I fished Lake Erie this past Wednesday,and again yesterday(Friday).On Wednesday,the weather was quite a bit better than it was yesterday.The waves were less than a foot,and the air temp was a mild 68,the water temps were anywhere from 55 to 58 degrees,the water was pretty muddy close too the mainland shore,but cleared nicely a couple of miles offshore.I was mainly fishing the SE side of Kelley's,I tried deeper water first without any success,so I moved into water anywhere from 8' deep,right up to only 2' deep.There was very good numbers of smallies right up close to the bank.The large majority of fish I caught were along docks and piers,but I did take quite a few from just along the shoreline(as long as it was rocky).I'm just guessing at the number I caught,I quit keeping count at 20 something,so I would guess probably about 35 smallies,and maybe 5 largemouth.The largest smallie went 5.7lbs.,I caught 4 fish that went over 5lbs.All the bass were caught on a drop-shot rig,with either a 3"Senko,4"Senko,or a 4" Superpin-tail.
Yesterday I fished the same areas with a buddy,the weather wasn't all that great.When we launched my boat around 8:30am,it was still in the 30's,and a pretty stiff NE wind(which usually shuts down smallies up there).Again,it was pretty muddy until you got out around the islands.The NE winds,plus the advancing front had the fish shut down early on,but we stayed at it until they started to bite better.We were both drop-shotting,and I caught 5 nice smallies and 3 largemouth,and my buddy prolly caught 5 or 6 smallies,including a 5.5lb'er,he also caught a couple largies.Looking at the forecast,it will be several days before I can get back up there(6'-9' waves Sunday and Monday),maybe by next weekend,the lake will clear up again after all the storms pass through.BTW,I did see several bass that looked very much as though they were sitting on beds.
A buddy and I fished the afternoon of monday, 4/19. We were fishing west of the Vermillion River. Caught 7 smallies, the biggest was 21", between 5-6lbs (guess). The rest were 18" and up. Most of the fish were in 10 fow, the big one was in 16 fow. Caught all but one fish on cranks. The other was on a drop shot goby. Tried a tube with no takers. Water clarity was 7ft+. Surface temp was 55deg, the wind died down in the early afternoon, we couldnt even drift. It was a beautiful day on the water.
Caught a few of those huge redfish too ::).
Sounds like you were fishing pretty close to Ruggles then.I've heard several reports of big smallies from there in the last couple of weeks.Some guys have been getting them there real shallow 6'-8'.Most of the reports I've heard have said drop-shots and cranks,so you were definitely using the right gear.