Frustrated

[imrsmk]

Well, to be honest, frustrated is putting it mildly. Bought a boat to fish Erie last year. We didn't do well. Everytime I go out, seems like I am always a day late or early or whatever. Just can't seem to catch a single walleye.

Went out to Gull today. We tried to troll, we tried to drift. E en did a little casting. We used deep reef runners, worm harnesses, and spoons. All we could catch were sheephead and white bass. Not sure if anyone else from here was out there, but for those who were, what do you do differently that worked? It is hard getting days off work to coincside with the weather so I can get out. Then when I do, zilch.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

John

[PZeiler]

If I were in your situation, I would schedule a walk on trip with one of the several captains that advertise for their trips on this web site. Experience what they do to catch fish and then apply the techniques to your boat

[bowguy84]

Agreed my suggestions would be skipper 9

[cjsfishn]

Agreed my suggestions would be skipper 9

ditto!!! lot's of great captains out there. many on this site, but Jim will fish harder, go farther, and stay out longer than anyone i've ever fished with!

[sherman51]

i have to agree with what the others are telling you. you really need to go out a couple of times with someone who knows whats going on.

when i started fishing the central basin i was totaly lost. i had never even seen a dipsy diver except hanging in the stores. and over there its pretty much trolling, i have never seen anyone drifting. but i got some friends together and just chartered a trip. i went to school for a day and learned alot. then the first trip i took my boat up i chartered with this guy again the first day of our trip. i do still have alot to learn, but i can fish now.

the charter we went on used dipsy divers. he ran 3 on each side. so i started with dipsy divers. then i switched to the walker divers, they had no rings to mess with. then i seen a film on the lite bite slide diver. i really liked the way you can set the tension from your lure to trip the diver. i dont even use the slide part of the diver. i just use them like the other divers but run my line through the lite bite arm.

but my point is i spent 2 days fishing with someone that knew alittle about what he,s doing and i was able to fish 3 divers off each side. then i just run 2 outriggers and 2 downriggers. so i can fish 5 guys with 2 rods each. i could have spent years trying to learn how to run 3 divers on one side without keeping them tangled. so watch for open seats where guys offer to let you fish with them for your share of the costs and take a couple of the walk on charters. it will save you thousands trying to learn it on your own

just make sure what you want to learn, then make sure the boat your going out on is planning to fish that way. another great way to fish erie is with boards. you can use inline weights or different types of divers to get you down to the fish. i havent used my boards on the central basin. but i just bought a set of electric reels for my planer mast. so i am thinking about using my boards with some other divers to spread out my lures and add a couple of extra lines when i have 6 people on board. good luck to you. now go to school and learn in a couple of trips what it takes years to learn on your own.
sherman

[imrsmk]

Thanks for all the encouraging advice. I will definitely get out with someone who can show me the ropes. I have been following advice on this site and have picked up a lot, especially on trolling.

I was picking up a lot of fish on the finder at various depths. Most of the fish were around 28 to 30 feet down, so that is where we targeted, but who knows if any where walleye. I did pick up several sheephead and whitebass at that depth. We were at the south eastern edge of the boats, near the gull buoy. I think we should have been farther north and west.

Definitely good to hear what others did in the area to help figure out what did work.
Thanks everyone
John

[Eyezcrazy]

If you are fishing 28 to 30 feet down, you are fishing too deep right now. We have been catching our fish in the top 3rd of the water column. This time of year if weather is good the fish like to feed up high. Try raising your baits and see what happens. If you are trolling you also need to make sure you are at the proper speed. use bags to slow you down if you are moving too fast. 1.8 to 2.0 for harnesses and up to 2.0 to 2.5 for spoons would be a good start.

Keep it at, you'll get there!

[Panfisher1402]

Well, to be honest, frustrated is putting it mildly. Bought a boat to fish Erie last year. We didn't do well. Everytime I go out, seems like I am always a day late or early or whatever. Just can't seem to catch a single walleye.

Went out to Gull today. We tried to troll, we tried to drift. E en did a little casting. We used deep reef runners, worm harnesses, and spoons. All we could catch were sheephead and white bass. Not sure if anyone else from here was out there, but for those who were, what do you do differently that worked? It is hard getting days off work to coincside with the weather so I can get out. Then when I do, zilch.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

John

I fished the same area Wednesday and only got two. First off I would pick one technique and perfect it. I would start with trolling, cover more water than casting. I would probably troll harness's you will a
handle more fish on average over Reef Runners. I troll reef Runners because I feel like I have a better shot at a big fish.These are just my opinions don't want to make any of the casters mad. I agree fishing with one of the Captains on this site would be extremely helpful.

[fishin2]

Your doin everything right. You can't catch a fish on the couch. The walleyes are a funny fish, one day on fire, next day your gonna work to get em. It is just getting good for the cast bite, trolling always produces faster fish, just because you cover alot of territory. Stick with it, you will someday master the eyes !!! Get with someone that trolls. There's alot of learning on these fella's charters. Alot of captains have a walk-on-day charter usually costing 60-75 bucks a day. Cheap when your learning to do what you need, not to mention , taking home some fish. On that other site, www.walleye.com, theres a few that offer a trip. Mike

[Hoss928]

Well, to be honest, frustrated is putting it mildly. Bought a boat to fish Erie last year. We didn't do well. Everytime I go out, seems like I am always a day late or early or whatever. Just can't seem to catch a single walleye.

Went out to Gull today. We tried to troll, we tried to drift. E en did a little casting. We used deep reef runners, worm harnesses, and spoons. All we could catch were sheephead and white bass. Not sure if anyone else from here was out there, but for those who were, what do you do differently that worked? It is hard getting days off work to coincside with the weather so I can get out. Then when I do, zilch.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

John

I'm feeling your pain. I've decided to do one of the recomended things here. I am gonna try to setup for trolling and make adjustments until I catch some dang fish.
I know what you mean when time is a killer. Budget, Getting work off and weather to go together and not have a honey-do list is almost impossible sometimes.
There are others like you out here. Stick with it.