# Smallmouth



## Allen voss (Sep 30, 2014)

What is the best fishing technique for smallmouth fishing around islands?


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

crayfish on a dropshot rig. But a half worm hooked in middle will also do well.
Get to the windswept side of an island before it gets too bumpy and you can usually find some. 
Right now cover 7 to 25 fow with gravel or stone bottom.

Rickerd


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## bearcat3993 (Oct 2, 2015)

We used to Carolina rig a crawfish around Kelly’s Island. Drop it straight over the side of the boat. If you didn’t get bit in 5 mins, move a few yards. 


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

Long answer, I'm a Smallmouth Junkie.

The number 1 Black Bass lure in the world is a plastic worm regardless of species. For Smallmouth use a 2.5-3 inch worm on a jig head. Most people call it a "Ned Rig" but it really should be called a "Jig Worm", or a small "Finesse Worm". Ned Kehde didn't invent the Ned Rig, guys were using it up north for years before Ned put his name on it. Jig head size can be anywhere from 1/15-1/6 of an oz. depending on how much wind there is and how deep the water is. Dont waste your money on tungsten jig heads, order lead jig heads off Amazon. Out on Lake Erie I would stick with something heavier like 1/6. It will cast out far through the wind and get down fast. If its not windy or you are shallow (less than 15 feet) use something lighter like 1/8-1/10. Once its down you can do a variety of different retrieves. You can aggressively pop the bait and reel it back the boat. Pop pop retrieve, pop pop retrieve. Looks like a darting baitfish. You can also do a slow retrieve where you crawl the bait back extremely slow, this technique will get you the most bites in my experience and is how the bait was intended to be fished. This makes the bait look like a crawling crawfish, leech, bug, slowly meandering across the bottom. This retrieve is deadly. The only color you need is Green Pumpkin with black flake. You can also use Watermelon with red flake or straight black. Dont get caught up in color hype, just use dark natural colors. Keep in mind everything Im telling you also applies to the rivers and streams all along the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Conneaut. Trust me when I say the jig worm is the number 1 Smallmouth lure in the world I dont care what anybody says. 90% of my smallmouth fishing is done with a jig worm. I catch BAGS of Smallmouth in rivers and on Lake Erie on the jig worm. I got 6 yesterday at the Vermillion river in 3 hours on a jig worm.

Other lures that could work are a tube jig. This is a bigger presentation that they can key on pretty well. Drop shotting works as well but its tough to cover water with a drop shot. You gotta be right on top of them. Black or Green pumpkin 1/8 oz. hair jigs are a great option if you wanna be different. You have a lot of options, but if you're out on Lake Erie, you need to cover water and thats best done with a Jig Worm, Tube jig, or tiny hair jig. Carolina rig can also work like has been mentioned, just use small baits like 3 inch craws or 3 inch worms/leeches. 

Live bait, I have no idea. Live crawfish and gobies would probably work well.

Rod, Reel, Line recommendations. 7'-7'3" Medium Light graphite spinning rod. You can get away with fiberglass if you need to. You can also get away with a Medium action rod if you need too, however you wont be able to feel the lightweight jig's without a Medium Light. Line recommendations could be an entire post by itself. To keep it simple you can use 6-8 pound Mono, if your going to use Mono buy Sunline Mono instead of Berkley, its better line and still inexpensive. The best line option is spooling straight 6-8 pound fluorocarbon. Fluorocarbon is stronger, more abrasion resistant (which is important on Lake Erie since zebra muscles are extremely sharp), less stretch so you will have better hook sets, and technically invisible in water. I use Sunline sniper fluorocarbon 8 pound test. Its a lot more than Mono but worth it to me. A third option that a lot of people use is light braid (10-15 pound) to a fluorocarbon leader. Light braid cast extremely well and doesnt stretch at all for easy hook setting. This is a flawed system because your adding a knot at the braid to fluro connection. I dont care how strong your knot is its still a weak link in the system. Also casting the knot through the eyes weakens the knot and shortens your cast. 

Hope that helps, good luck.


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## Buzzi (Jun 14, 2004)

Thank you i_Witchfinder. What an elegantly simple summary … Smallmouth 101!!!!! Thank you for taking the time to post it!


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## Allen voss (Sep 30, 2014)

Thank you for all the post I’m definitely go to try fishing for some smallmouth.


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## TAG24 (Sep 29, 2005)

Just sayin, I don't think using live gobies is legal. I've asked this question on here before, it's an invasive species.
I've had success with soft plastic gobies and I'll agree 100% best bait for bass is plastic worm on jig head. I like black with purple flake.


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

TAG24 said:


> Just sayin, I don't think using live gobies is legal. I've asked this question on here before, it's an invasive species.
> I've had success with soft plastic gobies and I'll agree 100% best bait for bass is plastic worm on jig head. I like black with purple flake.


