I just returned back from a week on Lake Erie. The weather dictated the bite on this trip, as it does most. On Thursday and Friday when my teammates arrived and started prefishing the bite was very typical for Erie, big fish and lots of them. It was anticipated that it would take 45 pounds a day to win the tournament, but then came the snow. Along with my teammates there were several other IDA members fishing Erie also, in several different groups. This first picture is CJ Johson with a couple nice lake Erie Eyes.
On Saturday 4/23 the snow started and it didn’t quit until early Monday morning. The snow/wind/rain combo proved to be our biggest challenge as it turned the Western Basin in chocolate milk, with very few area of clean water. Our team was able to pull a few fish trolling but it appeared jigging the reefs was going to be the safest option to get fish.
Most of our group elected to jig and were rewarded with consistant weights each day. I had some oil issues and was not able to fish most of the first day. So, trolling was going to be my only option for the remainder of the tournament as I had ground to make up. I think everyone in our group and CJ’s group agreed the bite was getting better each day but not to the point we would have liked it to be. Here is another picture of a good days trolling by CJ’s group.
As I mentioned, the most consistant bite was jigging. The fish on the reefs were very aggressive and averaged about 3 pounds. Although I got fish trolling, the size was off from what we are used to on Erie. My last days fish averaged 24 inches, which would be considered small for Erie. In all it was a good trip, other than the wind and weather. I will let CJ fill you in on how it went for their group. They stayed on the Bass Islands and were able to fish most of the days as the best fishing was very close to their resort. Here is one more picture from CJ, these appear to be a bunch or Reef fish, good eaters!
Wow that is a pile of fish. What is the limit out there anyway? How far out did you have to venture to catch all those nice walleye’s. I think they need to transplant some of those into say Menomin Lake Menomonie!!!
Thanks for the report and photo’s.
Steve
CJ’s group was 16 guys I think he said. I am sure they ate well. I think the limit is 3 or 4 per person. I don’t really worry about it because for the tournament we can only weigh 5 fish. We release all our fish prefishing but come tournament time the tournament is a kill tournament. The Ohio DNR is there and they sample each fish brought in over the tournament and donate the meat to the local soup kitchens. The population of Walleye in Lake Erie is truely amazing. Some of the walleye brought in last year during the tournament were over 24 years old.
Thanks and great report Scott! Great job at the tourney! I was wondering why you see so many big fish kept out of Erie. The way you put it, population does not seem to be endangred, by keeping these bigger(monster)fish.
The limit on Erie is 3 per day per person from March 1 to April 30 with no posession limit and must be over 15 inches.May 1st it goes to 6 fish per day.
Does an Erie fish taste any different from one caught here?
Let’s compare a typical 20 inch fish.
Of coarse, most of us here don’t keep fish much bigger than that.
There is no shortage of walleye in Lake Erie, in fact they just increased the commercial harvest for the lake. Most recreational fisherman keep everything they catch out there. Sometimes getting a fish under 4 pounds is very tough. Last year we had to eat 6 pounders for our fish fry because those were the smallest we could get. It sure is a great fishery when the weather cooperates!!
I think the fish in Erie taste Excellent. Last year I brought a bunch home and there were great. They grow very fast!
Amazing seeing the quality and numbers of fish in those pictures. It’s great to hear of places where recreational fishing pressure does not destroy a body of water where harvest is allowed.
On the great lakes the big waves from wind do help keep a lot of people from fishing everyday.
I am hardly an authority on Lake Erie as I have only fished it once last year but I have done a lot of reading up on it in the last couple of years.Due to the warmer water and the forage base walleyes grow faster on Erie and smaller fish are hard to come by so if you want to keep any fish they tend to be on the larger side especially in the spring.Unfortunatly they did raise the commercial harvest because this only benefiets the canadians as Ohio does not net walleyes and fishermen seldom come close to their quota.This is similar to what is going on at Lake of the Woods and is going to take its toll on these fisheries.When will people learn?Lake Erie is still a great fishery but according to people that have fished it for many years it isnt as good as it was years ago.One of the pros had a good article on this a while back.When we were there we didnt keep anything over 25 but I would rather eat smaller fish.IMO tasted a lot like the ones out of Mille Lacs.If you havnt fished Erie you are missing out as it is a blast and doesnt cost any more than a trip to canada.If you go once youll be hooked.
Scott,
Sure looks like you guys had a great time out there despite the nasty weather conditions over much of the trip.
Even if the really big girls didn’t bite consistently, at least the numbers were there.
JWB
oil issues w/ your engine? didn’t think those units used any oil…
Ted, it was a Ranger issue not an Evinrude issue. And, believe me, they don’t use much oil. It is kind of scary how little oil those ETEC’s use. My issue was with my remote Oil Fill. Ranger installed the tubing on my remote oil fill wrong, they slid it over the check valve at the top and the system could not get any air. After they found my problem, they found it on a few other Rangers. It had nothing to do with the motor.
just pickin’ on you – great job catching fish with the distractions though!
How do you like the new ride?
I think our group only had one or two fish under 25 inches while out there this spring. I call those 25’s “Erie Eaters”. It’s a cool fishery that I can’t wait to get back to!!
Kooty, you must have some picture you can add. Put a few up and add your details to the trip. I know it was shortened because of weather but you guys got in on the good bite a couple days.
Here is a link to the Ohio forum where I posted the pics:
http://www.in-depthangling.com/forum/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/198839/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/93/fpart/1
My buddies from SD really slayed them the week before us. In James(best friend from high school), they had 25 fish over 28, 11 of those were over 30 inches and two were real close to 32 inches. Not mention they had their limit all but one day of “erie eaters” by 9AM. They kept some of the trophies, released others. I’ll downsize some of their pics and post here.
Here is a pic of one of the monsters an old friend from SD caught. 31 7/8″ eye: