Jim Brown

Very hard fishing conditions hampered the anglers but Jim’s weight of 4.84 #s was enough to land him 1st place.  Jim was fishing a Berkley Shakey worm.
Great Job Jim !

Scott

The Mr Bass West, 2 day event was part of the Pennsylvania Bass Federation tournament schedule and i was looking forward to fish this body of water. Lake Erie fishermen always brag about the size of their smallmouth. Most other lakes the largemouth bass is king; because it weighs more, but Lake Erie the smallmouth is the king, 5-6# smallmouth are not un-common.

I asked Centre Sportsman’s Marketing and Advertising Director Jim Brown if he wanted to fish this tournament with me, he said” he never fished Lake Erie and always wanted to try his luck, and yes he was interested.

” Boy was he in for a surprise”!

I gave him a briefing on lures and tactics that work best. Dragging a tube and drop shotting are two of the most productive tactics on Lake Erie and the lures are green pumpkin tubes, (Slamming tubes and Powerbait tubes), and for the drop shotting, 3″ Gulp leech (green pumpkin, goby magic) gets the nod, along with Gulp 3″ minnows and Gulp frys (green pumpkin). http://www.berkley-fishing.com/cat.php?k=95677&sk=95677

I started the day drop shotting a 3″ Gulp leech (in the”new” goby magic color), with 10# 100% Trilene Fluorocarbon . I wasn’t fishing long when I felt that familiar tap on the line. I set the hook and a huge smallie  jumped out of the water. I got it to the boat, but lost it when my partner tried to net the fish. I pulled the fish towards the net and it jumped one more time…..GONE!  My jaw dropped with disappointment, “WOW what a big fish” my partner said. ” That fish was definitely over 5#s”.   After a moment of disblief  i gathered my composure and starting fishing again. I was hoping for another chance at a Lake Erie giant smallmouth. I caught a lot of short keepers (must be 15″) that day and moments later….bam!…. another 5# smallie. I didn’t lose this one… with the guidance of my partner,…he said “take your time with this fish”. I landed a beautiful 5# + smallie. I had a 4 fish limit of nice fish, but needed to replace the smaller ones….imagine a 2# smallmouth,too small, and needs to be replaced. Several fish later i managed to catch a 4+# smallie and upgraded my limit. I was happy now!

Jim Brown caught several nice smallmouth dragging a Green Pumpkin/Chartreuse Slammin Tube. He was very impressed with the large size of the smallmouths, and wants to return to Lake Erie.

Jim did well in the tournament, he placed 5th, and I placed 8th.  For a rookie tournament fisherman he did a great job.

….(a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes)….

Day 2 of the tournament small craft warnings made the lake off limits to fishing, so we had to fish in the bay. Sevier storms and lightning hampered the day and the fishing was slow.

I promise we will film a show on the how-to’s of fishing for smallmouth bass on Lake Erie if you promise me you will release the fish!

This fishery needs to be protected. All the bass in the tournament where released to fight another day.

What a weekend, …..an exhausted Scott