Thanks for the gobie info i did not know that, just assumed fishing them live on the bottom would be productive. Anybody who fishes for bass needs to master fishing a plastic worm before anything else. Jig worm, wacky rig, texas rig. And then branch off from there to different baits.


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

Allen voss said:


> Thank you for all the post I’m definitely go to try fishing for some smallmouth.


Keep in mind you can start in the rivers and have a lot of success. All the rivers across northern Ohio hold active smallmouth from May-November.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Excellent post by i_Witchfinder….

I tell folks the only lure you need to catch either variety of Bass on Erie is a Ned rig. You can use any color as long as it’s Green Pumpkin.
Although the Ned rig is supposed to be a finesse presentation I have found there are times when a heavier jig head works just fine. When I fish deeper than 15’ I usually bump up the weight… I’ve used up to 3/8 and done well. I’ll go lighter if conditions allow but sometimes you just don’t need to. Time is fish….
I am not a fan of spooling floro on my spinning rods… it sinks. Maybe it’s all those years of fishing mono but I just don’t like the way it fishes. I do use it on my braided line setups as a leader though.


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

Gottagofishn said:


> Long answer, I'm a Smallmouth Junkie.
> 
> The number 1 Black Bass lure in the world is a plastic worm regardless of species. For Smallmouth use a 2.5-3 inch worm on a jig head. Most people call it a "Ned Rig" but it really should be called a "Jig Worm", or a small "Finesse Worm". Ned Kehde didn't invent the Ned Rig, guys were using it up north for years before Ned put his name on it. Jig head size can be anywhere from 1/15-1/6 of an oz. depending on how much wind there is and how deep the water is. Dont waste your money on tungsten jig heads, order lead jig heads off Amazon. Out on Lake Erie I would stick with something heavier like 1/6. It will cast out far through the wind and get down fast. If its not windy or you are shallow (less than 15 feet) use something lighter like 1/8-1/10. Once its down you can do a variety of different retrieves. You can aggressively pop the bait and reel it back the boat. Pop pop retrieve, pop pop retrieve. Looks like a darting baitfish. You can also do a slow retrieve where you crawl the bait back extremely slow, this technique will get you the most bites in my experience and is how the bait was intended to be fished. This makes the bait look like a crawling crawfish, leech, bug, slowly meandering across the bottom. This retrieve is deadly. The only color you need is Green Pumpkin with black flake. You can also use Watermelon with red flake or straight black. Dont get caught up in color hype, just use dark natural colors. Keep in mind everything Im telling you also applies to the rivers and streams all along the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Conneaut. Trust me when I say the jig worm is the number 1 Smallmouth lure in the world I dont care what anybody says. 90% of my smallmouth fishing is done with a jig worm. I catch BAGS of Smallmouth in rivers and on Lake Erie on the jig worm. I got 6 yesterday at the Vermillion river in 3 hours on a jig worm.
> 
> ...


Excellent post…
I tell folks the only lure you need to catch either variety of Bass on Erie is a Ned rig. You can use any color as long as it’s Green Pumpkin.
Although the Ned rig is supposed to be a finesse presentation I have found there are times when a heavier jig head works just fine. When I fish deeper than 15’ I usually bump up the weight… I’ve used up to 3/8 and done well. I’ll go lighter if conditions allow but sometimes you just don’t need to. Time is fish….
[/QUOTE]
Ned rig incredibly versatile bait. Flat out catches bags of Bass. I also do really well on a 5 inch worm wacky rigged flipped into cover on flurocarbon.


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

i_Witchfinder_ said:


> Excellent post…
> I tell folks the only lure you need to catch either variety of Bass on Erie is a Ned rig. You can use any color as long as it’s Green Pumpkin.
> Although the Ned rig is supposed to be a finesse presentation I have found there are times when a heavier jig head works just fine. When I fish deeper than 15’ I usually bump up the weight… I’ve used up to 3/8 and done well. I’ll go lighter if conditions allow but sometimes you just don’t need to. Time is fish….


Ned rig incredibly versatile bait. Flat out catches bags of Bass. I also do really well on a 5 inch worm wacky rigged flipped into cover on flurocarbon.
[/QUOTE]
Color doesnt matter as long as its Green Pumpkin!


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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

My boys and I are hoping to head up to the islands this weekend. Weather permitting! We have not been on Erie for about 2 years. We plan to fiah for smallies. Could anyone offer advice on depth to start looking?


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## i_Witchfinder_ (8 mo ago)

DL07 said:


> My boys and I are hoping to head up to the islands this weekend. Weather permitting! We have not been on Erie for about 2 years. We plan to fiah for smallies. Could anyone offer advice on depth to start looking?


