Once again, traveling to Sandusky, Ohio to fish was not a disappointment. I was able to spend 1½ days on the water while also hitting Cedar Point amusement park. It was a great time.
We did venture onto the big lake for a bit, but the largemouth fishing is often overlooked because Sandusky Bay, and East and West harbors are attached to the famous fishery.
“Other than bass tournaments, there aren’t too many people who take advantage of it,” said Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2. “If we had it as an inland lake elsewhere, it would be considered a great resource. But a lot of people don’t think of it that way because it is connected to Lake Erie.”
Mr. Goedde is absolutely right. These wonderful bays and harbors attached to Lake Erie rarely see the fishing pressure the main lake gets. I understand.
Anytime I can venture onto Erie and hammer giant smallmouth, I will most definitely do so. Yet there are times when the wind blows right and that giant waterway gets tossed and turned from Detroit to Buffalo.
I spent the majority of my time fishing both East and West harbors. These bays are north of Sandusky Bay and I fished there because a friend of mine recommended I try them out. He said the largemouth fishing can be dynamite.
He was right.
The two bays are extremely shallow with channels dredged out of them for the larger cabin cruisers and yachts that venture into Lake Erie.
They are both packed with vegetation and thousands of boat docks.
Yes, thousands, and I’m not exaggerating. Between the dozens of large marinas and the plethora of private homes, there is no shortage of docks to fish.
If you like to flip-and-pitch around shallow cover, this place is perfect for you.
We quickly found that the largemouth were shallow.
In fact, I think 90 percent of the fish we caught came from less than one foot of water. They were plastered to seawalls and riprap shorelines. They hammered our baits as soon as they hit the water and fought hard all the way to the boat.
The last time I felt bucket mouths hit with such a mean attitude was on the Mississippi River. It was a blast!
Since I had never fished these two harbors before, I wanted to cover water and locate where the fish were at and what type of cover they were relating to. One of my favorite tools for that task is a swim jig. It comes through vegetation easily, it can be pitched in and around cover, and rarely gets hung up. Plus, it is effective.
Once the sun climbed high into the sky, we picked apart cover more thoroughly with a regular jig. We caught fish all day.
That night a monstrous mayfly hatch occurred. For an angler that means fishing the next day can be tough.
Real tough.
Those fish gorge themselves on emerging mayflies, as well as pick off the dying females from the surface of the water.
While we didn’t do as well as the previous day, we were still able to catch some nice green fish and trailer the boat with smiles on our faces.
As the lake faded into the distance, I thought back to all the trips I have had to Ohio and the Sandusky region. I could not think of one bad outing. That is saying something for the quality of the fishery.
If you decide to head to Lake Erie and cannot make it on the lake because of weather, give Sandusky Bay, and East and West harbors a try. I think that you will be quite pleased with the results. Good luck!