Many Lake Erie bass and resident smallmouths spawn in the Detroit River. The rocky substrate and riprap found around islands -- like Grosse Ile -- offer ideal bass spawning habitat. Just about anywhere bass can find a current break and a coarse bottom will be used for spawning. Anglers would be wise to search out such places, especially early in the season when the bass are still spawning or during post-spawn.

The calm and mussel beds in Lake Erie not only provide critical spawning habitat, but also habitat for a smallmouth's favorite foods -- crawfish and gobies.

"This is just a theory of mine," suggested Gostenik, "but I catch so many Lake Erie smallmouths that have their noses all scraped and beaten up that I have to believe that those bass get all cut up from rooting out the gobies and crawfish out of the clam beds. I mean it's just way too frequent to be caused by anything else."

It's easy to see why locating subtle structure can be so key in Lake Erie. Structure in Lake Erie is mussel and clam beds that smallies use for spawning, and it is home to their favorite foods. You can find some of that type of isolated structure in Lake Erie's Brest Bay.

That's why a relatively "new to Michigan" technique called drop-shotting is so productive on Lake Erie smallmouths. "Drop-shotting is deadly on Lake Erie smallmouths because it puts the bait just off the bottom right in front of the fish's nose, and when a bass sees something that looks like it's been flushed out of a clam bed, they jump on it!" Gostenik said.

Strangely, because of some all-encompassing regulations, drop-shotting has been actually illegal in the waters of Michigan up until this year. Bass anglers on the cutting edge in other states have been using the technique for years. The DNR finally heard enough bass anglers screaming that the regulation was not intended to limit the way they fish, so they finally made changes in the law that took effect in 2006 to make it legal to suspend a weight below a hook tied directly to the main line on inland lakes, the Great Lakes and connecting waters. It will now be legal for some bass anglers to do what they've been doing illegally all along.

Another change in the regulations for 2006 will make it legal for anglers to practice catch-and-release fishing for bass before the normal season openers. Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair bass anglers have been practicing pre-season catch-and-release fishing for years, albeit illegally. "Pre-season" catch-and-release bass fishing will now be allowed from the last Saturday in April through the Friday before Memorial Day in the Lower Peninsula, including the Great Lakes and connecting waters. On Lake St. Clair, catch-and-release bass fishing will be allowed from the last Saturday in April through the third Friday in June. The regular season opens on Lake St. Clair on the third Saturday in June.