Steve Merlo: Smallmouth bass dream comes true for local angler
| Thursday, Jun 04 2009 08:04 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jun 04 2009 09:06 PM
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Don Crabtree shows off his 6-pound, 10-ounce smallmouth bass taken on a recent trip to New York's Lake Erie. The fish was one of a five-fish bag that weighed 29-pounds,12-ounces.
Local businessman Don Crabtree has had a lifelong dream -- to catch a five-fish stringer of smallmouth bass that weighed more than 30 pounds for a 6-pound average. Crabtree, no stranger to the art of bass fishing, won eight major tournament events during his professional career, with plenty of largemouth limits in that magical range, but nary a single smallie that weighed even close to 6 pounds.
Most anglers know the smallmouth as a pugnacious, hard-fighting fish rarely exceeding 3-pounds, even during the spawn, so catching just one that size would be a fisherman's dream come true. The pursuit came to an exciting end when Dennis Polm, Pastor Wendall Vinson and Crabtree ventured back to Buffalo, N.Y., and its bountiful Lake Erie only two weeks ago.
Guided by Gaspere Costabile (905-382-1804), the trio managed to catch lots of fish between 3 and 6 pounds, but it was Crabtree that raised the bar by nailing a weighed 29-pound, 12-ounce stringer for a single day's total effort of his largest five smallies. Cold, windy weather greeted the men each day, but the fish were just becoming active and ready to go onto the spawning beds -- perfect medicine for giant prespawn bass.
Using tube lures, the fishermen nailed a number of big smallmouth in the 22-28-foot depths, including Crabtree's 6-pound, 10-ounce kicker and Polm's 6-pound-plus. Gaspere's tournament scale weighed each fish a little light, so in reality, Crabtree's dream had actually come true, though the exact total will never be known. Suffice it to say it was more than 30 pounds, and that's all that mattered.
The following week, my best friend and I also made the trip to Erie. The fish weren't quite as large as our predecessors, but we still managed several fish more than 6 pounds each and 5-fish smallmouth stringers weighing more than 27 pounds each day. Some of the fish had moved into the beds, and on one two-hour stop, we managed to boat over 80 nice smallies in 10 or so feet of water. Neither of us particularly enjoy bed fishing, so we actually spent the majority of our time fishing the 18-22-foot depths, and caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 nice bass over our three days, including two beautiful walleye and and a couple of northerns. Using tiny worms on darterheads and other western techniques, almost all of our smallmouth weighed from 3-6 pounds, while our single day's catch of 125 largemouth averaged between 2-4 pounds each.
We had a local restaurant cook up the walleyes for us at supper one night, and suffice it to say, nothing beats yellow pike, as they're called back there, for sheer eating pleasure.
Anglers traveling to Lake Erie are in for a delightful trip. Fishermen used to Mexican bass fishing adventures will find their New York stay less expensive than a trip south of the border and without a loss of communication skills with the locals. While the huge smallmouth bass are the world class attractant, they'll also find better overall fishing, including outstanding largemouth bass angling for 2- to 4-pound bucketmouths, plus quality walleye and northern pike. A wide variety of restaurants and lodging, and a chance to visit some eastern attractions can round out a perfect vacation.
Crabtree, Polm and Vinson were accompanied by their wives, Kathleen, Pam and Lynda, who, visited Niagara Falls and the village of Niagara On the Lake, a nearby shopping Mecca, while the men fished.
The three couples stayed on the Canadian side in the huge Fallsview Hotel and Casino that overlooks the romantic Horseshoe Falls. After three days of fishing, the group toured Washington D.C. and the Gettysberg, Penn., area, exploring the sights and Civil War attractions before returning home.
