Fishing Erie

[ohbassin]

I'm coming up from Houston and want to get on some smallmouth. I will be staying in the Cleveland area from Oct.13-20. I will have my boat, where will the best area be to fish to possibly catch some smallmouth this time of year?

[erienightrider]

I’ll believe it when I see it. Just saying lol

[ohbassin]

Pick the boat up today from the shop, if I dont break it between now and Friday morning that boat will be on Erie!

[coolwhip]

[jc2bg]

Dunkirk, NY.

[ohbassin]

I have fished those reefs in the past, with lesser electronics. Caught lots of drum and rock bass out there. Have caught some smallmouth in those areas but this was 10 yrs ago or so when we still lived up there. Would it be worth the drive over to the islands this time of year, say Sandusky bay area?

[jc2bg]

Western Erie is pretty sparse for smallmouths after the spawn, and definitely after the 4th of July. There are a few fish around Kelley’s if you know where to look, but they are hard to pin down, and not a numbers game. If I want smallmouths, I go to Pelee, and still may not get 5 in a day. Not many days in October to comfortably fish 20-some miles offshore, either.

[coolwhip]

I have fished those reefs in the past, with lesser electronics. Caught lots of drum and rock bass out there. Have caught some smallmouth in those areas but this was 10 yrs ago or so when we still lived up there. Would it be worth the drive over to the islands this time of year, say Sandusky bay area?

Ya, the captain we use will put on soft craws for bait instead of nightcrawlers or shiners. You use soft craws or something artificial to look like a crawl and you will do pretty good I'm told. The smallies biting good around the islands for sure. About an hour and a half drive from Cleveland I believe. The boat ramp on catawba is closed. Boat ramp on the river in port clinton where I go out now. There are also boat ramps on the islands too. Just take ferry with boat and truck over.

[ohbassin]

Ya, the captain we use will put on soft craws for bait instead of nightcrawlers or shiners. You use soft craws or something artificial to look like a crawl and you will do pretty good I'm told. The smallies biting good around the islands for sure. About an hour and a half drive from Cleveland I believe. The boat ramp on catawba is closed. Boat ramp on the river in port clinton where I go out now. There are also boat ramps on the islands too. Just take ferry with boat and truck over.

So the bite around the islands is good right now or not worth it?

[onpoint]

Yes, it is good now. Been catching numbers and size recently, and not in Canada. I'm not talking 50 fish days but plenty to make it a good day. Look for rock piles in 19-23', drop shot works best.
There's a good ramp at Mazurik access area near Marblehead. You go straight out 4 miles to Kelley's Island.

[jc2bg]

First I’ve heard of a good bite close to shore. Glad to hear it. Smallmouth fishing is not 1/10th of what it was 15-20 years ago, but once or twice a year, it still can happen.

[ohbassin]

Yes, it is good now. Been catching numbers and size recently, and not in Canada. I'm not talking 50 fish days but plenty to make it a good day. Look for rock piles in 19-23', drop shot works best.
There's a good ramp at Mazurik access area near Marblehead. You go straight out 4 miles to Kelley's Island.

Good to hear, I dont need to catch 50 fish, but catching 10-20 would be nice.

[onpoint]

I also have a buddy that is a charter captain and he can always get you on fish. Last Sunday he was out with 2 guys and called me about 10:30, they had caught 9, 3 over 5, and while we were talking they doubled on 4 pounders.

[OH_Ranger]

I caught a few today out of Lorain. Nothing big. Off shore 20ish ft deep. Also a couple largemouth. Nothing inside the harbor, river was very dirty.

[Fishing Flyer]

Good to hear, I dont need to catch 50 fish, but catching 10-20 would be nice.

Did you end up going for it? Get any?

Anyone know if the largemouth bite is on in east / west harbor?

[stahlead]

A little off topic but what's to blame for the poor small mouth fishing? Bad spawns? Algae blooms? Charter fishing?

