Lake Erie 1st timer

Hello all-

Going to try our luck spring of 2020 in the Western Basin at ice out and was curious if anyone had any recommendations on where to stay? This will be our 1st trip over that way. We are leaning towards Port Clinton or Catawba.

I know they are relatively close to one another, but can anyone recommend one over the other? Pros/cons? Recommendations on places to launch? Lodging recommendations?

As I said, this is our 1st time trying our luck at pre spawn, so any other help is appreciated as well. Things we need to know? Places to go? Restaurants? It will be me and the wife, so things she might enjoy when we get off the water as well?

I know this is a ways off..just trying to narrow some stuff down. Wife likes to have a plan!

Thanks in advance!

Port Clinton offers some flexibility on the western shore landings…

I’ve been twice now and the biggest thing I could say is if you have any flexibility in a schedule you will be far better off. Nothing worse than making a trip and sitting on shore for all of it because of wind. I have cancelled more planned thrips than I have completed. Spring can be brutal.

I have started making reservations early and multiple ones at that. Then canceling late when they don’t work. Grabbing a backup 3-4 day booked plan instead. Affordable lodging will fill up quick when it gets to prime time.

There have been other great conversations on this site you may be able to search out. Also a ton of info on https://www.walleye.com/

When you can get out in Spring – it can very easily be the best walleye fishing you’ve ever experienced.

If I were to do it again I would stay on one of the islands. You can put your boat in on the down wind side and still fish. Made the trip twice for 4 days each time and only fish 2 days out of 8.

Yes stay on bass island. Much better and don’t forget the crawlers. They like meat on the cranks in the spring

I agree, stay on the island. The ferry is expensive when you have a boat with, but worth it. There is two boat landings on the island. I prefer the one downtown. Its a protected harbor, but parking is limited, you may have to park a block or two away.

This year, May, we got delayed because of wind and had to stay on shore for an extra night, we were not planning on that. But the ferry was running the next morning. In windy conditions, the fishing between the islands is still pretty good.

There is a winery on middle bass, you and your wife may enjoy, if that’s your thing.

We fished tons of different cranks over the last few trips. Bandit deep walleyes seem to work best. Purple! Bring boards!

I have not personally used crawlers on my cranks, but have talked to a few guys that have and it was successful.

The fishing out there is fantastic, As many have said, find the cleaner water. We were most successful near Kellys.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, you’re awesome! If we stay on the Islands as suggested, would it be South or Middle Bass? I see the ferry runs to both. Any lodging recommendations out there? Also, as far as wind goes, what would you want to avoid as far as wind direction for the islands?

Thing I like about not staying on the islands is if you get the south-west winds everyone hopes for, and the jigging bite is going – the on-shore landings are a much closer trip to good water…. where you can have a rough ride from the islands (IMO). Plus lodging is more expensive and harder to get flexibility on the islands. Some of all this could also be defined by when you end up going. Plus I go solo for the flexibility so cost is a bigger deal.

North and East winds keep a huge number of boats off the water.

We stay on Put In Bay island. Rent a house week days are responsible but weekends they stick it to you. All the locals come out to party and they do a good job of it. We troll cranks or crawlers. The drive thru Chicago sucks. Get an I-pass saves time at tolls.

Chuck, How far of a ride is it from the islands to what you would call good water on the on shore side?

How far is put in bay from say Kellys?

I think takes about half HR to get over to Kelly. We have always done good out by Canadian border.

How far vs how long is a drastically different answer for me when I’m in my 17′ boat…. a little wind makes a huge difference out there on a 30 mph – 5 mph speed. During the prime jigging bite you can fish a half mile off the SW shore by Turtle Creek Marina and Fenwicks (East of Magee Marsh). Smaller male eater fish. The bigger fish I’ve caught are out further around reefs and open water. That’s why I mention the modest SW wind is your friend. The reefs and such are maybe a couple miles out from there and that entire area is lights out trolling as well in April to May – all weather based.

I’ve fished this area (with a bunch of other boats) and done really well when guys couldn’t get here from the islands because of the SW winds.

Search older IDO videos as well… James has I think two great ones. Go back and read spring months worth of questions and answers on that other walleye site I mentioned – there is a ton of good stuff there and you will get a feel for the timing and weather related concerns/ advice from locals.

This is a great fishery – but very weather driven for access in spring. I live on Lake Michigan so I’m around big water – Erie is an all together different animal.

Get a good map or mapping software so you can see where the cans are vs reefs and some of the other points where conversations will point you towards are at. Your trip will be better with the advance effort.

We stay on south bass. Vrbo it. We paid $180 a night for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house.

A few years back we stayed at the Camp Perry ( I think) Army base by Port Clinton.
They had cabins to rent pretty cheap and also a motel type facility.
The cabin we had was a house-keeping cabin and worked good for 3 guys.
We would unload west of there by the power plant and fish the male eyes not far from the landing. Purple hair jigs w/a shiner. Then we would go farther out and troll suspended big girls w/ big crank baits.

Camp Perry was where we were heading but had to cancel due to the weather and 8 plus footers when we were to have been there.

Camp Perry Lodging