Erie's South Shore On Fire Spring To Fall

(Editor's note: This is the first of what will be a regular feature on hot fishing areas around the country. It might be a lake everyone knows already but is on fire in a particular year, or it might be perennially hot, or it might be a "new" water to the national scene, or it might be water that's forever hot but particularly so during a certain season. To suggest a Hot Zone lake in your area, click here.)

If you talk to anyone who fishes Lake Erie, that might just be all they talk about – meaning Erie's consistently huge smallmouths. So in that sense, the lake's always hot.

But if you've never fished it before, you might not know that if you hitch up your boat and make the drive, you're likely to catch a 5-pounder – or two, or a dozen – with the chance at a 6-pound-plus on every cast. That's throughout the season, not just now.

This is because two forces have converged over the last several years to create what will likely in the future be considered the true glory era of Erie smallmouths.

One is the spread of an exotic species: the round goby. It's a prime smallmouth prey, and the fish have stuffed themselves with the toothy bottom-crawlers. Perhaps more important, though, is an increased understanding of the fishery itself, coupled with spot-on GPS technology.

Now subtle summer humps can be found and exploited. And enough of the suspended-fish puzzle has been solved that savvy anglers can zero in on big fish well after the spawn all the way through fall.

To help BassFans get a bead on this fishery, Ohio FLW Tour and Ranger pro Vic Vatalaro dissects the current bite on the part of the shore from Ohio east to Dunkirk, N.Y. From there, Buffalo guide Tim Braun tackles the basin from Dunkirk east into the head of the Niagara River, with additional thoughts on summer and fall.

Logistics

Three states border the south shore of Erie, and each have differing seasons and regulations. But catch-and-immediate-release fishing is open in all three states.

With a lake that big, you have several options for launching your boat. Vatalaro said: "On the Ohio side, you have Fairport Harbor, Geneva State Park, Ashtabula and Conneaut launch facilities that are all great. Then into Pennsylvania you have the Erie and Presque Isle launches, and New York has Barcelona and Dunkirk. Any of those launches will provide ample water unless the weather keeps you on shore.

"This is about 100 miles (Cleveland to Dunkirk) of truly world-class springtime smallmouth fishing," he said. "It used to be that you had to go to places like the Bass Islands or Kiwi Island to get into the fish, but now it seems like you can fish anywhere along this part of the Erie coast and catch fish."

Further east of Dunkirk, N.Y., anglers typically launch at Silver Creek, Sturgeon Point or within Buffalo at the Small Boat Harbor or Erie Basin Marina. If the lake winds are big, a public launch at the foot of Sheridan Drive in Buffalo offers good access to the Niagara River.

What To Throw

The spring bite starts with pre-spawn in mid-May and goes through the second or third week of June when the fish get close to the end of their spawning ritual.

"The early bite is mainly with reaction baits, with jerkbaits the top producers," Vatalaro said. "It's just incredible.

"As the spawn progresses into June, the bite switches from reaction to more of a bed-fishing bite with tubes and a dropshot. During this entire time, 5- to 6-pound smallies are common, and a 7-pound fish isn't out of the question. In fact, last year I took my wife out during this time of year and, dropshotting off the back of the boat, she brought in a 28-pound limit of fish without even trying."

He also noted that this time of year, jerkbaits "are on the way out," so he recommends anglers concentrate on fishing the deep beds with tubes and dropshots.

"I'm concentrating on fish in the 9- to 18-foot depths right now. The water's so clear that the bigger fish are spawning that deep. They're easy to see – it's that clear. For this, I prefer to fish 6-pound Gamma fluorocarbon line on spinning tackle and look for the fish on beds. The light line is why I think I do so well on Erie."

For tubes, he typically throws Mizmos and the Gambler Giggy Stick, which is half-worm, half-tube. Rigged on a Giggy head, it'll sit straight off the bottom. For his dropshotting, he ties on Roboworms because he likes the action. But the fish aren't particularly fussy, so "you can use anything, really," he said.

Color's pretty simple – he throws watermelon and green-pumpkin.

As fish move out of the spawn, and into their summer patterns, tubes and dropshots are still key. But many of the top sticks, including Braun, switch to plastics that more resemble the goby.

"My number one bait is the Great Lakes Goby by Culprit," Braun said. "It's one of the best baits to imitate what the Goby looks like in color and action. I've fished all the other gobies, and last year, it outproduced the others 4 to 1 for me. I throw olive, and smoke-purple."

Structure, Structure, Structure

Lake Erie fishing isn't for the bank-beater, so be prepared to fish offshore. Because of this, a marine chart of the lake and good electronics are a must.

"These fish are not near the shoreline," Vatalaro said. "In fact, I rarely fish closer to shore than a half-mile, and most of the time, I'm between 1 and 7 miles from the beach.

