Lake Erie Fishing Report

I met my buddies Dan and Mike at a parking lot in Burlington at 6:00AM and launched Dan's boat in Fort Erie, CANADA at 7:10AM. Dan crossed under the Peace Bridge and we spent the next 3 hours drifting back and forth a 1 KM area targeting smallies. If anyone knows this area, it was close to an infamous "pink house" along the shoreline where I soon learned was a hot spot. We all used tubes. The technique was simple - cast out, let the tube sink to the bottom and let it bounce off the rocky bottom and twitching every 30 seconds or so. Within 5 minutes we were onto the smallies. Apparently I have to practice my knots because I broke off a couple lines during my hook sets. Our buddy Mike hauled in the first smallie in the 3.5lbs range. The smallie fought like crazy, dived 5X to the bottom but we finally netted it and the race was on. After boating about 5-6 similar smallies, we headed toward Crystal Beach, about 400 yard from shore, in about 20 feet of water and were back onto the small jaws in about 10 minutes. By now Mike and I were still primarily using tubes but Dan began drop shotting a 3" chartreuse GULP minnow and was catching a smallie every 20 minutes. I was too stubborn to change up my rig and kept my tube on for the next 3 hours with limited success. Dan on the other hand was hammering them. Our last stop was to head back toward where we launched and headed up the river near the Buffalo Marina. We drifted in 10 feet of water about 300 yards from shore. Dan switched up his bait to a Rapala lipless crank, Mike threw a KVD spinner and I stubbornly kept my tube on (with a tube jig inserted into the tube). Within 5 minutes I hooked a nice 3 lb smallie. I was a bit excited and decided not to use a net and flipped it right into the boat with a proud smile on my face. I told Dan and Mike that nobody can compete with me in shallow, rocky, weedy waters and it turned out that I was the only one catching fish in this area. Truthfully, if Dan kept his drop shot rigged, he would have outfished me 3 to 1. I must say, Erie was surprisingly incredible. The smallies were all a decent size and we boated more fish than I expected. Well over a dozen were caught during the day. I can't wait to head back to Erie, perhaps trying the U.S. side next time. Tight lines, Ken