smallmouth sPECTACULAR
A NEW RENAISSANCE
Smallmouth Fishing on the Great Lakes Has Always Been Great — It ’ s Just Getting Better
By Joe Balog
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
Jonathon VanDam scoops up a chunky Great Lakes smallmouth .
JUNE-JULY 2021 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM
Some 30 years have passed since major bass tournaments first visited the Great Lakes . During that period , gigantic catches at scores of events made headlines , celebrating these big lakes as the premier smallmouth destinations in the country .
Early on , Great Lakes staple techniques were pretty basic : Heavy lead-headed lures were drifted over prime structures , immortalizing the phrase “ drift-and-drag .” It wasn ’ t long before these methods were replaced by more precise structure-fishing systems borrowed from Western finesse techniques . In more recent years , savvy anglers have expanded further , pushing the envelope to catch more and bigger bass all across the North .
Prior to 1990 , most bass tournaments on the Great Lakes were shallow-water affairs , as anglers stayed close to the shoreline , fishing rocks and weeds for largemouth and smallmouth alike . In the early 90s , though , a renaissance was occurring across the North , as anglers ventured further offshore and began fishing deeper . They were quickly rewarded .
Huge catches ( by the day ’ s standards ) were the result , as gigantic schools of unpressured smallmouth roamed vast basins previously rarely explored . At the time , it wasn ’ t uncommon to catch 50 or more fish a day , most of them being in the 2- to 3-pound range .
57