Great Lakes Smallmouth Fishing & Round Gobies

[David Chong]

I've just fished a couple of tournaments out on Lake Ontario & Lake Erie and I have to say I'm so impressed with the size of these Smallmouth Bass out there. A pretty obvious reason for the rapid growth of these fish has been the introduction of round gobies. The Smallmouth that I'm holding in my right hand is one of the deepest Great Lakes fish that I've ever caught and she coughed up the two gobies in the other picture. For reference, I placed a Z-Man 5" Grass Kicker swimbait in the photo with them. It's going to interesting how things play out in the long run with these invasive species, from an angler's perspective, I definitely believe that round gobies and zebra mussels have had a positive effect on Smallmouth Bass growth rates. Just wondering what other's thought are on this matter!

[misfish]

I caught one once perch fishing. I thought it was a perch til I got it to the surface. It had to be 7-8 inches long.  A bass that's eating them, has got a be a 10lb soon enough.. Do not forget about the Simcoe white fish David. They seem to be enjoying them as well. Nice toads.

[LostAnotherOne]

Caught this one on Erie yesterday.  Only 16 inches but what a belly.  

[OhioFisherman]

The gobies are another food source so I am sure it helps and the zebra mussels do seem to have helped water visibility here on this side of Erie, at least the last time I saw it.

I was fishing Lake Erie for smallies back in the 70's, and there were hog ones out there then, but much harder to locate them because of the old electronics. I had a bigger boat docked near the Erie Islands in the early and mid 1980's and you could see what the charter captains brought in, some pigs back then too.

Not sure if I am ready to give complete credit to the gobies, we used to get huge schools of shiners and shad too, so they had plenty of meals to choose from? gobies maybe easier for them to catch and are more likely to hang out in the same rocky areas the smallies do?

When I was young, if the bait store had trouble getting Emerald Shiners their back up bait for sale was fat head minnows, just from what I am seeing online now the trend has moved to small golden shiners. I personally have never seen a golden shiner in Lake Erie or it's back waters, but with all the people using them for bait that may have changed, and they get big enough so no smallie could eat one, so breeders if a walleye or something else doesn't get them?

I fished with live bait at times on Lake Erie, and a 4-5 inch golden shiner would catch some big smallies.

Those are nice fat fish though.

 

[grimsbylander]

41 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

Not sure if I am ready to give complete credit to the gobies, we used to get huge schools of shiners and shad too, so they had plenty of meals to choose from? gobies maybe easier for them to catch and are more likely to hang out in the same rocky areas the smallies do?

 

 

That's it right there Ohio...gobies do not have swim bladders and therefore cannot get off bottom(there's a hint for all you drop shotters  )  Unlike shiners and shad that require chasing which burns calories, gobies are relatively easy prey. This is why slow dragging a tube jig is so effective. Smallmouth are sight feeders as well so you know that compliments of the zebra mussels, the crystal clear water helps them locate bait from long distances. The zebras are fair though...they also help shred my flouro just to keep things even! 

[OhioFisherman]

2 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

That's it right there Ohio...gobies do not have swim bladders and therefore cannot get off bottom(there's a hint for all you drop shotters  )  Unlike shiners and shad that require chasing which burns calories, gobies are relatively easy prey. This is why slow dragging a tube jig is so effective. Smallmouth are sight feeders as well so you know that compliments of the zebra mussels, the crystal clear water helps them locate bait from long distances. The zebras are fair though...they also help shred my flouro just to keep things even! 

grimsby, I saw the thing about them not having swim bladders on tackle warehouse's site, I am sort of surprised that there aren't more deep diving crankbaits out there in goby colors, rock bumpers

 

[dave524]

I remember dad and I entered a 2 day Bass Derby at Port Colborne , single big fish derby back mid 70's, he took 2nd with one that just barely cracked 4 pounds, like 4lbs. 1 oz., got a nice prize. Today, that fish and a twoonie will get you a Timmies. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by dave524

[grimsbylander]

8 hours ago, OhioFisherman said:

grimsby, I saw the thing about them not having swim bladders on tackle warehouse's site, I am sort of surprised that there aren't more deep diving crankbaits out there in goby colors, rock bumpers

 

I agree, if only from a marketing standpoint(catch a fisherman lol) Any dark coloured crankbait will work because it's a reaction strike. If you watch any videos on gobies, you'll see they move about the bottom but not very fast. A better alternative is a dark swimbait...you can switch up the jig head weights to match the depth + let it soak on the bottom or rip it. Much more versatile that a deep diving crankbait.

[grimsbylander]

11 hours ago, LostAnotherOne said:

Caught this one on Erie yesterday.  Only 16 inches but what a belly.  

That is a very health looking fish! What area of Erie were you fishing? Asking because that's a largemouth.

