The ironic part is, Eric is getting tons of publicity for this and will only pay a couple hundred dollar fine. The increased revenue from his YouTube alone will offset it. “There is no such thing as bad publicity”

There are plenty of guys who jig out there. As you get into peak spawn, it gets really good on the reefs. I have limited out in under an hour many times doing that. Blade baits and hair jigs are most common but anything will work. Right now, most guys jigging are doing so with a vexilar off the side of the boat in open water because there aren’t a ton of fish up on the reefs yet. That will change quickly.

I choose to troll over jig for the most part because your average fish is much bigger. Big girls do get caught jigging, but it’s mostly the smaller males.

Glad you had a good trip too James! The population explosion out there seems to be a double edged sword… It’s easier than ever to get your limit, but big fish seem to be less common. Not sure if it’s because the smaller fish beat them to the punch, or there’s actually less of them?

They got rid of the restricted season two years ago. It’s 6 fish all the time now. Heard they might be upping it to 8… several years of ridiculous hatches. They’re worried the walleyes might crash the bait fish population. The good ol days of Lake Erie are right now.

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I don’t ever see anybody else leaving skin on down there. To be completely honest, I’m not positive on the regs, but what else is anybody catching down there right now?

And I have a vacuum sealer and have done the Pepsi challenge. Frozen in water with air sucked out is the way to go!

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PM Sent

Tim- I dont personally own a 9.0 but its classified the same as the 12.0, so I assume that it’s on the same level. What I can tell you is I use an angle grinder hard at work. 5.0s dont last more than a couple minutes. I can use that 12.0 all day, just top it off on my lunch break. Same with drilling holes. I kill 5.0s in no time, I’ve never killed the 12.0 in a day of fishing. I found mine on sale for $200. It’s a lot of money, but I own a lot of Milwaukee battery tools and with that battery, I rarely need to swap/ charge throughout a day.

I’d strongly recommend a 9.0 or 12.0. Those are what Milwaukee calls “HD” batteries, and they far out perform the 5.0s when doing hard work like drilling holes, chainsawing, or angle grinding. I have a 12.0 and literally have not been able to kill it in a whole day of bouncing around winnebago drilling dozens of holes through 2 ft of ice.

Too early for Cohos in WI, except for nursery fish at the power plant.(A whole different ethical discussion) They are getting fish in Indiana right now. Waukegan, Illinois will be next, and then they will show up in Wisconsin. Typically early to mid April. Primetime is in May.

Your walleye gear will be fine for cohos and browns (which are available now, but inferior table fare) I might suggest bumping up to 12lb Big Game over the XT though. Similar dive curve and quite a bit stronger in case you hook into a big Brown or early king. Even cohos can wreak havoc on lighter line, just because they roll so much. A good fluorocarbon leader can pay big dividends.

Cohos will eat cranks when they first show up, or when shallow. Then move onto a heavy dodger\fly program for their duration here. They typically move offshore sometime in June, but we caught them into July last year…

As far as Kings go, your asking for trouble with walleye gear. It will work to an extent, but big fish are going to own you. Fishing for kings seriously is an investment. You can start off small, but the addiction gets expensive real quick. It’s a whole different ball game compared to browns and cohos. We had really big Kings last year, and I fully expect we’ll have them again this year. If you want to tangle with them, get ready to spend some coin.

Thanks for the tips gentlemen! I’ll tell them to go spend a few bucks at Jim’s, and make sure the boats squeeky clean before they head out.

Glass has the BEST clarity, although trivex is a close second. Glass is also the MOST scratch resistant but is a bit heavier and can shatter if dropped to concrete or has severe impact. Trivex and Poly are lighter than glass, and extremely impact resistant, but clarity not quite as good and scratch a little easier.

I’ve only fished the Rock from shore before. Anybody with good knowledge of the river feel like jumping in the boat this weekend and helping me avoid some prop damage? Who knows, maybe catch a few fish while were at it…

Just my .02, but unless we get some serious rain in the next month, the pesh won’t be all that good this year. That small, shallow river depends a lot on snow and ice melt from inland watershed. With the unseasonably mild temps this year, that has already happened. Way ahead of schedule… Now if we get a bunch of rain late march, you should be good to go, but if we don’t it’ll be hard just to get a normal sized boat in there. And there won’t be as many fish. Years with low flow, many fish stay out in the bay to spawn. Not to say there won’t be a gajillion eyes to be caught somewhere in that area, but if your looking for the jig crushing phenomena the Pesh is known for, pray for rain! I know nothing about the Rainy bite, but know GB pretty well. The western rivers need good flow to really get em cranking. Otherwise, it’ll be the floating armada that it was last year, which can be very hit or miss.

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Some solid advice from the guys here. My biggest suggestion would be to get yourself a set of wire dipsys. You can spend a lot or a little getting them setup, but something about that wire flat out catches fish!

