Lake Erie Guide Information

Morning All,
Just wanted to post a quick message to let everyone know a few things. I have been getting a bunch of PM’s asking what my guide rates are, if I have a resort and things of that nature.
I wanted everyone to know that I am not a guide and I don’t have any kind of resort. I am not on any “Pro Staff”. I am very simply a 43 year old guy that spends a ton of time on Lake Erie. I fish the lake all year round. I do not want anyone to get the wrong idea and think I am a guide. I was not “hired” by IDO to help them out. I was not wanting anything from them at all. Super cool to meet the guys though I must say.

To that point, that is what makes Lake Erie so great! You don’t need a guide. You don’t need to pay anyone to take you to where we were. Waste of money if you ask me hiring a guide in the winter. With that being said, there are a couple great ice guides over there for people that want to use them. Lake Erie is not set up like that in the winter time. It’s not like a Ballards Resort or the other lodging places you all have up in MN. Lake Erie is set up for the open water season where there are a ton of charters and places to stay. If you want to see what Erie is like from your own house, fill your bathtub up and look at the bottom. Yep, that’s the Western Basin of Lake Erie. Except for a hand full of reefs, she’s flat as a pancake. 30′ is the deepest water you will find in the Western Basin. Getting to ice fish Lake Erie in the winter time is a treat. There will be some winters where we might not get to fish her at all. I fish with a friend over there (RevPilot here is his name I think) and he know’s just as much if not more about Erie than I do. It’s a team effort over here and we all work together to keep safe and catch fish.

What I am trying to say is, if you want to get a group of guys and come over here, let me know, we will help you. We can get you up to date information that you need. IE: Hotels, the bite, safe ice, where to launch etc etc. I’m trying to get it to where we can share info with each other and everyone that is part of IDO can get on nice fish. On my bucket list is to go out to MN and places out by all of you and fish sometime and I will need help.

So at the end of the day, I just wanted to help the IDO guys out. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not about money for me. It’s about getting to see guys catch these great fish. So if you “Western IDO’ers” ever want to come to Lake Erie, just let the “Eastern IDO’ers” know and we will help you out.

PS: I’m not fishing with them today, but if the bite turn’s on today and they catch 1/2 of the fish we were marking yesterday, it’s going to be an incredible show to watch on Sunday!

Take care guys.

Well, I for one just want to say thank you Stueben1! I think a lot of guys here, myself included really appreciate somebody offering to give first hand advice on a “foreign” body of water.
I have been to Erie a few times but still consider myself very much a rookie out there. I must say I do love that body of water though, and one of it’s best aspects are its fisherman. You guys are flat out awesome out there! I’ve fished a lot of different places, and most places you go its the same… People are very tight lipped.
Erie fisherman,for the most part, are the exact opposite. Every body seems to be of the opinion that there are plenty of fish to go around, and on a huge body of water like that, its best to work WITH each other than against. It’s one of the things that really sets it apart from other fishing destinations.
Anyways, thanks again for putting the offer out there for every body on this site. That’s pretty awesome of you! Getting super pumped for my upcoming trip. Hopefully things stay good. Tight lines and stay on top!

That is a really cool offer…. hopefully some day I get that way to experience it.

People sharing on this site is what makes it so great. I’m finally getting my feet wet here on Lake Michigan for early season trout and such… and in large part, it is because of conversations from here on IDO.

I just wanted to offer a comment and some insight to all the young pups on the IDO website that Lake Erie was not always the walleye factory that it is today. When I was growing up in Southern Michigan in the 60’s and 70’s Lake Erie was one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States and was considered to be a dumping spot for all kinds of waste. With the passage of the environmental laws it was cleaned up, and pleasantly became one of the premier walleye destinations. It is on my bucket list and hope to fish it one of these days!

4walleye wrote:

I just wanted to offer a comment and some insight to all the young pups on the IDO website that Lake Erie was not always the walleye factory that it is today. When I was growing up in Southern Michigan in the 60’s and 70’s Lake Erie was one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States and was considered to be a dumping spot for all kinds of waste. With the passage of the environmental laws it was cleaned up, and pleasantly became one of the premier walleye destinations. It is on my bucket list and hope to fish it one of these days!

Don’t forget to give some credit to the Zebra mussels.

FDR

Thanks for the info and the great offer. Info like this and the help everyone receives from fellow IDO members (on many subjects not just fishing & hunting topics) is what makes this such a great site. I hope to get there some year for the ice bite.

We are looking at giving it a try in Friday and Saturday. Likely return again the following weekend too. We have never been over there on the ice. How safe is it for ATV travel out there for first timers? Have seen videos of machines that have gone through cracks from last years great season and get paranoid. Any tips on what we should have in our kit for travel out there?

Thanks!

I just checked the weather and see that the wind will be predominately from the south for Friday and Saturday. Not a big fan of offshore winds on Great Lakes ice. Any thoughts…

steuben1

Thinking on making the first voyage out there in late feb if the ice holds up. Is this a good time to plan to go or would later on be better. Worried about the ice of course. Is and atv ok or is a snowmobile better for transportation.