Erie For The First Time!

[Rangerphil]

I am going to lake Erie this weekend for a club tourney and was wondering if anyone had any advice or suggestions on where to start looking for big smallies or any presentations to try? I know tubes and drop shot works well and I have heard that the cribs and the W's hold fish but never being there before a little help sure would be nice. We are going out of presque bay. I also have heard that you can catch some big ones with a jerkbait, is that something I should try? Also what about going left out of the bay and fishing the mouths of elk and walnut creeks? Thanks for all the help in advance!

[Phish]

If I were going now and fishing a tourney, I'd head to North East. You named some common spots that I've heard can be very productive, should add that the Ws and Cribs are very well known. If it's a pretty big touney, there will be plenty of traffic on those areas, but Ws offer a lot to cover. I've heard a few reports about the cribs recently, but best I've heard is NE in the last few weeks.

Unfortunately I know PIB and just East of the PIB best, I rarely get to run far from PIB. And depending on weather, it's probably not worth spending any time in the bay based on my last few trips in June. Just curious what club?

[Rangerphil]

Thanks the club is yough bass club. It is a small 15-20 boat club. We fish western pa. Am I stuck drop shotting the whole time or is there other ways of catching them? Thanks again!

[central.PA.bass]

you shouldnt need to do anything more than drop shot to catchum..

[Rangerphil]

Thanks! Any color or style of bait you prefer?

[CalebWVU]

I'll be in Erie this weekend as well. The Western basin, near Presque Isle, but just for some recreational fishing. Any other tips?

[Phish]

The Western Basin doesn't come close to Presque Isle. Did you mean East or Central basins? Or maybe it's a different bay in the West you're thinking off? I only fished in the West once around the Bass Islands, and I was cluessly shore fishing. No good for me mid-summer.

Anyway, I was just up at PIB yesterday and it was SLOW. In a small boat with limited time, no depth finder so I couldn't make a decent run towards NE, or fish any deeper water. If you have decent electronics for imaging you can find schools of bait fish and schools of smallies in deeper water. I don't know the Western basin at all, just know PIB and East towards North East PA.

I was stuck fishing near shore and we only got a handful of little smallies and a couple decent large mouth. Biggest LM was close to 3# but we found them all on the main lake in grass, 6-10ft. Definitely not ideal. You get out on that lake and should have 50 fish days if you have the right equipment to run. Spinner bait was not working. All on small plastics, finesse fishing. Didn't have much time to experiement either.

If I could get to NE for a few days in an Erie worthy boat with decent electronics, I would hammer the ledges and rock structure around NE in PA waters. Probably don't need to run more than a mile or two from shore and there's tons of structure to cover. And by structure I'm saying mostly breaks in the depths - ledges, humps, some small rock and boulders. Mostly searching for big school, and sometimes that just mean suspended open water. I've read 15-35 ft. held big schools a few weeks ago, I don't see why that won't be the case all summer, any summer around NE. Dshot for sure, but you should also have search baits. I've never fished a day on Erie w/o a tube and SB tied on. Depending on the season, a jerk bait too.