Lake Erie Smallies Saturday

[Aaron Shirley]

I spent the day on Lake Erie on Saturday with a buddy Dean from work. Finally, after a couple of weeks of not being able to get out due to strong winds, we would have a great day. We got a later start because we worked night shifts all week including Friday night. When we arrived at the Port Colborne ramp, there must have been at least 50 boat trailers in the lot! Definately a few tournies on. We got out around 9am, which isn't bad for a couple of sleep deprived boys. We started out front and caught fish, but not the size we were after. They all seemed to be in that 2- to 3-pound range. Tubes accounted for some bites, but Mr.Champs jigged off bottom worked best for us. The smallies were heavily pressured and biting very lightly for the most part. It was frustrating to get bites and not hook up on many hits. We decided to move and find more active fish that were bigger. We must have put on 30 miles in search mode.

 

We spent the next couple of hours with very few bites while we searched various spots and depths. Finally we hit some productive water with a bit bigger fish by the afternoon, and the Mr.Champs were working like a charm again. By mid afternoon, the fishing pressure was intense and the bite slowed down big time. We started to employ three-way rigs with jointed Shad Raps and covered water. That was a great move, as we started hitting smallies on a regular basis again Good overall average size at about 3.5-pounds with some 4's and a couple close to 5. We didn't hook up with any tanks, but we had a great day on the water and ended up with at least 30 smallies in the boat and a bunch of missed and lost fish throughout the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most productive depths for us was between 30- to 38-feet deep. The water temps at surface were about 53 F. The water was also very clear. The day was a bit cool first thing in the morning, but turned out to be a beautiful November day. We had a great time and got a bit of an Erie smallie fix. The itch has started though, and I can't wait to get back out there for some tanks!

 

Good luck for those that can venture out this week!

 

Aaron

[MCTFisher9120]

Nice catches buddy! I like that crankbait, got to try that color.

[johnnyb]

NOt too shabby at all....way to keep moving around. The "three-way" rigs you were using....shad rap and a weight to get them down a bit more....or trailing a different lure out behind them? Just curious...I like trailing a tube or stickbait behind a deep diver

[ehg]

The walleye coloured jointed shad rap is an excellent bait in Great Lakes.

 

Seems like you had a great outing again, very nice.

Great bright photos as well. I remember you had bright photos with a 2 megapixel Kodak many years ago.

[limeyangler]

Really nice fish. i tried for some yesterday on Lac Seul, not a sniff....water temps at surface were 41.

[Grimace]

Way to work for the fish and share your program. Nicely done.

[Fang]

Sounds just like our day last Thursday. Loads of guys hitting the big shoal on the south side. Good thing you got out Saturday as the winds really blew up Sunday.

 

You like the new Lowrance units? I'm really enjoying that bird Aaron

[solopaddler]

Aaron I run small stickbaits all the time off 3-way rigs or bottom bouncers but never diving crankbaits.

 

What kind of lead are you running to the lure and why a crank and not a stickbait in that situation?

 

Just curious.

 

Nice fish btw, glad to see you boys hit a few.

[Harrison]

Aaron I run small stickbaits all the time off 3-way rigs or bottom bouncers but never diving crankbaits.

 

What kind of lead are you running to the lure and why a crank and not a stickbait in that situation?

 

Just curious.

 

Nice fish btw, glad to see you boys hit a few.

 

Tooks the words right out of my mouth! Love to hear as well.

[Aaron Shirley]

Thanks guys, it was a fun day. I'm trying to get a day off work this week to go back, I have the itch bigtime!

 

OK boys, here is the skinny on the three-way, and why I like that specific crank. I use 30lb braid to a relatively small black three-way swivel. I then tie a dropper line of 15-20lb fluorocarbon about 20" in length to a 2oz pencil weight. I then tie an 8- to 10-foot leader of 15-20lb fluoro to the crankbait, stickbait or Mooselook Wabbler spoon (profile of a smelt).

