As with any fishing trip, the anticipation had been running very high for the last couple weeks, only gaining momentum each day as departure time got closer. On Tuesday as I sit packing the boat and double checking to make sure I had everything, I dreamed of walleyes the size of sailfish. I had been talking to my old friends from SD all week long. The weather was stable, the seas were calm and the post spawn females were on the chew. As luck would have it, we wouldn’t get these conditions.
We departed Eau Claire at 6:00 PM on Wednesday the 20th, two trucks, two boats and 5 guys ready to be in Port Clinton, a long 11 hour ride away. The trip went well, however my mind said it was taking way too long. I wanted to be on the water at first light. After several fuel/restroom breaks, we were finally seeing signs, Port Clinton, 24 miles ahead. Since I was driving this stretch, I could feel the foot pushing the accelerator more and more, the closer we got. Wow, 5:00 AM, we pull into the motel.
We met up with the other 4 members of our crew, Joe, from Indiana and the Iowans, Shawn, Shane and Kevin. Standing in the motel parking lot, watching 3-4 footers roll into shore with the mist hitting me in the face, the fire to fish Lake Erie was quickly fading. Let’s go get some grub in our belly’s and get back here to get the boat ready to go. After some darn good breakfast and a quick stop at the local bait shop we were headed to the landing.
At the landing, we decided to try and make a run to the islands and get out of the wind a bit, however, mother-nature had other things in mind. The strong NE winds held us back and we were defeatedly going to fish the area nearest the landing. Our 3 boats spread out, lines in the water and we head east/southeast with the 4-5 footers. The kicker motor was only used to keep the bow pointed in the right direction and to keep ahead of any large waves trying to make their way into the boat via the transom. It wasn’t long and the Iowans were on the radio announcing the first fish of the trip, a 27 incher. Shortly after the first fish, came the second 27 incher for their boat.
This really brightened my spirits knowing we could at least catch a fish or two in the area we were in. Maybe not the monsters we anticipated, but hey fish are fish. This is where things start to become a blurr for me. I think our boat struck gold shortly after the Iowans with a nice “erie eater”, a 25 inch eye. We gave Joe(the south will rise again) first crack at this fish, his first ever walleye. Nice fish to start on!! Joe was awesome to fish with, he asked lots of questions about what we were doing, and why. Little did he know, we had no clue, but it was working for us. It wasn’t long and all three boats had fish in the box and a pattern had been established. The white deep husky jerk, 50 feet back was the ticket. This plug proved to catch 75% of the fish on day one.
My boat turned around to make another pass, we had two “erie eaters” in the box. On pass #2, we tried to run the same route, however with the wind and the waves it wasn’t as easy as one would think. On this pass, Mike would get his first fish of the trip and Joe would be back in the “batter’s box”. Our next fish came only a few minutes apart and it was a dandy. Joe not only caught his first walleye ever, but followed it up with a dandy 29.5” spawned out female. This fish was going on the wall. This fish however must have brought us some bad luck. We went on a long dry spell while the other boats were able to pick up a fish here and there. At the end of the day, Joe had big fish honors and we had 24 of the 27 allowed keepers for 3 boats.
After being awake for close to 40 hours, my body was shutting down. Along with the other members of the group. Lesson 1, even though you are excited, sleep on the trip out!!! By 9:30 PM our cabin was dark and filled with the gut wrenching sounds of tired men snoring away.
Day 2, we awoke to calmer seas, 1-3 footers. After some continental breakfast we were determined to get to an area where we had heard big fish were biting. We headed to the Marblehead landing. On our way, we got “lost”. A nice local sees us on the side of the road looking at the map. He pulled over, asked what we were looking for and promptly gave us directions to the landing. Thanks stranger!!! Another thing about the Port Clinton area, the landings are fabulous. It would be nice to have these back home on some of our more popular waters.
As we headed out to the islands on day 2 the ride was much nicer, even though certain parts of Mike’s anatomy would disagree. It’s amazing how high a Crestliner will go into the air and gently settle down on a wave. However, every once in while a guy will get pounded out of the blue, right Mike. I’m sure the pie plate eyes gave away my true feelings. Upon arriving at the “spot” we got our boards outs, decided what depths and colors to try and off we went on our first pass. Three fish later, we had a boat full of happy campers!! On our second pass, we didn’t pull a fish and got pushed off our course by another boat(which will remain un-named at this point). As they hit our waypoints, bam, bam. Two fish, 10 minutes apart, 29.5 and 30 inchers. Both those fish were released. Great job guys!!
At this point, yours truly was not feeling well. I had a migraine and felt rather sick. We decided to head in and get some meds. On the way in, the wind had kicked up pretty good and our 2.5 mile ride was very, very, very wet. Needless to say, my rain gear dumped on me and I was soaked to the bone. Luckily for me I brought along some backup gear. We warmed up, regrouped and headed back to the day one spot. We followed the Iowan boat out from the landing and headed around the corner from the landing. We got our lines set and started our first pass. It wasn’t that long and we had another cookie cutter 25 inch eater in the box. By now, the rain was really coming down, we were fishing in 2-4 footers(mostly 4). Shortly after the first fish we boated his twin brother. It wasn’t long before we decided to make another pass to try and fill out our 3 man limit. After a wet slow run back into the waves, we were set and trolling again. About this time we noticed a dark set of clouds crossing the lake, headed our way. After watching every boat on the lake head for cover, we decided we should too. So, with 7 fish in the box, my first trip to Lake Erie ended.
When we arrived at the motel, the other boys had gotten some grub together and were nice enough to dice up our fish while we prepared the boat for the trip home. Thanks Shawn and Dick!!!!
Saturday morning we awoke to rain, slush, NW winds at 20-25 mph. Since we weren’t going to get on the water, we decided to finish buttoning down everything and get headed for home. Sadly my first trip to Erie was ending. We may not have found the numbers of “sailfish” we had hoped, but it was a pretty darn good trip. I learned some things and met some darn good people. What more could a fishin’ trip offer!!!
It was great to meet everyone, can’t wait for next year!! How does April 20th – 25th, 2006 sound?? Pics to follow:
