Smallies: A big one on my list

One of Ohio’s premier game fishes swims in good numbers around Youngstown, but many of them live out their lives with little reason to worry about angling pressure.

Smallmouth bass are highly prized for their strong and acrobatic fighting tactics. Better known as a mainstay of the Lake Erie fishery, they also thrive in Berlin, Milton, West Branch and Shenango reservoirs. Few local fishermen, however, target them.

Those who specialize in finding and catching the bronzeback member of the freshwater bass family enjoy great action on our local waters. But the generalists in the fishing community rarely stumble accidentally into smallmouths, like they do with other popular fish like walleyes, crappies, largemouth bass and catfish.

That fact no doubt is a function of smallies’ behavior and preferred habitat. They just don’t “happen” often enough to convince local anglers they ought to go hunting for them.

And that’s too bad.

The Mahoning River reservoirs — Berlin and Milton — and West Branch Reservoir on the aptly named “West Branch” of the Mahoning support naturally reproducing populations of smallies. Mosquito Creek Reservoir is the only lake in the Mahoning drainage that does not have bronzebacks.

Smallies prefer hard-bottom areas. They prowl rocky areas in search of crawfish and other crustaceans, and often can be found on rip-rap used to protect causeways and dams from erosion.

The hard-fighting bass also can be found on main lake ledges as well as rock and gravel points. They use those places to lurk for schools of shad. At peak feeding periods, smallies attack with wolfpack tactics to scatter and confuse the baitfish.

Boat ramps also attract smallmouths, especially at night and daybreak. The bass scoot around the ramps to gobble crawfish that emerge from their nearby mud borrows and crawl along the algae-coated concrete.

While an “average” smallmouth in Berlin, Milton, West Branch and Shenango measures 12 to 14 inches, plenty of 3-pound and larger fish exist.

I’ve caught 4-pounders in all four reservoirs. All provided moments I’ll never forget. Two in particular stand out.

Many years ago, while working a black spinnerbait around rocks near Berlin’s dam, a 4-pound smallmouth crushed the lure and leaped like a tarpon repeatedly. I could hardly believe the fish was hooked to my line, considering the 13-inch largemouths that had comprised the day’s action to that point.

Just last year, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, a giant smallie mouthed my jig as I worked it in the roots of a sprawling stump on a Shenango point. I struck at the first “tick” of the line and was stunned at the awesome power of the fish as it surged toward deep water. It jumped three times and refused to surrender easily.

Smallmouths are known for that never-give-up battle. They surge two and sometimes three times when you finally get them to the boat, and often clamp their jaws so tightly that it’s difficult to land them with a lip grip.

They will bite just about any of the standard bass baits. I can’t think of one lure category that hasn’t produced at least a few smallies for me.

Bronzebacks have been active throughout this relatively mild summer, which makes sense since they prefer cool water. Lake temperatures will soon begin to decline, so the weeks after Labor Day will be prime time to connect.

Check out the hard-bottom areas at Berlin, West Branch, Shenango and Milton, and you too may soon be bitten by the smallmouth bug.

jwwollitz@aol.com