Lake trout lake Erie Ohio waters

[Geezer]

Reaching out looking for some guidance and any first hand experience. I am reading that lake trout are showing up in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie thinking about spawning in 20-12 FOW with a gravel boulder mix, water temps somewhere in the 40F'. The lakers apparently like to eat blade baits. Water clarity is poor, as in sometime I see the bottom in 10'. I have never caught a lake trout but i would like to.
Of course some of the articles I read mentioned looking for the fish on side scan but I'm thinking trolling,

Any of you Ohio guys tried this, how about Pa guys?

As I said any and all thoughts would be appreciated. By the way the steelhead, and smallmouth bass seem to be pretty hungry in the harbors right now. And yes you can catch steelhead trolling a bladebait.

[Jerry Borst]

Dan,
Let me start by saying I have no experience with the Lake trout on lake Erie but have spent some time in and around the Milwaukee harbor. Hey, a LT is a LT no matter where he swims right?

For what it's worth,
Our most productive time of the year on lake Michigan, (The only time I fish for salmon or trout) for the lakers near shore has been in late December through the first few weeks of the new year. Unfortunately access during this time period can be "iffy", as you can imagine.
They can be caught right now on reefs / humps out away from the shore both trolling, casting or vertical jigging in depths as deep as 50'. I have not caught them any shallower than 35' trolling.
As far as fish eating blade baits, basically they'll hit just about anything that moves. As you know blades are a great tool for a couple of reasons. 1st they're as easy to cast as throwing a rock, even in windy conditions. 2nd, and more importantly they can be used to cover 3 different speeds on a single cast.
Once casted out and let sink to the bottom, first is the lift. The lift or the rip depending on how hard or fast can be extremely aggressive or as slow as dragging the lure on the bottom. I always start out with an fairly aggressive rip of the lure, especially if a fish was caught on the troll or fish (bait) are marked up off the bottom. Then moving to less aggressive lifts and eventually to a slow drag, checking speeds.

I start with lifting / ripping the lure 3-5' off the bottom then let it fall back to the bottom. Many fishermen believe that it's "on the fall" when the fish hits but this has not been my experience. I believe that fish will definitely take a lure on the fall. This can happen after casting it out and before the lure hits the bottom, and your line is off in a different direction. However most of the time a fish will pin the lure or hover over it. When we go to lift the bait we've got one on. Walleyes do this a lot!

The length of time you let the lure set after the fall with (no speed) at all, is something to be watched closely. Giving the fish time to either pick it up or pin your lure.

Up until this latest cold snap I was out on a Southern Wisconsin lake not known for having big numbers of walleyes. Having recently returned from Canada and catching a bunch of good walleyes from 4 different lakes, all on similar structures and depths.

The most critical part is the depth they were at. I took my experiences in CA and looked for similar structures at similar depths at the WI lake. I never caught one trolling like in CA. I never marked any fish on a spot. However, on my 1st cast a small walleye hit the lure on the fall. I then casted the lure out and began going through the procedures, fast rips procedure nothing. Not until several cast later did I go to the slow drag and that's what made them take. By the time it was over they were more willing to chase a faster lure. They were definitely curious but not active enough to go down and attack it. I fished the 2 following weekends landing a total of 45 walleyes. This weekend I'm heading to southern Illinois to look for similar structures at similar depths, because a walleye is a walleye no matter where he swims.
We'll see what happens...

The Lake trout are hard to beat for their strength and their never ending fight. I look forward every year to late December to tie into a few, just wish they tasted better. The picture attached of my good friend Paul is from a day where 7 lakers were landed, all caught trolling 11" lures in 43-46'. Most of the time they're not this active and it may take a smaller lure and or a slower speed. Good luck!

[MuskyAddict]

Jerry, excellent post. Good luck getting more walleye this weekend. We are frozen now in my part of the country. It’s back to the study guides for me.

Ken

[MuskyAddict]

Jerry, excellent post. Good luck getting more walleye this weekend. We are frozen now in my part of the country. It’s back to the study guides for me.

Ken

[Hal Standish]

J. Borst said " Hey, a LT is a LT no matter where he swims right?"
In the study guides it seems to me that Buck mentioned this same idea ... "Water is water and fish are fish wherever you go"Nice intel on Lakers.

hal

[Jerry Borst]

Thanks guys, much appreciated! It's a tough time of year looking at all that ice.

So I drove down state Friday night, slept in the truck (Haven't done that in a while) then got started mapping a new part of lake Shelbyville. I went right to the old river channel near the dam. The bottom line is I caught no walleyes and no fish, not even a bump. Might have pissed off a couple of hunters though...
However the trip was still valuable in my eyes. When you go to a new area of a lake or a brand new lake and come away learning what's there, it's an investment in future trips.
I'm a firm believer in knowing exactly where I'm at and what's around. Launched the boat around 8am and by 10:30 I'm getting text asking if I was slaying em? I may have mentioned it once or twice that it doesn't work that way, lol!

