Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Here's your chance to hear some great information from 2007 FLW Chevy Open Champ and Lake Erie expert Steve Clapper.

Clapper will speak in South Bend Indiana on Saturday January 19 from 7:30 AM until 9 AM at Gates Chevy World. A no cost breakfast in included. You just can't get a better fishing deal than that.

Gates Chevy World is located 401 S. Lafeyette Blvd in South Bend.

I heard there were about 100 persons in attendance to hear Steve speak. Anyone from here make it? I'd like to hear how many new awesome smallmouth fishing secrets you learned?!?

I made it out. It was my first time meeting Steve face to face; although we spoke considerably when he helped me write an article on drop shot fishing which can be read on Dan's site here: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/articles/abdropshot0611.html (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/articles/abdropshot0611.html)

I had a chance to talk w/ Steve before & after as well as his brother & dad. All super-nice guys.

He was great! He spent his time talking about his big win on Erie this past summer. First he explained the 2 techniques he used: drop shot w/ gobies, and tubes w/ weights up to 3/4 oz. He also explained the type of structure he was fishing: rock humps in 28' that rose 4' off the bottom.

One thing that impressed me was what he explained about drop shot fishing was identical to what he told me nearly 2 years ago in writing the article. It just shows me how honest of a person he is. I truly appreciate that.

He talked about his pre-fishing (8 days worth) and a mechanical failure that occurred 3 days before the tourney. It cost him nearly a day of fishing. He had a problem the day before the tourney in that he had 3 great spots that kept producing 4# fish, but he didn't know which one to start on. He asked God for a sign and within minutes he landed a 6# fish - he never left that spot all 4 days.

He talked about Peter in the Bible and how Jesus showed him where to fish and Jesus showed Steve where to fish. So I conclude that Steve is a better fisherman that Peter, but Jesus is better than both Steve & Peter.

Amen to all of that. I'm glad you got to see what a truly wonderful person Steve is. His brother seems as nice or nicer. I look forward to getting many more pictures and video on the site one of these days so people can see more of how great a tournament Steve fished last July -  I can't explain to you how easy he makes it look, but we all know how much work something like this is, and Steve pulls it off so many times.

I'm so glad Steve is willing to share his extensive knowledge here. He's been busy this year, but the lack of development of Clapper's Corner has been all me, not Steve.