[KawarthaAngler]

Sign onto Facebook and look up Tufts Lab.  Or simply use this link :  

I found this quite interesting and informative.

You will see video captured of Gobies eating baby bass at a nest.  This can be a big issue.

It may be great for larger bass to eat the Gobies and get nice and big ... but the threat they pose on the success of the reproduction of the bass population may be a serious problem.  In time I believe there could be potential for the opening of Bass season to be delayed so that the guards of the nests are not disturbed (as that video shows).

[LostAnotherOne]

1 hour ago, grimsbylander said:

That is a very health looking fish! What area of Erie were you fishing? Asking because that's a largemouth.

Port Rowan in about 12fow.  Just going for largies and pike.  Only got a 14 footer so i dont want to venture out too far. 

[grimsbylander]

1 hour ago, TheKawarthaAngler said:

Sign onto Facebook and look up Tufts Lab.  Or simply use this link :  

I found this quite interesting and informative.

You will see video captured of Gobies eating baby bass at a nest.  This can be a big issue.

It may be great for larger bass to eat the Gobies and get nice and big ... but the threat they pose on the success of the reproduction of the bass population may be a serious problem.  In time I believe there could be potential for the opening of Bass season to be delayed so that the guards of the nests are not disturbed (as that video shows).

There has to be fish eaten in ALL stages of the food chain...including fry. We want giant balls of baitfish to support the gamefish until someone makes a video of baitfish eating gamefish fry. What did we think they were eating?? Gobies can only target bass when they are bottom fry, whereas perch, bluegill, bass, pike, etc., target baby bass long after they can swim freely off bottom. Besides, the shear numbers and size of smallmouth bass that now exist AFTER in introduction of gobies suggests the fry that are eaten are well worth the sacrifice. Shorten the season because of gobies in a fishery that has thrived because of gobies?? Seems hardly logical.

[OhioFisherman]

3 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

I agree, if only from a marketing standpoint(catch a fisherman lol) Any dark coloured crankbait will work because it's a reaction strike. If you watch any videos on gobies, you'll see they move about the bottom but not very fast. A better alternative is a dark swimbait...you can switch up the jig head weights to match the depth + let it soak on the bottom or rip it. Much more versatile that a deep diving crankbait.

LOL @ catching fishermen, true, if I was using a crankbait on Erie it was almost always chrome and black or gold and black. Unless you are trolling on Erie a deep diving crank bait becomes a lot of work, tubes, drop shots, jigheads are a better approach.

[OhioFisherman]

4 hours ago, dave524 said:

I remember dad and I entered a 2 day Bass Derby at Port Colborne , single big fish derby back mid 70's, he took 2nd with one that just barely cracked 4 pounds, like 4lbs. 1 oz., got a nice prize. Today, that fish and a twoonie will get you a Timmies. 

I remember this guy and the news articles from the 60's,  https://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/05/glen_lau_has_evolved_from_ohio.html

He was also a diving fan and reported giant schools of huge smallies back then.

Ohio's record came in 1993 from Erie 9 pounds 8 ounces and New York's also from Lake Erie in 1995 and tied in Lake Ontario in 2016 at 8 pounds 4 ounces.

I don't believe the gobies were anywhere near established in the great lakes in the early and mid 90's, but technology and equipment was making it easier  to target them?

[Chris J]

On 8/20/2018 at 5:10 PM, David Chong said:

I've just fished a couple of tournaments out on Lake Ontario & Lake Erie and I have to say I'm so impressed with the size of these Smallmouth Bass out there. A pretty obvious reason for the rapid growth of these fish has been the introduction of round gobies. The Smallmouth that I'm holding in my right hand is one of the deepest Great Lakes fish that I've ever caught and she coughed up the two gobies in the other picture. For reference, I placed a Z-Man 5" Grass Kicker swimbait in the photo with them. It's going to interesting how things play out in the long run with these invasive species, from an angler's perspective, I definitely believe that round gobies and zebra mussels have had a positive effect on Smallmouth Bass growth rates. Just wondering what other's thought are on this matter!

When you say deep are you talkiing 50 feet +?   Just wondering cause to me it looks like something needs fizzing in that tank behind you, almost look dead.

[grimsbylander]

2 hours ago, Chris J said:

When you say deep are you talkiing 50 feet +?   Just wondering cause to me it looks like something needs fizzing in that tank behind you, almost look dead.

Looks dead??? Lol Not sure how you can tell by looking at a small patch on the side of a fish. Bass roll up on the surface of the staging tanks all the time.

Edited August 22, 2018 by grimsbylander

[Tom S]

Any thoughts on whether the smallmouth-goby relationship will follow the same track as the salmon-alewife relationship?

The gobies have exploded by aggressively filling a particular niche in the Great Lakes ecology, to the point where they have become a primary food source. Are we now seeing the smallmouth population growing to meet the supply of gobies, and will there be a point where the smallmouth begin to overpopulate to the point where the goby population can't sustain them and we see a decrease in the smallmouth population?

