ErieCan

Pike are unavoidable here for sure. I've caught them punching mats. There are no rock piles out there. There is miles of shoreline, back bays, marinas with shallow water (2-5') which I fish as well. The deep beds have been better this season. Our summer has been unusually cool and the water temps fluctuate between about 72-78°

I'm always open to new ideas and wanted to see how others would approach this. The bay is basically a big sand bowl and in this scenario, I'm targeting grass clumps located on open flats from 7'-12' deep. There aren't a lot of depth changes. These grass clumps are anywhere from 50' around to small 5' puffs. Surrounded by either shorter sparse grass or sand bottom. They are usually located in clusters and I have found and marked off about 100 of them but there are a few hundred around the bay. They hold largemouth, Pike, panfish, and, depending on water temps, smallmouth. I start off with a chatterbait over the edges then over the top. I'll run a swim jig on the edges as well but pike seem to bit those off too frequently. Then I'll start throwing a T-rig punch craw with either a 3/4 or 1/2 oz pegged weight. First on the edge then right in them. If nothing, I move on to the next clump. I do have a mojo rig, a c-rig l, and a wacky rig set up on rods. Don't throw them much. Rock bass and perch get really annoying with a wacky rig. It's usually too wavey/windy for top water there. Big lake Erie bay so we don't get many calm days.

I normally like Owner and Gama for most hooks, but the Berkley Fusion weedless wacky hook has been great. I use #1 or 1/0

Our cool summer has lead to some head scratching as to where the bass are at. We've been getting a few hot days and that seems to have made the bass (the Largemouth at least) a little more predictable. Deeper grass clumps have been producing. Picked up this bass while running a chatterbait/trailer over the weeds tips. The weight surprized me. 4.7lbs. Skinny longer fish that I'm guessing would go over 5lbs+ in the fall. I need to start measuring these fish..... Also landed seven bass in that 2-3lb range along with a couple pike.

This is a 4 blade Turning-Point Hustler prop. It's the proper size and pitch for my outboard, but I'm getting these cavitation burns which are starting to pit quite deep. It's a Merc 60 Command Thrust and I run at 5860 RPM at WOT which is right in the sweet spot. I looked up cavitation burn patterns and I found an article and diagram that says this pattern is a result of "poor prop design". Looks like I have to do something, but I don't want to mount a different brand prop on just to have this happen again.

Gorgeous morning on the bay. A bit cool but the bay was quite calm and it was sunny. I started shallow with top water and landed a few pike. My goal today was to spend a few hours locating weed patches mid morning. Found six or so, marked them off, and worked them with various baits. Landed 6 good bass, a few drinks, and over 10 pike (plus 3 bite offs). One bass was 4.6 lbs (anything over 4lbs is a big bass in this fishery. 6+ would be a trophy).

The pike will shorten the life of all lures by making them disappear. Lol. When I target pike I use steel leaders.

I fish lake Erie and it's bays. That's where I caught this bowfin. 4' of water in a bay choked with a mix of grass, pads, and reeds. Typically there are more largemouth in here but the strange weather has seemed to cause a lot of the Largemouth to roam into the deeper areas chasing shiners. Pike have become a bigger annoyance than usual in the shallows this season. We get big drum (sheep heads) in the open water around the shoals where we fish for smallmouth. They'll destroy your drop shots and ned rigs. They'll also make an absolute mess of your lines when walleye trolling. I think the more targeted and experienced an angler gets, the more they devalue certain fish.

Dang, I just bought three of those. I'm not a frogging expert by any stretch, but the pad crashers seem to have the ok points more exposed than the Live Target frogs I have.

Same! The 6.3 is on a Tatula glass rod and the 8.1 is on a Tatula flipping rod. I put a bigger handle on the 8.1 so I can winch the bass out of the thick pads easier. My other reels are all SV TW103s. Can cast weightless flukes and toads a mile with those.

I'll vouche for the Fuego. I have two of them. Solid reels for the money.

