coming to Erie Pa to fish Lk Erie

[jenga]

My bros and I are planning on fishing Lk. Erie sometime in the spring.  Last year we had terrible weather so we mainly fished PIB. But got one good day on Erie.  I was wondering if there are some good destinations on Erie that I could fish to catch some good smallies.  I know people don't like to give up their honey holes but I am sure there are areas that everyone already knows about except out of staters.  Any help would be great and if you ever need any info on Lk St. Clair I can help.

Thanks,

Jenga

[bear7625]

I fish Lk Erie, but out of Port Clinton,Ohio. The main reason is because of the weather. The Bass Islands off Port Clinton allow you protection when Erie gets rough. There also is a ferry that will take you across with your boat. I know it's hard to plan a trip around weather.

[bugman]

It's no big secret where to find Smallies near Erie PA. Look for depth changes with some other features such as rocks or humps. Spring temps will bring them towards shore. As the water temp gets warmer they will move out to deeper structure. GPS with topo maps are a big help. There are many locations between the mouths of the western tribs and the NY border.

[Ben Lipiec]

anywhere off shades beach is a good general area to start.  from there i like to work east.  off of any creek can be good, especially if your here in the spring. again any depth changes and if you can find rocks on your sonar is great.  i live in Erie but i just started fishing lake erie hard last year if you can believe it.  i fish mostly the bay and other surrounding lakes.  erie is actually very easy to fish. just figure out how deep the fish are and they get real predictable from there. if your here in the spring dont over look shallow water (10-12 ft or less) with jerkbaits, rattle traps and spinnerbaits.

[bugman]

Is Shades Beach the beach that is just outside the bay entrance that has a lighthouse?

[bassnleo]

No , Shades is East of PI, I think it's about 6 miles.

Easiest way to tell your at the Shades area is to look for a rock break wall along shore. There is actually a launch at Shades now, the break wall protects the launch.