Lake Erie - Smallmouth Bass & Yellow Perch fishing, Oct. 25

<p>Fall is by far one of the best times to fish for Smallmouth Bass and Yellow Perch on Lake Erie. This is a great time to catch your limit of big Bronzebacks with Erie Quest Charters.

Smallies like to stock up ahead for winter, a time when they are likely feeding heavily on Emerald Shiners and gizzard shad plentiful in the lake. So, the key is to locate baitfish. That's where you will find the smallies.

When fishing for smallmouth bass in October, I focus on rock laiden shallow structures. This past Saturday, Oct. 25, we fished shallow shelves that were adjacent to deeper water, also with some rocky humps. Fish can be at any depth, but you will mostly want to look in 9 to 14 feet of water, due to the cooling water temperatures and location of bait fish.

Smallmouth Bass gather in big schools of up to 50-80 fish, at this time of year. So once located...it can be some fantastic Bronzeback fishing! We caught 46 smallmouth bass, most averaging around 3-4 pounds, with 4 bass over 5 pounds...in about 4 hours

We fished for yellow perch in the deep water along the American and Canadian border, and were rewarded with a "limit" of Yellow Plumpkins. A friend of mine was fishing for walleye on one of my favorite shoals near Pelee and caught his limit of "toothy ones" on gold bladed harnesses, tipped with crawlers.

Capt. Rick