Bigwalleyefan,

You will have almost as much success fishing without a trolling motor (to keep you on active fish spots) as with one for smallmouth on Lake Erie. Wind direction and speed determine how your boat will drift. Once you choose a location to fish, set up to drift the location accordingly.

Slowly run over a chosen location and graph the bottom structure. Try to find a line of bottom structure (rocks, reef or shoal ridge line, shipwreck, aquatic plants, etc.) and set your drift to parallel it as best you can. Keep a few marking buoys on board (plastic bottles with weight & line attached). When you catch a smallmouth, drop a marker. If you caught a few on the first drift, set up your second drift the same and get ready when you near the markers.

I've done over 50 scuba dives in Lake Erie, and have seen smallmouth on almost every dive. Believe me, they are NOT always found where the bass fisherman will tell you they should be during certain conditions. They may be thick in one location on Friday and very few there on Saturday. They do NOT alway "hold up tight" in groups. Just as often I see single fish or pairs, or three. One thing I can tell you is they almost always tend to be in a certain area (say the size of a basketball court) of a given location. The areas around that spot will not have any, or few, smallies at that time. If you catch MORE THAN ONE around a certain area, concentrate on that spot.

I'm always looking for new people to get out on Lake Erie with, so if you have room sometime contact me. I know lots of good smallmouth spots.

West Basin