7 May: Fishing al round is good! The morning of 7 May finds the creeks at a good water level. The forecast of rain the next four days again this weekend also may change the stream water level. A good place to fish when the streams are high is the gravel pits west of Fairview and the head waters of Presque Isle.

   Bass catching in the lake has been GREAT! Many good size smallmouth are being caught along the entire PA shoreline. A few walleye and some large perch have also been caught while fishing for bass. Best water depth is from 15 to 30 foot. Good baits are minnows and tubes. Just find a nice rock pile and most of the anglers in the boat got fish on. The east side of the Peninsula to the New York line is the best. Many Smallmouth Bass have also entered Elk and Walnut Creek. Here also the fishing is GREAT!

  Presque Isle bay anglers have been catching crappies, northern pike, bluegills and large and smallmouth bass.

   Walleyes continue to be caught at night along the lake shoreline near the mouth of Godfrey Run and Trout Run. Casting a floating rapala is good for the walleye at night providing the lake is somewhat calm. Some anglers are catching three and four fish on a good night.

  Lake Trout are beginning to be caught at a place called the moutains. This is twelve miles north east of the city of Erie. The lakers are fished best close to the bottom using spoons.

Stream Fishing: The catching of the stocked fish is the main stream action now. Most of the larger steelhead have moved back to the lake. A very few large fish will stay in the creeks all summer. Some of the good baits are bright colored sucker spawn, jigs tipped with maggots, salted minnows and single hooked salmon eggs are working well. Hooking a ten-pound trout is possible. Landing one of these tackle busting beauties is another story. The fishing is best when the water is murky and slightly high.

  Erie lies in the middle of many streams, both to the east to the NY border and to the west to the Ohio border. A note of caution: Fishing is prohibited in Trout Run and Godfrey Run, which are both nursery streams.

Trout Season: The statewide trout season is enjoyed nowhere else better than Erie county. An angler not only catches those stockies but let the angler beware. These streams have many large tackle busting lake run rainbows (steelheads) in them. They intend on making it back to the lake when the water warms only to return in the fall. Minimum size drops to 9 inches at this time but the daily limit goes to 8 fish. An angler needs to check his PA fishing regulations book for more details on the size and combined species limit.

Boaters: Are enjoying the fantastic smallmouth bass fishery.

Presque Isle Bay: Fishing is good for large and smallmouth bass, bluegills, crappies and northern pike. Trout and salmon action has slowed. The best catching is at the head waters and Horseshoe Pond. This is a good place to fish when the streams are high.

El Nino: appears to have pushed the biological time clock ahead a few weeks or more.

Lake Erie Trophy Bass Season: The opening day of trout is also the opening day of the Lake Erie Trophy Bass Season. One 20" fish per angler per day. Many anglers believe that the state record smallmouth bass will be broken this spring. These fish are a lot of fun to catch. The entire Pennsylvania Lake Erie shore line contains these "bronzebacks". Come on up and take your chances at breaking the state record. Most of the fish can be caught between 20 to 30 foot water depth. The catching should be in full rod bending action by the middle of May.

To fish the PA lake waters and tributaries a $3.50 PA Lake Erie Permit is required along with your regular fishing license