GREAT SMALLMOUTH OF THE GREAT LAKES

By Darl Black

“These are the Good Old Days of smallmouth fishing across the northern U.S. and the absolute best places are the waters of the Great Lakes system,” states Bassmaster Classic champion Kevin VanDam unequivocally. “The bronzeback fishing is so phenomenal throughout the Great Lakes that it’s impossible to pick a single site.”

There are tremendous smallmouth populations in the eastern end of Ontario, including Henderson and Chaumont Bays, and Thousand Islands. Further west, memorable smallmouth experiences can be encountered in the bays of Lake Michigan including Grand Traverse and the Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay complex. And in the heart of the Great Lakes system lie Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie where brown bass records are made and broken. At one point in the 1990s, smallmouth state records for Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York all came from Lake Erie.

The Ohio State Record Smallmouth of 9 lb. 8 oz. is held by Randy VanDam, Kevin’s brother and owner of D&R Sports in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The bronzeback beast bit Randy’s Rattle Snakie Jigging Spoon on a June day in 1993 while Randy was fishing near the Bass Islands in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. To date, this fish is the largest smallmouth caught and officially certified throughout all the Great Lakes.

“It was a particularly tough day of fishing during the post spawn period – very calm seas with high skies,” recalls Randy. “After lunch a little breeze picked up as we were working a rounded point that had a series of stair-step shelves breaking into deep water. The fish hit about 1 PM on a ledge in 24 feet of water.”

Smallmouth Changes Reshape Customer Demands

When VanDam caught the big bass, smallmouth fishing on Erie was in the midst of radical changes due to environmental influences. Clean water regulations imposed on municipal and industrial discharges along with the accidental introduction of the filter-feeding non-native zebra mussels were making sweeping improvements to water clarity of the lake, thereby improving the ability of smallmouth bass to feed more effectively.

“The bass fishing in the Great Lakes really took off starting in early 1990s,” says Randy, whose store’s clientele began focusing more and more on smallmouth. “The clearer water, particularly in Erie, paved the way for new techniques. Sales of soft plastic tubes went through the roof.”

Over the following years, the smallmouth’s range and population structure continued to change, as did angler tactics. At the core of these changes was another invasive species, the round goby, which fisheries biologists say is both a blight and blessing for smallmouth. Gobies eat bass eggs and fry, but at the same time, smallmouth feed heavily on gobies.

“Tube jigs are still big, with our top sellers being Schubert’s, Venom and of course Strike King’s Kevin VanDam Great Lakes Series of tubes,” explains Randy. “But new goby-imitating baits are now surpassing tube demand. The Original Poor Boy’s Drop-Shot Goby leads a list of goby-looking baits that include ISG Goby, Culprit’s Goby and New Age Bait’s D&R Goby.”

Ray Halter, co-owner of the Rodmaker’s Shoppe on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio has been fishing Lake Erie for 53 years. A strictly ‘fishing tackle only’ shop, he says easily 50% of his business is Great Lakes related.

“In that time, I’ve seen many changes to the lake’s fishery. In recent years the smallmouth fishing has been unbelievable. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being awesome, Lake Erie is a 10.5 for big bass. Four to five-pound smallmouth are routine at certain times of the year.

“Due to the long-term demand for tubes, we carry Schubert’s, Crooked Creek, ISG, Nichols and Mizmo. However, as a result of recent victories in the FLW and BASS tournament events in Lake Erie around Cleveland, drop-shotting of goby-type baits has gone sky high. During the tournaments, we could not keep the Poor Boy’s Drop-Shot Goby and ISG Dream Goby on the shelves – we were ordering them every day and having them shipped overnight.”

A Guide’s Perspective

At the eastern end of Lake Erie at Buffalo, Terry Jones has been guiding for smallmouth the past 12 years while assisting tackle manufacturers in developing baits for the Great Lakes smallmouth market.

“Nearly four decades ago, the mainstays for an Erie smallmouth angler were live crayfish and a Mepps Spinner. Since then I’ve seen angler tactics go through a metamorphous as the Big Lake underwent changes due to mandated clean-up and more recently the invasions of non-native species.

“While non-native species have definitely had a negative impact in many areas, particular invaders have also propelled the smallmouth population to larger average sizes than ever before. Clearer water resulting from the zebra mussels made finding prey easier for sight-feeding smallies and an explosion of gobies gave smallmouth an abundant, easy-to-catch food source. While the overall numbers of smallmouth are down, the size is up. It takes at least a 6-pounder to raise an eye brow, while a 7-pounder is a real possibility.”

Jones says with the improved lake clarity at least 85% of his Erie bass fishing today is done with salty, scented soft plastic baits. “Our smallmouths are in deepwater suspension and bottom-oriented mode far more often than other lakes where topwater or spinnerbaits on the flats may induce strikes for shallower bass,” he notes.

More than a decade ago, Jones was into large floppy single-tail grubs and spider grubs for Erie bass. Next he switched to the incredible tube jig. Popular tubes along the NY and PA portion of the lake include the ISG Dream Tube, Phoenix, Gitzit and Yum. But the hottest ticket now is drop-shotting with goby look-alikes.

“That’s not to say grubs, lizards and other soft plastic cannot catch Great Lakes smallmouth. But bass anglers want the latest ‘flavor-of-the-month’ presentation, which right now is a goby imitator. The Poor Boy’s, ISG, Snakebite and Millennium Bait gobies are in play on the Eastern Basin.”

