Lake Erie - Western New York

[jsnyd86]

Went up North to my hometown and visited the folks for the Fourth. Brought both my yaks, but was only able to get out a few times. Weather and schedule got in the way. I went out with my buddy on Sunday morning (July 1) straight out from a small cottage I would spend my summers as a kid (between Erie and Buffalo, right off the Lake). The temperature was great all week. I think we had a high of 83? Water temp was mid 70's. Very enjoyable even though we were skunked at that area. Not much structure keeps the fish deep. We trolled around looking for it, but didn't find much. A few days later I headed into town with plans to fish the Dunkirk Harbor. This area is where I was really planning to do damage. I've spent countless hours on the pier fishing for everything with everything. I grew up a couple miles from it so it was too easy to get on my bike and peddle down. I've always wanted a boat to get on top of areas that were too far from the pier. My best friend since pre-school went out with me and we fished the rock walls, grass beds, drop offs near the plant and channels from the harbor to the open water. We had to cut the outing short so only got a few hours in, but we found them and that was good enough for me. We only took a few photos. Caught a good looking smallmouth and a decent sized sheephead. That's what we call them anyway. A freshwater drum is a better name if I had to describe it without a photo. We don't eat them. They're "garbage" fish, but I've never really checked the facts. They put up a good fight though. Very similar to a catfish. There's a lot of small minded people around there. We also got a little criticism fishing from kayaks from a few guys on a boat as they were heading out. I didn't see them pull anything up

[Shady]

Thanks for sharing. What the did the boaters say to you? The freshwater drum looks like a white perch with a croaker mouth, never caught one of those before.

[jsnyd86]

We just heard them talking $h!t. "what are they trying to catch with a kayak" type stuff. I was unaware that boats caught fish. I always thought it was hooks. They motored past us and anchored down about 35 yards off a warm water discharge coming from a power plant. They spent an awful lot of money on a big water fishing boat just to anchor in 5ft of water and get in the way of people casting from the rocks. Kind of silly if you ask me. One of the downsides of small town living. You are surrounded by people who are close minded and quick to judge. I'm sure they had second thoughts as we came back in and they probably left with a white stripe down their back.

[ictalurus]

Nice smallies. Freshwater drum look cool. I got to see some in the 30-40lb range in college when we sampled a lock on the Ohio River. Sounds like they're fun to catch. I've enjoyed going back to spots I fished as a kid with my yak and sonar. Now I know why fish consistently held in those places.

[jsnyd86]

I looked them up and apparently their formal name is Freshwater Drum. Canada, some parts of the US (like Western NY) and other countries nicknamed them "sheephead" or "sheepshead" for some reason. Also grey bass in some areas. They have a bad rap and are thrown into the same category as carp. But yes, they are fun to catch and can grow very large. My biggest is about 20-30lb's. I only had a scale that maxed at 12lbs so I had to guess. Biggest fish I've ever caught to this day. I've never tried one, but there was this old lady that would frequent the pier and grab any sheephead that we would usually throw back. Most of us would save them for her. I don't think she had much but she was always excited to get a few each time she stopped by. Especially the 20-30lber I held for her.

We caught a good amount of smallmouth. Biggest one is shown at just under 15". Nice healthy fish though. The future looks promising in that area as long as people respect the regulations. There was a big gobby outbreak 15 years ago that threatened the population in the great lakes. Looks to be a non issue now.