We are going to take you through the seasons here on Lake Erie in these next few blogs. Coming up very soon, we’ll be in our spring season, which is generally a really fun one. The smallmouth bass largely migrate towards the Presque Isle Bay peninsula area, searching for food, shelter from the wind and prime spawning habitat. The area around Presque Isle Bay here in Erie, PA, offers all of these things in the springtime.
I often wonder how far these fish will migrate to come here in the spring. A good friend of mine, Jeff Hippert of Lake Erie Trophy Bass Charters in Buffalo, recently sent me a study tracking Erie smallmouth migrations throughout the year. They tagged some fish in the Western Basin of Erie and found that many of them travel over 100 miles in a year! So, I wouldn’t be too surprised to hook into a fish with a Canadian accent over here in the spring…eh.
Once the ice comes off, we are usually out targeting bass shortly afterwards. The largemouth bite picks up first, as darker bottomed bays and areas in the Bay heat up first. As the water temps start to creep up on the main lake and Bay, the smallmouth begin to get active. Plump smallmouth bass flood into Presque Isle Bay and parking lots fill with trucks and boat trailers all around Erie, PA. Cold water prespawn usually consists of deeper fishing at first and working it’s way shallower towards the spawn. Blade baits, grubs, spoons, swimbaits and ned rigs usually get the most action early. As jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and other moving baits catch on shortly after. On tougher days, finesse presentations like drop shots, tubes and ned rigs can prevail. However, most days, they are hungry enough to eat some type of moving bait as they are fattening up for the rigors of the spawn.
As more fish get into tighter areas and get pressure through this time period, you usually need to get more creative. Colors make more of a difference, action of the bait becomes crucial. This continues on until most of our fish begin moving back out and dispersing into the main Lake Erie for summer patterns.
We have limited dates available this spring, so if you are wanting to come fish, book with us today!
