OhioFisherman

LOL, duh, missed that! Without a sonar unit of some kind you will spend a lot of time guessing depths and edges. Largemouth are usually found in shallower water than smallies, they also seem to accept a dirt or muck bottom better, areas with lots of lilies and weeds, slop. I have caught largemouth in 18-22 feet of water, but it was accidental and somewhat of a rarity for me, it wouldn't be the first areas I went looking for them. Smallies are found in deeper water a lot more often, and they will frequent a rocky or sandy bottom with little or no cover more often. Soft plastics aren't usually thought of as search lures or speed baits, those would be spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, surface lures, crankbaits and such, fishing some of them in areas of heavy weeds will be a problem. If your after largemouth hitting the shorelines with weeds, wood, flipping boat docks, a rock and weed mix isn't a bad place to start, a weedy flat with deep edges around it could hold both species. In weeds, texas rig a worm, lizard, tube and peg the slip sinker, in deeper water with less weeds a carolina rig with more weight will allow you to cover more water faster. Some lakes seem to have a million places that look good, a lot of those places can be a complete waste of time, time on the water and remembering areas that held fish helps. http://www.fish-hawk.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=129 They don't have a lot of places indicated on that map, 15 miles long? That makes it in the Lake Erie size lakes here!

Cool! Good work!

What are you attempting to catch? It can make a big difference in lure selection and water depths to try.

I used plano boxes in my tackle bags, depending on the water I was fishing it made it easier to plug in the usual tackle and lure necessities for a given lake, never dealt with gulp, so no ideas there. I kept jigs and metal items in a separate plano box from items like soft plastics containing salt, it can rust some metal pretty quickly. Crankbaits and hard plastics got a separate box, most don't mix well with soft plastics. I had days where I could go thru an entire 15 or so count bag of one color of tubes, worms, lizards, so I kept extras of the most dominant colors in their original bags in the boat storage compartments. Depends entirely on how seriously you take your fishing and how much you are willing to spend on certain aspects of it? I bought some tubes, lizards, worms, in lots of 100, some came in smaller lot bags and some didn't. For a week or two vacation I packed a lidded 5 gallon bucket to leave in the cabin in case I needed spares.

We lucked out big time last winter! I can no longer drive, but need to check my snow plowing contacts to keep the drive cleared. John, I remember those winters of the later 70's well, I drove a truck and worked on an unheated truck dock. It's pretty rare to see snow here piled up alongside the road as high as the windows on an 18 wheeler. A lot of fish kills here in shallow lakes and ponds in those years.

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/32829772/lake-effect-snow-could-be-impacted-by-warmer-lake-erie I'm not sure how badly you get affected by Lake effect snow, it could be a winter to make sure your snow removal stuff is working well? We could have used some of those Canadian cold fronts this summer!

https://www.fws.gov/midwest/midwestbird/documents/dccofactsheet2008.pdf US fish and wildlife on cormorants. A good point on water clarity and cormorants, Sandusky Bay is the largest spawning area for fish on this side of the lake. My dad started taking us there when we were 5 to fish, you didn't see cormorants there back then, and it was rare to see the bottom, even in very shallow water. The Sandusky river, which is the main river feeding the bay is also home to a spring walleye run, same with white bass, and the bay itself is one of the few places to have a chance at catching northern pike here in the early spring.

There was a small island in Sandusky Bay in Lake Erie across from the city boat ramp that was looking like that, 13 years ago, I can imagine it now.

I remember our families first trip to Pointe Au Baril around 1964, the camp owner took us inside his home and showed us kids pictures, one was of the town dump at night, with 5-6 bears wandering around it, he told us to be careful where we wandered! Never really saw that many bears there, but we didn't go looking for them, and kept our wandering outside of camp to a minimum. It seemed a great area for bears, and probably hasn't changed much.

I would fish a 6 inch plastic worm or lizard on a jig head a lot, so the choices of hooks was nice, a bit longer hook for them. Heavier wire hook for tournament day!

http://www.gophertackle.com/mushroomjig.html This brand of jig head worked well for me in the past.

Did the plate break off or did the screws-bolts vibrate loose? I always used 1/4 - 20 stainless bolts with nylock fasteners on mine, never lost a plate or bolt. You can drill a couple of extra holes in the plate and use cable ties for added protection?

Home Depot may have SS or Monel staples.

Ohio issues new guidelines for eating fish from state waters - Cleveland 19 News Cleveland, OH http://www.cleveland19.com/story/32690462/photos-show-lake-erie-algal-blooms-are-growing

After looking up the name of the place it appears to be in India? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/ https://www.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-basics https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/coal-ash-fly-ash-bottom-ash-and-boiler-slag Years ago, during the construction of the Ohio Turnpike and I-90 a number of ponds were built to supply dirt and fill for the construction of those highways and overpasses. Some of those ponds were pushing 20 acres in size and stocked with fish, now the trend here is to fill them with fly ash and other waste from the coal fired electric plants! Oh the horror! Fill in fish factories?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3WvKKSpKI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyIBlygNlcc It's always something?

Not a fan of either party or their candidates, and even Sanders left too many questions unanswered, another hold my nose and vote election year.

It looks like you have room now for that bingo hall you always wanted! Ah! the golden years!

LOL, even steel leaders didn't help me!

That was the nice thing about fishing this side of the lake, the change in the prevailing winds. Late spring and summer usually meant south-southwest-west- or southeast winds, for smallies here most of the time I was never more than a mile offshore. I can imagine some days that look good on this side seem a bit risky on the north side!

Nice! never had a good smallie surface bite, it has to be fun!

East or north east winds and I stayed off of Lake Erie.

Dang! nice fish! Taildancers the new hot muskie lure! LOL 8# test line or 10?

As big as that alligator gar is in the picture? It may have trouble taking a really big carp, their mouths aren't designed for it, they are also not designed like a shark, where they could bite off pieces. If they help control the population of smaller ones that grow into big ones? Why not?

You may find that to be a lake to lake thing, some lake, rivers, and ponds here have great night bites, others that produce well during the daylight hours don't, and on some it seems even pointless to try. A lake I fished regularly in New York had an excellent night bite for smallies and largemouth, it also had pike and muskies in it. Trying to catch a bass at night at Pointe Au Baril, which also had pike and skis seemed like a waste of time. I used 4 inch ringworms and 1/8th ounce hair jigs with a pork rind for a lot of years when night fishing, I seriously don't believe I got lucky enough to put them in front of a bass's face that often. That lateral line helps them detect movement and vibrations that we couldn't feel. Light can attract baitfish and fish in general at night, that is why lights at night for fishing is illegal in some places. Piers with lights here in places can have lots of baitfish around the lighted area at night, so it stands to reason live bait, like a minnow may work well there. As a kid here Lake Erie could be a sea of lights at night, small boats with a coleman lantern on a holder in the oarlock, it attracted emerald shiners, they attracted schools of white bass, I missed the Walleye and Blue Pike action as a kid! but dad said it was the same! Time on the water? some lakes will produce at night, some won't, it takes time to learn, or very good friends! One pond I used to fish? You could fish all day with lures and not get a bass, but a big shiner or chub could get you a 5lber!