Post by eriequest on Apr 12, 2009 17:55:25 GMT -5
I went to the Lake Erie on Friday evening and she was howling. I spent the night at my trailer next to the Big Pond and I could hear the wind whistling through the trees and the distinct sounds of waves crashing against the shoreline all night long. On Saturday morning, the waves were every bit of 4-6 foot, blowing out of the North East...switching latyer in the day, to the North at 25 knots, 5 foot waves....straight from the North. Went to the dock at 8:30, met Mike, Jake, and Parker. I told them I was "hungry with desire to get on the water, but Mother Nature had thrown us a curve ball...actually a Fast ball!"
I told them of a good place to go have a home cooked breakfast, with fresh coffee and come back at 10:30am. I made my way around the Marina and my Captain friends about 15 of them were telling their charter groups they were cancelling due to the high waves and muddy water conditions. Several of them put their groups on hold until 10:00am. I left and came back to the marina several hours later and not much had changed...wind was still 22 knots from the North and the three Captains I knew that had trips "On Hold", had just cancelled their trips and the hopes multiple walleye fisherman....and their chances to get out on the lake and catch a Lake Erie walleye. But, I refused to say "No" and asked Mike if he could stick around a couple of hours. He said "sure" if it meant a chance to get out and catch some Erie walleye.
At 12:45pm, 2 hours and 15 minutes later, I checked the wind one last time. It had fallen 5 knots, to 17 knots and waves were 4 foot. I told Mike..."it's time to go in 8 minutes, I know where there are thousands of Walleye...lets go see if we can find some hungry ones"
We blew out out the channel with the 30' Erie Quest - Coastal Fisherman, headed to some of my favorite humps and rock shelves in the Bay. When we got there, some 7 miles later, we didn't find a single charter boat...there were several private boaters riding the waves...with multiple drift socks tied to their pitching & rolling vessels, the drift socks slowing their drifts.
Immediately I threw out my 96" Drift Sock" and set the guys up "Snap Jigging" for the toothy ones. It didn't take long and one of the guys, "Parker"...Mike's friend from college days at Purdue, stuck a nice 3 1/2 pounder walleye. Chunky and full of fight! We continued to pick away, moving the boat around. After awhile, we hit a drift where we caught a nice walleye, then quickly another, then another, then another line was taunt and "fish on" was heard again...we boated 5 plump walleye in the 3-4 pound range, mostly 22-23 inches.
So, I locked the drift line into my Mapping GPS and we repeated multiple drifts, on this same "Drift Line"...sice we had found a sizable concentration on the toothy ones...eventually we lived up to Mike's name...."Limit Out"
Just wanted to say "thanx" for the opportunity to fish you Mike! Had a great time with Parker and Jake as well. It was a great day for the Erie Quest, as we headed for the harbor with a limit of Lake Erie walleye, and the sun setting in the western sky.
Tight lines Limit_Out.....your walleye bud.
Capt. Rick