Day Trips to Lake Erie
By Tod Conner
Have you ever been so sick of catching fish that you'd rather eat lunch? Well, if not, it's time to head to Lake Erie.
The experiences of two Michigan professional walleye anglers Mike Bringedahl and Tod Conner show that, on many trips, the fish come so fast and so often that stopping for lunch is a welcome break in the action. Mike and Tod have been tournament pros on the walleye circuit for 10 years and they met while fishing on Lake Erie.
"If you want lots of action and some fillets for a fish fry", said Mike, "Lake Erie has generous bag limits of ten fish per person (now 6 as of the 2001 season), 13" or larger. Throughout the rest of the state there is a limit of 5 over 15"."
"Last year I took a day trip with a couple of guys that had never fished Erie before, Jerry Kosturik and Brad Foster. We drove over for the day from Muskegon and launched at Luna Pier, Michigan by 8 am. It was an unusually hot sunny May day in the 80's. The surface temp of water was almost 70 degrees and the bait fish and feeding walleye were very active," explained Mike.
If you fish in late April or early May you're targeting post-spawn walleye. There will be lots of smaller, hungry males and they'll be eating like crazy. 90% of the western basin fish will be males until the 4th of July. The big females have moved to deeper water in the eastern basin.
"Erie was dead calm with flat water", reviewed Mike. "We boarded my Lund 1800 Pro V and went out about 4 miles. I'd slow way down about every 1/4 mile and check the bottom with the graph. About 6 miles out we started marking a bunch of arcs five to six feet off the bottom in 16 feet of water. I knew it was probably a pod of active fish."
In early spring slow trolling is the name of the game, even when it's fairly warm. "I use my 150 hp Mercury Optimax to get up and out to the fish, "said Mike, "but most of the time I'll slow troll using a small 6, 8, or 9.9 hp kicker motor. I try to keep the speed around 2 to 2.2 mph. I monitor my speed using a Lowrance GPS unit. GPS speed is pretty accurate with speeds 1.5 mph or faster."
Finding fish is learning to think in 3-D. You can move around on the lake and finally gat on top of a school, but then you have to find where the fish are depth-wise in the water column. The deep fish may not active while the shallow fish are active and feeding. The best way to find that out is to fish lures at different depths.
I set two lines on inside on dead rods with Rattle-Tots running deep, just off bottom. I like chrome & green and blue & silver with red bills in this clear water. On the outside I'll put 1/4 oz. Hot-N-Tots with blue scale & chrome with a red bill or green & chrome. I'll run these back about 45 feet and 60 feet behind the Offshore In-line Planer Boards. They'll get down about 7 and 8.5 feet respectively. The Tattle-Tale flags on Offshore boards are a big help. You can catch small walleye or perch and drag it for an hour without the flag.
We started picking up fish on the outside lines right away. Each time we caught a fish I'd hit the icon button on the Lowrance-350 GPS to mark where we caught fish. An area only 3/8ths by 1/2 mile produced 45 fish between 1 1/2 to 5 pounds in three hours.
We kept a limit of eaters and were back at the launch by noon. Luna Pier has a screened in fish cleaning station with outlets, sinks and stainless steel tables. I got out my electric filet knife and went to work on our limit of "eaters". Two women from Luna Pier even came out and helped us clean fish. I wish I could remember their names. They were so helpful and friendly. We bagged the fish, packed them in ice and hit the road by 1:30 pm. I was back taking a nap on my couch in Muskegon 3 hours later. What a day!
Tod Conner had a very similar experience on a trip out of Bolles Harbor. The DNR launch there is very well maintained with plenty of parking spots and about 20 launch sites with nice docks.
"I went down with a couple guys from work who had never fished Lake Erie and wanted a fish fry. I needed an excuse to fish, any excuse, "so we launched about 7:30 and headed out 4 or 5 miles. I try to stay away from the pack. I went through the stop and search technique, just like Mike, and found fish out in 22' of water. I ran four planer boards with Rattle-Tots and Thunderstick, Jr's on 3-ways rigs with 2 1/2 inch Michigan Stinger flutter spoons. In clear water I like to use chrome & blue and will match the color of the spoon to the lure. I'll run this 3-way rig with a crankbait on bottom on an 18" leader and spoon on top a 36" leader at 2 to 2.4 mph."
To do that, first you drop the crankbait in the water and let it swim a bit while you're holding the spoon, then flip the spoon in the water and hold the rod. Check the swimming action to make sure they're not tangled then slowly let out line. Thumb the spool or set the clicker of your reel and run them back about 30 - 40 feet back before you hook them in the pinch pads of an Offshore in-line board. Don't free spool your reel or you'll have a big mess!
The thick schools of fish were hitting non-stop and we caught 80 fish that day. About 70% were taken on spoons. Four times we even had two fish on the same rods at once. We made a 2-3 mile circle, staying away from the pack, and caught fish all morning. The three anglers ended up with a live well of eaters in the 2-5 pound range and released more than 50 fish on their day trip.
Now this all sounds really easy but remember that Mike and Tod have fished Lake Erie many times and have professional quality gear. But that doesn't mean you can't catch plenty of fish with little experience. The tackle used is a little specialized to deal with conditions.
Speed control - A small outboard kicker is critical for slow trolling. A 6, 8, or 9.9 hp will provide that slow, steady, reliable speed.
Rods - Graphite rods are good for casting and jigging but glass rods are tougher, less expensive and more practical for trolling and board fishing. Tod and Mike use St. Croix 7' pro-glass, medium or medium-heavy rods because they can take the abuse.
Reels - Line counter reels are worth their weight in gold when it comes to precision trolling. Both Mike and Tod use Diawa 27LC line counter reels so they can be consistent with lure depth and trolling line length. They're tough, durable reels and extremely dependable. Another good reel is the new Okuma. They're new in the line counter market but Okuma has been making reels for a long time.
Fishing Line - 10 pound test Berkley XT Trilene in dull green. XT is suggested because it is very abrasion resistant. Clipping on in-line boards can be hard on line because the board always hooks on about the same spot. And, as you know, walleye have sharp teeth and gill plates. Catching a lot of fish requires watching for line wear around the lure.
Day trips are great. You don't have to stay overnight and if you only have one day of the weekend (like most of us married guys) a day trip gets you back home for a day with the family. You can have fish for supper and everybody's happy!
