Lake Erie 10th – 14th

Unless weather drastically changes I’ll be fishing out of Port Clinton, Fenwick’s marina most likely…. April 10-14th.

Jigging early am maybe, but changing over to trolling most of my time. Depending how days go, trying for other species is possible to end the days.

Any other IDO’ers have time on the water in the last few days want to share here, or out there at the same time…. Let’s share info.

[email protected]
262-321-0397. Texting works fine

Two years ago two ido guys and I share info and it was helpful for us all.

I’ll be heading out when you get back. 15th thru 23rd. Sounds like everyone is doing great trolling right now. Just received this picture this afternoon & Capt. Juls on the old BookFace has zero problems getting limits trolling 70′-120′ back with P-10’s & Bandits.

Good luck & I’ll be expecting a report when you get back!

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Last week the rivers were puking mud. Winds were making a difference in which reefs/areas were ugly. Like always, follow clean water

After last year I take nothing for granted…. Chocolate milk water for miles and miles, two plus days with zero fish, garbage cans at cleaning stations were empty…. It was terrible. Three days before and a week after everyone was a hero

This said…. I’m catching fish this year!!!!! Captain Jules and a couple others are still fishing to the east. If water is clean enough I hope to stay closer to the reefs w the wind and my 17’ boat.

Chuck,
We will once again be playing in the same waters at the same time!

surprised your not going to head over to Detroit river for some jigging

I live 2 1/2 hours away but normally hit Erie, don’t care for all the boats

I’ve never ran into so many boats to mind it and having the jigging / trolling option helps. Weekdays for me.

David, drop me a text if interested… I have a new phone since last time.
(And at least one purple HJ)

Just got back on Saturday from a 6 day trip to Port Clinton. It was cold! of the 6 days available we were blown off 3 and fished 3. Got there Saturday 3/26 and could not fish Sunday and Monday. Got out Tuesday and Wednesday, blown off on Thursday before getting back out on Friday. Water temp was about 37. Found clear water east of Kelley’s Island. For the 3 days we landed 29 walleyes weighing 148#. All on Bandits 50 – 70 feet back. Did try a P10 and a 2 oz snap weight, had a hit that broke the line at the board. Marked the waypoint and on the way back to set the next trolling run we found it and got everything back. It was very rough on Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday we had ice form on the lines just ahead of our boards. Had to get almost 3/4 up Kelley’s before we found clear water (you could see your prop). Some advice, check out Juls Blog for some pretty good information. She is a moderator at Walleye Central and Guides out of Port Clinton. http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com/Blog.html

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

I’ll be heading out when you get back. 15th thru 23rd. Sounds like everyone is doing great trolling right now. Just received this picture this afternoon & Capt. Juls on the old BookFace has zero problems getting limits trolling 70′-120′ back with P-10’s & Bandits.

Good luck & I’ll be expecting a report when you get back!

ICEnEYEs – We were supposed to be there this week, but our back up plan is now 4/18-4/25. Shoot me a PM so we can exchange numbers and communicate while there.

Chuck – Good luck to you, sir! Be safe out there and please report back.

Browndog wrote:

ICEnEYEs – We were supposed to be there this week, but our back up plan is now 4/18-4/25. Shoot me a PM so we can exchange numbers and communicate while there.

Chuck – Good luck to you, sir! Be safe out there and please report back.

PM Sent!

Bump… just in case

Got the top set for the boat… expect to be rained on for four days, not catch a fish, and wash lures in muddy water, it can only turn out better vs my new expectation!!! I learned a lesson about expecting good things last year.

Like you said earlier, Chuck, find the cleaner water & you guys will catch fish. Rain does suck, but limits are being caught in 2hrs. Won’t have to stay in it long! Good luck again & please report back!

Following up….. one word, excellent. Just finished my third day of fishing and expect to catch a few hours before the rain and wind picks up tomorrow… even if that doesn’t happen, three great days in a row is a new best for me here. Great weather, excellent fishing and meeting a lot of nice people around the water.

