Lake Erie 4-28

It was such a nice day today that I decided to take the day off and hit Lake Erie for some Perch. The wind was out of the West at about 10 mph. and the waves were 2′ or less. The water temperature is a balmy 46 degrees.

I headed out of Lorain Harbor on a Northwest heading for about 1/2 mile and started marking fish on the bottom in 35′ of water. I anchored and started fishing a Crappie rig with Emerald Shiners on one rod and a Buckshot Spoon tipped with an minnow on the other. I caught a couple of Perch on both, but the action was not fast and furious. I changed over to a single hook and 3/8 oz egg sinker on both and began to catch fish at a faster rate.

I brought home a nice limit (30) of Perch, 6 of them over 12″ and 3 of the were 13″ or better. The rest were 9″ and up.

There were also a few surprises on the day. I landed a Steelhead that was about 20″ long and 2 Walleye. The smaller Walleye was 22″ and 3 1/2 lbs.. The larger Eye was 28″ long and weighed in at 8.4 lbs.

It was alot of fun landing the Steelie and the Eyes on ultralight gear.

Here is a picture of the eye Wes caught….

Nice fish buddy!!!

Wes and Jason,
It was sure great to meet you guys and trading fishing stories. I’m already looking forward to the next trip to Erie and am thinking that we just may have to try the Perch fishing you guys have talked about. Take care and good fishing!
Ron

Ron,

It was great meeting you too. You have an open invitation to come and fish with us anytime. It doesn’t matter when you come down either, Perch, Walleye, Smallmouth, or Steelhead, there’s always something biting on Erie. If that’s not enough incentive, out Perch Fry is even better than the Walleye Fry we had on Friday.

Wes

Wes,

Those smallies have gotten my attention big time!
When is the best time to come over there for some brutes?

Steve,

You can Catch Smallies all summer long, but the bruisers are in between now and the beginning of June and then again in the late part of September and October. I have seen a couple of 6 1/2 lb. fish taken recently from the Conneaut area.

Wes