Lake Erie

[luv my lab]

I am heading to lake erie in a week to fish for walleyes and am wondering if there are any web sites like this one for out there. If anyone knows of any it would be greatly appreciated.

[can it be luck?]

The ODNR has a toll free phone # for weekly fishing reports from Lake Erie. Keeps you up to date with the latest information.
1-888-hookfish

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[joshb]

what a joke. you couldn't have just deleted the links?.....anyway luv my lab - i tried to post a bunch of info for you but it was erased due to the no link rule, if you need some help finding some online info i found a bunch - use the dogpile search engine, and browse. can i say that?, anyway if i don't talk to you good luck and have a great time!

[bigeyes]

Yup I would love to help too, but they are a little too anal around here at times. Go to the reports sections of the main walleye HSOforum on the net and there will be info on Erie. I just got back Monday, bit was really good until the wind blew everybody off on sunday afternoon and muddied the water. Not sure how muddy it is right now but it usually takes a few days to settle. Are you going to troll or jig fish cause it makes a big differnce on how much I can help as I know very little about jig fishing the reefs, but may be helpful if you are planning to troll the hogs. Just remember it is hit or miss this time of year and more times than not it is a miss. Muddy water, and cold fronts will shut em down hard. figure 1 out of 3 days will be blow day that you will not get out at all and after that the water will take 2+ days to clear before they really get going again. Best thing you can do is give yourself plenty of time like a week that way you should catch some good weather and can aford to sit out the blow days.

[Hillbiehle]

luv my lab.....

Before moving up here I fished Lake Erie alot, there is a web-site that I use with the most info that I've found. Give me your e-mail and I'll send it to you. If I post it and the guy gets 10,000 hits he might be upset with me.....

Hope I don't offend anyone.

[Guest]

Headin out that way tomorrow guys... going to get a few (hopefully) solid days in of prefishing before the RCL tourney.

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-FNC

"get on the natch"

[can it be luck?]

luv my lab, here are a few posts I've made in the past in referance to Erie. I searched around and pulled them from various threads. I always fish Kelley's Island which is part of the Erie Island group. South, Middle, and North Bass Islands are just to the west of Kelly's. I like Kelly's Island because of the "lack" of structure. Where the Bass Island's contain so much varied structure scattered about, Kelly's has 1 large reef(Kelly's Shoal) surrounded by deeper water. By having a large area of deep water and 1 main piece of structure, the fish are attracted to it since that's all they've got. Too me, it makes things much easier.
I'm heading there in June.
LET US KNOW HOW YOU DID!!

