Early spring

Wow, what a poor excuse for a winter that was. I will take it though, I hate the cold. With the mild winter came alot of wind and rain. The river stayed dirty pretty much for a couple of months. Worst steelehead season I have ever had. The brown trout fishing was amazing though, kept us busy throughout the whole winter.
I was really excited to get out on Erie to do some smallmouth fishing. Finally got out and the temps were in the high 70's and the water was flat calm. I went out with a couple of buddies and we just smashed the fish in shallow. Most came on jerkbaits, got a few on the blade bait and a few on the dropshot. Its hard to put down the jerkbait when the bite is on. We caught well over 60 fish and the biggest was 6.4. It was the earliest I have ever fished Erie for smallmouth.
Went out again today with my brother. Conditions where alot different. High in the mid 40's and a stiff northwest breeze. We tried shallow, but the fish didnt seem to respond so we started drifting in the mid twenty foot water and caught well over 30 fish with the biggest at 7 lbs even. We also got one over six and many in the five lb range. Here are some pics from the last two trips....what a difference in the weather.