Depth varies anywhere from 15-40 feet. The more important thing is finding rock. Theyre not gonna be on a mud bottom but theyll hold on rocky reefs feeding on gobies and crawfish. Smallmouth hold extremely tight to cover/structure, like right on top on it. So the main objective is to find rock reefs. Fishing the main lake for smallmouth is tough unless you have specific waypoints to follow. You can also hit them off the rocky shorelines of Kellys, Rocky shoreline a long Marblehead, cedar point. Fishing the rocky shorelines will produce a lot of largemouth as well. Rocky shorelines will be your best bet in producing fish. Just find rock and fish it with the lures I mentioned above. Heres a pretty good write up on Erie Smallmouth fishing. Also Matt Stefan, pro Bass angler, did a lake map breakdown of Lake Erie with waypoints for $75. 









Lake Erie, Ohio Sandusky Bay - Summer Matt Stefan — Fish the Moment


This breakdown includes 40 waypoints on Lake Erie, Ohio focused on Sandusky Bay , July to September. The spots are focused on 4 areas of the lake. The breakdown also includes detailed descriptions of each area, recommended conditions for when you should fish each area and bait recommendations for e




fishthemoment.com







Smallmouth Bass Fishing in Lake Erie | FishAnywhere


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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

Thanks. We used to fish up there quite a bit just the last few years with school, sports and now college and work we just havent taken the time like we once did. Hopefully the weather allows us to spend some much needed time away.


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## jmyers8 (Aug 2, 2013)

I will be there thursday and possibly friday chasing small mouth. Plan on fishing the east and north side of Kelly's I'll let you know how we do. Armstrong drive through in hurom has crayfish if your looking. 

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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

Any kind of report would be helpfull. Thanks guys!


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## baby blue (Sep 8, 2005)

I’ve done well on tube jigs


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## landin hawgs (Jan 27, 2008)

If you can get large emerald shiners, say 3 or 4 inches they are awesome on a Carolina rig, #4hook and 10lb floro.


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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

Jmyers8, just curious if you made it out today?


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## jmyers8 (Aug 2, 2013)

DL07 said:


> Jmyers8, just curious if you made it out today?


Yes. We got 3 small mouth on the east side of Kelly's all in under 10 ft with live crayfish on a deop shot. The lake was dead calm so it was hard to drift and my remote for my terrova decided not to work. We also caught a few sheepshead and a catfish. We made it to the airfield on the east side and that's as far north as we made it. 

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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

Wow they were alot shallower then I would have thought. Thanks for the report! Hopefully we will be able to add a positve report Saturday evening.


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## jmyers8 (Aug 2, 2013)

We tried a few humps and rock structures in 15ish fow but didnt get anything. There is a pretty good size bay between long point and the start of the east side of the island. We saw a few fish cruising in there and had one hookup also it's around 5 ft. If you got there early I think they woukd be In there feeding before the sun got up and hot

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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

No good report and no fish for us today. I had a trolling motor battery go bad 1st thing this morning. We tried to fish some but called it a day after about 2 hrs.


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## albionsteelheader (Nov 11, 2010)

landin hawgs said:


> If you can get large emerald shiners, say 3 or 4 inches they are awesome on a Carolina rig, #4hook and 10lb floro.


Totally agree with landin hawgs - - large emeralds work great bounced off the bottom....When emeralds became hard to come by, we'd use large golden shiners or spottails if available.

(My buddy and myself were kind of cheap years ago - although most bait dealers were pushing soft craws, we found that bass minnows were a financially wiser choice for us. We'd usually buy around 6 dozen bass minnows years ago when Rickard's was still open - we'd definitely get more than that when Howie would head to the tank and dip what was supposed to be a dozen minnows or so per scoop, so from a cost standpoint we'd get more for our money, at a lower price per dozen than craws....nothing more frustrating having sheepshead nail costlier $6+/dozen craws during a drift. We switched to bass minnows and had some phenomenal days off North Bass and Pelee years ago - at a fraction of the cost).


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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

I fish a lot for smallmouth on Erie. Right now your best bet is to fish Canadian waters if you want any kind of quantity and quality. Dropshot is my #1 bait followed by a tube. If they are there they will bite either of those. Right now my minimum fishing depth is right around 19 ft. I fished the North shore 2 weekends ago and caught them as deep as 28 ft.

If you have to stay in the US I would hit the shoals outside of the islands or the South shore East. A few weeks ago they were sitting in 22 ft. between Vermilion and Beaver. Should be a good starting point.


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## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

Thanks Carpman.


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## sjwano (Sep 13, 2018)

Lots of bass boats out today fishing Green and Rattlesnake and Ballast. I picked a couple fat smallies trolling for walleye off structure in 25ft of water.


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## ranger487 (Apr 5, 2005)

sjwano said:


> Lots of bass boats out today fishing Green and Rattlesnake and Ballast. I picked a couple fat smallies trolling for walleye off structure in 25ft of water.


There is a NPFL tournament going out there this week. They will have live coverage today on National Professional Fishing League website if anyone is intrested.


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