 

The main forage for smallies at this time of year is smelt and gobies. Athough the spoons and stickbaits in smelt patterns work well, the walleye coloured jointed Shad Rap is extremely productive. It not only has the colouration of a goby, it also mimicks the action of a goby along bottom. Also, I believe it works so well because the 2oz weight stirs up the bottom and gets attention from smallies, then along comes the jointed Shad Rap digging the bottom looking like a vulnerable goby in the silt line. Deadly tactic out there, and it is a phenominal search tool as well covering a lot of water quickly

 

I set my trolling motor to get my speed at about 1.5mph, and let out about 75- to 150-feet to just maintain bottom contact. I check the line above the three-way swivel and crankbait often and retie as needed. I like 20lb fluoro leads because the zebras and rocks are hard on line when drudging the bottom. I like a MH sensitive baitcasting rod to handle the weight and feel the vibration of the crank. When the crank stops vibrating, I reel in and clear the clump of zebras off the crank and touch up the hooks if need be.

 

Fang, Humminbird makes a good unit as you know. I liked my birds, however, I do like the HDS units even more, they are simply amazing. My fishing has improved since owning the HDS units, especially for salmon on Lake O and bass on Erie. The HDS units have the best picture I've ever seen. I am not sponsored by Lowrance BTW lol.

 

Ehg, that old Kodak was a 3mp camera. That C series cam was one of the best cameras I've ever used, until I dropped it. For some reason, that cam just took great pics almost every time and the pics had a 'warm' colour with the image sensor. It was like a cam for dummies lol. I have always liked the Kodak cams because they are easy to use and take warm coloured shots with a high red saturation. Only thing is, somtimes the odd shot has too much red saturation, but most shots turn out well in Smart Capture mode.

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

[Harrison]

Hey Aaron, thanks for taking the time to write that. After reading your report I got to thinking the digging into the bottom with the crank would be a great trigger. As with solo I have used the three way for deep smallies for years, usually with floating/suspending stickbaits and plastics (leeches, FINs, Gulp etc) After honing this technique down your way on the bar for lakers.

 

Great tip and I'll give it a shot this weekend on Simcoe, see if it can stir them up. Thanks again for your report and sharing this creative technique.

[fisher12]

Whoaa, those are some jumbo bass there.

[Aaron Shirley]

Cool Harrison, let me know how it works on Simcoe. I'd be interested to hear how the technique does there.

[solopaddler]

Matching the hatch should have guessed. Stirring up the bottom is an interesting idea, hopefully the bottom's clean out there.

 

Thanks forthe response.

[spinnerbaitking]

Great Report Aaron & very nice of you to share like that, lots of people will be playing with your Idea

Thanx Richard

[OhioFisherman]

Nice fish Aaron, this is a great time of year to be out there, if the weather cooperates.

 

Tips? window weights, maybe 18 inches long and varying weights usually around 3 pounds or more, just a piece of round cast iron with a hole in the end, snag free. It is easy to clip on an anchor line and drop it to the bottom and drag it along to stir things up. It`s old school, my dad used to drag bricks or a concrete block. Places that replace windows usually have a lot of old ones sitting around.

 

It`s also easy to make your own pencil weights, if you have a contact that does electric work have him give you some cut offs of grounding wire, hammer one end flat and drill a hole, it`s copper, easy to hammer and drill. You can also drill holes in a piece of wood or a thick piece of aluminum and pour lead into it when it hardens push it thru.

[Dean Ellison]

Thanks Aaron for a great day on Erie. The sleep deprivation was well worth it. You can't pass up fishing when the weather and wind are so fine in November The three way rig with the jointed shad raps is an excellent search method. I recall an episode of some fishing show, on Erie were they dragged a hefty length of chain (4 links at 8" apiece) along bottom. They showed underwater footage, and the kicked up silt was a smallie magnet. I too have the Erie smallie bug, and will find it hard to make it to work this week with such fine weather forecasts

[solopaddler]

Thanks Aaron for a great day on Erie. The sleep deprivation was well worth it. You can't pass up fishing when the weather and wind are so fine in November The three way rig with the jointed shad raps is an excellent search method. I recall an episode of some fishing show, on Erie were they dragged a hefty length of chain (4 links at 8" apiece) along bottom. They showed underwater footage, and the kicked up silt was a smallie magnet. I too have the Erie smallie bug, and will find it hard to make it to work this week with such fine weather forecasts

 

I remember reading an article that Cronzy wrote in his magazine probably 25 years ago about dragging chains across Erie shoals to get the bass stirred up and active.