The drop-shot technique took off in part due to rocky bottom areas becoming infested with line-cutting zebra mussels. The Erie technique of dragging jigs was being cut to pieces by jagged shell beds. But with the weight-on-the-bottom drop-shot rig, the line above the hook is much less likely to be nicked or frayed.

“Tube tactics have changed as well,” continues Jones. “More and more anglers are popping them straight off the bottom – a goby-like behavior. And the insert jigheads are now larger in order to give a tube that oversized goby head.”

Of course the most popular colors for soft plastic are now goby hues such as green pumpkin with orange flake, black/creamy blue with purple flake, and amber/motor oil with green flake. But baitfish colors of translucent green, blue or smoke, with either silver or gold flake, remain high on the list, too.

State of Smallmouth

Randy VanDam, Ray Halter and Terry Jones believe that fishing pressure and environmental changes have definitely impacted the overall smallmouth population of Lake Erie. All have witnessed a decline in the numbers of smallmouth that are presently being caught by an individual bass angler compared to 10 to 15 years. But they all also agree that the average size of bass is larger than ever before.

The state resource agencies of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York have reacted to the state of Erie smallmouth by imposing more restrictive harvest seasons and increasing the minimum size in recent years. While it is possible to fish for smallies during the peak activity period of May and June in all three states, in Ohio it is strictly catch and release, while in Pennsylvania and New York the creel is one fish with an exceptionally high minimum size. Spring tournaments are completely banned in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Michigan has also announced a catch and release spring season for its Great Lakes smallmouth fishery.

“Lake Erie is like the new California for big bass hunters,” explains Randy VanDam. “Guys from all over the country are coming to the Great Lakes for smallmouth after reading about in one of the fishing magazines or hearing about it from other anglers. It is my hope that we are able to sustain this incredible fishery and continue to provide future opportunities for trophy catches.”

Contacts:
Randy VanDam at D&R Sports: 268-372-2277
Ray Halter at Rodmaker’s Shoppe: 440-572-0400
Terry Jones, SMB guide: 716-875-4946)



GOBY AS PREDATOR AND PREY

With an oversized head and colorful markings, the goby looks like a cartoon character. But there is nothing funny about this uninvited guest. A crevice dweller, the vicious goby has driven other small species from their rocky habitat, resulting in a sharp decline of native darters. As an egg-eater, gobies raid the nests of game species, including smallmouth bass. Although only reaching a maximum of 8 to 10 inches, gobies will consume any small fish it can get its mouth around.

Smallmouth bass decline was predicted when the goby first became established in Lake Erie during the 1990s. While many longtime fishermen are experiencing somewhat lower catch rates, the upside has been significantly larger size smallmouth.

According to Charles Murray of Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s Lake Erie Research Unit, “Smallmouth bass catch rates in PA waters dropped again in 2005 to 0.59 bass per hour; well below the long-term average of 1 bass per hour. Success rate (defined as catching at least one bass when targeting bass) remained high at 75%, but we did not see the numbers of recent years. The highest catch rate on record of 1.69 bass per hour was in 2003. The quality of the fishery is there, as many LARGE smallmouths are showing up in the fishery.

“I think we will see an increase in the catch rate based on good recruitment of the 2003 and 2002 year classes. We also had a good year class in 1999. Prior to that, the last good year class was in 1993. There was a pretty good stretch of time where we didn’t see much recruitment.

“Round gobies remain the primary diet item for smallmouth, and imitations of this critter are probably an excellent choice for catching open-lake smallmouth bass. Interactions between these two species are still being investigated, but it looks like goby abundance is stabilizing. Growth (size-at-age) of smallmouth bass has been increasing since the gobies have been around.”
-end-

Top Soft Plastics for Lake Erie Smallmouth

Popular Tubes for Lake Erie (alphabetical order):
Crooked Creek: www.crookedcreektackle.com ; phone 870-453-4032
Gitzit: www.canyon-plastics.com ; 800-770-0575
ISG Dream Tube: www.isgfishing.com ; phone 800-513-5901
Mizmo Tube: www.mizmo.com ; phone 870-932-2490
Nichols Tubes: www.nicholslures.com ; phone 903-589-8100
Phoenix Perfection Tube: www.phoenixlures.com ; phone 419-656-0155
Schubert’s Right Bite Tube: www.schubertslures.com ; phone 269-521-7596
Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube: www.strikeking.com ; phone 901-853-1455
Venom Tubes: www.venomlures.com ; phone 800-446-7510
Yum Mega Tube: www.yum3x.com; phone 479-782-8971

Popular Goby baits for Lake Erie (alphabetical order)
Culprit Great Lakes Goby: www.culprit.com ; 407-656-6133
ISG Dream Goby: www.isgfishing.com ; phone 800-513-5901
Millennium Bait’s Big Goby: millenniumbaits@yahoo.com ; phone 716-873-9130
New Age Bait’s R&D Goby Tube: www.newagebait.com ; phone 866-347-0056
Poor Boy’s Drop Shot Goby: www.porboysbaits.com ; phone 260-367-2463
Snakebite Sculpin: www.snakebite.net ; phone 208-882-6160
 

SmallmouthQuest.com is an evolving website with the goal of providing the angler the necessary information to more fully enjoy smallmouth fishing.  Whether it’s an evening outing to the creek in your backyard or long-distance trip to a famous smallmouth destination, there is something for you at SmallmouthQuest.  Pages will be updated periodically, so come back soon! 

Oil Heritage Region Tourist
Promotion Agency
 800-483-6264 EXT 18.