The 2003 fish are the most abundant class of walleye in the lake, and range from 19 to 22 inches and are growing fast.
Many walleye are migrating from the Western Basin into the Central Basin following bait fish and cooler water.
Trolling is by far the most popular and most effective method for successfully catching walleye in Lake Erie's central basin.
The benefit of trolling over conventional methods is that it keeps your lure in the strike zone continuously, increasing your odds of catching fish. Trolling also allows you to pick up fish that are dispersed over a large area.
The central basin of Lake Erie averages 60 feet in depth. Most walleye will suspend at 50 or 55 feet below the surface, which can make drifting and casting impractical.
Central Basin walleye hang out at this depth because this is where the thermocline forms. The thermocline, an area of rapid temperature change between the bottom layer of cold water and the surface layer of warm water, almost always forms at 50 to 55 feet.
This is important to the angler because the thermocline acts like a structure where walleye like to hang out and feed. More importantly, emerald shiners prefer to school just above the thermocline, providing a ready food source for ravenous walleye.
Experienced anglers know that there are certain tricks to trolling that can make or break your success at catching fish. Here are some tips that will help you overcome the major mistakes that most newcomers make.
Trolling speed is probably one of the most important factors affecting catch rate and success. Warmer water temperatures call for slightly faster trolling speeds.
During the late summer months, successful anglers on Lake Erie are usually trolling somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 miles per hour.
Consistently keeping a slow speed while trying to fish and navigate can be a challenge. The serious Lake Erie angler will consider buying an autopilot to control boat heading and speed.
If your engine cannot achieve the slow speeds necessary, use trolling socks or a five-gallon bucket attached to a rope to help bring boat speed down.
Choosing the right trolling rods is important. Rods with different actions can make strikes harder to detect and lines will get tangled easier. Most anglers prefer matching rods to a piece-meal collection.
For consistent success in catching fish, be consistent with your equipment. You do not need the most expensive rods on the market, but make sure all of your rods are the same make and model.
Use planer boards and diving planers such as dipsy divers and jet divers. Trolling with these pieces of equipment gets lures out away from the boat, enticing strikes from boat-shy or spooked fish.
In addition, because of the wider spread afforded by trolling with planer boards and diving planers, it is easier to locate and catch fish that may be more dispersed.
Exploring new water is another way to increase your chance for success. Finding fish is often the most difficult part of fishing Lake Erie.
Often the best method for finding schools of walleye in the Central Basin involves paying attention to your fish finder, which will tell you more than just looking for where the charter boats are fishing.
Schools of bait fish will show up like fuzz or blobs on the sonar monitor. Understanding the feeding habits of walleye can substantially increase your catch rate.
In the Central Basin, walleye migration is mostly based on prey fish movement, so find the bait fish and the walleye are likely not far behind.
Walleye often face into the current and wait for food to come by them, and then they turn around and smack it from behind. Troll with the wind to make your presentation more natural to the fish.
A walleye's eyes are situated high and on the side of its head. They cannot see what is below them, so they will not strike a lure presented from below.
To combat this problem once fish have been located, set lures at different depths to find which depth will be most productive.
If you've successfully employed these tips and boated three or four walleye in a row, you should mark that area so you can make another pass.
A GPS unit will record your waypoints so you can return to them within a couple of dozen yards.
Sometimes walleye will form small pocket schools, and in this case you may want to mark the exact spot where fish were caught. Consider using a marker buoy for this purpose.
We've all seen the bright orange marker buoys at the store, and if you wish to attract other anglers to your spot, this type of buoy will do just fine.
Another buoy on the market is called a confidence decoy. Typically used in waterfowl hunting, a confidence decoy is a non-game bird such as a seagull or heron, which makes a decoy scene look more natural.
For marking a fishing spot, a confidence decoy comes in handy because no one will look twice at a seagull floating the water.
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