Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

A full day on Lake Erie Saturday, 86 miles, and every single blessed Smallie arch back on the fish finder, next to a drop off, had an instrument playing. Can anyone guess what it was ?

hint - They love gobies and tubes .... all day long .... over 25 of em ....

hint 2 ..... part of the percussion family ..........

Next question -When we are catching these alien fish 7 to 1 over Smallies, (though when we caught - the Smallies were all > 3.0 lb), what can I do to attract only Smallies and keep the darn Drum off the line !!!! What gives !!! What should I change up ? It makes you wonder what you are doing when you are unhappy about catching over 100 lb of fish !!!  AACCKK !!

There isnt really anything you can do to keep the heads from biting.  But you can limit the number of them you catch by paying careful attention to how they bite.  Generally, sheepshead will slam a bait pretty hard.  they are very aggressive feeders.  When you feel that good hard slam, dont set the hook.  They usually dont hang on very long.  And a lot of times there is a smallmouth waiting close by.  Me and Kev had good success last year on Erie waiting out the drum and then catching smallmouth right after the drum would drop it.

I know its hard, especially when your fishing a body of water where the next bite could be a 6+ lb fish.  But if you catch less drum, you will catch more smallmouth.

And im not saying that everytime you feel a good solid thump that its 100% for sure a drum.  But i would bet that 90% of the time it is.  The smallmouth usually do not hit very hard.  Most of the time you just pick up your slack and something feels funny.  Thats when you set the hook everytime.

McCarter himself :-\'