All Star Anglers Lake Erie 7-28-07

[McCarter]

Got the call Friday afternoon from my friends dad.  He wanted me to fish another All Star Anglers tournament with him Saturday.  After having so much fun out there last time ( it was my first time out on Erie since 06 ) i accepted the invitation.

I met up with him at 3:45 am, loaded the boat with 3 spinning rods, a tube box, and a mess of homemade gobies and we headed out.  When we got to the ramp, the wind was howling.  There was another tournament ahead of us.  I think they were called the Toledo bass Club.  They were fishing a singles tournament.  We talked to one of the guys as he was untying his boat.  He seemed pretty geeked and noted he had been out there pre fishing the past 3 days and was on them real good over in Leemington.  Since that was where my partner Don was planning to run, he asked the fellow if there had been many boats over there while he was prefishing.  The Ohio angler answered "More than I am used to seeing, especially over there".  So we figured we would have company.

I have only been to Leemington one other time.  It was way back in 2003 when my old partner and I fished the Wonderland Marine Open.  It was both of our first time on Erie and we didnt know what to do or where to go.  Somehow, my old partner Mike got some 'inside' information about this area, so thats where we headed.  All the way from Erie Metropark to Leemington in an 18 ft Lowe with a 90 hp outboard.  We caught fish out there.  Lots of em, too.  But only 3 bass.  The rest were drum.  Though there is something strange about the drum on that side of the lake.  They are gold.  They look a lot like a smallmouth when they are 5 feet under the boat.  I screamed for the net so many times that day that my partner ended up throwing it at me after my 10th drum.

Anyway, back to last Saturday.  By the time we lined up for blast off, the wind had died down considerably.  The run across the mouth was a little choppy, but once we hit the north shore, it was smooth sailing.  We made it to our first spot in about 35 minutes.  A shallow rock pile with lots of gravel around.  Don started with a tube, and I started with a goby.  About 5 minutes on this rockpile and i feel that squishy, dead weight feeling.  I sweep my rod and start reeling and the fish rockets out of the water.  Its a big  one!.  The fish hits the water and makes its first goood run.  Don is standing beside me with net in hand.  The fish comes up and breaks the surface again, and then makes another hard run to the bottom.  This time, as he turns to come back up, he comes off.  My rig is now sinking back down but I am not worried yet.  I have had this happen many times on Erie and know that a lot of times the fish will come back and bite it again.  So i wait.  But the fish never came back.  Man thats a toughy.  That fish was all of 4.5 lbs.  Not a good way to start the day.

10 minutes later, we are both still talking about that lost fish.  You cant compete against guys like Mark Dowd, Mike Rochon and Seth Hartwick, Joe Pappas and Scott Emery, and lose fish like that.  And the first fish of the day getting off is never a good thing, no matter how big it is.  But i pulled myself together best i could and got back to it.  I have had a plague of lost fish this season and last season for that matter.  Sometimes my execution is great, and other times it is non existant.  The important thing I am finding is that i dont let it bother me too much.  I soon forget about the lost fish as Donnie sets the hook into a crazed lunatic.  He yells for me to grab the net, but i already have it.  "This is a big one, baby" he repeats.  The fish is making some crazy runs, but has yet to break the surface.  I start suspecting foul play in the form of a sheepshead, but Don is convinced that it is a smallmouth because of the way it is fighting.  I stand guard regardless of what it is.  And after a lengthy battle, the fish surrenders on the surface alongside the boat.  My suspicions are confirmed when i see that giant eye and tiny mouth.  Drum number one, mission:accomplished.

So far, the day is moving at a very fast pace.  We have been on our first spot no longer than 15 minutes, and already we had a very nice smallmouth that popped free and another big fish that happened to be a stinky drum.  But the action is fast and furious and expectations are high.  Getting back to it, we realize we have drifted off the rock pile fighting that drum for so long.  So we make out way towards it with the trolling motor on high.  I whipped my ds rig out as far as i can ahead of the boat and let it settle on the bottom.  After 20 seconds i begin taking up my slack.  As the boat gets closer to where my rig landed, my line begins to tighten and at the last second, i feel a little nib on the other end.  Another sweep of the rod and i am fighting my second of the morning.  I dont know what it is about the fish over here, but they fight like no other fish i have caught on erie.  This particular fish is giving me the ride of my life.  If you would have asked me before i seen it, i would have said it was 6-7 lbs.  But after horsing him a bit, he finally popped up from under the boat and don got a net on him.  Nice fish about 3.75 lbs.  One problem, hooked in the gullet.  Must have been on for a while before i set the hook.  So as carefully as i could, i snipped the line around my small drop shot hook and put him in the livewell.  Fish #1 in the box, time to get nasty on them.

