Pymatuning great for bass
Pymatuning Lake experiences much of its bass fishing attention during the spring. Since it doesn't have a closed season, it's a popular spot for spring bass tournaments.
But this quick-to-warm shallow lake attracts bass anglers of all natures, competitive and recreational alike.
Over the past few years, I shared the boat many times with Kittanning's Deron Eck. Though he's at home working a light jig over a deep rock pile for bronzebacks, the guy is a machine when it comes to plying the shallows.
And shallow-water wood can be the place to be for early- season largemouths on Pymatuning.
In some years, 2006 being a good example, the lake will be a foot or two low, due to an annual fall drawdown. This will leave a lot of shallow cover exposed.
With the amount of rain and snow meltoff we've had during this spring, though, water won't be a problem this year. Eck uses both a traditional and not-so-traditional approach for working shallow wood, laydowns, stumps and brush piles during the spring.
On the side of traditional, he'll slow-roll a spinnerbait through the cover, allowing it to bump off of the cover — a well-known trigger.
A favorite tactic of his is to modify his tandem spinnerbait by replacing the primary blade with a big number 5 Colorado blade. The big blade creates a lot of thump, which can be another trigger. Colorado blades also have extra lift, meaning he can work the bait slowly without having it fall deep into the cover.
An approach that's not so widely used is that of throwing a shallow crankbait, like a Lucky Craft RC 2.5, to the wood. Using a medium-heavy baitcasting outfit spooled with 15- to 20-pound test fluorocarbon line, he slowly works the bait through the tangles in a stop-and-go motion. The heavy tackle enables him to pull bass out of the cover.
The thick line also slows the bait's ascent on the pause, which helps activate bites in the cold water.
Pymatuning's weeds quickly appear, particularly during springs where there is plenty of sunshine. Eck also has had success working the newly emerging weedbeds with spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits.
There is no lack of shallow- wood cover in Pymatuning, especially when the lake is at full pool. Lots of laydowns can be found along the western shoreline among the islands and bays in the 41 Bay area. This is but one example. Shallow-wood cover is found all around the lake.
Pymatuning has a 10-hp limit on outboards. There are several good ramps sprinkled along the lake's shoreline. Three of the best (on the Pennsylvania side of the lake) are found at Linesville, Snodgrass and Jamestown.
A quality map of the lake is a valuable tool. Fishing Hot Spots produces a good one, which is available at one of the many lakeside tackle shops.
While many early spring bass anglers target Pymatuning Lake's largemouths, the lake also supports a fine smallmouth population. Smallmouth could outnumber largemouth, though the average size favors the latter.
"Based on the length structure of the bass population, we gave largemouth bass an excellent rating and smallmouth bass a good rating," said Phil Hillman, a fisheries biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
"But (when we last survey the lake) we sampled more smallmouth than largemouth."
For travel information, contact the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-332-2338. The agency's email address is Welcome@visitcrawford.org.
