Erie Trip Mid-July 2021

[Sully]

Hi All,

I have never fished Lake Erie but am visiting family mid-July in Cleveland and would like to make the trip out.  I troll Ontario and the Finger Lakes quite a bit as well as jig Oneida Lake here in NY.  I have been sorting through old posts for the past few weeks trying to find a good starting point for Mid-July out of Cleveland.  Sounds like worm harnesses and Bombers are the way to go in conjunction with dipseys, riggers and leadcore.  Does anyone use blade baits and bucktail jigs to jig up walleye like we do on Oneida?  Are the fish mostly suspended or bottom-oriented?  Thank you all for your input and I can't wait to get out and fish the mighty Erie!

Sully

[mr 580]

In the past when I’ve fished off Cleveland it was an open water bite and by mid July likely offshore.  Think planer boards, divers approach would be more productive than jigging as the fish are relating more to bait than structure.  You could fish NY water off Dunkirk or the Catt to try Erie fishing before heading west.

[Ten Percent]

There's a killer jig bite (blades & bucktails) pre & post spawn (march-april) in the far western basin...shallow..less than 20 fow. As season progresses into summer with fish moving deeper and little to no structure, it becomes a trolling game by 98% of the fisherman. As you know, Oneida has a ton of structure, which tends to concentrate fish longer and extends the jig bite thru June...if you want numbers in July, troll. However you may be able to box some fish drifting

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[mostlymuskies]

Mid July a good number of walleye move East on Lake Erie.The area off Dunkirk ,NY is usually hot for walleye action then.Take a walleye fishing charter with one of our Captains and cut the learning curve!
www.easternlakeeriecharters.com

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[Jimdski]

Surface water temperatures call for "West of Silver Creek, NY" when 70 degree plus surface temperatures are there. Thermoclines form out deep and the bait is there feeding on the plankton and other critters down there. You will find perch ten foot solid on the bottom and walleyes swimming above them. East winds cause a lot of temperature changes and things are best when the usual prevailing southwest winds are present. You will be fishing 65 to 80 foot of water there or even deeper.

[sherman brown]

i fish geneva just a few miles east of cleveland. mid july the fishing is usually hot but you need to fish 70'+. the spoon bite with divers are great. but harnesses and cranks are good choices. if you use boards you should get 3 oz inline weights from rebnekoutfitters.com to get down to the fish. but i like divers. i also use downriggers with a 25' lead with shallow bandits. cleveland should be about the same as geneve. 

[Sully]

Thanks for all the input! Just 2 weeks out and extremely excited!

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[Misdirection]

Right now, its a walleye slaughter out there. I'm a little east of Cleveland in Ashtabula, and its been quick limits of impressive walleye. This past Saturday it almost took longer to run out to the fish than catch em. We put 24 nice (24" - 28") fish in the box in about 2 hours.

Make sure your rods are calibrated, you have large dipsys on hand and a tray full of spoons.

Don't be afraid to troll fast (2.5 knots +).

Seven colors of leadcore or 300' of single strand wire are doing well.

Deep diving cranks with weights if you don't have lead or wire.

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[Sully]

Thanks Misdirection!

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[sherman brown]

15 hours ago, Sully said:

Thanks Misdirection!

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i'll be going up to geneva the 24th. right now we plan to start sun with 3 shallow bandits on 3 divers and spoons on the other divers. will run 2 more shallow bandits on the riggers. 2 colors that will get run on the bandits is sunspot and blue & chrome. may try running wire on outriggers but don't know if they will run on outriggers without getting tangled with divers. i answer to last chance on the water. i'll be out the 25th if possible and through fri the 30th. good luck and good fishing.

[Bigbass101]

70' I heard report around Ashtabula couple days ago.  That's some deep trolling.

[sherman brown]

7 hours ago, Bigbass101 said:

70' I heard report around Ashtabula couple days ago.  That's some deep trolling.

you just use the tools to get you down to the fish. dipsy divers, dreamweaver deeper divers, lite bite slide divers, or heavy sinkers like red nek inline 3 oz sinkers will all get you down to the fish.

 

if you've never fished deep water inline boards with 3 oz sinkers is a good place to start. rednekoutfitters.com sells weights and dive charts for there weights. but divers has always been my choice. i went out on a charter that used dipsies for 2 days. the last half of the 2nd day we were running the baits. i recommend going out on a charter that fishes the way you want to fish at least 1 day. you might go out with a charter that runs divers then one the runs boards. but i chose 2 days with divers. in those 2 days we learened more than we would have learned in a couple of years on our own. but we started out running 6 divers on our own. then we switched to the deeper diver to get away from the ring as the deeper diver is the same size as the dipsy with the ring. but then i tried the lite bite and never looked back.

i did go out on a charter with boards and weights and they did catch fish.. but i still liked the diver best. better.

[Sully]

Thank you everyone! I have both inline sinkers, Dipseys and leadcore. Might even bring the copper rods for backup.

I really appreciate everyone's help. 1 week to go. Can't wait.

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[sherman brown]

40 minutes ago, Sully said:

Thank you everyone! I have both inline sinkers, Dipseys and leadcore. Might even bring the copper rods for backup.

I really appreciate everyone's help. 1 week to go. Can't wait.

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it looks like we'll be up there almost the same time. were going up to Geneva on the 24th and hopefully be fishing the 25th. if you need help with something send me a message. and if i can help i will help. good fishing.

[sherman brown]

9 minutes ago, sherman brown said:

it looks like we'll be up there almost the same time. were going up to Geneva on the 24th and hopefully be fishing the 25th. if you need help with something send me a message. and if i can help i will help. good fishing.

oh yeah most people around the central basin uses ch 68 on the radio. but i think some guys use ch 79 i think it is. i go by last chance on ch 68.

[Sully]

Thank you all for your help! We fished Saturday morning out of Lorain. Got a late start but went out and headed towards the Dumping Grounds. Huge fleet of boats to the north west of the dumping Grounds. We started trolling the south end heading north. Waves were BRUTAL! Ended up with 8 eyes, 4 keepers in the 17-19" range and 4 shorts. Quit at about 1. Headed back out at 5 and picked up 4 eyes real quick in the same area. Wind and waves really started to pick up so we decided to call it quits. Never made it out Sunday but was a blast to fish the one day. Sunspot, fruit dots, and blue/chrome bandits on a 2oz inline weight back 150 were hot. Dipseys on a #1 setting back 90 and a #3 setting back 110 with purple spoons were also productive. The small fish all came on the spoons. 2.5-3.0 like you guys said was the ticket.

Thank you all for your help! Definitely shortened the learning curve. You've got an amazing fishery in Erie. Can't wait to get back.

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[Misdirection]

Glad you had a good trip! Now you'll be more prepared for your next trip!

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