Lake Erie bass fishing especially during the summer is certainly a lot of fun. Although when it comes to Lake Erie bass fishing, there is no such thing as too much fun.
Let's dive right in.
The Fun of Lake Erie Bass Fishing
Lake Erie is also known as one of the Great Lakes. It nourishes some of the best smallmouth bass in the United States.
Many anglers who regularly go Lake Erie bass fishing have already made a minimum catch of fifty smallmouth bass averaging over four pounds each on a weekend!
These are great numbers that would surely attract the attention of any bass fishing enthusiast.
Habitat and Forage
What is the reason why Lake Erie yields so many of the good bass catches? Well, Lake Erie aside from its being so large a lake offers an excellent habitat and forage.
The massiveness of the lake has given the smallmouth bass the ease of pressure usually given by small lakes thus making this great lake a Mecca of small mouth bass fish.
But when you’re up for Lake Erie bass fishing, you must be very vigilant with the weather. Although it is a lake, the waters often resemble that of the ocean.
Winds
A clear bright day may suddenly turn into a bad one accompanied by forceful winds. Just like what happened to some ten bass boats fishing the lake sometime in September of 1992.
Certainly Lake Erie is one of the most diverse fishing grounds in the country.
In this lake you will not only find the famous smallmouth bass fish but also large quantities of yellow perch. As well as the largemouth bass, the northern pike, white bass, the walleye and many other bass fish species.
Lake Erie Bass Fishing Regulations
While fishing on Lake Erie you must remember some standard regulations which are imposed in some states. Such as in Pennsylvania. If you are to catch walleye, it must be at least 18 inches long, any smaller than this is not allowed.
In Ohio, which covers about 262 miles of shoreline, Lake Erie bass fishing during the summer has limits as to number of bags you can have.
Allowed
You are allowed to have three bags only instead of four. During any other time, you can catch up to a maximum of six bags.
During spawning period, from March to April, you are not allowed to catch fish using treble hooks. These are regulations you have to remember.
Long Point Bay
If you are Lake Erie bass fishing and want to get a share of the typical smallmouth catch of 80,000 smallmouths during a six week period starting at the end of June, just after the spawning period, you can come to Long Point Bay.
The smallmouth swims through this bay as they travel back to the main lake after the spawning period. The Presque Island area is also a good ground for fishing smallmouth. You may also want to do deep water jigging and catch many fish that way as well.
Highly Variable
Offshore Lake Erie bass fishing is highly variable. Walleye anglers often have to travel more than a dozen miles to find fish. But this is normal in most of Lake Erie.
While off-shore fishing may not seem very attractive particularly to beginners or amateur fishers, there is also a good chance for productive shore-fishing, especially for white bass, from a short pier.
Channel catfish can be caught here, but to maximize your catch while shore fishing, you must fish in the night or when the water is discolored.
Infestation
In recent years, it was noted that there is a phenomenon of increasingly clear water in the lake which can be attributed to the so called “zebra water infestation”.
This has been driving the smallmouth species to the deep waters even during spawning thus trolling is still the number one way of catching the smallies.
When you are along the 42 mile shoreline of Lake Erie in the State of Pennsylvania you may launch at the harbor of Presque Isle Bay at the city of Erie.
Easy Way
Here you will have an easy way to catch the abundant yellow perch, walleye, steelhead and the smallmouth bass. Perch and walleye fishing is generally excellent at the north point of Presque Isle while smallmouth bass fishing is best east of Erie.
Presque Isle Bay provides relatively calm water that is suitable for smaller boats. It also offers good fishing for largemouth bass, northern pike, crappies and bluegills along with smallmouth bass and yellow perch.
The Season for Lake Erie Bass Fishing
Well if you think this summer is the season for you to go Lake Erie bass fishing, and your jumping point is Pennsylvania, worry not where to stay because there are numerous campsites and hotels there just along the shorelines of Lake Erie.
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