Bait Profile – Alewife

If you’ve been around for awhile you’ve probably heard someone mention alewives. While they are mostly associated with the Great Lakes they do live in some inland lakes. If you watched any of the Bassmaster coverage on Lake Champlain you may have noticed they were mentioned there a bunch too.

They actually aren’t a native in any of those lakes but when canals were dug as a way for ships to get around Niagara falls it allowed them in the lakes. They are actually the reason we have a salmon fishery in the Great Lakes as salmon were initially stocked to eat the alewives that were washing up on Lake Michigan beaches. That’s a whole different story and since they are such a big part of the food chain let’s focus on what is going on with them now.

Here in west Michigan we see them both in the big lake and in our drowned river mouth lakes. They often get confused with shad as they are both small silver baitfish that can be in big schools. One obvious difference is that alewives have a large mouth and shad have a much smaller mouth. You’ll see them in various sizes depending on their year class but it is common to see them up to 7 inches or so in Lake Michigan. You’ll notice they often school by size.

They are a favorite food of many species and especially largemouth and smallmouth bass. Most of the time they are pelagic or you may find them by the pierheads. But there is a special time in June where they seek out weeds in the drowned river mouth lakes to spawn on.

Finding the alewives during their spawn can lead to some of the most spectacular bass fishing of the year. Big fish eating with reckless abandon is always a good time but what makes this even better is that they really like a topwater.

Timing can be everything and during low light hours is when a party can erupt and you can go from 0 to hero in just a couple casts. They have a distinct swirl when they are spawning and it is several fish all at once. It even has it’s own sound that is unlike anything else. Get in tune with finding that and you will find the bass!