can it be luck?
FishingMN Pro Staff
Posts: 1208
Registered: Apr 2003
posted 01-18-2004 12:42 PM
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Some of my thoughts about times and location....No, there isn't much "luck" involved on Erie, it's all about technique and patterns. I tell anyone I bring with to not pay any attention to what others say at the camp sites as far as fish reports when we arrive on the island.... Everyone will say the fishing sucks! Regardless, they ask others anyway while were setting up camp, and they get discouraged by the "poor" reports. The people who run the campsites say to me every time I arrive, "Well, looks like the fish are gonna start biteing now that Mark's here"(they know me well. ). I make a bet with my partners everytime I go, I bet them that we'll have the biggest catch at the fish house on any given day.....I've yet to lose once, however a fellow from WI. gave me a good run one time. I took my buddy out there last year, out of an estimated 250 other fisherman at the campsite, I managed to see a total of 2 walleye caught for the 6 days we were there, granted the bite was slow, but we did manage to boat about 90 walleye. Two years ago I meet my friend there who lives south of Cleaveland. With him, he brought 4 of his Ohio friends that fished Erie all there lives. They had 2 beautiful boats and every piece of equipment possible, except GPS and 2-3 oz bottom bouncers. I told them the fishing was GREAT! I explained areas and presentations which produced. Would they listen to me, an "outsider" fishing thier lake? Well, the answer is NO. However after being fishless for 2 days, and my boat bringing in limit catches, I had both boat owners in MY boat while my guys commandeered thier vessels running at my flanks. I since have recieved several "thank you"s from them for helping them catch fish. PS: They've never caught a limit prior to that time. That same friend brought up his own boat which sat in the parking lot at camp for the first 2 days. After 2 days of "pounding" walleye, my two companions who were "along for the ride" remarked how "easy" the fishing is. This really pi$$ed me off, so I told them that tommorrow they can put thier 2 heads together and run the other boat and we'd make comparisons after one of the boats limit up. Two heads should be better than one. They followed me out of the harbor where I started to make heading in a different direction of the previous days good fishing. I had a larger motor so I soon lost them. The wind direction changed over night, so I suspected the fish would be on the opposite side of the reef. After a couple of hours I limited out and fired up the motor to find them. I found them where I thought they would be, in yesterdays spot, with 1 fish! After they admitted that it wasn't so "easy", I let them hop back in my boat. So I ask myself...Can it be luck?.....NOT A CHANCE!......What do I see that people are doing wrong?...Speed is the most important factor here. GPS for speed is crucial in putting fish in the boat. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to keep your boat running at desired trolling speeds and pay attention to what the fish want. Use a drift sock if you need to get your speed down. Drifting with or without a drift sock when it's too windy to troll. Whatever you do, the spinner blades need to turn and the baits need to stay down. In my observations, guys troll too fast. I like to troll .8-1.6 mph when running crawler harnesses. Bottom bouncers need to be heavy, 2-3oz to keep the baits in a vertical position. Line counters are valuable to monitor depth. I watch guys "randomly" troll, WRONG! Choose your depths and target them. Run in 20', if nothing, try 25', and so on up to 50' of water. When I find fish at a certain depth, I apply that to other areas as well. MAP YOUR ROUTES! Catch a fish, enter that waypoint. Turn around and retrace your route, a good number of times you'll catch another. I've had areas as small as 10 yards in diameter that have produced when nowhere else has. Why? You got me, a subtle break in depth is usually the only difference I've seen. I refer to these places as "the old boot". I kid with my friends saying that "There must be an old boot down there, or something". Another thing I see that people do wrong is choice of baits. Most guys(because of what they hear and read) run cranks. I fish late spring and early summer when water temps are usually in the 50's requireing a "slowed down" approach. I for the most fish crawlers, spinners, weight forward spinners(Erie Dearies,Pygmys), off the side of the boat and off Off-Shore planer boards to spread out and cover water. Another thing, don't get in the rut of "doing what always works". Speed and location changes from day to day. Color? Color can be a factor, I run different colors and styles of spinners then key in to what's "hot" for that particular day. Last year, blue was hot. Water clarity? Water clarity plays a big part because of it's limestone bottom composite. Move till you find clear, clean, water. To summarize it all, the fishing isn't that hard, if you KNOW what you're doing. And as far as the taste of big walleye on Erie? Erie is the only lake I know of that a 30' walleye tastes as good as a 15' walleye. However, you wont catch any 15' walleye from my experience. At times I'll keep a limit of perch also. I don't catch them, at least not with a pole. I use my net. I motor around the miles of gill nets that are strung acrosss the lake owned by commercial fisherman and scoop up some of the thousands of dyeing ones that float to the top of the water. My keeping of fish doesn't hurt Erie one bit, it actually helps the fish population in MN.. By doing my "meat fishing" on Erie, I find I need to keep less fish from MN........rmh2o, E-mail me, and I'll fill you in with all you need. With the right approach and TECHNIQUE, the fishing can be "easy" on Erie. A little bit of "luck" is always welcome too!

can it be luck?
FishingMN Pro Staff
Posts: 1190
Registered: Apr 2003
posted 12-19-2003 01:13 PM
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Guido, most of my rods I use run 6'10"-8', Med-med/hvy casting/trolling type. Level wind baitcasters with linecounters spooled with 12-14, and sometimes 17# line. I use heavy line beacause of stress due to pulling boards....And fish too! I like to catch big fish. usually researching and traveling to find them. My thinking is this, I would rather spend a few more hours driving and catching trophy fish than spend little travel and effort to catch fewer smaller fish. Yes, these fish are "trophys", but considering the lakes they come from....They're run of the mill. Over the years, the great lakes have provided me with many fish in the 10# range. Oddly enough, besides the 33 1/2"er, my most prized fish is a 29 1/2"er caught on a jig and crawler from Farm lake on the White Iron chain in Ely. If you want fish like that I can tell you where to go and how to fish, it's pretty easy if done right. Well I shouldn't say easy, I did a 6 day trip 2 years ago and out of an estimated 250 others in the campsite, I only seen 2 walleye at the fish house on those days. Cold water, fast trolling speeds, and crankbaits were the reasons for them not catching fish. I tryed to "clue" them in on needed adjustments, but what do I know? I'm from WI., how can I tell the local Ohio boys how to fish on "thier" waters? Me, I'm totally different. If I see someone catching fish and they choose to share info. with me, I'm all ears! I've been kicking around the thought of a June trip to Ohio with anyone interested in FM. Boats and equipment is all we'd need, I can take 2 people. A very nice state campground with showers is where I stay,it's very nice and cheap too. $22 a night split between the guys. Gas, food, camping, $24 license, nightcrawlers, and equipment is all that is needed. Boats need to have 4-6 rod mounts and be able to troll down to 1 mph. A drift sock is also needed. I know the area, so we'd have a guide. I just dont know if anyone would be interested in catching BIG walleyes like that!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 04-23-2004).]

[luv my lab]

Everyone,
Thanks for all your helpful advice I am so excited to go and am sure what you've told me will help. I will have an extensive report when I get back.
lml.