Lake erie small mouth

[Gene Shenk]

Hi Guys

I was thinking of heading up to lake erie out of the buffalo harbour for small mouth the weekend of oct 4th does anybody know if the the smallie fishing will still be good enough or should I just put the boat away now. I figured I would head to seneca shoals and drift crawfish and rubber goby's drop shot style in 15 to 30' of water, does that sound right or is there a better way to do it this late in the year.

Thanks

Gene

[wnybassman]

The best fishing will only be getting started at that time. Smallies really turn on about that time and the bite lasts all of October and November. Don't forget jigging spoons late in the year to.

[Gene Shenk]

Thanks wnybassman

I have never used jigging spoons before any details on what to buy or the best way to use them would be helpful!

Gene

[wnybassman]

Thanks wnybassman

I have never used jigging spoons before any details on what to buy or the best way to use them would be helpful!

Gene

I like to use 3/4 ounce Hopkin's Shorty's in either gold or chrome. I use on casting gear with fairly heavy Flouro line (17 lb Vanish for me) It's a good idea to use a swivel of some kind to prevent line twist.

Drop the spoon right off the side of the boat and let it settle to the bottom. Engage reel and snap briskly up 4 to 8 feet, let settle and snap, let settle and snap. Although you can feel bites occasionally on the fall, more times than not you will set the hook on one of the upward snaps.

There is no quicker way to put smallies in the boat when they are on the spoon!

[Gene Shenk]

Thanks

If get out there this weekend I will give it a try!!

[Gene Shenk]

Well we went to lake erie and launched at the buffalo harbour with high hopes of some great smallie fishing. We had crabs,minnows,gulb bait and assorment of tube baits. We tired drop shot rigs and some other styles as well but had very little luck we only landed 1 smallie about 14". We fished near the round house, seneca shoals and out by the red can north of seneca shoals. We also tried fishing along the inner and outer break walls hell we even tried trolling stickbaits. We did mark a lot of fish in the seneca shoals area but we could not get them to hit anything. It was a pretty nice day on the water but I will admit I had hoped for a better outing for the last trip of the season. I guess it is time to start shooting some deer and making some sausage.

Thank you to everyone on this site you all have helped me in one way or another all year long. I hope I was a little help to the few posts I responded to as well.

Good Luck Tight Lines

Gene

[Yankee Troller]

Gene,

I didn't see this post. The person who you've been talkin to holds the NYS Federation heaviest 5 bass sack from Lake Erie, so he knows his stuff. Anyway, I would have given you a couple of GPS coordinates if I did read this earlier. It should be that hard to catch fish there this time of year, but its a HUGE body of water and it can be tough to locate some good schools.

[Gene Shenk]

Yankee

Thanks for the input I am putting the boat away this weekend but I will talk with you more about it this spring. I plan to do a May trip and I will need some input for the spring conditions. I did mark alot of fish of woodlawn beach (senecs shoals area) But the water had alot of sediment in it so the clearity was very low. I dont know if the conditions where the problem or not?

Gene