Lake Erie smallmouth

Finally got the opportunity to fish Erie for smallmouth yesterday. Wanted to get ready for the next three weeks of charters. Caught fish on tubes right away in 23-27 feet of water so I decided to try the shallows to see if a jerkbait bite was happening. When I got there, I noticed very stained water, less than 4 feet of visibilty. I made a few casts with no bites so I decided to work my way over to another waypoint by using my electric motor. I decided to throw my jerkbait out and troll it behind the boat. I didnt go 10 yards and got a bite. A nice fat typical prespawn 4 lber. Hmm, I let her go and threw my jerkbait out again and kept trolling. I immediately got another strike. Well, since it was such a nice flat calm sunny day, I decided to keep trolling. I must have landed over 20 fish myself in a few hours. I even threw out another rod to see if I could get double headers...which I did, many of them. The two biggest fish were both in the 5 1/2lb range. Not too shabby for my first day out. Hopefully I will be able to add some nice pictues of some 6 lb plus fish to my website in the next couple of weeks. Typically jigging spoons and tubes get the most bites this time of year, however condtions where perfect for trolling jerkbaits this time.

Muskies Canda Odyssey April 25 2009

Havent been on the water too much lately, probably not a bad thing considering the cold north winds. They are brutal on the lower river. I have been spending most of my spare time working on my Franky Baits in preperation for the 2009 Muskies Canada Odyssey in St Catherines ON. on april 25. Its a bi yearly event and consentrates strictly on musky fishing. You will find alot of the areas basement bait builders along with tackle retailer from around the area. If you cant find what your looking for at the odyessey, you probably dont need it. There will also be many seminars going on all day long. The raffle table will make you salivate, amazing amounts of tackle and equipment. I hope to have a good number of baits on hand from 8" to 14". The hard part is trying to figure out what patterns to paint. Hopefully I will have a good selection for people to choose from. Hopefully see you there.

Lower Niagara report April 2

By far yesterday was the nicest day of the year so far. Morning started out chilly with a SE breeze coming down the river, with the water temps still in the low 30's it made for a cold morning. That changed by late morning when the wind calmed right down and the sunshine took over. Morning bite was slow for us, we took a few fish on pink roe bags. Things picked up in the afternoon and we ended the day going 8/10. I was suprised when we landed a beautiful female and she started dropping egss. Spawning in low 30 degree water. Amazing. The water quality was very good still over 3 feet of visibilty. I am sure above the dams the water would have been crystal clear. Rain expected for the next couple of days, hopefully that wont have much effect on the river. Its also supposed to get cold next week with brisk NW winds. Supposed to be back out on Tues...hopefully tht forecast will change for the better by then.