Lake Erie Trip NOv 5th

[Fang]

For the last several years I've had a very large desire to get out for the fall smallmouth fishing on Lake Erie but had conflicts with Moose and Deer hunting trips. This year my work has made me jump through hoops cancelling or moving holidays, while they put in a new computer software system. Having to cancel my moose and deer trips this year was harder than I imagined and my "jones-in" factor for some hunting/fishing has been in overdrive.

 

My buddy Rob (familyguy) pushed me over the edge by texting me all day telling me how many big smallies they were catching and I had to do something. Booked Thursday off and pulled the cover off the boat. Got an early start and had to stop 1 block away from the house to fill up the boat. Looked like it was going to be a great morning.

 

 

Launched the boat on the CDN side and headed over to the south shore with NY license and passport in hand. First drift started very nice with a bass in the boat in the first 5 minutes. No bruiser but a decent start.

 

 

A little hiccup as I lost the next 3 hook ups in rapid succession. Of course a big one gets away on a real bad hook set and I have another bigger one snap 10lb flouro at boatside - probably should have checked the leader with all those zebra mussels. A mix of tubes was pretty much the choice for the day with 1/2 and 3/4 oz heads. Tried some drop shot rigs but defintely the tub bite was more consistent and the darker colors in greens and blacks had more action.

 

Getting back on track with a nice double. The bigger fish was 4.2

 

 

The rest of the day was pretty much constant action and it's the first time in a long time where I lost track of the number of fish boated but we were running a disappointing number of lost fish to landed. My camera died after mid morning in the cold but was able to get a few more pics before

being DOA. No real big ones but how does one get tired of boating 3.5 - 4 lbers all day

 

 

My big one at 4.2lbs and a little over 20"

 

 

Can't wait to get another day out there!

[Headhunter]

Thanks for the report... that looks like an awesome day!

HH

[misfish]

That had to kill you Paul not going hunting.

 

Great looking fish there.

 

Question about the boat as thats the one I,m look at.

 

How does it handle the big water ?

 

Has it got enough storage for you,tackle bags and rods In your opinion?

 

Also whats the HP?

 

TFS

Edited November 5, 2010 by BrianB

[Fang]

Fish Hawk 1750

 

If I was to do it over again I probably would have went FH 1850 to get more storage. Yesterday we had 2 small tackle bags - 8-10 rods, net, lunches, 2 butt poles front and back and I found it a big crowded. When you put ropes and life jackets under the front console there's not enough room left for too much else. I put paddles, rod holders and other gear in the rod locker so rods tend to stay out on the deck.

 

Have a 115 HP (regular 2 stroke) on it and it does 44-ish by GPS full out with no gear. I can cruise pretty rough water in the 25-30 mph range but like most boats it all depends on how wet you want to get. . With a bit of a swell yesterday we ran 8 miles at 25 with no problems. I do run a lot on lake ontario for salmon and have no problems deciding to head out to the blue zone (+10 miles) when weather lets me. Boat cruises very nice and is stable to fish front and back deck. This ones a 2001 and I've seen a better front deck layout on the more recent ones

[ryansusanna]

Lake Erie ROCKS... was out on Wednesday this week...

[irishfield]

Great stuff Paul !!

[fishnsled]

Fish Hawk 1750

 

If I was to do it over again I probably would have went FH 1850 to get more storage. Yesterday we had 2 small tackle bags - 8-10 rods, net, lunches, 2 butt poles front and back and I found it a big crowded. When you put ropes and life jackets under the front console there's not enough room left for too much else. I put paddles, rod holders and other gear in the rod locker so rods tend to stay out on the deck.

 

Have a 115 HP (regular 2 stroke) on it and it does 44-ish by GPS full out with no gear. I can cruise pretty rough water in the 25-30 mph range but like most boats it all depends on how wet you want to get. . With a bit of a swell yesterday we ran 8 miles at 25 with no problems. I do run a lot on lake ontario for salmon and have no problems deciding to head out to the blue zone (+10 miles) when weather lets me. Boat cruises very nice and is stable to fish front and back deck. This ones a 2001 and I've seen a better front deck layout on the more recent ones

 

Nice day on the water Paul. What you posted above is pretty much exactly the way I fell about my boat. (2002 - 1750) Full load and a couple of guys were are doing about 41-42 on the gps. Looked at a 1850 this year, nice boat, more storage, big price tag. I'll be fine with mine. They did finally get the front deck layout right in the newer models. Also wish there was dry storage on my boat. A couple of small Rubbermaid containers do the trick though.

[jbailey]

i really gotta get out there sometime, those are some beauty smallies