 

In the old country across the pond "stoning" the pool is an age old tactic to get salmon active.

 

(I can just picture the bank mutants on the Credit now hurling rocks at the chinny's to get them to bite )

[NAC]

do you lose a lot of weights due to zebra mussels?

 

nice smallies BTW!

[Aaron Shirley]

Spinnerbaitking, thanks, but I cannot take credit for the idea. I heard about this idea from Al Patton a number of years ago when he told me of his success out of Port Colborne about 5 or 6 years ago. I thought it was an interesting idea, but never tried it at the time (it's hard to stray from the norm when the norm is working).

 

Barry and I did a show for GH a couple of years ago employing this very technique, and I got my personal best smallie at 6.10. Barry was using a Mooselook spoon and I used the walleye jointed Shad Rap. Barry stumbled onto this method a few years back while targeting walleye. The only change I made was the lure colour, as I thought the jointed walleye colour mimicked the colour and action of a goby. I believe Barry had his success with the straight model shad colour, or something similar.

 

I thought about why the technique was so productive when the traditional bite was so slow. I came to the realization that not only was the technique matching the hatch and a different trigger from the standard Erie techniques, but it stirred up the bottom to attract the smallies and get them active. It also covers a lot of water very quickly when the smallies shut down with heavy fishing pressure. As a bonus, it also works very well as a search pattern when smallies school up.

 

I learned about this stirring up the bottom to attract smallies at least 5 years ago from a friend of mine Frank DiMarcantonio of Niagara Sportfishing guide service while we fished Erie one day. While we fished, Frank asked me "do you want to see something really cool?". I said "uhh, yeah!". Frank pulled out his underwater camera and put it just off bottom. I had a look and noticed smallies scattered around lazily mulling about. I said "that is cool". Frank just smiled and said "now watch" as he bashed the camera into the sandy bottom. I was shocked, as the smallies went into a frenzy and schooled up right in front of the camera all excited! I said "now THAT is really cool!". My wheels started to turn after that, and I thought of the idea of dragging a few large chain links behind a thin rope like a drift sock to stir up bottom. Little did I know that it was thought up before (until this thread), but then again, there isn't much that hasn't been thought of before, so I'm not surprised.

 

The technique isn't much different than guys using the trolling motor to pull tubes to cover water, but it's a slight bit quicker with a different set-up. It acts as a much different trigger than trolling a tube jig along bottom though, and has earned a permanent spot in my smallie arsenal.

 

Nomad, I rarely loose a weight, as I use heavy 20lb Maxima fluorocarbon and check for abrasions and retie when needed.

 

Solo, don't give the bank beaters any ideas! lol

 

Aaron

[singingdog]

Very cool set-up. I have used the "stirring the bottom" technique in a different way: running a deep running crankbait down a bank, then following with a jig. The crank doesn't often get hit, but the jig does.

[Dean Ellison]

One July, about ten years ago, I was snorkeling on Lake Nippissing at Tama Kwa Resort. In about ten feet of water, in front of the dock, I spotted a 4Ilb smallie taking interest in what I was doing. This curious bass swam right up to me. I started turning rocks over on the bottom with my fins to see if I could stir up a crawfish or two. It was amazing to watch this bass wait with anticipation as I turned over each rock! This bass was poised about a foot away from each rock I turned, It's fins wagging in anticipation like a dog, ready to pounce. This was my first experience with the stirring up the bottom concept

Edited November 10, 2010 by dean's washing lures

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Aaron

Some nice bronze backs you guys got into Congrats

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[Harrison]

Cool Harrison, let me know how it works on Simcoe. I'd be interested to hear how the technique does there.

 

Hey Aaron, I didn't really get a good chance to try this the day I was on Simcoe. We were fishing 4-5 fters in the main lake. High percentage tech for the day was as verticle as possible. Heading out again Sun depending on how my lil ones doing.

 

Keep ya posted.

Phil