Lake Erie Smallies

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:14 am

Hi Gang, I just got back from a fishing trip of a life time. My friend Jeff Hahn in Ohio invited me to join him on Lake Erie for the pre-spawn smallie bite. And though we did not catch the numbers we had hoped for the quality more than made up for it. Before this trip I think my personal best smallmouth bass was about 3.5 pounds from Lake Berryessa. That was bested by the first fish I caught on this trip and I believe by everyone afterwards! My biggest was right at 6 pounds. These fish are absolute brutes. I have never seen fish so wide across the back and belly and so deep. This is where the "shaped like a football" expression had to have originated. Not only are they big, they are mean. Every fish took several minutes to land and I want to give a lot of credit to Izorline for their superb XXX Superline. I caught all but one of my fish using 6 pound test either drifting a tube or cranking a #5 shad rap. We almost missed the best bite, we fished deep drifting tubes the first two days and they were up in 8-10 feet with cranks and jerkbaits. We finally found them for a wild hour the last day before the famous Lake Erie winds blew us off the lake. Fishing Lake Erie is an experience in itself, you cannot fathom the size of these lakes until you have seen them. They dwarf Clear Lake and even Lake Tahoe. You cannot even see the other side, and making a 100 mile run would not be out of the question! I will try and post a picture here and will also post a link to my Yahoo Photo Album. Thanks to Jeff for a superb time, this more than pays back our trip to the Delta!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pat_dilli ... 13&.src=ph

Let's see if this fancy stuff works now!

Pat

Gator · Post by **Gator** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:22 am

Way to go. Sounds like an awesome trip. Now you have to start perparing for catching Largemouth at Clearlake in August!!

mac (Doyle McEwen) · Post by **mac (Doyle McEwen)** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:42 am

Did you fish around the Dunkirk area..The fishery in Erie is awesome..Just a few years ago it was rapidly becoming a dead lake..Obviously some big changes have occured..

Glad you had a great time..Wish I could have been there..

mac

gt5bass · Post by **gt5bass** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:53 am

Pat,

Glad to here you had a great time at Erie. Glad to here you got them before that wind blew, that lake gets really ugly when it blows...been there done that!

Erie is an awesome fishery. I got to fish there a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how big and fiesty those smallies are.

I look forward to the day I get to go back and whack some more.

NaCl · Post by **NaCl** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:21 pm

Impressive fish! Are yours actually bigger than Jeff's or does he not know about long arms in front of the camera? HAR HAR!

.....NaCl

Hardshell · Post by **Hardshell** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:32 pm

looks like the last on the roll was the biggest. Hell, I thought there'd still be ice back there with the way the weather has been here!

Jailer

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Fri May 13, 2005 5:10 pm

Mac, I'm not sure where Dunkirk is. We were fishing a few miles West of the Pennsylvania line.

Dean, actually most of the fish were similar in size. The one with the black spots that Jeff is holding was our biggest at about 6 1/4, and Hardshell you are right, the last one on the roll was my biggest right at 6 pounds. It's interesting to note that the coloring was different on the deep and shallow fish. The shallow fish were much darker with more distinctive marks. Our poor photography with the sun at my back makes the last one harder to see. But you don't think about those things when the fish are biting!

Gator, as much as I hate to miss it, I already have another commitment during the Rally week-end, so I will ahve to get theose Clear lake fish on my own....

Pat

Hipster · Post by **Hipster** » Fri May 13, 2005 6:20 pm

Ya stroked UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Cool

I Love them smallies, guess that's why I spend so much time at Pardee and Folsom in the Winter but it is nothin like that!!!

Fight like a Freight Train I bet!!

Hipster

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:09 pm

Nice smallies, Pat! They are additive, especially on 6 pound test.

We have big smallies up here, without the huge water (although the Columbia can be almost as ugly). The last tournament took more than a 16 pound limit for five smallies to come in 23rd place! The top two weights both had almost 22 pounds each for five smallies.

ciao,
Marc

mac (Doyle McEwen) · Post by **mac (Doyle McEwen)** » Sat May 14, 2005 8:34 am

Mistaken is in New York..Chances are that you really weren't that far from that area..I know the lake is large, but heck, it is just a boat ride away..Dunkirk is where they hold a big North-eastern Rally about this time of the year..

mac