The lake was about as calm as it gets, far from the normal conditions from what I’m told. The hectic rush to get the boat in the water was quickly gone and replaced with the hum of the Johnson motor and peacefulness that you can only get at daybreak. The early start was well worth it.
“You should’ve been here ten years ago!”
A statement that most of us in the hunting and fishing world have heard time and time again. The fish were bigger. You had the woods to yourself. You could get that now once-in-a-lifetime tag by just walking in the gas station. It’s easy to dream about the “Good old days” and wish you were a part of them. Well, they’re here.
“2:45 at my house now,” the text read.
Our friend Jake, had just moved our departure time up 15 minutes in hopes of beating the boat launch traffic. It was 10 pm at that point and Mason had an extra half hour to drive to get to my house the next morning, which meant he’d be leaving his house at 2:15 and getting up at closer to 2. I wasn’t sure I’d even get a response that late at night so I was surprised to see his “Sounds good” reply an hour later.
Mason was the first person that had clued me in on the fact that this year was supposedly the best year ever for fishing walleye on Lake Erie. He hadn’t read it in a magazine or on a forum board, he’d heard it firsthand from multiple people who had a lot of experience fishing up there. When he told me that, I knew we needed to try and get up there to experience it, but with both of us having pretty busy schedules we never got around to planning a trip.
A week prior to this, Jake had flown out to Utah to help us man the Spartan Forge booth at the Total Archery Challenge. Inevitably, at some point during the weekend the conversation turned to fishing. Jake had a boat and confirmed the rumors about the spectacular walleye fishing. He invited us to tag along one day in the near future.
When Mason pulled into my driveway I noticed two things right away; 1. He was right on time, 2:45 on the dot. 2. The party at the snowmobile club across the street was still going strong, making us question whether it would have been better to pull an all-nighter instead of only goon a couple hours of sleep.
The 2-hour drive went quickly as we kept caffeinated and dodged deer along the route. Arriving at the boat launch we quickly realized this was unlike anything we’ve ever been a part of. Trucks with boats in tow lined up waiting their turn for one of the six spots they could launch from. People walked to and from their vehicle carrying coolers to the docks as engines spun up left and right. When looking at it from afar it looked like chaos, but once you got closer you realized that every movement at that boat launch was purposeful and a morning ritual for most.
We were on the water by 5:30 and headed close to seven miles out from shore. As we got to the area that we would start trolling Jake got to work and showed us how to set the rods up. By 6:00 we had our first fish on the line. The next hour and a half was full of action.
Each time we got a rod set up we became more efficient at it. Set the Dipsy Diver, reset the line counter, ease the line out to whatever distance Jake recommended at the time, usually somewhere between 90-95 feet, set the drag, and lastly, secure the rod in the rod holder.
It took a little bit to learn how to read the rods for hits. While some fish were impossible to not see when they hit the lure, others barely registered. On top of that, each rod was slightly different, therefore would show hits differently. Just when I thought I had it figured out Jake would tell me there was a fish on the one I was watching, killing my ego.
Once you had a fish on, another learning curve began. Mason and I are both used to fly fishing, which couldn’t be further from the trolling we were doing. The first few fish came in easy, then the more I thought about it and the more I tried to perfect reeling them in, the more I lost. I was thinking too hard. Just keep a steady even pressure on them, if you jerk the rod too hard or reel too fast you can rip it right out of their soft lips. Conversely, if you allow the line to get slack when they surface it can slip right out as well.
Aside from the few times that Mason and I forgot to reset the line counter therefore not dragging our lures at the right depth, we were getting bites every few minutes. At times all three of us had fish on, doing our best to reel, net, and keep the boat moving straight simultaneously. Each of us hit our six walleye limit in no time.
Heading back to shore we passed a lot of boats on their way out. Were they lazy? Or did they know something we didn’t? I didn’t spend too much time thinking about it, we had fish to filet.
Walleye fishing is a culture up in Erie, and we quickly learned how big that culture was when we got the boat up on the trailer and out of the water. The PA Fish Commission put their conservation dollars to work in the form of fish cleaning stations. This money was raised through the $10 Lake Erie Specific fishing permits each person has to purchase for the year. A sign is proudly displayed at the cleaning station, showing each user that their money isn’t being wasted.
There were eight cleaning stations. These were big aluminum tables with cutting board tops sloped just right for proper drainage. Each of these stations are equipped with outlets for electric filet knives, hoses for quickly rinsing off filets, and buckets to discard the remains of the fish. A line formed as each station was full and teams of people worked to process the day's catch.
While I have filleted fish before, I quickly learned that I was not nearly the expert these guys were. We established a processing line for our fish that Henry Ford would have been proud of. Jake cut the filets off the fish and trimmed the skin, leaving the legally required 2x2 inch section for identification. Then, I deboned the filets on the back half and handed them to Mason, who rinsed them off and separated them into ziploc freezer bags. Coolers were then rinsed out and we were on our way.
There is no better way to process fish in my opinion and I am thankful that the Fish Commission put those cleaning stations up. It is great knowing that as you pull out of the parking lot all of the work is done, you don’t have to worry about anything once you get home.
Once again, caffeine went to work and kept us alive on the drive home as we fought our bodies telling us to close our eyes and get some rest. We were home by noon with a cooler full of some of the best tasting fish meat out there. It was well worth the hours of driving.
While the previous years lake conditions have made it the best walleye year on record, there is no telling what the future holds. It is excellent fishing now, but I honestly don’t think it's over yet. Next year might be better yet! All I know is that I am glad I got to see and fish this legendary period. Ten years from now when I hear someone talking about how good the fishing used to be in Lake Erie, I will be able to enthusiastically say,
“I was there ten years ago and it was damn good!”
Written by Kurt Martonik
Kurt is a researcher at Spartan Forge and avid outdoorsman. He flew as Boom Operator in the USAF for just shy of 7 years and following his service attended gunsmithing school at the Colorado School of Trades. After graduating there he moved to Montana and was a stockmaker/gunsmith for C. Sharps Arms. He currently resides in his home state of Pennsylvania and operates his gunsmithing shop, Highland Custom LLC on the side.
