FLW collegiate tourney this Saturday!

[MSURoss]

Hey everyone I'm fishing on Erie(Buffalo) this saturday for CMU. I've never been on Erie before and was wondering if anyone has any advice for me. FLW provides a anglers boat who did not make the cut on the Everstart series, although we are not allow to use the big motor.

Thanks,

Ross

[djkimmel]

Most likely you'll be using a drop shot a lot and possibly tubes. Get some heavier jig heads and drop shot weights - regular old style swivel bass sinkers work and are cheaper. You might be fishing pretty deep there depending on the weather. Natural colored finesse baits should work fine. Good luck!

[MSURoss]

Thanks for the help, would it be ok to use braid as the backing and 6-8lb 6ft fluoro leader? I have used that in small lakes.

[djkimmel]

I would recommend it if you are already used to it.

[MSURoss]

 Also Dan what should I do on finding spots. The pro that we are riding with can't share any info so should I get a map with hotspots? do they usually relate to rockpiles year round?
Thanks

[bob o]

Also Dan what should I do on finding spots. The pro that we are riding with can't share any info so should I get a map with hotspots? do they usually relate to rockpiles year round?
Thanks

check every map you can get your hands on and also start scanning the web for info from other tournys on erie. every little bit of info will help, line size, weight size bait size, time of the tourny was held can be good info, water temp, depth etc. you may want to check out some bass clubs that fish erie a lot and talk to its members about erie too i'm sure they would be happy to help out.

[Dan]

See if you can pry some info out of Seth Valentine. He's on this site and i know he fishes down that away.

[djkimmel]

In general, they fish deep rock piles over there. I have never been there but I do know not all the spots are a long ways out. It's deeper on that end of the lake. I'd buy the nautical chart and look for steeper drops in varied depths - 20 ft, 30 ft even 40 ft. When I fished tournaments a lot, I always did some in depth Internet research.

I also called fisheries biologists in the area to find out about water visibility, forage, forage habits, any available aquatic weed cover, fishing surveys, numbers and locations. That can be helpful information.

I'm sure gobies are bigtime forage over there too and they are everywhere on the bottom in Lake Erie at most depths so that changes the forage a little but there still might be other major forage that have a seasonal impact on some bass?

I like rivers too. Current sometimes keeps bass shallower. That's probably why I like rivers.

[Team houston]

I fished an Everstart there a few years ago. There is some good fishing not to far out from the harber. If memory serves me it was less than a mile. Idle around and look for rocks.

[bob o]

Ross how was the fishing? details we need details

[Dan]

I talked to Ross after the tourney by phone and they said they caught a limit that weighed about 14 lbs. Ross lost a five pounder at the boat that would have culled a small fish that would have put them in qualifying range. They finished middle of the pack. Not bad for never being on the water. Ross said he appreciated the help he got from GLB members. They really came through. He's going to put together an article and pictures and I'm going to post it on my teardropbass.com site for him. I'm sure when he gets home today he'll have a lot more to say. They spent the night in Buffalo last night. They are probably still on the road home.

[MSURoss]

http://www.collegefishing.com/tournament.cfm?tid=6715&t=news&aid=152796 did well for being only rookie! Got some big bites just couldn't get them in I'm writing up story and post later when I'm back !!!

[djkimmel]

Sounds pretty good!

[MSURoss]

Hey everyone I sent my report of the tourney to Dan on teardropbass.com. It's on the daily blog(bottom of page)!  Check it out! Thanks Dan!

[Dan]

Nice job on the report Ross. Maybe you should change your major to jounalism. Get on CMU's paper and start a fishing column. By the way make sure you check out the Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation. They use to give scholarships out to young anglers going to college. TBF might as well. I know a couple of kids that got scholarships. I know you're not a kid, but at 60 everyone under 40 becomes a kid. GVSU crushed Western Oregon last night. Went to the game until the fourth quarter when the bugs drove us out of the stands. The humidity must have triggered a hatch because it was fine till late in the game and the bugs just ran us out of the stands.