Walleye Quest

I arrived in Cleveland today and will spend the next couple of days walleye fishing on Lake Erie. I'll be riding with folks who can really teach me a lot about trolling lures, rigs, locations and more, so I'm looking forward to learning and shooting photos almost as much as I'm looking forward to catching fish.

We'll mostly be fishing Walleye Bandits and Rogues, I think, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing some of the newest Rogues in action.

Of course I just like the idea of getting out on Erie. There's something unique and wonderful about spending time on any of the Great Lakes, and I haven't done so since last May.

Small (mouth) Distraction

My focus has been a little split for the past couple of days. It's something that sometimes happens when a big tournament is going on. And it's especially likely to occur when the pros are catching whopper smallmouths. I find myself spending too much time peeking at BASStrakk, the Bassmaster blog, the FLW Twitter feed, pros' facebook pages and more, wanting to know what the fish are doing and who is catching them and of course wanting to see photos of big brown fish.

I suppose it's somewhat of a vicarious fishing thing.

This week it's been a double whammy because the Elites are fishing Lake St. Clair at the same time as an FLW Rayovac Series event is going on at Erie, out of Sandusky. The fishing has been good, and they are catching a lot of big fish. Adding intrigue, friends are in major contention in both tournaments, and on the BASS side, the Angler of the Year race and Bassmaster Classic qualifiers continue to take shape.

I'm still getting my writing done. It's just taking longer than it should. I'd write more here, but I need to check on the weigh-ins!

Erie Ice Calling

Ice cover in the Presque Isle Bay area is getting thicker all the
time. Dave Lefebre photo.

Dave Lefebre with a
big yellow perch caught
during last year's trip.

When the ice clearly calls I only know of one reasonable response, and right now that call is coming from Erie, Pennsylvania, where it's 5 degrees at the moment, according to the little weather experts inside my computer. A possible plan to head north and fish the frozen waters of Presque Isle Bay and other Northern PA locations with bass pro Dave Lefebre had been hanging out there, but all hinged on the ice. The cold that's gripped a lot of the country over the past few days has a firm hold on the Erie area, and the ice is thickening in a hurry.

Yesterday, after scouting some ice and looking at the long-range, Dave said the time was right to settle plans for sooner, rather than later. Looks like I'll be pointing the go-cart north in a little more than a week. It'll be my first drive to ice country, which is kind of cool. Mostly, I'm mostly just excited to have an ice plan solidly in place. No temps above freezing between now and then and not a lot of snow, so the outlook looks great for high-quality ice

Last year we divided time between a bay off Presque Isle Bay and a cool little trout lake called Lake Pleasant, and we caught crappie, yellow perch, one largemouth, various sunfish and a couple of kinds of trout, that I can think of off-hand. Lots of fish and lots of fun. I'm not sure exactly where we'll fish this year, but I'm certain Dave will have a cool plan and all the right stuff for an outstanding trip. Stay tuned.

Personal Best Smallmouth & More

It's always fun to top a personal best for a kind of fish. To do so two days in a row is even better. The smallmouth pictured above, which I caught today on Lake Erie in Billy McDonald's boat, was the biggest one I've ever weighed (5-11). I can't say with absolute certainty that it's the biggest smallmouth I've ever caught because I've caught a handful in the 5 1/2 range that I didn't weigh. I really don't think any were bigger than that one, though.

Yesterday, while fishing the mouth of the Niagara River with Capt. Frank Campbell, I caught a 9-pound brown trout, which definitely was a personal best.

Of course, that shouldn't surprise me. I've also caught my biggest lake trout, steelhead and coho salmon while fishing with Frank Campbell in the Niagara River on past trips. That's five personal best fish from one region, and I've only fished up here a handful of times.

Just one of many reasons I love fishing in the Niagara River region!

A Few Days Early

Dan Elsner of Get Bit Baits shows the sort
of fish the waters around Sturgeon Bay normally
produce by the dozens early in the season.

