My partner and I caught some really nice smallies today. I caught 8 and he got 9 only two would not have kept and many were in the 3 to 3 1/2 lb. range with a couple boated over 4. Lost one at the boat over 5 when it jumped over the net and thru the bait. We also caught 11 or 12 sheephead one close to 10 lbs. Dark colored tubes on 1/4 to 3/8 oz jig heads in 8 to 11 fow. The water was stained to dirty from all the rain and runoff, 8 mph winds from the SSE and partly cloudy skies.
been out on erie several times but was eye fishing, never caught a smallie but caught just about everything else. sheephead are fun till you get them in, then all you want to do is get rid of em, what a nasty, slimy foul fish but they pull hard. got some nice perch and white bass out of erie along with the eyes
western basin in the spring after the eyes have spawned can be non stop action. my first time out, i caught 25 eyes, plus about 20 other fish in 4.5 hours till the waves started crashing over the boat and the captain hitailed for home, was an interesting and a little scary trip back in. waves were 4-6. my first time on a big body of water with those type waves. if you get lucky and the wind is down and you have a captain that nows his stuff it is a downright blast, i was getting cramps in my arm from reeling in so many fish. my best day ever on any water.
Heading back out to Erie again this weekend, most likely on Sun. might do some largemouth fishing on an inland lake on Sat. The smallies are finishing up with the spawn and moving out toward deeper water and feeding up heavy, if you get a lure near them they will eat.
have fun on erie, catch a couple of eyes for eating, one of the all time best tasting fish. All you need is a 1/2-1 oz erie dearie in chartreuse, yellow or orange and some crawlers fished on the bottom for the eyes. 6’ to 7’ Medium action spinning rod, 30 series reel and 8-12 lb green mono and you are good to go.
Went back out on Erie Sunday. The sheephead were running in full force caught 30 in my boat alone between my father inlaw and me. He hooked one that we put on the scale and it weighed in at 23 lbs 2 oz, that was a hog. We only hooked 3 smallies and landed 2 they were 4 lbs 1oz and 3 lbs 6oz, the one that jumped off looked to be about the same. A buddy of mine was out there too, he hooked 8 smallies and 13 sheephead. Still a fun day of hooking fish just glad it wasn’t a tournament. Look forward to next weekend and trying Erie again, last trip to this area til the fall when the smallmouth move back in to feed.
Sheephead are fun to catch especially when they get that big, they can make some long and impressive runs. The smaller ones are not that much fun when you get their heads turned and bring the to the surface they just give up and skip arcoss the top.
