This Report is brought to you by PA Great Lakes Region tourism with additional sponsorship from Wiegel Brothers Marine and Gamma Fishing. We answer the question: “What’s biting in the lakes, streams and rivers of Crawford, Erie, Mercer and Venango counties?”
FRENCH CREEK – Flowing through all four counties.
Editor’s note: French Creek was looking good and fishing well until Stormy Sunday of May 31. Currently FC is high and muddy.
Randy Byham (Saegertown); filed 5/27: “Our 8-year old granddaughter, Emma Walton, caught 19 inch smallmouth bass while on a tandem kayak float trip recently. She just got in to last fall. This week Emma caught her second nice bass of the year while kayaking French Creek with me. This one was 18.5 inches. She has me beat this year so far!”
CRAWFORD COUNTY
Pymatuning Lake
Patty @ Poff’s Place; filed 6/4: “Weather has some species messed up with spawning. Customers are telling me of eggs still in the crappies they are catching. On the positive side, anglers are catching a lot of white bass. I also heard a report of a 30 pound flathead catfish. The best walleye catches are after dark.”
Vicki @ Duck-n-Drake; filed 6/4: “Crappies are slow, walleyes catches up and down. But the bluegills are now spawning in the shallows!”
Norm @ Jamestown Boat Livery; filed 6/4: “Weather earlier this week slowed things down. Walleyes being taken on jig-and-worm drifting in 6 to 10 feet of water, and trolling worm harnesses. Crappies are scattered.”
Hooker @ Hill’s Country Store; filed 6/4: “Recent customers on Hooker’s Taxi wanted walleyes. We sit up outside a weedbed and cast jigs with pieces of ‘cralwer. Dozens of panfish later, we eventually ended up with a limit of walleye.”
Darl @ Fishing With Darl Black Guide Service; filed 6/4: “It has been an up and down couple weeks. Cold snaps and heavy rain has impacted fishing success Guest Jeff Samsel from Georgia arrived last week during decent weather; we set a goal of 10 different species in half a day of fishing on 4-pound Gamma Line and crappie jigs. We settled for eight: black crappie, pumpkinseed, bluegill, perch, walleye, white bass, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. On Monday, June 1, following the Stormy Sunday, the lake had rose a foot and dropped 8 degrees in temp overnight. You have heard the saying going to the dogs? Well at Pymatuning, it was going to the cats on Monday – more catfish on crappies jigs than any other species for Bill and Todd; some improvement in bite on Tuesday provided panfish and a bonus walleye for their fish fry. Lake had rebounded some by Wednesday with improved catches for guest Jerry and Rocky.
David @ Richter’s Bait & Tackle; filed 6/4: “Customers reporting catching more walleyes by trolling deep. Also the night bite is in full swing with numbers of big ‘eye being taken. Slow retrieve of Bomber Long A in the shallows is producing. The crappie continues to be sporadic. Everyone uncertain if crappies spawned yet, or if they will this; crappies still with eggs when cleaned. Blame it on the unsettled up and down weather. Not a great spring for crappie catches.”
Brian @ Espyville Marina; filed 5/31: “When winds are favorable, some anglers are catching walleyes in 6 to 8 feet of water along shore between the Marina and Tuttle Point.”
Steven Knebel; filed 5/31: “A great day of bass fishing was had on a recent Pymatuning trip with 50 plus bass. A 5 pound 11-3/4 ounce largemouth caught on a buzzbait was lunker of the day. Several 4 to 5 pound bass were also caught using Chatterbaits and soft plastics. The water temp ranged from 71 to 73 degrees. Majority of bass were utilizing weedbeds. Wish the month of May would last all year!”
Conneaut Lake
Editor’s note: Informal reports of bluegills hitting well – until the big storm of May 31 dumping 3 inches of rain in area. Conneaut reportedly dangerously high for boating; ramp may be closed. If going to the Bluegill Bev Memorial Tournament on June 6, be sure to check with Loby at loby@zoominternet.com to insure tournament is being held.
ERIE COUNTY
Presque Isle Bay
Jim @ Lake Erie Bait & Tackle (formerly B.A.C.); filed 6/4: “With bad weather on May 31 and June 1, fishing has slowed considerably. No reports of success. Hope for stable improving weather.”
RJ Graham (Tionesta); filed 5/31: “I tried to fish PIB today. There were 4 footers and 30 mph winds all day. I fished Marina Bay and tried to do the humps. I got one smallmouth out there but it was just crazy to be out there. Got 5 largemouths in Marina Bay. Crazy day!”
Pete Cartwright; filed 5/27: “A great holiday weekend began by wade-fishing PIB, catching some nice largemouth and smallmouth bass. We used 412ubes from 412 Bait Company and Yamamoto Senkos.”
