Lake Erie boat advice

[zeratul]

New to Walleye.com looking for advice. I have fished walleye's on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for years. I have been to lake Erie on charters in the past. I recently purchased a 17' Crestliner 1700 fish hawk. I'm thinking about bringing it to lake Erie this summer and try some trolling.

Is this boat big enough for the big lake? And when would be the best time to hit the western basin?

[sherman51]

if you watch the weather and dont take any chances you,ll be fine. i fished the western basin many times in an old 16 ft glass boat. then i found an old cherokee aluminum 18 fter and it was an awesome boat for the western basin. i would have even used it on the central basin but had already upgraded to a 20 ft sea ray by the time i started fishing the central basin. i now have a 21 fter now and i still watch the weather. the boat can take rougher water than i like to fish anyway.

the last month the western basin has been hot and still is. so you can go any time you want. just check the fishing reports for good places to fish. good luck, have fun, and be safe.
sherman

[zeratul]

Sherman, thank you so much. How far out do I need to go? I read a lot about the shipping channel, gravel beds and sister island. When I have did the charter boats I usually went to the Central basin. I did go one time out of port Clinton.

Joe.

[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.

[zeratul]

Thanks for the replys guys. I am still equiping the boat for the trip. I was planning on using Church TX-44 boards on 30lb line pulling Tripz and Dipsiy divers. What do you think?

[wakina]

Just so you know the TX-44 boards pull well but there is the problem with retriveing them because they pull so hard. They are brutes when trying to retreive them and I would suggest a rod that has a medium action or stronger. I have watched videos of them pulling Magnum Walker Deeper Divers, I feel you made a good choice for the purpose for which you bought them. I think they would work with Magnum Dipsy Divers, but that would be a load on a rod with the weight generated by the board and the added pull of the diver. I run them with TT-40 deep divers. I now wish I had purchased another set of the TX-22 boards instead, as they are all that I need for the TT-divers.

[zeratul]

The rods I will be using are Ugly Stik 7' medium heavy with Shakespeare 30LCL tidewater reels. The Dipsies I have are the magnums. I still have to order the Tripz, I was going to get the size 40's. Does this combination sound OK? I have not ordered the boards yet, I was going to place that order with the Tripz divers. Should I drop to the next size down on board?

Thanks in advance
Joe

[wakina]

The rods I will be using are Ugly Stik 7' medium heavy with Shakespeare 30LCL tidewater reels. The Dipsies I have are the magnums. I still have to order the Tripz, I was going to get the size 40's. Does this combination sound OK? I have not ordered the boards yet, I was going to place that order with the Tripz divers. Should I drop to the next size down on board?

Thanks in advance
Joe

If you are going to pull the Magnum Dipsy Divers I would get the TX-44 boards as the TX-22 boards have just about all they want with the TT-40 divers. There is not a whole lot of difference between TT-40 divers and the comparable sized Walkers and the TX-22 should handle them ok. I would get all boards the same size it makes reading them easier.

Just make certain that you have the clip on the TX-44 boards pulling the Dipsy Divers adjusted so the board will not slip on the line in the direction of the Dipsy, those TX-44's pull really hard and will cause that unwanted line slip, if it does you will ruin your clip as the braid will cut the covering on the clip and that renders them useless. If you are unsure about the tension on the clip holding your braid you can half hitch a #16 rubber band on your braid and place that rubber band against the clip on the side that goes into the water , the rubber band acts like a stopper and helps keep the board from slipping down the line. The rubber band will also wind up right through your rod guides and will not have to be removed or replaced each time you reset that rod. The rods that you are using should be just fine!!

[zeratul]

Thank you much Wakina, At this time I plan on hitting the lake around the the end of June some time. It will be on a weekend probably. I was wondering about the time. With a 17' boat would it be OK with all of the other weekend traffic?