[jc2bg]

A little off topic but what's to blame for the poor small mouth fishing? Bad spawns? Algae blooms? Charter fishing?

I doubt that anyone knows for sure, but “all of the above” is my best guess. Years ago, we caught dozens of keeper smallmouths every trip in certain areas that just a few years later held barely any at all. In those cases, the big red flag was charter fishing, as the charter boats would be out there every day taking 100-200 fish that likely were 10-15 years old. Impossible to recruit replacements when that happens. Then as zebra mussels proliferated, the water got much clearer, prompting the bass to move to areas with deeper water than western Erie. And also, zebra mussels filled in the rocky bottom crevices that smallmouths liked to use as hiding places. I’ve been fishing many of the same waypoints for 25+ years, and nearly all of them are less snaggy than they used to be. We also encounter a lot of commercial netting north of Port Clinton and Sandusky, particularly in Canadian water. Smallmouths roam a lot. Many of the fish we target around the bass islands surely spend some time across the border, where nets can blanket an area and stretch for miles. In 2017, I located a group of nice smallmouth that stayed on a particular offshore structure for months. Until 1 day in early October, when the netters covered the area. I tried fishing around the edges of the net (with some trepidation, not wanting to get shot at), but didn’t mark a single fish in the entire area. Just gone, overnight.

So, overfishing, habitat change, commercial pressure all play a role in depleting the numbers of very slow-growing fish. I don’t think algae is a problem at all. Have caught plenty of nice fish where the water is solid green on top.

[Fishing Flyer]

Thanks for the perspective John. I started bass fishing Erie 7 years ago, making it up once or twice a year. It’s not enough to really dial it in, but when I find a few smallmouth it’s an absolute blast.

[eriedude]

Tournament fishing didn't help. Hundreds if not thousands of smallies were taken off beds pre- 2004 during the tournament hey days. When an Erie smallmouth is taken off its bed the gobies raid and decimate the nest in minutes. 2 -4 tournaments were sent out of Sandusky alone each weekend relocating ( and a lot of the time killing) the biggest and best breeders. BASS did a study prior to the 05 Ohio Open and concluded that the average Ohio Lake Erie smallmouth was 18" and 7-9 years old. The study also stated that recruitment of smaller fish was almost non existent. At one time the fishing from Huron to Lorain was world class, now its tough to get one although I heard last year was a little better. There are areas around Kelleys and the Bass Islands that hold fish but nothing like it was in the 80's to early 2000's.

[XingEyeballs]

I doubt that anyone knows for sure, but “all of the above” is my best guess. Years ago, we caught dozens of keeper smallmouths every trip in certain areas that just a few years later held barely any at all. In those cases, the big red flag was charter fishing, as the charter boats would be out there every day taking 100-200 fish that likely were 10-15 years old. Impossible to recruit replacements when that happens. Then as zebra mussels proliferated, the water got much clearer, prompting the bass to move to areas with deeper water than western Erie. And also, zebra mussels filled in the rocky bottom crevices that smallmouths liked to use as hiding places. I’ve been fishing many of the same waypoints for 25+ years, and nearly all of them are less snaggy than they used to be. We also encounter a lot of commercial netting north of Port Clinton and Sandusky, particularly in Canadian water. Smallmouths roam a lot. Many of the fish we target around the bass islands surely spend some time across the border, where nets can blanket an area and stretch for miles. In 2017, I located a group of nice smallmouth that stayed on a particular offshore structure for months. Until 1 day in early October, when the netters covered the area. I tried fishing around the edges of the net (with some trepidation, not wanting to get shot at), but didn’t mark a single fish in the entire area. Just gone, overnight.

So, overfishing, habitat change, commercial pressure all play a role in depleting the numbers of very slow-growing fish. I don’t think algae is a problem at all. Have caught plenty of nice fish where the water is solid green on top.

When I read this post I see Mille Lacs and so many trophy lakes. It’s so disappointing to see how a amazing fishery can be destroyed by negligence and abuse...sure hope some day we do something about it.