Thomas Watral (Erie); filed 5/23 – before the storm: “Nice perch and rock bass are being taken on jig-n-minnow at the public docks. South Pier and North Pier report 13 to 14 inch perch being taken. Bass are hitting buzzbaits at Head of Bay. We have the live bait and bait rigs for perch and crappies at 2470 McKinley Ave, Erie, PA.”
Lake Erie
Gary, Jr @ Poor Richards; filed 6/4: “The NE winds and cooler water temps in recent days has shut down the walleye on the lake. Perch are still biting in 40 to 45 feet off of Trout Run.”
Tim Truitt @ North East Marina; filed 5/31: “As I write this update, we are experiencing 35 miles per hour winds out of the northeast on the 31st. Hopefully we don’t lose too much water temperature! The walleye bite is on with numerous boats with double digit catches. At 41 feet of water between the W’s and Shorewood with 3 colors of lead core and a Bay Rat or Renosky shallow diver or worm harness. Dipsey Divers at 3-1/2 setting at 110 feet back. Also nice catches of perch caught off 20 Mile Creek in 52 feet of water, off Greenfield at 42/52 fow and just east of Freeport at 38/42 fow. Smallmouth still very good in 8 to 28 feet with W’s being best area. Lake trout at 72 to 105 fow between NW Marian and NY state line.”
Bryan Stuyvesant (Meadville); filed 5/27: “I went to Erie on Monday and picked up 10 smallmouths and three big walleyes. The one pictured was 24 inches; it hit a jerkbait in 8 feet of water.”
Rich Weber @ Erie Sport Store; filed 5/26: “We had a two man limit of perch on Sunday, May 24th…plus one 28 inch walleye. We were fishing off Trout Run in 45 feet.”
MERCER COUNTY
Shenango Lake
Editor’s note: Following the May 31 storm, Shenango Lake rose considerably, and flooded low areas; some ramps are closed. Check their Facebook Page for current information if lake is open or not.
Dave Horvath; filed 5/28 – before the storm: “Fishing is red hot at Shenango Lake. Crappies are on fire. I fished the Gold Run area and lost count of the number of fish caught – including one striper. Loads of panfish came on 1/16-ounce black and white jig tipped with Gulp Alive. But the size of the panfish was only between 7 and 9 inches – so I did not keep anything. My buddy fished beside me trolling for walleye. He caught one about 3 pounds. Also, I caught my crappies trolling a worm harness. Others said the same thing. However all crappies are running on small side.”
Lake Wilhelm
John @ Fergies Bait; filed 6/4: “Great news at Wilhelm! Anglers are catching a lot of walleyes as well as some very nice crappies! They are picking up walleyes by trolling worm harnesses and shad-style plugs. We had 7 and 8 pound walleye come in last weekend. I also saw phone photo several impressive size C&R bass. C&R bass are being caught above the old log boom in the stumps.”
Chris Hall (Espyville); filed 6/4: “My father and I have had a couple exciting Wednesdays – last week and this week – fishing at Wilhelm. Last week we started out jigging and casting baits. But we didn’t catch anything. Then we went to trolling, and caught a little bit of everything including some big crappies, perch, bluegills, bass, and a nice 24-inch walleye. All fish came on Berkley Flicker Shad trolled at .8 to 1 mph. Yesterday, the 3rd, we were back again. For five hours we trolled Flicker Shads, Smithwick Perfect 10 and Bomber Long A. Again, we caught a mixed bag, including a 26-inch walleye and a small musky.”
VENANGO COUNTY
Janice @ Griffins Bait Shop; filed 6/4: “The recent weather has kept many anglers at home. I have had some customers fishing Sugar Lake for panfish with success. A few trout anglers are on Sugar Creek and still catching fish; a big palomino trout was caught this last week before the storm.”
Allegheny River
Dale Black @ Gamma Fishing; filed 6/4: “With our Gamma Line jumping off the shelves around the country, I have not had much time to go fishing. Chris and I did sneak for couple hours out a little over a week ago. However, we only caught a few small bass. Right now the river is blown out.”
John Hummel (Kennerdell); filed 5/31: “Adam Delany, a grad student at Akron U from Leeper, PA, caught this pike on the river south of Kennerdell in shallow water at dusk.”
Ron Cartwright’s River Report
- Filed 5/27: We fished the Allegheny on May 23-25th near Tionesta. The fishing was a bit slow with the cold spell dropping water temperature. We caught smallmouth bass in predictable spots using stickbaits and 412ubes from 412 Bait Company.
- Filed 6/3: We hit the Allegheny River for three days leading into Stormy Sunday on May 31. Great weather on Saturday then downhill. We managed to catch a few under the almost full moon suing 412ubes from 412 Bait Company. Over fishing was slow but the smallies we caught were nice size. Biggest went 20 inches with a 12-1/2 inch girth. Most fish were caught in the shallows.