![]() ![]() Other guides allow the anglers to be involved as much as they want.Įshbaugh allowed us to cast the lines and work the baits. When booking a fishing guide, he said, “look at what kind of boat they have, what type of fishing they are going to do.” Some charters set up the rods, and the clients are there to catch the fish when they bite. Other people enjoy deep frying walleye as well. I like broiled and on the fire myself,” he said. They have nice white flaky meat, and you can do them in multiple ways, in the oven, in the fire. “The perch and walleye are the best table fare, freshwater, in my opinion. “You can see the bottom in 15 feet of water, and walleyes just don’t like that,” he said. The zebra mussels filter out the microscopic plants in the water making the water clearer. “The '80s were good there were schools of walleye miles long and then we got zebra mussels and gobies (small bait fish) in here that cleared up the lake, and the bite has changed. “I’ve been on this lake for over 30 years,” he said. He’s competed in the professional walleye circuit for 15 years but has been fishing most of his life. For the most part, they are just a lot more to figure out, and I like the game of trying to figure them out," he said. “They are more difficult to catch, they are very finicky, you have to change your color selection to what they want, hourly if not daily. When thinking about other sport fish like bass or trout, Eshbaugh has always preferred walleye. Where to go: Looking for bass in Pennsylvania? Here's how and where to find them Why fish for walleye? New record: Fisherman credits Swedish Fish, special holiday in catching Pa. bass tournament angler: 'We are catching bigger fish and more fish' The fish are moving to different depths of the lake throughout the summer and year.Įxpert advice: Pa. The bottom bouncer is a heavy weight that keeps the line connected to the bottom of the lake while allowing the nightcrawler worm harness to freely float a short distance away. ![]() “Generally, if you come out with a bottom bouncer and a worm, you can catch these fish,” he said. To fish without a guide, he suggests calling a local bait shop in Erie to see what’s going on, where to go for fish and what to take. Usually June through September are the best months for walleye in Erie. It will just get better and better as the water warms up,” he explained. “Because of the cold, cold spring we’ve had up here, the water is still cold, and the fish are pretty finicky. The water temperature was in the high 50s, and Eshbaugh said the fish become really active and aggressive when the water gets above 60 degrees. The good news is that the best fishing of the summer is yet to come. “These fish have never seen a nightcrawler in their life, but they love them,” he said. He also recommends nightcrawler worms on harnesses that have spinning blades and colored beads. Anything that’s silver and blue or rainbow works really, really well,” he said about lure colors to catch springtime walleye.įor his minnow imitation lures in the summer months, he suggests chartreuse and orange, gold and purple, and white and orange combinations. The walleye “just sit outside the streams and wait. The young steelhead trout, known as smolts, leave the creeks and provide an easy meal for the predator fish. In the spring, these fish come into the shoreline where the steelhead tributaries flow into the lake. Last year, his biggest walleye was 10.25 pounds. Over the years, he has netted several large fish that weighed 13.5 pounds. The past five or six years they had a tremendous spawn, and “there’s just gazillions of walleye out here come June and July," he said. He considers any fish over 2 feet long to be a really nice fish, and it seems each's year class of fish are getting bigger. The fish we caught were 18-25 inches long, the average size catch for this waterway. Walleye need to be 15 inches to keep, but that’s not a problem for Lake Erie. It didn’t take too long before someone was shouting: “Fish on!” Walleyes put up a nice fight swimming from about 50 feet down. We slowly trolled the lake using minnow replica crankbaits and nightcrawler worm harnesses. A combination Lake Erie/trout permit allows for the catch of a hefty steelhead or brown trout. His service provides the fishing poles, boat and other gear, so guests only need to provide a Pennsylvania fishing license with the Lake Erie permit. He’s one of many charter services in the area. I spent a couple of days last week with two members of my family on the Great Lake, fishing for those tasty fish and our captain, Keith Eshbaugh, made it easy to do.Įshbaugh, 55, of Cochranton, Crawford County, operates Dutch Fork Fishing Charters and is a partner and co-owner of Tudor Hook-n-Nook at Elk Creek Sports. The walleye are starting to bite in Lake Erie. ![]()
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