It will be interesting to see what the big pond gives us this year…. Every year is different out there, but last year was shockingly good. Things may start a little earlier this year with the seemingly early spring, but who knows. As suggested, keep your eye on the reports from LL and gangler. Bunch of solid guys on there, and for the most part, were not trying to keep any secrets. It’s a big body of water and there’s strength in numbers so to speak. If you have specific questions down the road, feel free to PM me. Im out there a lot during the summer.

Have fun out there and most of all be safe! Lake Michigan can turn ugly quick and no salmonoid is worth your life.

Thanks guys! Erie is definitely a special place. Should be another awesome weekend down there. Wish I could make it…..

Thanks Joel! We had a blast for sure.

John- No lunch boxes were harmed in the making of this post……

@Bass_attack

March is a great time to be on Erie, but like all of the great lakes, it depends on conditions. Things can get tough if the water gets muddy. Fish are still pre spawn at that time, so aren’t exactly swimming around with their mouths open, but you can still catch plenty of fish.

@Chuck Melcher

Keep in touch, I will probably be making a few more trips down as weather allows. Probably once for pre spawners and once to jig up a bunch of eaters. Bite should continue to improve as the water warms up. Open water fishing in January is fairly uncharted territory down there. Most guys we talked to were in the same boat (figuratively speaking) as us. Not knowing at all how to fish in 33 degree water.

Yep, Chuck that’s the new boat. Saw the weather window and decided that she needed to come out of hibernation. Just never know how many opportunities I’ll get to go down there each year. I’ve never fished there in January before, so it was a bit of a learning experience. Gotta love Lake Erie though, she never disappoints!

Couple more pics from the weekend-

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Im a little confused. I currently run a very similar setup to Mark, but don’t exactly understand what your product does. Is it just a plate that you mount to your gunnels? Maybe you could post a picture. Also agree with Mark, that track systems are becoming the norm and that would be a major selling point to myself and others.

Good start to 2017!

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Thanks guys! Pulled the graphs, turned each engine over to make sure now water in the prop, and ran a little RV antifreeze through the live well lines. Should be good through the weekend, then plan on getting back on the water after the cold snap for a few more weeks hopefully.

Also, not sure if it makes a difference. Motors are 2014 Yamaha 150 four stroke and 2016 9.9 four stroke kicker

Thanks for the replies gents! Since I just bought the boat this spring, dealer is going to winterize for free, whenever I want to do it. He said that they change lower unit fluids, change oil, fog cylinders, grease fittings, and prop shafts as well as a few other things I may have forgotten. I know to take the graphs off, as well as keep the charger plugged in. I guess my real question was, WHEN should I get this done? I’ve heard that you don’t need to worry until temps are below freezing for over 36hrs straight, but not sure if that’s true or not?

No problem.Thanks anyways! They look good, and that’s a pretty fair price. For anybody wondering, these do blow back significantly less than “balls”. Also, hard to say for sure, but I do think the fish shape has a little bit of an attracting quality to fish.

Any chance he has a 12lb mold? Ive got 10s but would love a set of 12s

That’s some seriously awesome stuff Joel! Way to tweak the bread and butter approach and turn some extra heads. I truly only have one fishing trip on my bucket list, and Alaska is it! Someday…….

One more thing that I forgot. Make sure your horn works. If not, but one of those compressed air horns. Need to have something that works. Again, must be ready and accessible.

The main thing that you need, but probably don’t have is the Flares. Make sure they are day\nite visible. No idea why they even make day only flares…. Make sure your fire extinguisher isn’t expired. Not all expire, but the ones that do need to be up to date. Keep your throwable OUT and ACCESSIBLE. Buried under a pile of gear does not work. Radio is not required, but a darn good idea. Another thing that they love to write tickets for is non covered battery terminals. ALL of your terminals must have the little rubber covers on them. Thats about it.

Nice fish Jerad! Fishing has gotten much tougher in the last couple weeks, and the BIG kings have really given us the slip here in Milwaukee, so glad you got some good ones! I haven’t seen a true 20#r here in over a month now…..

In regards to your dipsy losses. Something doesn’t add up. NO WAY you should be breaking 50# test unless you tighten your drag down with an impact wrench, and use a musky rod! Most guys here are running 30#, even with the big fish this year. Personally, I run 20# and have NEVER (knock on wood) snapped a fish off with that. Ripped\ bent hooks out, sure. But never snapped the line. I’ve landed 9 fish that I’ve weighed over 20#s this year, and most came on the wire, so don’t understand any way that could happen. Is it possible your spool of 50# was bad? (I’ve had it happen before)

Anyways, just trying to help. That’s a true head scratcher for me. Either way, you did nicely! I’ll take quality over quantity any day.