Six Pound Smallie Bet

Well, it was a first for Presque Isle and Lake Erie. Three days in a row with winds under 8 miles an hour during an outdoor writer event! That has never occurred in the all the years I have been holding these familiarization tours for Visit Erie.

Perhaps our good luck was brought from Wisconsin by event sponsor Matt Bichanich on his first-ever visit to Presque Isle Bay. Representing Uncle Josh and Kalin brands, Matt introduced several new clear-water grub colors for us to field test on smallmouth bass.

Everyone caught sassy smallmouth and richly-marked largemouth on day one. And photo opportunities abounded for media representatives. However the real trophy brown bass were camera shy.

If you recall from my previous post, I had made the statement that someone in our media party would catch at least one 6-pound-plus smallmouth for photos….or I would shave my beard! Here is the rest of the story…

Monday’s sunrise to sunset fishing produced smallmouths over 5 pounds, but no true 6 pounders. Taking Tuesday morning off to rest up, Dave Lehman then made an afternoon run down the big lake in search of bigger bass. Although the bite was slow under a prevailing east wind, Lehman managed a 6-pound 4-ounce smallie on a Hopkins Spoon. Arriving in the Bay, Matt Bichanich and I witnessed the weighing of the bass. But the bass was in a weakened condition from livewell confinement. We decided it might not survive if held it for an evening photo shoot, so the big smallie was released and it swam off.

Wednesday was a surprisingly good jerkbait bite in the Bay with Rapala X-Raps and Lucky Craft Pointer 78DD-SP for 2 to 4 pound smallmouth and largemouth – but no huge smallies.

Since the bet had been a 6-pounder for photos, I failed because Lehman’s 6-4 brownie was released before Vic Attardo or John Neporadny had an opportunity to photograph it. Therefore I upheld my end. Check out the accompanying photo – a naked face for the first time in nearly 40 years. The grub dangling from my mouth? The hot new Apple Juice color from Kalin was the best smallmouth producer of several new colors.

Now, I’ve got a week of office work before heading to the New River in Virginia.