Five ( or 7) Favorite Fishing Holes

PERRY COUNTY — What are your favorite places to fish? Being primarily a bass fisherman these days, I have several fishing holes that bring a smile to my face just hearing their names. I also have a few that may have invented migraine headaches, ulcers, and nervous twitches that rival the last eruption of Mount St. Helens.

At the top of my list is a tie for first place between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair in Michigan. The fishing is so good in both lakes that it’s too close to call for a distinct favorite. Both offer nearly unlimited water to fish for both largemouth and smallmouth bass. The islands of Erie’s Western Basin are home to swimming footballs disguised as smallmouth bass. Closer to the mainland, the East and West Harbors and Sandusky Bay are home to plump largemouth bass.

Sandusky Bay is also home to quality smallmouth bass while rockpiles in the main lake will attract the green bass once the fish settle into their summer post-spawn patterns.

Lake St. Clair near Detroit plays its smallmouth siren song starting in April when the smallmouth bass can be caught in water from 3 to 10 feet. As the summer progresses, look for rockpiles in deeper water and fire a Ned rig at the rocks. If a smallie is hiding there, your Ned rig will trigger a quick response. Try a chartreuse Z-Man jighead with a TRD finesse worm in colors like green pumpkin, The Deal, yoga pants, and white lightning.

If the wind roars from the northeast or any other direction with too much velocity, head for boat harbors and channels off the main lake for a shot at largemouth up to six pounds. You won’t need FFS, SFF, or any other combination of F’s to find these bass. This is bass fishing like the old days. Find rocky shorelines, weed patches, boat docks, and then pitch your favorite jig or Texas rigged soft plastic as tight to the cover as you can. Hint: leave the spinning gear in the rod locker. The Berkley Pit Boss was the hot bait for St. Clair largemouth last year.

For inland Ohio lakes, Rocky Fork Lake in Highland County and Alum Creek Lake north of Columbus are my favorites. Rocky Fork has more diverse cover than any lake I have fished in the Buckeye State. Wood, grass, docks, rocks, islands, humps, points, flats, Rocky Fork has them all. When my bass club, the Perry County Anglers, goes to Rocky Fork, we catch bass on more baits than any lake we visit.

If you can, visit Alum Creek on a weekday. Fishing on weekends will be difficult due to recreational boaters as well as plenty of anglers. Use your depthfinder to locate underwater humps near the dam and pound the shallow cover in the far north end of the lake that is mostly no wake.

For fishing trips a bit farther, I like Kentucky Lake near Paducah, Kentucky and Lake Champlain in Vermont. I really haven’t covered much of these two massive lakes, but what I have fished has been productive. Both are home to largemouth and smallmouth bass.

If you’re a river rat like me, check out the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. It’s full of big spotted, largemouth, and smallmouth bass. The ramps in Nashville were not built by aliens that put up the Great Pyramids, but they were built about the same time. And they are terrible. If you can find a decent ramp on days when the current is not overpowering, you will be amongst quality bass.

Honorable mention fishing spots: Buckeye Lake in Central Ohio is one of the better lakes early in the year for largemouth bass, crappies, and the ever present saugeye. Tappan Lake in northeast Ohio can be productive but I haven’t been on this lake for a couple years.

March is coming in wearing a wool coat instead of insulated underwear so hit one of your favorite fishing holes ASAP. If I find the bass, I’ll be sure to post the pics.