SPORTS

When searching for walleye, trolling is the answer

Dick Martin
Gannett Ohio

Ask any Buckeye angler what he or she would like to fish for in Lake Erie and the answer is likely to be “walleyes.”

Some might prefer perch, which is fine, but the fish that draws anglers from all over the state and from other states including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana is walleye. Not only are they fair fighters that grow to good sizes, but a 2-3 pounder filleted, drenched in beer batter and deep fried is almost enough to make a strong man cry.

They’re better than good. The question is: how do you catch some of these favored fish, and the answer is simple: by casting or trolling.

Many anglers prefer casting, and much of the time casting with a weight forward spinner, worm harness, or whatever will eventually fill your cooler, if the weather is right and the fish biting.

But often enough and during the summer months especially, they can be finicky and tempermental to say the least. Pick a good day with nice cloud cover, a west or south wind, and a good 1- to 3-foot walleye chop and casting works fine.

Pick a day with little or no wind, hardly a ripple on the water and bright sunlight and it can get downright tough. On days like that, and they happen often, trolling is the only answer.

It’s a simple fact that in any kind of weather, trolling will out produce casting. If you cast, your lure is in the boat part-time, in the air part-time, sinking down through the depths part-time, coming up through the fish holding zone briefly, then back in the air and the boat.

When trolling, your lure is in the water and at proper depth all of the time, and even when they have lockjaw, trolling covers enough water to send that hardware through a little pod of hungry fish at least occasionally. It’s a boring business, but it’ll put fish in the box.

In Lake Erie, the best early fishing is in the shallow Western Basin, at least until late July and even early August. But even then trolling will catch you more fish.

Professional guide Tim McCann. who operates out of Fisherman’s Wharf in Port Clinton. knows that well. His head boats and six packs will cast or troll as the clients wish, but he admits trolling is best.

“We’ve had a tough year so far,” Tim said. “Exceptionally good days for walleye some times, but too many storms and too much rain muddied the water. Still, it’s got to get better and in summers hot weather, trolling is the way to go. We’ll take parties out for day of casting if clients want to fish that way.”

He favors little planing board with tadpoles (new diving inline weights by the Offshore Tackle Company) and jet divers. For terminal gear Tim will sometimes use Reef Runners, J 7’s and J 9’s, but these days he’s a lot more likely to go with the new UV Frenzied Minnows, Flicker Minnows, Perfect 10’s and Storm Deep Thunder Sticks Gold Series.

He also favors purple with a bit of chartreuse, but said “Sometimes almost anything is good, color, different kinds of stick baits, whatever. It seems to change weekly. We even troll crawler harnesses at a slow rate sometimes, and they work, too.”

Favorite places over the next weeks? All of the reefs north of the power plant, mostly the deep edges, the Airport Reef off Kelleys Island, Gull Island Shoal, Mosquito Bay off Pelee Island, east or southeast of Chickenola and the Wagon Wheel on the Canadian side of Erie.

Tim noted that as the water gets hot, many fish will typically head for the Canadian border and cooler, deeper water, or east toward more of the same. It adds up to lots of things to remember and lots of choices for gear, but it’s worth the effort.

Because trolling will get you fish.