Tough day

[Swartztastic]

I went out with my wife earlier today and was surprised to see the mud coming from the Maumee River. It made for a tough day. We ran out trying to find some cleaner water but it was pretty dirty all the way to Niagara. We did fish there for about 1 1/2 hours with no luck. Hopefully it will settle out soon.

[otely757]

Talked to a few guys getting off the water at wild wings marina today. They caught a handful jigging the reefs. The water is filthy but they got some. The fish are here just need the water to clear up and hopefully the wind lets us out.

[fishfinder]

My wife and I went to Locust and had zero luck. We are at Turtle Creek but our neighbors caught 19 at Niagara today. The whole lake looks like coffe with cream lol

[gb1234]

We also went out of Wild Wings yesterday, having been warned that boats were getting stuck in Fenwick's (Turtle Creek) channel.
We were at Niagara Reef with about 20 other boats for the sunrise. Jigged for a couple hours but got nothing. Didn't see anyone else netting any either. We weren't marking anything there.
We did see some good fish suspended to the north and west of Niagara so we tried trolling for those. Spent a couple hours trolling around there but no bites.
About 40 boats in the Niagara pack at that point so we tried jigging there again. We did pick up a couple before lunch time, and saw a few being netted in other boats. Both of ours were on a 3/4-oz black jig with purple hair, no minnow. Just danced it gently on the botton, picking it up about 2 inches with my jigging motion. I was surprised to get a good fight out of the 19" eye.
After lunch, there was a pack of about 10 boats at (I think) Toussaint Reef but it was so muddy there we kept going. Tried jigging Crib, Flat Rock and Little Pickerel. Picked up a tasty drum at Flat Rock but nothing else.
Then went back to Niagara where there were still 5 or 6 boats. We picked up one more 16" eye there (purple jig) before calling it quits around 5:30.
It was very slow. Maybe the problem was the mud. Maybe it was the moon which was at 80% with clear skies all night.
Nevertheless it was a beautiful day on the lake with my son and my friend. The chop was just right. We made it back just before the rain.

[joeblue83]

Was fishing out of Wild Wings marina 4/8-4-10. Within 3 miles of shore the water was so brown you could not jig. We ended up going to Niagara reef on 4/9 and caught 8 keepers with a 4 man crew. Slow fishing for this time of year. Didn't see many catching fish either. Tried all the reefs between shore and Niagara reef. Niagara reef was the only place we caught fish. We tried trolling the C can without any luck. Marked numerous fish but no takers. Maybe I was doing something wrong but was using Bandits all over water column. We were going to try and go out that Thursday 4/10, but 10-15 mph winds out of the northeast causing 3-4 ft waves. Would not of been good for my 18ft boat. Good luck

[joeblue83]

Are the buoys marked with letters A,B,C etc, also called can lines? Still trying to figure out trolling on Lake Erie. I have been running bandits at numerous different depths and still 3 separate years have yet to catch a fish trolling Lake Erie. I am usually there the first or second week of April if that helps. Any help or pointers? I get frustrated and go back to jigging. Just trying to catch some bigger fish. We usually come out of wild wings marina.

[dansdad]

Yes the outer firing range is marked by the A B C etc buoys. There is an inner firing range marked with smaller orange n white buoys. You should stick with fishing (jigging) instead of trolling to having more satisfaction. Quick limit jigging (catching) today on the reefs. John Deere green!

[gb1234]

The cans I've seen are yellow cyllindrical buoys and they do have the letter printed on them in black. Here is one guy's list of their coordinates...
Lake Erie Latitudes and Longitudes

I only started trolling for walleye last year. I've caught several, but only limited out once. Mostly, I've found several ways to fail. Avoid these...
- Fish can't see baits through all the mud coming in from the Maumee
- Full moon so they gorge all night and aren't hungry by daytime
- Mayflies hatch for 3 weeks and walleyes gorge on those instead of lures
- Storms break sea grass up into floating islands that foul trolling lines
- Water temp too high at islands and points west, so have to go east where it's deeper
- Marking walleye, but marking no bait fish there, so those walleye aren't hungry
- Using Bandits when they want Smithwicks or PWCs

[itsbob]

If trolling only the first 2 wks of April the water is still very cold and you need to troll slow enough to catch them.Get some trolling bags and get speed between 1.2- 1.6 mph.Bandits will catch trolling if at right depth.Are you using inline boards or just flat lining it behind the boat? Best way to learn to troll is to go out with charter that trolls.Read trolling posts here and Ohio game and fish too.Good luck.

[joeblue83]

Yup running 4 lines using 1 planer board per side. Also using 2 oz lead weights to get the non planer board lines down. All running various depths from 15ft down to 28 feet while trolling in 30feet of water. Guess walleyes have lockjaw every time I go trolling