Just joined the group

[slice o life]

Hey all,

Working on getting the new boat completed. It is getting there.

[sherman brown]

W.O.W. what a boat! it really looks awesome! welcome to the site. if you fish walleye on Erie there is another great forum for sharing info. but i don't know if I can post it or not. so, I'll just send you a pm and you can check them out if you're not already a member.

[slice o life]

Hey Sherman,

Thanks for the kind words. It has been a long time, in the planning and saving dept. To get her in the water.

Thanks again,

Slice.

 

[Misdirection]

Welcome! What port are you out of? I dock in Ashtabula OH. Lake Erie is an awesome fishery. You'll find that different areas of the lake require different techniques.

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[slice o life]

Hey misdirection,

I am in the other end of the lake. I am in Buffalo NY. 

 

[slice o life]

I actually spent a few days down your end looking at some boats this spring in and around  Port Clinton. There are some really nice Marina's down there.

[sherman brown]

2 hours ago, Misdirection said:

Welcome! What port are you out of? I dock in Ashtabula OH. Lake Erie is an awesome fishery. You'll find that different areas of the lake require different techniques.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

I agree that you need info on the area you plan to fish. the western basin can be as simple as using different diving cranks. back when i fished the western basin our hot baits were hot n tots in standard sizes, and wiggle warts in standard size also. but at times we used deep diving mudbugs and other times the hot bait was the wee warts. but mostly the hot n tot and wiggle wart was what we used. now they have bandit deep divers, husky jerks, reef runners, and many other new deep divers that catch fish. blue chrome, sunspot, perch, are just a few hot bandits that work well. but the old cranks still catch fish. and the make clip on weights to add to cranks to get them deeper. there are other ways to get down to the fish. bottom bouncers, diving weights that i think are called tad poles, divers like true trips, and even dipsy type divers are used as you fish deeper water.

 

the central basin is a whole new ball game. i fish out of Geneva Ohio when I fish now. during the warmer months the fish move to deeper water. then you need divers, inline weights up to 3 oz or more, heavy clip-on weights, up to 300' of wire line, inline boards are used to spread lines and get more lines in the water. some guys use big boards with wire line and run a gazillion rods. but I started with dipsies, but the rings kept coming off, so I switched to Dreamweaver divers that are the same size without a ring, but then i tried the lite bite slide diver. which has 2 adjustments one that adjusts the rod tension just like the others but then it has a second one. the lite bite tension can be set to trip when a fish hits which should be set as loose as possible so it will trip on very small fish so you're not just dragging them around. I use them like a dipsy with about a 7' 20# Fluro leader and don't use the slide part of the diver.

 

when I moved from the western basin, I had no clue about divers. so, I went out on a charter with friends for 2 days of going to school. we had a great teacher. in those 2 days we learned more than we could have learned in yrs. on our own. we could run 3 divers per side on our own after just 2 days of going to school. we are still learning new things even now after yrs. of fishing divers. we did have some tangled lines for some time. our biggest thing that tangled lines was letting out lines on the wrong side of the boat. you set the divers to run left or right. we sometimes let left divers out on the right side. you can mark the rods to each side. what I did and do now is use different reels for left and right.

 

I recommend that if you are new to fishing Erie's central basin a trip on a charter is well worth the little investment. you want to make sure the caption knows it is a learning charter. but if you want to use divers don't charter an inline board charter. they have small charters for 3 people or less usually in smaller boats. but they have charters for 6 people also. another thing you can do is watch for open seats or even post a thread for open seat wanted for the type fishing you plan to start with. usually, a charter caption has many yrs. of fishing Erie under his belt and can teach you so much more than the casual fisherman.

 

I think a guy has a better chance of catching fish in the western basin without going out on a charter than the central basin. but still, it wouldn't hurt to learn what's going on from a charter caption. and you may even make a new friend that will help you out once you are on your own by giving you a starting point. i have an old friend at Geneva that I made before he started running a charter. a couple of days before we go up, he tells me what depth and the gps lines he uses to get fish. this really helps so much for a starting point. even though he uses big boards and wire he uses a couple of dipsies also.

 

so sorry for the book version on advice without something to help you catch fish.

[slice o life]

Thanks for the info.i have run hotntots and some other baits along with sticks.

I have been running dipsys boards wire and lead core and down riggers. I have not ever run 2 dipsys on one side.

I appreciate all of the info. I have a few friends that are captains In this area.

I think the biggest thing is to get out and put lines in the water often,to get a program together.

Tight lines.

Slice o life

[sherman brown]

8 hours ago, slice o life said:

Thanks for the info.i have run hotntots and some other baits along with sticks.

I have been running dipsys boards wire and lead core and down riggers. I have not ever run 2 dipsys on one side.

I appreciate all of the info. I have a few friends that are captains In this area.

I think the biggest thing is to get out and put lines in the water often,to get a program together.

Tight lines.