The spring wake-up showed signs of getting going yesterday in Little Sturgeon Bay, and word we heard suggested that it was happening throughout the area. No crazy catch numbers, but fish caught and spotted in normal early areas. Plentiful sun on Sunday and yesterday clearly has fish moving up into the bays and within a couple of days the fishing should be absolutely off the hook. Unfortunately, I won't get to see it because I fly out of town today.

Virtually every spring, the best Sturgeon Bay fishing of the entire year occurs on the first few days after Wisconsin's bass season opens. This year was the exception. The ice only broke up a few days before the season, and the water just wasn't warm enough, soon enough, for the fish to start moving up into the bays. In fact, the ice still isn't completely gone. There are still a couple of  huge sheets of ice out floating in the main bay, and we could see one of them near the horizon from Little Surgeon Bay while we fished yesterday.

Fishing was tough, and I know that was hard for Dan Elsner of Get Bit Baits, who was eager to show off the spectacular smallmouth fishery just outside of his back yard. I still enjoyed learning about the area and getting out there, and I'm confident that we did all the right stuff to try to find the fish. It was just a weird opener, and we were a few days early.

I don't fly home today. Instead, I fly to Buffalo for another round of Great Lakes fishing. The ice lingered for a long time in Lake Erie, too, so it will be interesting to see what I find at that end. I suspect if Erie is way behind as well we might focus most efforts on trout and salmon in the lower Niagara River. I'll get plenty of reports after I get to town tonight, I'm sure.

Tour De Bronze 2014

Well, my big bronze trip begins tomorrow, when I board a plane to fly from Atlanta to Green Bay. Travel actually includes two trips in one. After arriving in Green Bay, I'll spend three days fishing Sturgeon Bay and the other bays that bound Door County, Wisconsin. From Green Bay, I fly directly to Buffalo, to fish for more big smallmouths in Lake Erie's eastern basin and to fish for a mix of species (including smallmouths) in the Lower Niagara River and Lake Ontario.

The Sturgeon Bay area, the Buffalo area of Erie and the mouth of the Niagara clearly rank among the finest trophy smallmouth waters in the world, and the first days after they open typically are among the very best for catching the most and the biggest fish. Fishing is still fishing, so it may not happen, but if the weather allows us good approaches to the best waters, chances of tangling with seriously big smallmouth bass are about as good as I could ask for.

At Sturgeon Bay, I think we'll be fishing with Tubes and other Get Bit Baits soft-plastic offerings, plus some hair jigs custom tied specifically for the early-season bite. At Erie, tubes, live shiners and jerkbaits could all play a role.

Of course this trip isn't all about bronze. I'll also be spending time on the Lower Niagara River fishing for steelhead, salmon and lakers, But maybe that's another story for another time.

Ice Out?

Earlier this year I was watching weather in the North, pulling for serious cold to lock up good ice for my January trip western Pennsylvania. A few months later I'm thinking about northern weather and ice again, but this time I'm pulling for the opposite. On Friday, I fly to Green Bay to fish for giant smallmouths in the legendary waters that bound Door County with the folks from Get Bit Baits, but as of a couple of days ago, a couple of the bays we would most likely fish still had ice on them. They are starting to break up. so hopefully by the time we're ready to fish...

The good news is that some bays are open and -- worst case -- we could fish in rivers that supposedly are loaded with 3- to 5-pound smallmouths!

From Green Bay I fly Buffalo to fish Erie and the Niagara River and apparently Erie's Eastern Basin still has ice on it, too, but those waters have a few more days to thaw before I arrive, so I feel pretty confident that we'll be in good shape there. And if we could only fish the river, which is full of brown trout, steelhead, lake trout and salmon, that wouldn't be the worst thing that's ever happened.

There's nothing I can do about any of that anyway, so I'll just pack plenty of warm clothes and be prepared for whatever happens!

Fishy Days Ahead

Eli Moscul hoists a beautiful Niagara River brown trout caught
with Capt. Frank Campbell a couple of days ago. Photo courtesy
of Niagara Region Charter Service.

 

I caught myself daydreaming about fishy days ahead, so I figured I might as well blog about upcoming fishing travel and make the daydreaming at least sort of productive.

