2013 Anticipation

As I sit in a hole in the wall pub in Columbus, Ohio reading through the 2013 fishing reports on my I-Phone in anticipation of the upcoming season I can't help but reminisce on my first walleye season on Lake Erie without a charter captain.

It was actually this past year, the spring of 2012 when my brother and I "borrowed" my fathers 16.5' bass boat while he was vacationing in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in the hopes of taking advantage of the infamous "jig bite". After all, he was out of the country, Walleye.com said the fishing was going to be hot, and NOAA claimed 2' or less with winds coming out of the south. How different could this really be from jigging/trolling for Saugeyes on Pleasant Hill Lake?

We departed central Ohio at approximately 4:00am with the hopes of arriving at Wild Wings Marina just before sunrise. We had no experience or equipment outside of two trusty spinning rods that had served us well on numerous charters in the past. (Well, mine had the reputation of hooking every sheephead within a 5 mile radius, but that is a different story. I still claim it is the rod and not the operator!") Fortunately, Happy Hookers Bait Shop gave us some great insight as to what the eyes were hitting on, and after about $300 dollars later we were waiting in line at "Wild Wings Marina" with butterflies in stomachs eager to get on the lake when we both realized, "We have no idea where to fish???" After some discussion we both came up with a similar and quite creative strategy; "We will look for a pack of boats and go set down right in the middle of them!" (Don't hate we were clueless!)

Needless to say were were on the water for an hour or so and hadn't landed a single fish! We were seeing all the boats around us hooting and hollering netting fish after fish and were growing intensely frustrated! After some experimentation with baits and techniques we started to find our grove and had our 2 man limit within a 2hour time frame.

The best feeling came later that evening when our father was finally was able to view the pictures of the fish we had sent him. As soon as he arrived in New York City at Laguardia Airport his phone was filled with pictures of our catch. His response was great; no disappointment, no frustration, simply "It looks like we need a bigger boat so all 3 of us can go!"

We made frequent trips to the lake throughout the 2012 season and it was without a doubt a very memorable year! All three of us are eager for the arrival of the 2013 season and we look to build upon the memories that were made in 2012. Needless to say- "This is what fishing is all about!"

Many thanks to the Walleye.com members for the consistent and informative fishing reports! We look forward to seeing you all on the lake in just a short few weeks! :D

-Stouty07

Great story. Sounds familiar in my memory. That's how we all started. For me it was 1977

Early 70's for me. Started in the Maumee river then moved to the lake when trolling got hot mid May. We boated a lot of 8 -10# fish over the years but usually only keep the 3-5# nice eating fish, releasing the bigger fish to spawn again.

Nice story, Stouty. The 2011 season was my first so we are about the same experience.
Do you still fish at Pleasant Hill ? I tried for one year and never caught a single saugeye, sauger or walleye there in the lake side. Only at the spillway outlet.
Where do you jig there in the spring ?

Good read! My 1st season in my own boat was 2011 and each year gets better. I wanna know did Dad buy a bigger boat??? Tony:D

I think you just wrote my biography. Mine actually started in 2007 but I'm a real slow learner. When I first started reading I thought you were going to say you sunk your Dad's boat. Thank goodness your story didn't end that way. Hope to see you on the lake Stouty!

We have had good luck fishing along the swimmers beach just outside of the marina in Mid-Late May. Usually around 6-8' of water trolling/or casting chartreuse lead head jigs. Typically within the no wake buoys.

You can also get them along the rock cliffs on the other side of the marina/boat docks if you can locate a ball of bait fish and jig below them.

Thanks for the info.