bassman78

I havent had a 20+ fish day here yet. I'm trying. I can usually only get out for about 4 hours at a time. Were you just drifting and jigging that drop shot? What depths and what part of the lower. I usually drift that flat at the boat ramps at Fort Niagara this time of the year and throw lipless cranks if they in shallow or 10' if they are pulled back. I got 2 4 pounders this past Saturday. They were in 10-15' of water. None shallow but it was pretty cold that day. Saw guys either drop shotting or jigging, not sure what they were doing but I didn't see them catching any. Didn't see anyone catching anything really so i felt pretty lucky with my 2. This is only my second season up here so I'm new to smallmouth fishing but am hooked.

I use shallow flats from 5-10' with access to deep water (20' plus). i think in the fall they still like to retreat a little bit when the sun and the UV index is high. I have a drift i do in the fall that is always extrememly productive for me. Flat is 2'-14' sloping from shore for about 100 feet and then it drops to almost 40'. I'll fish that flat with a lipless and when that bite dies down i'll switch to a deep diver and work that slope from 14'-25' approx and will pick them off there. In your lake if there are back creeks and creek channels those are always good spots for fall as well. And as always you cant go wrong with just finding the baitfish and you find the fish. If i were you and trying to locate fish i'd have 3 cranks tied on and ready to go. A lipless, one that dives around 8', and one that dives to 15'. Give each depth maybe an hour of your time until you come on to some fish. You will find them. Every body of water is different and sometimes you have to hunt for them and cranks , in my opinion, are the best search baits in the fall. Bent rods and wet lines.

Water at 66 and the smallies have moved in. Only able to get out for 3 hours and had some great action. Missed one that was at least five pounds, jumped and spit it about 10 ft from the boat. Biggest of the day was almost 4 lbs. Average was around 3 with 5 smallies and two largemouth.

Lipless cranks. If they are chasing bait fish you want something loud and fast to attract them. Spinnerbaits too.

Dwight Hottle the man to talk to about Erie. He's on this forum.

I'm not familiar with lake Erie, I fish the Niagara river and Lake Ontario. Spawn will usually start in the mid 50's. You can start catching the more aggressive ones at that temp. You can fish the prespawn as well. Find deeper water near spawning flats and you can pick them off there with a deep diving jerk bait, jigging a lipless crankbait, or dragging/hopping a craw/goby/tube along the bottom. During spawn you want to look for gravel and small rocky areas depth from 4-12 ft depending on where your at. They will have access to deep water so don't fish a section of 4ft water where there a 400 meter run to deeper water they probably won't be there but you never know. You can use alt of different lures during spawn. Lipless cranks are good, bluegill/perch/red craw color patterns are my go to's. If you are sight fishing and your cranking a bed and you can't get me to bite. Harass em with the crank then throw a senko/fluke style bait into the nest and they will hammer it. PM me man if you wanna talk more. Bent rods and wet lines

http://www.basspro.com/Team-Marine-Pro-Fizz-FZ1-Fizzing-Tool/product/11110805010113/

From what I've read yes they can. They suggest "fizzing" them when you catch them that deep. They have a tool for that you can buy at BPS.

That's one of my go to lures I'll fish on the Niagara River from prespawn til fall. It's such a versatile bait. In summer you can cast it let it sink to the bottom then jig it back to the boat and that will bring on some massive strikes. Spawn just burn it through the flats. Any dark/shaded/patches of weeds, anything that stands out in the water, kill the bait just after it passes and you will usually get hammered. Colors depend on what time of year and the color/clarity of your local water. Here we have 20+ ft of visibility on calm days. I like the chartreuse shad color most of the year and a blue gill color scheme for spawn. Last fall it seemed thats all they wanted was a screaming lipless crank. My buddy was throwing a square bill and getting half the fish I was that day. Just throw em, experiment with the presentation, jerk em, burn em, retrieve pause, whatever you can think of. Just mess with them until you find what works for your water.

I assumed the water at the bar would be some of the warmest around because of the power authority dumping warmer water into the lower Niagara. That's what I've heard at least. No way I'm chasing smallies all over lake Ontario in winter in my bass boat, lol. Bar is about as far as I'll go this time of the year. I tried blade baits last winter and killed lake trout the few times I went out. Jigged them just as you said. Like I said I have a bass boat and need a pretty calm day to be on Ontario. No complaints about the lake trout, but would like to get some bass this winter. Well I'll try the goby, tube, darter, and swimbait and let you guys know. Thaks for the help

Ya I've heard about jigging or slow rolling a swim bait deep. I have a couple packs in the mail from BPS. Gonna give those a shot next time I get out too. That's a nice smallie man. Ill have to check that app out too. Can't hurt to have two. What was the depth and temp you got them at? The eater I fish slopes from shore about a 3/4 mile out to 40 ft then down to 100, I font this k they'd b that deep so I was gone a try that 25-40ft range. Im new to big water like this. Mainly fished small lakes and rivers.

I've been bass fishing as long as I can remember and haven't started smallmouth fishing til this past spring. I'm in the military and have spent most of my time in the south nailing largemouth. Well, now I'm addicted to Smallmouth, lol. I was lucky enough to take orders up to Buffalo, NY and get to fish the Niagara and Lake Ontario. I'm curious if anyone has any tips on winter smallmouth up here. I've located what I think would be good spots for winter smallies on the Niagara bar. Sloping shelf from 25 to 40 ft in about 100 ft distance. I'm thinking of throwing an Erie darter on a 1/2 oz jighead, and 4'' Goby on same jighead and just slowly dragging it down that slope and in and around that 40ft plataeu. Any tips,advice, feedback would be greatly appreciated. Oh and if you have a Droid phone I highly recommend the "Cabela's Recon Fish" app. Saves you money on buying an expensive gps fishfinder. Thats how i was able to locate all of these possible spots on the lake. Wet lines and bent rods gents.