Lake Erie Smallie Fest

[Aaron Shirley]

I spent a few days fishing Lake Erie NY the past week for smallies and had a riot. The first day was very slow, but I found some fish shallow (6-12 feet) with X-Raps. My buddy Darrell hit a nice walleye on a tube, but it was pretty slow with a half dozen smallies.

 

The last two trips were awesome though. tons of numbers up to 4lbs, and one about 5. We found some bigger fish this past Saturday and good numbers from 16- to 22-feet of water. They were on Trigger X tubes drifting the deeper water. The water is nice right now with a slight stain, 66 F. If you get the right wind, it's a great day to be on Erie.

 

It is tough for bigger fish now, it's like June conditions, but a ton of fun casting X-raps shallow for 2- to 3-pounders with some bigger fish mixed in. Jerking for smallies is one of my favourite ways to get them, and teasing them into hitting near boatside is cool.

 

I got a bonus jumbo perch and some white bass on X-raps, and a giant drum on a Trigger X tube!

 

A few pics (sorry about the blacked out reel, it's a new high-end Rapala prototype I can't show yet).

 

My friend Darrell with his walleye

 

 

My buddy Mitch with a couple jerkin smallies

 

 

 

 

 

My buddy dean with a couple good fish

 

 

 

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

[irishfield]

Some GREAT fish Aaron !!!

 

..nothing like hyping a new product!

[SRT8 smoker craft]

bet that drum fought like crazy for a few seconds LOL they fight hard at first and just die off we have caught a couple 10+lb sheepies in LPB on big tubes also 1 was in a tourny thought we had bigfish for sure and then we see a sheephead .nice smallies 2 less than a month to go I can't wait till opener.

[spinnerbaitking]

Really nice looking Fish, one of these days I'll get down there maybe even with my boat

Richard

[zeeter]

Nice work, Aaron. I was out on the NY side today and did well too. Lots of 2 - 3 pounders in shallow, but had a tough time finding the big ones - must be in deeper water now.

[EC1]

Some very nice fish there!

May I ask though, are those spinning or baitcasting reels that are being blacked out? And do they match the rods you guys are using?

[Aaron Shirley]

Thx guys, was a lot of fun. I tried deep water as well, but couldn't find big smallies. This transition time can be tough to find big fish consistently.

 

EC1, wish I could tell you more about them right now, but I was told to keep a lid on it, sorry. I can tell you that the prototype I was using was a low profile baitcaster. As soon as I get the green light, I'll let everyone have a look at them.

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[OhioFisherman]

Great pics,Erie smallies are always fun, when you find them. They can turn on suddenly in a spot. No idea why? bait fish entering an area? Beat up a spot for 8 hours or so one day and nothing, I was ready to call it quits for the day. Next cast got me one around 19 inches, thru a marker over and as long as I stayed with in 15-20 feet from that spot I had action from fish that size for the next half hour 45 minutes, then they shut down again.

 

Some big drum in Erie, I got one once pushing 20 pounds, and was fishing with a friend that lost one that was probably bigger.

[limeyangler]

some really nice bass.

 

i got my first ever lmb on Erie....good memories

 

 

Thanks for posting.

 

 

(ps....loved your other post about your son's 1st fishing trip)

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Lake Erie has some very impressive smallies. And that's a monster drum! I think you meant bonus walleye and not whitey?

 

I've heard mixed results about trigger ex. They work great but you can only use them once like gulp and they can get expensive.There also seems to be a packaging issue. Apparently they say it looks too much like medicine or something?

[BillM]

That's a BIG sheephead!!!!! I need to make it out on the eastern shore of Lake E for some smallies...

[mepps]

Those are some great looking smallies!

[Aaron Shirley]

Johnny Bass, I actually meant white bass, not whitefish LOL As for the Trigger X, you are referring to the original individually wrapped biodegradable plastics that came in fluid. Those are not made anymore, they have been drastically revamped and sold in traditional packaging. The new Trigger X is the plastics I use, not the original stuff, that wasn't out long.

[bare foot wader]

way to hype a new reel...can't wait to see it now

 

I've become a big fan of Rapala rods in the past 5 yrs, I think the shift series is best value for a rod right now and it would take a run at best rod going, IMO at least...haha, now time to stir some crap just cause the net is great for that...I know a few shimano guys and plenty of other pro staffers were loose lipped at the TO show last year.....apparently industry opinion/gossip is that Rapala is "copying" (use that term very loosely...) other big brand technology/designs and then undercutting the price point to jump up their attack at the market share....

 

gotta love competition, works out for the consumer

 

not sold on the rapala reels yet, but they do look mighty good from what I've seen....

[fish-miester]

great fish ! way to make us jealous!

[lunkerbasshunter]

wow great fish aaron! erie sure does produce

 

Cheers!

[TDunn]

Great shots of all the fish!

 

TDunn