New Angler - Vermilion

[nmattx]

Just started fishing Lake Erie this summer. Currently have a 7ft Medium-Heavy rod, fast action. I have tried fishing Lake Erie a few times this summer (weekends) and haven't had much luck. I do not have any planers, boards, down riggers, etc nor do I plan on using them this year.

With that being said, what do some of you recommend using? Spoons? Worm Harness? Erie Dearie? And how should I rig it? I thought about using a 2oz weight and having a lead off the top of it with a flutter spoon or worm harness? Plan on maybe drift fishing and or just cruising along about 1.8mph in 40-48FOW. Or should I just throw some 3/4oz spoons out, let them sink and slowly reel in? Am I on the right track?

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. My biggest concern is knowing how deep my lure is without a line counter.

[DW72]

There are a lot of factors and options here. First, find active and suspended fish. My experience has been that the fish that are appx 13-20 feet down are usually active. If I were drifting and casting and/or trolling spinning rods, I would have confidence in casting deep running crankbaits or crawler harnesses. There's a way to capture the egg sinker that helps tremendously. I use 3/4 ounce or one ounce. Bottom bouncers often work well too.

If you want to text for a little more info exchange...feel free. 607-857-4628.

Don

[nmattx]

Hey Don, thanks for the tips and advice. What do you mean “capture the egg sinker”?

[DW72]

For casting, I tie the spinner rigs only about 30" long. Tie the loop extra long...maybe 2 1/2 inches. Also, put a small bead in the loop to protect your knot. Slide the loop through the egg sinker and attach to a snap swivel. Now your sinker is captured and won't slide up the line. You can cast as hard and far as you wish without ripping off the worm off of course.

Let the rig hit the water. Count down in seconds anywhere from 5 to maybe all the way up to 15.
Mix it up as you experiment different depths. Close the bail and reel in to determine the depth you will catch fish at. If they bite at 9 or 12 seconds for example....there ya go.

You'll catch them at Vermillion doing this. Good luck!

[itsbob]

I would recommend try fishing with people that know what they are doing.Going out on a head boat out of port Clinton will help you casting.If want to learn to troll go out with Juls or Pork chop charters.Some good reading on casting is go to Coe Vanna fishing charters website and scroll down to walleye fishing techniques and read that article.

[DW72]

I definitely agree with Bob on his points. If you want to try a headboat, I highly recommend the Fisherman's Wharf Guys in Port Clinton. We have had many good trips with them in past years. Also you can buy their hand tied worm harnesses and egg sinkers. Cheap prices.

They even have a captains log portion of their website where they publish all of their daily fishing catches.

[nmattx]

If I'm fishing in 40-48FOW, will a 2oz sinker be enough? How do I know how deep I am?

[DW72]

I have a couple reference charts that'll help you. Idk how to attach files on here. If you want to text me, I'll send them to you.

[penalty box]

Just started fishing Lake Erie this summer. Currently have a 7ft Medium-Heavy rod, fast action. I have tried fishing Lake Erie a few times this summer (weekends) and haven't had much luck. I do not have any planers, boards, down riggers, etc nor do I plan on using them this year.

With that being said, what do some of you recommend using? Spoons? Worm Harness? Erie Dearie? And how should I rig it? I thought about using a 2oz weight and having a lead off the top of it with a flutter spoon or worm harness? Plan on maybe drift fishing and or just cruising along about 1.8mph in 40-48FOW. Or should I just throw some 3/4oz spoons out, let them sink and slowly reel in? Am I on the right track?

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. My biggest concern is knowing how deep my lure is without a line counter.

well you can definatly cast for them I would get a few bottom bouncers to drag along. if you want to troll all you need is a few dipseys easy to use especially if the lake is flat and no wind to drift.

[itsbob]

We fished yesterday off Vermilion in 43-46 fow.The four of us caught 23 fish that weighed 45 lbs.The majority of fish were caught on our dipseys pulling 3 spoon harness and one double willow worm harness.Was catching 3 setting at 85 and 1 setting at 65.Also had 2 inline boards out that caught a few fish.Had a gold bandits out with 50 ft than 2 oz weight and another 100 for total of 150.Got the biggest at 25". I would guess that bandit was around 30 ft down while our speed was 2.5 mph.A good rule of thumb when adding weight is you add 4 ft of depth for each ounce of weight.So our 2,oz weight added 8 ft of depth to that bandit.