Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

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Mike Nolan with a couple chunkers including a palooka largemouth bass
from Lake Erie that looks like it made it to the late rounds more than once!

Lake Erie largemouth bass have to be one of the best, least-kept secrets of Great Lakes fishing! The smallies call so strongly, the fever is so high, that the largemouth bass get left alone way more than they should.

Which is fine with me! Especially in the fall after the weeds thin down a little and the cold water puts the chunkers on the feed! I had so much fun with Mike Nolan last fall down there that I begged him to take me out again this fall! I'd go more often, but there's just so much good fishing all over this region. Hard to just do one thing!

I met Mike again at the Erie Metro Park Friday morning November 4, 2011. Another really nice day. Chilly, but not too chilly. Waves were much calmer than last year and we had a nice Sun out to help warm us up a little as the day progressed. The only thing that wasn't absolutely perfect is the water was a little warmer than last fall. Mike said the bite might be a little slower.

It was, compared to last year, but I had a GREAT day!! How many bass do you really need to catch when you're short pitching creature baits, craws and worms, and then setting the hook into quality largemouth bass that don't want to be caught!!! Actually, I think I probably landed more bass this year than last by the end of the day because I had a little more coffee and sleep in me. Mike still kicked my butt again, but he was nice enough to let me catch some real good ones!!

(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/dan-two-fall-lake-erie-largemouth-bass2011_1104-177.jpg)
Mike still kicked my butt again, but he was nice enough to
let me catch some real good ones!! I was on black spot duty.

We caught more bass farther off the bank this year for a while and a few more smaller ones but I'd bet the average bass was still close to 2 pounds with almost no non-keepers. We ended up with a pretty good since we got on two hot areas that were producing better bass with a number of 3 pounds. We even had a couple short-term hot bites where they really turned on and got aggressive, snatching lures as we reeled them in! For a little while, I tried a Red Eye shad with various retrieves thinking I might get a few that way. It didn't work but it's always worth a try.

The pike were biting more this year too but we probably only had 1 bite off apiece. Not too bad considering how many we hooked. I love this kind of fishing!! Pitch the craw out. Let it sink to the bottom. Maybe twitch it a few times. Maybe hop it just a little. Then slam the hooks home!! Rod buckles over double. Line so tight it SINGS!! Some of them even jumped a little! Bonus!

I'm not sure how many we caught really but I remember the line singing many, many times. More than enough to leave a big smile on my face during the entire 2 hours drive home. Thanks Mike!

  Nice job Dan !!!!  Sounds like a blast.

It was! There's just nothing like the sound of singing short line when you double the rod over on a big bucketmouth! I forgot to ask Mike what line he was using. It had a really nice tune to it!!