The pike were blind or something today. One pike came flying out of the water, sent the frog flying the other way. I like catching big pike here in the spring, but these small buggers are a bane when it comes to bass fishing.

It hasn't been a great season up here so far. We've had very unstable weather for weeks. I was out at sunrise and immediately started working a frog in a back bay. Several pike launched themselves clear out of the water at the frog. Most miss but I landed a couple. Bass were not committing to the frog. I'd follow up the boils with a weightless caffeine shad and landed four. The surprise of the morning was this bowfin. Followed the frog from behind like Jaws before taking it. We don't see too many of these here so it's a bit of exotic catch.

That's a tough one to know for sure. On Erie, sometimes the bigger bass will hold slightly deeper on a drop off. Sometimes the small bass are suspended and the bigger ones are holding closer to bottom. And the issue becomes getting your bait past the gauntlet of runts. If it's a drop off, you can try positioning on the shallow side and casting past where the bass are holding into deep water. Then drag your jig or dropshot up the drop off. That way it's on bottom as it reaches the fish.

I haven't tried it yet but look in flukes (soft body jerk baits) and how to work them along the surface.

I have those exact hooks. Will give it a try!

I picked up some different brands of soft jerkbaits and wanted to try them on a mojo rig as well as maybe weightless. What I bought were Yamomoto D shads, SK caffeine shads, and Googan Darts. I have bought 4/0 and 5/0 owner offset hooks for them (I also have a lot of various screw locks, EWG, and weighted hooks already from 1/0 to 6/0). How deep can I fish the weightless? I'm targeting submerged grass in anywhere from 7' to 12' of water. The grass comes up about 4' give or take. There are smallmouth in the deeper beds still but they're starting to move out of the bay. Largemouth are mixed in there as well. I was using the mojo rig with a SK baby craw last weekend with some success. I plan to give a fluke style bait a go on it or a tube. But I want a baitcaster ready with one as well. Just not sure if I should go weighted or weightless?

Are the Owner Rig'n hooks light enough wire for a mojo rig with flukes, baby craws, senkos? I have 1/0 worm hooks for finesse worms, but most of my EWG hook inventory are heavy wire hooks. Thanks

A Daiwa Tatula 7'6 flipping rod is quite light. Another option to add to your list.

I have the 8.1 Fuego on a Tatula 7'6" 'flipping' rod and its a pretty sweet set up for the money. I also have the 6.3 on a crankbait rod. Great reels for the money.

Alberto knot. Fast and easy to tie. Small knot that runs through the guides well. I tie a slightly modified version as explained here.

I fish a large bay of Lake Erie and this year I decided to try and figure out the Largemouth in the area. On Sunday, I found three spots with good numbers of decent size bass. Pulled 5 out of one spot. This morning, I headed to the same areas and it was loaded with pike. No largemouth. I tried flipping the reeds as well (like I did Sunday) and didn't get a hit. Tried a couple new spots. Shallow with sparse pads and a lot of various weed. Used top water buzz toads.... Four pike. Pike are fun to catch mind you, but I'm lost as to where the bass would have gone. The only place I picked up any bass today were in the thick lily pads, but only two and they were small. I thought later I was going to try the deeper weed beds but it got windy and blew the bay up. My only theory is because I was fishing the north/east shoreline with a south/west wind, the bass moved. On Sunday, the wind was North.

The top water bite hasn't been on here yet. Except dawn and dusk. I was told it doesn't get good until late July or August in this location. Can't wait!

Daiwa Rebellion 7'3" MH/F rod and a Daiwa Tatula SV TW103 reel. Rod is rated 1/4-1 oz. This reel can toss light baits a mile. The cobo is extremely light.

I don't know that specific rod, but I have a Daiwa Tatula 7'2" glass crankbait rod. I've been using it for chatterbaits and really like it. This rod is some sort of glass/composite mix so it has enough sensitivity to feel the vibration of the bait and weeds. I use it because I like to use braid line and the moderate action of the rod allows for that. The fish I get in the chatterbait usually have the bait choked down.