"The new regulations will provide more legal fishing opportunities, but we're not sure what effects it might cause," confided biologist Braunscheidel. "We really don't know if it will cause an increase in fishing effort. One concern we do have is about live-bait anglers and the resulting fish that will be killed."

"The bass guys have been waiting for this for a long time," Gostenik exclaimed. And for good reason. Gostenik claimed that one of the absolute hottest bass bites on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair is during the early spring. "It's not uncommon to have 100-fish days in April and May. The bass are in a pre-spawn mode. They're not everywhere. In fact, they're very concentrated, grouped up, and they are eating."

If you want to experience some hot spring bass action, contact Gostenik at (313) 319-0100 or online at www.greatlakesbassfishing.com.

The key on both lakes is to look for depressions or ditches created by boaters that concentrate scads of fish.

"The fish are in very specific places from year to year," Gostenik said. "The fishing is very, very easy."

Gostenik said two of his hottest techniques is to cast Rat-L-Traps and jerkbaits. "One of the best baits in recent years has been a Lucky Craft," Gostenik claimed. "They aren't cheap. They run about $15. They aren't one of my sponsors, but I buy them anyway. They are that good. They're very realistic and throw well in the wind." Gostenik advised trying solid colors like white on cloudy days and bright metallic colors when the sun is out.

Springtime is not only a good time for numbers of bass, but trophy bronzebacks, too.

"You stand a pretty good chance of landing a good fish in the 5-pound range and a bass pushing 7 pounds is not unheard of," suggested Gostenik. And while springtime is prime time for trophy fish, the smallies are available year 'round. Gostenik said to probe the protected bays the bass use for spawning on Lake Erie early in the season. Success is weather dependent, because wind will rile the water and put the bass off their feed. When that happens, the fish retreat to deeper water around old clam beds in depths from 2 to 10 feet. Hotspots in the Detroit River are wherever bass can spawn successfully out of the current.

"The spawn actually takes place at a couple of different times depending on which body of water you're on," Gostenik offered. "There might be as much as 10 degrees difference between one portion of the lake versus another. Generally, the upper portion of Lake Erie would be on the warm end of the scale."

The spawn may start as early as mid-May in Lake Erie, but fish may not spawn until July on the deeper waters of Lake Erie or in the channels of the St. Clair River or the Detroit River. Gostenik said he's personally caught bass that were still obviously spawning in late July or early August.

"Once the bass spawn, they kind of go into a funky phase," Gostenik claimed.