August 8th marked the second of three TBF district 6 tournaments. This tournament was held on Lake Erie. The tournament launched from Marina Bay and was open to all waters, bay and main lake. The Bass Hounds were there with 3 boaters and two riders. The limit at the tournament was 4 fish, due to issues with keeping fish alive, due to very hot water temperatures; at the pre-tourney meeting the limit was changed to three fish to try to help this situation.
Most if not all boats headed out of the bay and towards the main lake to fish for the giant smallmouth bass that the lake has to offer. Heading west was almost impossible as the wind was from the west and the waves were growing bigger and bigger, hour by hour. At 6am when the tournament took off the waves were around 3 to 6 foot. This made the fishing almost impossible. The guys that headed east were able to fish for a little longer until the wind and waves caught up to them. By 1pm there was a small craft advisory on the lake with waves in the 4 to 8 foot range. Most boats had headed near or into the bay by 12 noon. Largemouth bass can be caught near and in the bay area at Erie.
The choice baits at Erie are tubes, drop shot, blade baits, and even top water lures. It seems you need some wind at Erie to make the fishing good, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. The wind was so bad that guys we were using 1 oz plus weights to try to get our baits to stay on the bottom. It was just plain hard to get a bite when the conditions are like that.
Out of 46 entries only 9 limits were weighed, also fish were weighed by only 25 contestants. One of the limits weighed was by Bass Hounds boater Rich Wolota, a limit of three largemouths’s weighing in at 5.72 as all he could do. Rich said that his spots on the main lake were unfishable when he arrived there. This limit landed Rich in 8th place for the tournament. Co anglers Derek Severns and Jeff Spencer both had one fish each. This left Derek in 6th place and Jeff in 12th. These were finishes that helped out all three anglers in the Angler and Co-Angler of the year races. After Erie, Rich Wolota is in second place in the Angler of the year standings. In the Co-Angler of the year standings after 2 of 3 events, Derek Severns is in first place and Jeff Spencer is in fifth place. Anglers Brad Bressler and Brian Spencer are sitting in 10th and 18th respectively.
August 22 marks the last of the three District 6 events on the Allegheny River. The Bass Hounds are looking for a strong finish to the year and possibly two Angler of the Year titles. Again, The Bass Hounds would like to thank all of their sponsors. A special thanks goes out for this update to Valvoline Oil for their sponsorship throughout the year…Thanks again guys, catch you after the Allegheny River.
