Lately there has been a great deal of interest surrounding ice fishing at Lake Erie. It was enough to convince me I had to give it a go. Last week I made some calls to a few buddies and put a plan together. Even though it was short notice, everyone jumped in with both feet.
After a long drive and a late night, we arrived in Port Clinton. We enjoyed a few cold ones while drawing up a game plan to attack the lake the next morning. Luckily for us, we had some good intel from some fellow IDOers that helped out immensely. Lake Erie is dauntingly huge and overwhelming. The enormity of it hit full speed once we headed out to the landing that morning. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people in the parking lot at 6am. Pure crazy excitement. Tip? Get to the access’s early. Very early. They have been filling up on weekends and I’m told local law enforcement has been turning people away once the lots are full.
Travel on the lake is great for either sleds or wheelers. There are some established paths out to the various fishing grounds. My advice to newbies on Lake Erie, would be to travel out on these paths and don’t venture far off. There are heaves that get pretty gnarly in places and the trails will lead you to a safe crossing point. We found ice to be in very good condition, ranging from 12-20 inches. Be absolutely sure you have a working GPS before you head out. This monster body of water is nothing to take lightly. Without GPS Sunday, we never would have been able to get off the lake. It was snowing steady all day which made it super easy to get disoriented.
Ok, onto the fishing. The bite was very good on Saturday with everyone in the group getting in on good action. A couple of my buddies used #3-#5 Rapala Jigging Raps in various colors. I personally used 1/8 VMC Tingler spoons, the best being on Glow Chartreuse Shiner. We tipped all baits with a shiner head. Our best depths ranged from 22-25′ of water, with most of the better fish roaming 5-10 feet off the bottom in groups. These suspended fish were the most active and would readily slam the bait. We also marked a ton of fish near the bottom, but they were a little more difficult to convince and usually ran smaller.
One thing I can’t stress enough is moving when you don’t see fish. These schools move and can be tough to find again once you lose them. Although we iced nice fish Sunday as well, we found it extremely difficult to stay on any consistent bunches of fish.
I’d again like to thank the guys that steered us in the right direction. You made the trip very enjoyable.
Andy
Here are a few pics from the trip:
… …rrr
