Lake Erie boat advice

[eyeassassin]

17 is kinda small for the big pond. You can do it but make sure you are monitoring the weather and radio and get off at the first hint of foul weather. as far as the western basin the best times are spring from like march till middle or end of june. You can pick them up there year round but that is when it is crazy. Good luck with you boat and be safe out there.

[wakina]

Just for saftey's sake pick a ramp that is closest to the area that you want to fish, less travel time getting to the fishing area and more important, less travel time in case the weather goes sour. Most of the firing range outer cans are 6 to 7 miles out of one marina or the other. D-can for example would be about 6.5 miles out from Beef Creek and Niagra is about 7 miles out from Beef Creek with about 3/4 mile of that in the river itself. C-can would be closer to Wildwings or one of the marinas on Turtle Creek, A & B cans even closer, the inner cans J, K & L would be ok from any ramp located along the western edge of the firing range as long as it is not a high North or NE wind.
Pick your days and have fun, it is always better to have an error on the cautious side than on the risky side.