6th annual Lake Erie trip to North East, PA

[milepost43]

FishErie.com report

Date Fished: April 12-30

Location: Erie out of NE Marina

Water Conditions: 47-low 50s..clear to very discolored

Posted By:  "milepost43"

     5/1/2010 10:20:35 PM   

Our 6th annual smallmouth trip out of North East Marina started this year on April 12, about a week early for us. Last fishing day was the 30th with a basically calm lake and sunny with 75 AT....NICE...except for ticket I got that day for expired flares....wonder if last day of the month had an influence???...have you ckd yours lately??.....WT up to low 50s. Was surprised that WT was already 47ish when we arrived. In '09, on the 15th it was only low 40s. Fishing started good with 4 >6# and 10 > 5# in first 3 days...this place will spoil you...However, overall numbers for the trip were down. Averaged 30/day for the days we fished the main lake with only two days over 50...Like '09, caught a lot of 2#ish fish....had good success on jerk baits for smallmouth in PI bay when we got blown off....Seems this year was either calm or windy/rain. As usual, the blade bait/spoons were our go-to baits with a jerk bait a close second. Maybe tubes in 2011!!!....Think the early warm-up plus the wind with resulting "muddy" water made this year different than the past five. The last week after the muddy-up was SLOW for us. If you don't think things were different in '10, we never caught a fish this trip on two spots that have been OUTSTANDING in the past, as in +100/day. On the other hand, I can't say enough good things about the new Lowrance HDS with StructureScan we used this year. With it we found about 10 new deep water rock/boulder piles. One was an 8' tall one with smaller ones around and caught 13 in the first 20 minutes including a 6.25#. Can credit the HDS for keeping our numbers up this year. As usual, stayed at the Colonial Motel. Want to compliment Tim again for the accommodations. You just can't get a more convenient location and he now has relatively high speed internet---handy for us old folks that don't do rain anymore!!!!..... Counting the days till '11.

I've got some HDS screen shots if you would like to email me at milepost43@comcast.net

[Bass Afishinado]

Hey Milepost - I am going to Erie, PA - presque isle bay and nearby lake erie for Smallmouth on May 20 - 23.  This will be our 2nd annual trip - last year we went in the first week of May and got our butts kicked by the weather so we pushed it back this year.  Did you fish near this area?  I'm not sure where exactly NE Marina is?  Any recommendations for this time of year for Lake Erie.  Thanks, Bill

[Dwight Hottle]

Great report as usual. Love the picture especially the bright blue water.