This is why Buck would say it took him 4 days to put a lake in his pocket. For most of us it can take much, much longer. However today we have mapping software/ Autochart. I know really good Spoonplugers who have it and never use it. This makes absolutely NO sense to me, AC is one of my favorite tools!

I never did post a Canada report from this fall but on that trip I fished the entire 2 weeks alone. When I fish alone my focus changes. I'm no longer trying to run up the muskies numbers but will spend a lot more time looking at new areas. Of course I still troll and catching em but it wasn't as big of a priority this trip. With all of these great lakes around you, I want to fish them all!
I ended up catching 18 muskies with a 48" being the biggest. Fishing alone for this length of time gave me the opportunity to do what I love best, mapping the new waters.. My favorite part about being a Spoonplugger is our ability to look at any body of water,,, from the bottom up. The mapping feature draws it and saves it for further detail.
On that trip I fished 4 different lakes and 2 different areas of Eagle lake. Next year will be the 20th year fishing Eagle lake and I know a lot of it. It's a great lake with big fish potential for every species but I get bored . Then I fished a couple of lakes that I've been on before but this time spent a lot of time looking at new stuff. I probably spent 70% of this trip mapping and looking at new waters and the rest of the time trolling or jigging proven areas. The big walleyes were insane! One day 15 walleyes were landed that included a couple of 24's a 25, 27 and 2 28's. The day before wasn't much different that included a 29".
One of the lakes I fished was Long Legged lake. It's 43 miles down a logging road. They said the road was in "Good Shape" this year, lol!
Canada was a great time and I now know areas that I didn't before. Spoonplugging is investing! You learn a lake / spots, then you catch the fish. Most people just want to catch the fish. Learn to invest your time and know exactly what is around you. As Buck would also say don't get lost on the water.

Anyway, as I said no fish were landed this time and that's probably due to a changing water condition. Just 1 week ago the water temps were in the mid 50's and dropped to 42 degrees by Saturday morning.
That's my story,,, till next time.
Attached are a couple of pics from Oct.

[MuskyAddict]

Jerry,

I had a similar Canada week this year. My boat partner pulled out at the last minute and I ended up by myself on Sabaskong Bay, Lake of the Woods. It was one of the most fun and satisfying trips to Canada. I never fished this part of LOTW so this was all new water. However, with a modest amount of spoonplugging knowledge, I was able to get on fish rather quickly. That area of the lake is relatively shallow and the water color is great. I located all of the deeper holes (not many of them) and started mapping (using auto chart) the structure adjacent to those holes. Soon I was seeing the pattern I needed, caught fish, and went about locating other structures near deep holes. Before the week was out I located multiple fish holding structures and was catching big pike and walleyes. I also managed to get a few smallmouth but the largest were in that 3 lb. range. I didn’t figure out where or how to catch the Muskies but it was still a very rewarding trip. Mapping structure, determining where the fish will hold on that structure, and going about our business of fishing it is all we can do. When the fish show up and we consistently catch fish on those spots all week; that is about as good as it gets. And, like you said, I have those spots in my back pocket whenever I go back.

I have no doubt your work on Shelbyville will result in future catches and lasting memories.
Ken

[Jerry Borst]

I have never been to that area of Lotw, maybe some day. Sounds like you made the most of it!
Terry O'Malley promoted the idea of fishing alone especially when first getting started.

Life throws you curve balls and sometimes they're thrown directly at you. Paul was unable to make it this year but was there in text and in spirit.

Here's a little clip from driving down the logging road. Saw lots of wildlife including, lots of Grouse and even a couple of cow Moose. The ride took about 2 hours. I had no idea if I'd be able to get the boat in with the camper but it worked out. However next time we'll do it with a 4x4 pickup, lol!

[John Bales]

I agree with Jerry. I am much more focused when I am alone and get to do what I want. Not saying I don't ever want a partner because with a good partner, a lot more fish can be put in the boat. When you get my age, the motivation to run all over the country is much less then being young and would go anywhere at the drop of a hat. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I can't do that, I just have less of an urge to do it. It is difficult to accept what the fish populations are, anywhere around here within 100 miles of my house. Walt K scolds me for not going to new lakes to keep the learning going. I still learn every day and a lake 100 miles away could still have been nuked and full of small fish. You never know till you check it out but it sure doesn't take long to know if a lake is good or not so good. Jerry, you are a very self motivated person. That's why your one of my favorites. John

[Jerry Borst]

John,
We may have a few things in common.
My respect for you as a person and your, I think we can all say your "life long ambition" is second to none! Also thanks for keeping us updated with your progress with the ffs. Best of luck in 25!