep this sport fishery alive and strong for future anglers. Just remember, this resource is dependent upon the sport angler to maintain how the quality of the fishery will be down the road.