We got back to the rockpile, but now the wind was picking back up.  It was difficult to hold the nose to the spot but we managed long enough for Don to hook into a good one on a tube.  This fish jumped 6 or 7 times and i got that sick feeling in my gut everytime it got air.  I didnt want to see another missed fish.  So, once it was close enough, i didnt take any chances.  With the net extended as far as it could go, i scooped that pig on its next attempt.  This would turn out to be our biggest landed fish of the day.  4.5 lbs give or take a pinch.

Not a horrible start, though we both made mention of the first fish of the day getting off.  But less than an hour in and we are looking at 2 fish for an estimated 8.25 lbs.  Ill take it. 

By now the wind is whipping up pretty good as we make our way back to the rockpile.  But after about 20 minutes and no bites, we thought we may have overstayed our welcome.  Luckily, dont had another rock pile down the shoreline a short distance.  Once we got there, i had a hard thump on my first cast.  I didnt set the hook tho as it felt more like a drum bite than a smallmouth bite.  But after about 30 minutes on this spot, that was the only action we saw.  So we headed back to the our first spot to give it one more shot.  No more bites there, either.

The thing i like about fishing with Don so much is that he fishes the same way i do.  He doesnt get hung up on spots for too long.  If they aint there, they aint there.  So move on until you find them.  And thats just what we did.  This time we set out sites on Colchester.  Don had many rockpiles and breaks marked out there that have produced good fish in the past.  When we got to the first waypoint, i decided to check on our 2 beauties.  Bad news when i opened the box.  The fish i had hooked in the gullet had lost about 80% of that beautiful brown glow.  It looked like an albino with orange eyes.  Luckily, his gils were still moving.  I went to work on him right away.  I tried lightly rubbing his tongue which seemed to wake him up a little.  Once he got back on his belly, i added some please release me livewell additive.  He wasnt looking good, but he was no longer floating on his side.  So, i left him alone and got back to fishing.

It didnt take Don long to hook into a nice fish on a drop shot.  The fish did its best to keep its distance, but Don faught it like a pro and i scooped up #3.  This one going 4 lbs all day.  Now we are both geeked.  We are on good pace to break the 20 lb mark.  But dont count your chickens before they, hatch right? 

The 4 lber would be the only fish that Colchester produced.  We hit several spots, but couldnt find them on any of the rock piles.  Despite not seeing any arches as we idled over them, we fished them each for about 5-10 minutes anyway. Nothing.  Don had a few other tricks up his sleeve, so we packed up and headed west to a few other rockpiles in a little deeper water. 

We are now somewhere between Green Cottage and Cochester in 23 feet of water fishing a hump that comes up to 18.  Little multicolored arches fill the screen around the hump.  Im thinking we just found the money spot.  Both of us are cocked and ready as we hop our gobies around the rocky structure.  Then, i feel that squishy, dead weight feeling again.  I pull back and nothing.  But a follow up hit.  Its a hard thump, but maybe its a smallie and hes ticked cuz i just ripped my goby away from him.  So i set the hook.  Immediatly, the fish starts making circles along the bottom.  I know already what i have.  No need for a net on this one.  Another drum.  Not even a big one.  This thing was 15" and maybe a pound.  What a crock.  But i knew the first bite was a smallmouth.  It had to be.  And Don confirmed it not 2 minutes later when he hooked into a good one, which bolted from 23 feet deep to 3 feet out of the water in about 3 seconds flat, promptly spitting the hook and crushing our spirits in once flawless motion.  But it was a good sign.  There are smallies down there and it just so happens, we had plenty of smallie candy to offer.  So back to it.  I kept my eye on the sonar and Don worked the trolling motor to keep us on the spot.  I noticed that the arches were started to disappear.  And to top it off, we werent getting any bites.  I made mention to my partner that i wasnt marking anything in the back.  So he fired up the big motor and we made circles over the structure and sure enough, nothing.  They all took off. 

By now, its crunch time.  We only have like an hour and half left and we only have 3 fish.  3 good ones, but we need to fill our limit and fast.  I checked on our fish one more time and the gullet hooked fish was toast.  Stiff as a board, white as a ghost, no one home.  Thats a real crapper.  That is a 1 lb penalty floating around in livewell.  Man, we have some work to do now.  I was fine with it when all we needed was 2 4lbers, but now we need 2 5 lbers, or a 4 lber and a 6 lber, or a 7 lber and a 3 lber.  Anyway you slice it, we need 10 lbs.  We have fished for 6 hours and only managed 3 keepers and some real nice could of beens.  Since we had our best luck in shallower water, we decided to give that one more go and still leave us some time to hit a Detroit River spot that might give up a pig.

So back to 10 foot of water he go.  This time Don has a surprise for me.  Weeds.  I have fished Erie a couple dozen times.  I am by no means 'experienced' out there.  But one thing i always notice is the lack of weeds, at least in all the areas i have fished.  So it was odd for him to take me to an area that was chock full of weeds........and rocks.  We seen one rock that was the size of a volkswagon bettle.  No kidding, it was huge.  And surrounded by rock bass.  I must have caught 12 in 12 casts.  But i finally hooked into a smallmouth.  Nothing huge, coulda been 3 lbs.  But we will never know, because the master of fishing disaster lost yet another one.  I am starting to feel like a burden.  I come out, lose 2 good keepers and only catch one, in 6 and half hours.  What kind of partner am I?  After that, we had to make our run to the River if we were going to fish it.  We were running out of time, fast.

