Landing the Net by Darl Black.
Seems to be a very good year for smallmouth bass on inland waters, as well as for muskies. See what else has been biting and where in this issue. On Lake Erie, the summer walleye bite is just getting started—perhaps a bit slow according to some anglers, but when you check out the charter boat catches, it appears the fish are here to be caught if you have the knowledge and time to put into finding them.
Pete @ SmalliesontheYough Guide Service: I have not been fishing for smallmouth since the spawn started, so on a visit to French Creek this past week, I was hoping to find it was over. Observing a bunch of empty beds and fry along the banks was an indication the spawn was concluded. So, I started fishing. I used a Ned Rig to fish deeper current, and started catching bass, including a 19-inch smallmouth. I have guide dates open from now until September if you would like a wade trip on French Creek or the Allegheny River.
Bean @ Richter’s Bait; I’ve received word that several individuals are catching muskies in the Linesville area of the lake on large live bait – including suckers, bluegills and small crappies. On the South End, the daytime walleye bite shifted out a little deeper to about 12 to 18 feet. Other anglers are still casting the weedbeds at night and picking up some walleyes, but for the most part these are sublegal fish. No reports of crappies.
Darl @ Fishing with Darl Black; Since the last Fishing Report on May 26, Marilyn and I returned to Pymatuning twice. First trip over a week ago, we were searching for offshore bedding white crappies which report- edly had finally moved onto beds, but struck out on crap- pies, catching only several average-size smallmouths and a “silver” cat. This past weekend, I liked the looks of Saturday afternoon’s heavy overcast, so we made a late day run to look for bigger smallmouth – leaving all panfish tackle at home. Only a single 12” smallie was caught the first two hours. Then to my dismay the front arrived early with weath- er suddenly changed to blue skies and bright sun. I told Mari- lyn I was ready to go home whenever she wanted to. She in- sisted we fish a spot we had discussed earlier. I ran the boat to the site, then sat down in the back to have a sandwich and pout about the weather change. She picked up a rod with a deep crankbait, and proceeded to put on a Pymatuning Small- mouth Clinic! Guess I’ll be letting her pick the days and baits to fish next time.
Marilyn @ Blackwolfe Communications; For an upcoming article on the re- birth of Tamarack Lake, Darl and I chose an early morning to see how the 2020 stocked fish we growing. A buzzbait around stick-ups didn’t yield a largemouth bass. Next stop was the fishing pier, where we used tiny jigs with live bait below a bobber to discover a booming panfish population. We caught bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish and what we believe was a hybrid green sunfish crossed with pumpkinseed…maybe. Oh yes, just before leaving, Darl got our first Tamarack largemouth bass since the lake was drained years ago – not a lunker bass like the lake was previously known for, but it’s a start! Tamarack is strictly catch and release for all species right now.
You can read the full Fishing Report here: https://blackwolfecommunications.com/2021/06/16/june-16-nw-pa-fish-report/