Lake Erie Walleye Tactics

[Tom Linderholm]

First off, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Ohio forum. I believe there can be alot of good information share here with other great lakes fishermen. Being from Duluth, we do quite a bit of Walleye fishing on Lake Superior and I reckon we use alot of the same methods.

What kind of things do you all do on Lake Erie that differ from your in-land lake style's of walleye fishing?

From our experiences we spend alot of time pulling big lipped baits (Little Rippers, Reef Runners, Challengers, etc...) 12-20 feet in the deeps looking for temp breaks that will produce. This past year we started playing around with leadcore and SWR rigs which were a big hit with our wall eyed friends. Typically the same baits we would pull on mono would produce off of the leadcore just accessing a little deeper water.

Interesting thing we tried this year with limited success was dragging 3 ounce bass pro XPS weights and a 6 foot inline spinner rigged with a crawler. Saw that on TV, looked like it produced on Erie but I was either in the wrong spot at the wrong time or that rig was just not cut out for Lake Superior.

Bottom line, what do you have confidence in when you are out trolling for hawg eyes on Lake Erie?

[ole matty]

i used to live in ohio...there r many way to catch walleye in erie.. those tatics u mention will be sucess on lake erie as well.. during early spring i used to go out to lake erie shore or river and casting topwater and orginal rapala and catch some nice size eaters.. during summer time my uncle used to take me out on lake erie trolling with spinners tip with worm and lindy rigs style tip with shiners... biggest one i caught was 29 inches and few 20 to 25s.. its been awhile since i fish at lake erie.. hope this help you

cheers

[Tom Linderholm]

Ole matty thanks for the reply, on your spinner rigs do you remember the length you used? Also what kind of speeds did you run on Erie when trolling for those pigs? We tend to run a little faster than we normally would on inland lakes, anywhere from 1.3-1.7 mph.

Thanks!

[ole matty]

if i remmy correct it was 4 to 6 feet spinngers.normally we wld troll from 1 to 2 mph and when its windy out on lake we wld just drifting its all depend if we r catchin them or not..

cheers

[alanelse]

is there any good rivers to fish this spring for eyes, i need to fish from shore!

[ole matty]

Sent me a email at jardsimmon at aol dottttt commmmmm I can help u out..

[GlassEyeangler]

i too used to live in OH and grew up fishing Erie. my folks had a cottage in Port Clinton, and a 30' Pro Line...we we're always out fishing weekends during the summer.

as far as tactics...well, we didn't use that word back then - it was known as Captain Dan's Eire Deirie tipped with a nightcrawler. dad had more electronics on that boat than the CIA headquarters.

i remember we'd hit all the hot spots around Middle Bass, Rattlesnake, and every now an then West Sister - with limited success. then the best 'tactic' of all...follow the charter boats - woohoo...it always worked, he he.

now when i say "it always worked"...we'd be out all day long, casting and retrieving, almost getting sick from going up and down...and up and down...and up and down - i can still feel my Lake Erie sea legs, and we'd eventually limit out.

i now live in MN, and what used to cost us $300 in gas, another $100 in drinks, ice, bait, and so on - now costs me about $18.00. i live close to some of the best walleye lakes in the state, and i own a 14' aluminum boat. i went out a couple of weeks ago and limited out in a half a day, and sent pictures to my folks via email - what a hoot!

not sure what the best tactics are for the Lake today...but it was all about the chartruse and orange Erie Deirie back in the day in about 18' of water - cast and retrieving, of course, with a nightcrawler.

on a serious note...Lakeland Charters in Port Clinton are very knowledgeable about producing lots of 'eyes. don't know them personally, but our boat seemed to always end up next to theirs...and they were always catiching fish.

(not sure if i spelled Deirie correctly?!?!)