[dave524]

7 hours ago, Tom S said:

Any thoughts on whether the smallmouth-goby relationship will follow the same track as the salmon-alewife relationship?

The gobies have exploded by aggressively filling a particular niche in the Great Lakes ecology, to the point where they have become a primary food source. Are we now seeing the smallmouth population growing to meet the supply of gobies, and will there be a point where the smallmouth begin to overpopulate to the point where the goby population can't sustain them and we see a decrease in the smallmouth population?

I've fished smallies out of Port Colborne since the late 50's ,  the population has always been excellent except for the late 60's/70's when water quality was especially bad. It is not so much a population increase IMHO but a big increase in size. A shortage of gobies would only result in a decrease in size not a population crash, I would think.

 

[grimsbylander]

10 hours ago, Tom S said:

Any thoughts on whether the smallmouth-goby relationship will follow the same track as the salmon-alewife relationship?

The gobies have exploded by aggressively filling a particular niche in the Great Lakes ecology, to the point where they have become a primary food source. Are we now seeing the smallmouth population growing to meet the supply of gobies, and will there be a point where the smallmouth begin to overpopulate to the point where the goby population can't sustain them and we see a decrease in the smallmouth population?

You never know but I doubt it. I'm far from a biologist, but I'd have to guess that with lakes the size of our Great Lakes, the change cycles would be very very long. I could see small lakes being much more fragile whereas when they experience minor fluctuations in baitfish populations or water quality issues, the overall health of the lake suffers more quickly. Pure speculation on my part. The other thing we'd have to know is the spawn rates of gobies. I read they are very prolific reproducers so could smallies really eat them into a decline? But the other real beauty of the Great lakes is the water flow...no one lake is a stand alone segment. This has to aid to the collective health of the lakes. Maybe? 

[Bass tracker]

Wife catches the large smallies, I catch the Gobies. Plenty of both in Honey Harbour. 

[grimsbylander]

Nice smallies! I fished Honey Harbour a lot about 18 years ago. Gobies were not much of an issue back then.

[Bass tracker]

1 minute ago, grimsbylander said:

Nice smallies! I fished Honey Harbour a lot about 18 years ago. Gobies were not much of an issue back then.

She catches a ton on the big O and she uses a steel leader because she doesnt want to lose her lure to the pike, go figure. I use plastic worms and tubes and mostly catch largemouths. we have caught 359 bass and pike this season. Kept about 10, mostly because they were hooked too badly and wouldn't make it anyway. Just shows how much damage a few anglers could do if they kept most of their catch.

[grimsbylander]

5 minutes ago, Bass tracker said:

She catches a ton on the big O and she uses a steel leader because she doesnt want to lose her lure to the pike, go figure. I use plastic worms and tubes and mostly catch largemouths. we have caught 359 bass and pike this season. Kept about 10, mostly because they were hooked too badly and wouldn't make it anyway. Just shows how much damage a few anglers could do if they kept most of their catch.

Fantastic numbers and yes, catch and release works! Good on you for doing your part! The old Cotton Cordell Big O crankbaits were/are dynamite baits. I still have a few knocking around and my favorite colour was a dark perch with a florescent orange strip. Crank it hard until it hits rocks, and stop...because it floats, it backs up in the water like a crawfish. Wham...smallies nail it on a slack line. Good times on GBay.

[Bass tracker]

2 minutes ago, grimsbylander said:

Fantastic numbers and yes, catch and release works! Good on you for doing your part! The old Cotton Cordell Big O crankbaits were/are dynamite baits. I still have a few knocking around and my favorite colour was a dark perch with a florescent orange strip. Crank it hard until it hits rocks, and stop...because it floats, it backs up in the water like a crawfish. Wham...smallies nail it on a slack line. Good times on GBay.

exactly the way she fishes it. We met a salesman for cotton cordell a couple of years ago he told us their number 1 selling lure was the pearl white mid sized big O. he even quoted the skew number. Well we thought it must be their best selling lure for a reason.... The wife will only use it when she is in rocks, reluuctanly uses a worm when i bring her to the weeds. lol

[grimsbylander]

Ah, there you go!

We've highjacked the Goby/Great Lakes thread! Sorry David!

Heaing about those numbers of fish from GBay makes me think the zebra mussel/Goby combo has had a positive impact up there as well. At least on the smallie population. 20 years ago, the lower GBay area had good numbers of smallies but you had to go through a pile of 2lbers to get your one 4-5lb fish. Back in the late 80's when the now gone GM Pro Bass series held an event out of Midland's Wye Heritage Marina, a respectable 5 fish weight was 12-14lbs and 15-17lbs meant you'd cash a cheque. Oh, and all the top place finishers that year locked through to GPool to get off the Bay!