Autumn smallmouthing is great

Along Lake Erie there are two months that absolutely shine for smallmouth bass fishermen, May and October. And of the two, October has at least a slight edge because not only have fish has all summer to put on extra weight, but the cooling water sends them feeding up for a long winter of dormancy. In short, anglers will be seeking bigger fish and hungry fish. It's a magic combination.There are lots of ways to cash in on autumn bass, and one is to remember that they're rock lovers. Smallmouths forage around rocks for everything from crayfish (which they love) to minnows, leeches, and insects and their larvae. Find rocks in the form of a rocky reef or a rock studded shoreline and you're likely to find fish. One of my favorite tactics for smallmouth bass is to cast rocky shorelines early in the morning and late in the afternoon when they move in close to forage.Casting a small half ounce or so jig with twister tail, a tube jig, or crankbaits that dig deep quickly and look like crayfish will work just fine, though they like sinking Rapalas and other stickbaits, too. One of my best little cranks is a brown type with red eyes that looks very much like a crayfish hurrying to escape. Bass find it hard to resist. Another tactic that I've used more than once, especially in Sandusky Bay and East Harbor which have lovely rocks and riprap shores here and there is to flip the docks with plastic worms. Bass routinely lay under these docks hiding in shadowy concealment while they wait for passing minnows and small fish. Flip the worm, usually black or dark brown as far under the dock as possible, let it sink and retrieve at a crawl. Using this method you'll often catch both smallmouth and largemouth bass.When morning progresses enough the fish, or most of them, leave the shallows and head for deeper water, laying up for the day in anything from 15 feet up to 25 or even 30, but again preferably over rocky bottom. Since the fish are scattered now, a top technique is to drift with a Lindy rig which is simply a half ounce or so slip sinker above a swivel with about two feet of monofilment and a No. 6 hook on lines end. Lip hook a minnow and let it down to bottom, then keep it bumping along there touching the rocks occasionally to make sure you stay in the fish zone. Leave the bail open and your rod tip high and when a fish hits, drop the tip, release line and count to 10 while the fish below eats your bait. Then tighten up and strike!Not only will this method bring you smallies, but perch, channel cats, sheepshead, white bass, white perch, and other fish. You never know what's down there and hungry, but this rig will tell you. Incidentally, the largest catch of smallmouth I ever made in Lake Erie was with a Lindy rig, 51 in a mornings fishing taken in a large bay at Pelee Island. I released them all, of course, but it was definitely a red letter day.There are other offerings that will work for smallmouths. Some buy soft craws which are crayfish that have recently shed their shells, and there's no question that bass love them. But other species do too, and soft craws are expensive. I've found out many a time that I can seine or turn over rocks in a local little creek and catch several dozen in an hour or so. They're hard shells, but the bass don't seem to mind, especially if I pinch off their claws and hook them through the tail.And finally don't forget leeches, hard to find, but a few bait shops carry them. I'd consider them the No. 1 bait for bass, better than anything else when they're being finicky. When I was going to graduate school at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island I often walked around the rocks of Gibralter Island, turned over enough to find a dozen or so leeches, and had a wonderful evening fishing along Peach Point and at the north end of Gib. Good memories for a great fish.* * *HOOKS & BULLETS• According to the Isaac Walton League, the Trump Administration turned back the clock on clean water protection with its proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule. The League said the rule is critical to improving and protecting water quality nationwide, is based on extensive science and common sense, and noted that the administration is moving in the wrong direction on conservation, and its actions threaten the $887 billion outdoor recreation economy.• Readers with youngsters between ages 12 through 18 who would like to try pheasant hunting should be interested in the Ashland County Pheasants Forever chapter introduction of "PF Extreme Upland Experience" for kids on Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 14, and 21 (four week program). The free experience will include firearm safety, care, and handling demonstrations and the opportunity to participate in a guided pheasant hunt. For more details or to sign up, contact Jeremy or Lori at 330-641-2746.• The Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, NRA's ground breaking gun accident prevention course for children, has achieved another milestone by reaching its 30 millionth child. The program provides pre-K through fourth grade children with simple, effective rules to follow should they encounter a firearm in an unsupervised setting: "If you see a gun:STOP! Don't Touch. Run Away. Tell a Grown-up." For more information on the program, e-mail eddie@NRA.org or visit www.eddieeagle.com. Dick Martin is a free-lance writer from Shelby. Reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com. You can also visit his blog at outdoorswithmartin.com.