Do you agree with me when I say that smallmouth bass are pound for pound the fightingest fish in the world? Do you love hooking a bronzeback on two pound test line and watching him jump all the way out of the water? If you do then you should go smallmouth fishing in Lake Erie near Port Colborne, Ontario. I've been fishing this area for 30 years and I'm not kidding when I say I've caught over 100 smallmouth in a day several times.

My mom and dad have had a trailer at Sherkston, a resort community about 10 miles from Port Colborne, for over 30 years. The lake is so crystal clear that you can be in 20 feet of water and still see the bottom. I don't bring my a boat so unless I can hitch a ride, I have to wade or fish from the shore. Luckily, there is a perfect spot to go wading and fish for smallmouth. About a mile from shore there is a wreck of an old barge. During World War II when the value of steel went way up, someone decided to salvage as much of the wreck as they could. They built a coffer dam to dry the lake bed from the beach to the wreck. Then they built a road and were able to salvage most of the wreck. When they took down the dam and flooded the road, they left behind a fisherman's paradise.

Most of the time, the water over the old road is about 1 - 4 feet deep for the first half mile or so toward the remains of the wreck. From the edge of the road, the water immediately drops off to 5 - 8 feet deep. This is where the fish hang out looking for food. I've found that floating baits with no weight work fantastically for an hour after dawn and the last hour before dark. For the rest of the day I like to use a suspending crank bait. I've yet to find a time of day that these bass won't bite when they're in the mood. Most of the fish I've caught while wading toward the wreck are between 10 and 15 inches long and the biggest one I caught was 21 inches long. These fish taste great so don't forget your barbecue tools and cook them up.

The resort at Sherkston is made up of a combination of seasonal and short term campers. Most people live in small cottages that are can be bought or rented but there is also an area where you can pitch your family camping tent. Besides the amazing smallmouth fishing, you can swim either in the lake, the deep, cold quarry or in the pool. There are miniature golf, an arcade and water slides for the children and there is a fully stocked camp store where you can stock up your picnic coolers.

Sherkson has grown up a lot in the 40 years since I started going there. Some of the development is good and some I wish had never happened. The one thing that hasn't changed is the great smallmouth bass fishing. I hope you get a chance to get up there and check it out.