Weather always plays a huge roll, it has been as nice as you could ask for… and that is huge. Struggled a little the first day (Sunday) trolling around the reefs early with nothing happening. It was crowded, but for kicks tried fishing a jig on on pole and a rippin rap on the other, drifting over the reefs with everyone else. Caught two decent males on the rippin rap so that was fun. Then went five miles east, half way to the islands, and filled out a limit quick on much nicer sized fish. Stained water, no traffic at all and it was on.

Monday brought stiff winds but from the south, launched out of Catawba…. Didn’t have to go far for a fast limit, held four in the box and fun fished for a couple hours, getting off by noon to avoid more abuse from the wind.

Tuesday, flat, sunny and warm…. Same area, fished for a couple hours – but could have been filled up and off in 90 minutes easily if I wanted to (And I’m not very good at this)

Stained water was huge. UV green was the ticket in the rough, overcast. The sunny day of flat water, not touched…. Blue silver was ok, but purple silver grabbed 80% of the fish. Fishing high was good… 45-55 back unassisted. I only use deep 12 husky jerks, as it is what I have collected.

Lastly, want to thank everyone here over the years for the conversations that helped lead to this good trip… and the last couple IDO shows here that really helped shorten the learning curve!!!

After the terrible trip here last year in the mud, this was awesome!

Anyone heading here… if you get decent weather at all, expect to have a good time. The fishing is on fire and the spawn seems to be arriving soon. Most females were still loaded.

The photo is just the average female and bigger male…. 24-26” fish are like a norm.

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Thanks for reporting back, Chuck. That’s how it’s supposed to go! Nicely done!

Friends just came back today that were trolling the east basin. Still tons of fish that haven’t moved up yet!

Congrats on a great trip

We just got back and had a great time. 3 fish Ohio’s and lots in that 24-27″ range. Our last day we had 12 fish for 57 lbs.

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Great job, Browndog! I recognize that cleaning table too..

We were over the 15th to the 23rd fishing from 12 – 40 fow depending on the wind direction and speed and caught fish in it all. Fished MI waters in front of SSP one day with a cranking NW wind and had a blast. Good to have backup locations when making that trip.

@Browndog, @Chuck Melcher, @IceNEyes1986
Where did each of you stay at?

@olecrosseyes We’ve always stayed at The Ponds in Danbury. They are Duplex Condos with a decent fish cleaning area.

4/16-4/22
We had a great week out there on Lake Erie. Drove all night Friday and got to the condos at about 7am. So we got the truck unloaded and boat in the water at Catawba Park access by 9:15. We pretty much just started going west. Made it about a mile out and we were marking fish. It was a bit bumpy so we decided to just get lines in the water and troll towards “F” can.

That’s when it all started! Had a fish on before we got our 6th line out. There was about a mile stretch that we constantly marked fish. Filled the boat with our 18 walleyes and had the boat on the trailer by noon!

The weather wasn’t the greatest but we only had one blow day, Tuesday the 19th. We fished the area around “F” can all week. Making one run out towards South Bass Island picking up 3 out there. Also, one run out to Kelly’s Island where we had a tip of an even hotter bite! But, only got 3 out there and there were boats EVERYWHERE.. We decided that wasn’t for us. Went back to our F can area and finished the limit.

All in all it was a great trip! The three of us brought back 99 Walleyes in our boat. Lake Erie one Amazing fishery, that’s for sure! we spent no longer than 6 hours in the boat on any given day. Our quickest day was 2 hrs & 45 minutes from launch to load. Absolutely Epic!

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@adieatrick It was nice meeting you & I’m glad you guys got out and got some fish on your short trip!

So its 6 fish a day. No possession limit?

Red Eye wrote:

So its 6 fish a day. No possession limit?

Correct. Limit and lines were increased this last year. Three lines per person. 6 fish a day, no possession limit.

Nice meeting you too, Nick. Let’s keep in touch and I’m looking forward to next year already!