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Pinpointing Lake Erie bronzebacks

While reeling in a hefty smallmouth bass I watched in amazement as two other smallies of about the same size followed the hooked fish to the boat. That turned into a familiar scene on a cold fall morning on Lake Erie.
 
As I took advantage of the early morning light to snap some fish photos, my partners provided plenty of photo subjects in the three- to four-pound range. I even got to enjoy some of the action later in the morning by catching eight quality smallies and had another jump off that our guide estimated at five or six pounds.

Our guide for the day was Joe Balog, a big lake expert from Michigan who won the 2006 Bassmaster Northern Open event on Lake Erie shortly after I fished with him on the big water near the mouth of the Detroit River. Our day typified the phenomenal fishing you can experience on Lake Erie with about 40 smallmouths, mostly in the three- to four-pound class. We also had some five-pounders shake off our lures.

Fishing for smallmouth on Lake Erie can be fantastic, but it can also be frustrating for some visiting anglers as they try to find smallmouths in such a vast expanse of water. However, there is a key to eliminating dead areas and finding smallies on such a massive fishery.

“You have to know your seasonal patterns no matter where you go,” Balog explained. “If you go to a reservoir, you know the seasonal pattern is to start in the creeks in the spring and move out to the main lake in the summer and so on, and it’s kind of the same way with Lake Erie. By knowing the seasonal patterns it immediately allows you to narrow it down into the depth range you are looking for.”

From April through early June, Balog knows the fish are in various stages of the spawn so he concentrates on depths of 10 to 20 feet. In late June and July he targets smallies in the 20- to 25-foot range as they move to deeper structure.  The fish move to the deepest structure (25 to 35 feet) in August before moving back to the shallow structures again in the fall.
 
Relying on maps such as the Richardson’s Chartbook & Cruising Guide for the Great Lakes and the electronic charts on GPS units help you find isolated rock piles, expansive flats, rocky points, reefs and shoals that Lake Erie smallmouth favor. Balog says the Western Basin of the lake contains plenty of offshore habitat with its abundance of islands. The best habitat on the lake’s Eastern Basin is usually within a mile of the shoreline.
 
A side-imaging depthfinder has also come in handy when Balog searches for the most productive spots on this inland sea. 

“With the side-imaging unit you can really eliminate a lot of water when you are looking for isolated sweet spots and rock piles.”
 
Once you find a potential hot spot, figuring out the depth of the fish is usually pretty easy.

“They are really bottom-oriented because their main forage is a goby, and a goby doesn’t have a swim bladder so it is forced to stay on the bottom almost 100 percent of its life.”
 
Some smallmouth suspend occasionally on calm, sunny days or full moon phases during the summer, but most of the year the fish will hold within about 5 feet of the bottom. On the nastiest, windy days, bronzebacks will cling to the bottom and feed on current-swept forage.
 
As current-oriented predators, smallmouths are usually found on a side of structure influenced by water flow.

“Smallmouth are notorious for wanting to be on the upwind or upcurrent side of things, because they want to be where the current is hitting the hardest. There will actually be pockets of flat water in front of an object in current due to the way the current rolls through, over and around an object. So smallmouth can sometimes be in front of an object too.”

Employing a drift sock is a productive way to catch Lake Erie smallmouth when the wind blows, however Balog prefers staying on top of fish with the aid of his depthfinder and trolling motor.

“I’m a big believer that with today’s electronics and trolling motors, and a little bit of determination, an angler can hold his boat in pretty much any conditions and cast to these fish.”
 
Since smallmouths will be gorging on gobies rather than chasing baitfish, the key to triggering strikes is keeping your bait close to the structure. 

“You have to make an exact presentation with a drop-shot rig on fairly light line. If you are just drifting around, you might drift over the good spot and trigger a fish to bite, but I’d rather be standing in one place and casting over and over and catching multiple fish.”

Balog will drop an anchor when he finds fish tightly schooled on a spot. He notices that in the summer smallmouths will hold on a large reef or shipwreck, but he has to move around to different pieces of the structure to catch fish.  In the fall he can drop an anchor and repeatedly cast to one spot because wind-generated current causes the fish to congregate.

“They will get on one angle related to the structure and how the bait washes through the spot,” reveals Balog.
 
Balog’s favorite lures for Lake Erie smallmouth are Gulp Sinking Minnows and Poor Boy Gobies for drop-shot rigs and a four-inch Dream Tube.
 
Drop those baits on multiple-hook drop-shot rigs in the right spot at Lake Erie, and you’re liable to see heavyweight smallmouth doubles and triples.