Pelee Island Small mouth!

[Lunker777]

Hey everyone !

 

A buddy and I are headin out on Sunday to chase some Smallies @ pelee island. We will be launching from Leamington.

Im not looking for any way points or anything..... just want some tips or direction on what patterns we should be trying right now.

Last time we went out (Start of July ) we got skunked... well for smallies.... we ended up with approx 40-50 sheep head. It was NUTS !!!!! I even caught a couple on crank baits in about 3 ft of water !

We moved all around... just couldnt find the smallies.

 

I have been told Jigging spoons are the ticket this time of the year ? Is there any truth to that ?

 

 

A BIIIIG thanks in advance to anyone who can help us out ! haha

[OhioFisherman]

Got to love them sheephead? Casting cranks in 3 feet of water doesn`t sound like a good plan for success for smallies on Lake Erie to me. The summer may be ending but I don`t think conditions have changed that much yet. Tubes, dropshot with your plastic of choice? Just me? I would fish 10-25 feet of water, you can drag (troll) a medium running crank bait around it will run deeper with a lot of line out, blade baits and jigging spoons.

 

Usually if you see fish on your fish locator huddled around rocks on the bottom it is smallies. Crawfish or larger minnows 4-5 inch fished on a fuzzy grub or such will also work if you use live bait.

[ld17]

tubes for sure. Goby imitation baits on a dropshot works good. I would target deeper water say 20' with reefs around. I was just out and the water temp. was 65 deg. So don't over look shallow water. I was still catching them shallow also. If you hook up just look for areas that are the same and you should be able to catch more fish. Good luck.

[Lunker777]

Thanks for the info....

 

When you say "reefs" ... what type of structure is that ? DUMB question, I know ! haha

[Harrison]

I agree with deep. Haven't been out there this year, but in the past deeper water in the 15 to 20 ft range was the ticket.

 

I called a few fish up to eat jerkbaits, but the more consistant bite was dropshot or tubes on bottom.

 

Looks for humps, ridges or sharp breaks that drop off into deeper water. As I said we found 15 - 20ft to be the ideal depth however it may not be when you go, but that is a good starting point.

 

Good Luck

Edited September 23, 2011 by Harrison

[ld17]

Thanks for the info....

 

When you say "reefs" ... what type of structure is that ? DUMB question, I know ! haha

 

when I say reef I mean off shore sturcture. There are lots of reefs in lake erie. I said target 20' of water so in that area for example you may come upon an area that goes from 20 to say 15' then drops back off. That would be the reef in that area.