"What you're looking for are breaks in depth," he said. "In the Ohio region, a break is a depth change of maybe 1 or 2 feet. The further you head east, though, the depth change increases. For example, in the Dunkirk area, you need to look for breaks that drop 8 to 10 feet. The water on top of the break would be in the 7- to 9-foot range and break down to the 17- to 20-foot range.

"The fish stage and spawn on these breaks, and you need to be on them in order to maximize your chances of getting into the good fish."

Closer to Buffalo, the lake narrows down to where it eventually enters the Niagara River. So fishing there is often closer to shore, but it's still offshore fishing. The difference is that a hump might be a half-mile from shore, as opposed to a mile or two.

Braun noted that any rises or humps are key – even depth changes as small as a foot – and rocks are gravy. But Erie also stratifies heavily in the summer and the smallmouths suspend, which adds a twist to the traditional hump and breakline approach.

"The deeper fish will be the bigger fish," Braun said. "As you drive around and see fish suspended, that's where the dropshot comes into effect. If you see fish suspended 15 feet off bottom in 40 feet of water, they'll swim down to a dropshot. They move down to it, and you'll also get a lot of hits on the drop."

Also key for Braun is that the rock humps be isolated. In the era of GPS, few secrets remain, but his best spots are still relatively unknown, and some of his humps are no bigger than his boat.

He's not about to surrender his bread-and-butter coordinates, but he offered the following recommendations for fishing in the Buffalo area. "In June and July, if you launch into the lake, I'd say you should fish any of the outside walls of the Buffalo Harbor, plus Waverly Shoals, Seneca Shoals and the head of the Niagara near the roundhouse (water intake). On the Canadian side, get up into Windmill Point. The isolated rockpiles there are hot."

Another factor is fish grouping. Erie smallmouths group by size, Braun noted. In other words, if you're after a 5-pounder and you're only catching 3s, don't think a 5 is suddenly going to strike. Move onto the next spot, then the one after that, until you connect with a group of larger fish.

> For those days near Buffalo when the lake's unfishable, Braun said to head right into the Niagara. "There are lots of shoreline weeds up and down the East and West Rivers, and year-round the smallmouths will be in 10 to 15 feet. Use the same techniques as in the lake, along with a Rat-L-Trap. You're not going to get the lunker fish, but you'll catch 3s and 4s consistently."

Expected Weights

"Weights this time of year are crazy," Vatalaro said. "In Pennsylvania and New York, tournaments this time of year are won with 12 to 16 pounds for two fish. On the Ohio side, we can't have tournaments, but the weights average around 5 pounds per fish.

"The fish can be finicky," he added. "Before the fish drop their eggs, they're easy to catch. But right after they drop them, they can get tough. You have to work for them, but they're still catchable. Once they're guarding fry, though, they get stupid again and the bite's wide-open."

Braun said of expected weights: "From late June until late September and into October, almost every day of a 4-day trip you can expect three to five fish in the high-4s to 5s with an occasional 6. That's fishing deeper water."

> He added: "What's cool is that sometimes we get them in 5 to 8 feet in the middle of July in bowling-ball size chunk rock."

The Weather

Because Lake Erie's so large, even a small wind can wreak havoc with anglers. "People need to be aware of the weather on the lake," Vatalaro said. "I live 45 minutes from the water and I call down to some bait shops at the shore to see what the weather is before I venture down there. It could be dead-calm here and blowing down there.

"You have to be careful. A marine radio is well-advised equipment when on the water. The lake can be dead calm and within 15 minutes there are 6-foot swells. You really need a big boat that has good flotation. Up until about 10 years ago, we'd seem to lose about five boats per tournament if the wind was blowing."

Note that residual swells can linger, and it may take a full day for the lake to calm.

> Braun said the unpredictable nature of Erie is the reason he runs a Ranger 621 VS, which is actually a walleye-style boat with high gunwales. "It's a tank," he said. "When everyone's turning around and going home, I can go out. It's second to none."

Notable

> Vatalaro won the Erie Northeastern Stren last July with a final 2-day weight of 38-10, and a combined 4-day total of 78-03.

> He owns Vic's Sports Center in Kent, Ohio (VicsSportsCenter.com) and he encourages BassFans to call. "If anyone has any questions about the lake or the fishing, call me at the shop and I'll be happy to set you up," he said. "I'm on the lake every week and can help anyone make their trip a great one."

> Braun runs Braun's Outdoors guide service (BraunsOutdoors.com) and likewise encourages BassFans to make contact.

> Several years ago, outdoor writer Mark Hicks wrote a book titled Lake Erie Smallmouths. It's currently sold out, and out of print, but if you can find it, scoop it up. The second half of the book is loaded with marked-up maps of the entire southern shore of Lake Erie. Legendary Buffalo guide Capt. Terry Jones contributed heavily to the publication, as did tour pro Frank Scalish.