Slice o life

sounds like you pretty much already know what you're doing. you wouldn't want to run to many dipsies when running a full set of inline boards. but 1 or maybe 2 would work. I like my lite bite divers much better than boards. I run 3 out each side and 2 riggers. I suppose I could add a board to the mix, but I just don't care that much for boards. I think wire with big boards is the best way to put fish in the boat, but it gets old reeling in so much line. at times it's best to run 300' of 15# wire plus 50' of backing plus another 50' out to the release. then start reeling fish in 400' can be more like work. I like to enjoy my fishing, so I'll settle for taking longer to get my fish. when we used dipsies and brought our lines in there was so many times, we had small fish on them. but now with the lite bites we have eliminated most of that. a small white perch will usually trip the diver if the lite bite tension is set very loose.

[slice o life]

I ,also am not a fan of boards. I have tried small inline boards but have not had much luck getting them to ride correctly. In this end it seems everyone has went to electrics and is now at 1.3-1.5. I can get to 1.5 with bags out. I have tried running big boards of each side but at those low speed they don't seem to keep up? What speed do you troll?

I remember years ago we would run jet divers and pirate spoons at 2.3 off big board and do really well. So I have in the past run over 2. But I think I have been going to fast ,this season I slowed to 1.5 and seem to get the bottom bite better.

I have noticed that the slower you are going the lighter they seem to hit. 

I am going to look into the lite bite dipsies. I have not ever heard of them but it would be really good to know when you are dragging a white perch. 

I have not ever run wire in Lake Erie. I run it in Ontario. I hit bottom in 80 fow with 10 color on a turn. I think wire would drop even further??.

Thanks for all of the info it is really appreciated.

 

[Misdirection]

Once the water warms up by late June, definitely by early July, were running spoons and cranks at 2.5+ knots down here. My typical setup is 2 downriggers, 4 dipsys, and 6 rods off of big boards.

Spoons and / or small shallow diving cranks off of the dipsys and downriggers and deep diving cranks off of the big boards with weighted line or inline weights to get them down deeper.

One of my charter friends went out in some rough water recently and the slowest they could go was 4 mph, they slayed the walleye.

Speed kills when your running the right gear!

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[Misdirection]

And I run alot of single strand stainless wire. Most guys in my area run 12 to 15 lbs test. I run 20.

The dive curve for wire is 1' of depth for every 10' of wire + crank depth. We commonly run 300' of wire with a rapala husky jerk DHJ-12. That Husky Jerk will dive to 19' for a total of 49' of depth. Our thermocline typically sets up around 50'. Thats perfect for us.

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[slice o life]

11 hours ago, Misdirection said:

Once the water warms up by late June, definitely by early July, were running spoons and cranks at 2.5+ knots down here. My typical setup is 2 downriggers, 4 dipsys, and 6 rods off of big boards.

Spoons and / or small shallow diving cranks off of the dipsys and downriggers and deep diving cranks off of the big boards with weighted line or inline weights to get them down deeper.

One of my charter friends went out in some rough water recently and the slowest they could go was 4 mph, they slayed the walleye.

Speed kills when your running the right gear!

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

Wow. That is quite different than what they do down here. That is awesome. I am sure the smash it when they hit at those speeds.

I am going to try to pick my speed up next season. It is so much easier to control the boat , my autopilot does not like going under 1.5 .

I have run copper wire not stainless. I will try the stainless next season.

Thanks for all of the great info.

 

 

 

[Misdirection]

Last Saturday's haul.  Left the dock at 6:30, back at the dock by 10:30.

 

 

[sherman brown]

2 hours ago, slice o life said:

Wow. That is quite different than what they do down here. That is awesome. I am sure the smash it when they hit at those speeds.

I am going to try to pick my speed up next season. It is so much easier to control the boat , my autopilot does not like going under 1.5 .

I have run copper wire not stainless. I will try the stainless next season.

Thanks for all of the great info.

 

 

 

copper does get you deep, but it is also less manageable than single strand ss wire. I like using 15# best if and when I use it. for running harnesses in warmer weather, late June through summer the best speeds I've run is 1.8 to 2.0, but I have had good luck at 1.6 when faster just wasn't getting it. but for spoons or cranks speeds of 2.7 to 3.0 have been good to me. but I've read some guys catch fish with spoons with speeds up to 3.5. the only time I run over 3.0 is when trolling with the wind and the waves push us faster than 3.0, be sure and try faster with spoons and cranks and then post how it worked for you.

[slice o life]

That is fantastic. All good size fish..I have been doing some wiring. Trying to get  another set of riggers and a second screen.in  

[allcode]

Hi, everyone. Glad to join nthe community. Here is my last catch

  read about responsible game here

Edited December 14, 2023 by allcode

[renQ]

Hello everyone. I'm thinking to buy a motorboat, so first I must decide what exactly I need. Anyway glad to join and find out more about your experience.

[allcode]

Welcome! What were your buying thoughts?