Capt. Frank Campbell is largely to blame for my straying thoughts. He sent a note about an upcoming trip to the Niagara River and included the photo at the top of this page. One of his clients caught that brown trout only a couple of days ago. I'll be up there in early May, fishing Lake Erie out of Buffalo for giant smallmouth bass and the Lower Niagara River for brown trout, steelhead, lake trout and whatever else wants to bite. It is one of my absolute favorite places to visit.

I'd better not get too far ahead of myself with a New York state of mind, though, because before I get to the Niagara, I'll be fishing on Norfork Lake in Arkansas for stripers, largemouths, crappie and whatever else wants to bite, floating Arkansas' Spring River for smallmouths, rainbows, browns, rock bass and more and then flying to Green Bay to fish the legendary waters of Door County (Sturgeon Bay area) for jumbo smallmouth bass, jumbo smallmouth bass and jumbo smallmouth bass.

As if that weren't enough to distract me sufficiently, spring and early summer travels will also take me to Deadwood, South Dakota to fish Black Hills rivers and lakes, mostly for trout; back to Green Bay for a big-water mix of smallmouths, walleyes and salmon; and finally South of the Border to Anglers Inn on Lake El Salto, where I hope to lock horns with some seriously big largemouths.

What all that tells me -- beyond the notion that I should enjoy some wonderful days fishing over the next few months -- is that I'd better quit daydreaming and get back to the business of writing fish stories so I'm ahead of the game when I point the truck toward Arkansas next week!

Detroit Decisions

All eyes will be on Joe Balog, a Great Lakes expert who lives by Lake St. Clair, when Balog brings his fish to the B.A.S.S. Open scales on Thursday.





You can bet there's a lot of noodling happening now on the waters closest to Detroit. Pros are currently practicing for a B.A.S.S Open that begins on Thursday. Any bass tournament out of the Motor City begins with the basic decision about whether to fish St. Clair, massive Lake Erie or the Detroit River, which connects the two waterways -- a decision impacted by where pros get the most bites and catch the biggest fish during practice and by the weather outlook.

Anglers who are unfamiliar with these waters must first find stuff they like and then decide what strategies make the most sense. However, decisions aren't necessarily easy for the pros who know these waters best because an angler's two best areas might be 75 miles from each other. Weather is a factor in any bass tournament because it affects fish behavior, but the forecast has an extra big impact on Great Lakes fisheries because it dictates where a pro can and cannot run or fish effectively and the practicality of moving from one spot to another during a day.

Big-water specialists like Joe Balog, who won a 2006 Northern Open on Erie and who now calls the St. Clair area home, enjoy advantages that stretch way beyond knowing how the fish behave and where they go on these waters (although that knowledge is important, too). They know how to run big water and how to set up over offshore structure and fish it effectively, even when the lake is rocking.

I haven't looked at the 5-day forecast for Detroit, but in truth what it says now about Thursday may have little to do with what actually happens. The pros may have have to take one final peek up a flagpole on Thursday morning and then decide which way to point the boat!

Erie Produces Big for FLW Walleye Pros

Kevin McQuoid brought 118 pounds, 4 ounces to the scales over three days to win the FLW Walleye Tour event at Lake Erie. Photo courtesy of FLW.

Everyone suspected that the FLW Walleye Tour Event at Lake Erie would be a toadfest. True to expectations, the giant lake produced and abundance of giant walleyes.

Minnesota pro Keven McQuoid topped the field, weighing in 118 pounds, 4 ounces of walleyes in three days. That is an average of very close to 8 pounds per fish! For comparison, his three-day total was more than 45 pounds heavier than what it took to win the first tour event of this season at the Mississippi River. Fish in Tommy Skarlis' winning sack on the Mississippi averaged a little less than 5 pounds.

It wasn't just McQuoid's winning pattern or spot, either (although he did win the event by a significant 5-pound margin). The top nine anglers at Erie had three-day totals of more than 100 pounds. Digging deeper in the results, a two-day total of 60 pounds (6-pound average) landed an angler just shy of 50th place.

Congratulations to Kevin McQuoid on his third FLW win.