So we packed up for our final run.  All the way back to the river.  This time we packed up proper.  Since we would only have a little over 20 minutes to fish once we got there, we only kept out what we would be using.  For Don, it was a green pumpkin tube, for me it was the drop shot with a homemade goby.  This would be my chance to redeem myself.

We get to the river and its packed.  Boats of all shapes and sizes buzzing up and down and our spot is smack dab in the middle of all of it.  We ticked a few people off sitting in the channel fishing, but hey, theres plenty of room to go around us.  So here we go, 26 minutes left.  First cast for Don produces nothing.  First cast for the kid, boom, rock bass.  Second cast for Don, nothing.  Second cast for the kid, boom, 15" smallmouth.  3rd cast for Don, still nothing.  3rd cast and BOOM, the kid lands another 15" smallmouth.  Well, theres a limit.  Now we need a good bite to cull out one of those babies.  4th cast from Don, man, time to swtich up from the tube bro.  4th cast from the kid, Boomshackalacka, a 14" smallie.  No help.  Time for 2 more casts.  Don finally hooks up with a fish, but its a rockbass.  ANd i missed one more bite, and that was it.  we had to head in.

Recap.  WE LOST TOO MANY GOOD FISH.  CANT DO THAT ON ERIE UNLESS YOU HAVE ENOUGH FISH TO REBOUND.  WE DIDNT THEREFORE WE SUCK!

Lets pretend for a moment that we dont suck.  Lets pretend that we actually know how to land big fish.  I know what your thinking, but bare with me, it might be fun.  We probably would have had around 21-22 lbs, which, with the dead fish penalty, would have brought us to 20-21 lbs.  Not a bad day, right.  Instead we wound up with 15 and pennies -1 lb for the piece of wood, that puts us at 14 and light change.  I think we ended up in 10th.  Oh well.  Better luck next time.  Thats right i said luck.  Coulda used a little out there Saturday.

It ended up taking over 22.5 lbs to win and big bass was 5.3.  Congrats to Mark Dowd and partner for claiming both.  It was a very impressive bag.

My pal Mike Rochon and partner Seth Hartwick took 2nd place, i think they had 19 and change.  they were fishing the same general areas we were, but executed proper and had a nice pay day.

I think 3rd place was Joe Pappas and Scott Emery with high 18s.  I could be wrong on that, but it sounds right.

ANd blah blah blah took 4th and 5th place with nice sacks.  No disrespect, but i dont rememebr there names. 

Someday, i will see my name in the lights.  And when i do, its beers on me at the local pub.  your all invited.

Side note.  All Star Anglers is an awesome club.  The payouts are awesome.  I think mark and his partner ended up with $1270 for first place and big bass.  Thats with 17 boats people.  ANd it payed all the way down to 5th place, which got $150 dollars.  The big bass award gets an extra $150 kick from one of there sponsors.  So big bass payed out $170 for the 17 boat pot plus an extra $150 from the sponsor.  THATS A $320 POT FOR 17 BOATS.

Mark will have more information about them than i have and they have a website that is hosted on marks bigwaterbass website, but i dont remember the addy.

So again, CONGRATS to Mark Dowd and his partner for blowing the rest of us away.  And HATS OFF TO ALL STAR ANGLERS for putting on another great tournament.

McCarter himself

[Revtro]

Come on man, let's hear details... 

Seriously tho, great story. 

[dartag]

now that is a report.  i kept having to back up to tally up on the Catch Count.  then i had to make a snack and get a drink.  glad it was only a one day event.  not sure dan has enough web space for a multi day event.

good reading. 

as they say  " Better luck next time "

[Cheetam]

It's a good thing you're not wordy 

[Slipkey]

McCarter,
You give the best "day on the water" recaps - ever.  Truly.

One would think you have a tape recorder or a notebook out there.... 

[McCarter]

Sorry it was so long.  I dont have much going on these days so i have to find ways to pass the time.

No tape recorders or notepads.  I just replay the day over and over and over and over and over again, and again, and again, and again, until it is embedded so deeply into my brain that it plays out like a low budget movie through my head.

I screwed up a little on the weights of the other teams and the exact payout, but i wasnt off by too much.  Dowd posted the results on another page.  I didnt pay a ton of attention at the weigh in, thats when the events of the day started circulating.  It can be quite distracting.

McCarter himself

[DOWD]

Nice write up. If oy fish on the 18th, stop and say hello.

[squid]

I think DOWD wants to hook up with you so you two can put together a play by play post with results next time...lol. 

J/K...lol

Great write up