Non Canadian Walleye Fishing in the Summer

[Jiga-Byte]

I know several of the charters and other fisherman have started to go into Canadian water to get the eyes, and will continue to through the next couple of months. Wondering if anyone is willing to share some locations they had success in summer fishing for Walleye in U.S. water. Not too interested in going across the line.

I know I've had some success on the Northwest Reef, and around Rattlesnake. Any other locations you guys have had luck with during July and August?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

[ErieEye]

Crane creek starting as soon as the mayflies slow down. You can find em anywhere from 15 to 20' of water. Hot & tots, jets & spoons, shad raps are just a few baits that work. It's just a matter of covering water and finding those active schools. It's one of my favorite bites of the year.

[j4gash]

Fish along the Canadian Line towards the weather Bouy moving East as summer progresses. I wouldn't overlook Canada we caught 24 yesterday weighing 108 łbs. Fishing there extends your season for some Big Walleye. We did best in Crawler Harnesses I bought at Bays Edge by Captian Randy with Tommy Harris Blades. Pink and Purple Blades worked the best.

[Jiga-Byte]

Fish along the Canadian Line towards the weather Bouy moving East as summer progresses. I wouldn't overlook Canada we caught 24 yesterday weighing 108 łbs. Fishing there extends your season for some Big Walleye. We did best in Crawler Harnesses I bought at Bays Edge by Captian Randy with Tommy Harris Blades. Pink and Purple Blades worked the best.

I was out in that area on Friday. About half way between Kelley Island Shoal and the weather bouy, right on the Canadian line. The only reason I'm looking for spots in Ohio waters is because I take out a lot of friends and family members. I know many of them are not going to want to get their Canadian fishing licenses and passports. We did pretty well out there on Friday. We caught 4 on the first troll, and then for whatever reason we started catching trash fish non stop. Every time we would put out a line we would have a White Bass or a Sheephead. We couldn't even keep the lines out long enough to get Walleye, because of all the trash fish. I ended up moving a little bit to the southwest to try and get back into the eyes, but they were hit and miss from that point on - a lot slower than that first pass through. We ended up with 10 in about 6 hours of fishing. Did catch one really nice one though that was 29.5" long and just short of 9 lbs.

[Chuck E.]

Went out about three hours Monday about noon. North and east of Gull shoal then to K.I. shoal. About 3 hours of nothing but thousands of midges.
used Pink and purple spoons, 1.9 to 2.3 MPH with dipsies. Worked a depth of 20 to 30 feet of water. Just me with 2 lines out, Not even sheepshead. I think I will wait until I see some positive reports on the forum around Kelleys island.

[Jiga-Byte]

Went out about three hours Monday about noon. North and east of Gull shoal then to K.I. shoal. About 3 hours of nothing but thousands of midges.
used Pink and purple spoons, 1.9 to 2.3 MPH with dipsies. Worked a depth of 20 to 30 feet of water. Just me with 2 lines out, Not even sheepshead. I think I will wait until I see some positive reports on the forum around Kelleys island.

I was out Saturday northeast of Kelley's for about 5 hours with my dad and my son who is 7 years old. It was extremely slow, but we did manage to pull 3 decent eyes. One went for 27 inches. We were pulling a combination of crawler harnesses and stinger spoons. Two were caught on crawler harnesses with serrated willow blades, and the other was caught on a pinkle/purple spoon. We got some decent marks, but couldn't entice many of them to bite. I think they are still feasting on mayflies. Oddly enough we caught zero junk fish. No white bass, no sheeps, only the 3 walleye. Listening to channel 79 as we were fishing, it sounded like the charters were having about the same luck. Some said they had around 10 Walleye, but I imagine they had more people on board, and consequently more lines in the water. Hopefully the mayfly hatches will be ending soon, and the fishing will get better.

[Hoytman86]

The midges were f***ing terrible out by West Sister on Sunday. I don't know if I've ever had less fun in a non life-threatening day on the lake. It was a beautiful day, just a slow bite and the bugs. We'll be back up on the 16th for a long weekend, hopefully the lake will settle down a bit and the fishing will go back to normal.

[West Basin]

You can catch walleye all summer long in US waters, you don't need to go to Canada. Charters go there in the summer because the fishing can be better and they have paying clients. Throughout summer walleye spread out and generally stay in deeper clearer water. A walleye can easily swim 15-20 miles in 24 hours. They move around looking for water conditions and forage they prefer. When they find it they generally stay there until it changes. Find water with the characteristics they like (a little cooler, deeper, clearer, higher O2, plenty of forage fish) and you will find walleye. A few of many spots to search? West of North Bass Island along the border a few miles and down to Rattlesnake Island. Around West Sister Island. The north and east side of Kelleys Island. Between Middle and North Bass Islands. Also try different times of day. Evening can be better than the morning. Try shallower depths early in the morning and late evening. Move until you find active fish, don’t stay in one spot too long that’s not producing. The walleye are often there, you just have to find active fish and then figure out how to catch them.

[Bggeary]

You can catch walleye all summer long in US waters, you don't need to go to Canada. Charters go there in the summer because the fishing can be better and they have paying clients. Throughout summer walleye spread out and generally stay in deeper clearer water. A walleye can easily swim 15-20 miles in 24 hours. They move around looking for water conditions and forage they prefer. When they find it they generally stay there until it changes. Find water with the characteristics they like (a little cooler, deeper, clearer, higher O2, plenty of forage fish) and you will find walleye. A few of many spots to search? West of North Bass Island along the border a few miles and down to Rattlesnake Island. Around West Sister Island. The north and east side of Kelleys Island. Between Middle and North Bass Islands. Also try different times of day. Evening can be better than the morning. Try shallower depths early in the morning and late evening. Move until you find active fish, don’t stay in one spot too long that’s not producing. The walleye are often there, you just have to find active fish and then figure out how to catch them.

OPPS, dislike was the wrong button.

[Jiga-Byte]

You can catch walleye all summer long in US waters, you don't need to go to Canada. Charters go there in the summer because the fishing can be better and they have paying clients. Throughout summer walleye spread out and generally stay in deeper clearer water. A walleye can easily swim 15-20 miles in 24 hours. They move around looking for water conditions and forage they prefer. When they find it they generally stay there until it changes. Find water with the characteristics they like (a little cooler, deeper, clearer, higher O2, plenty of forage fish) and you will find walleye. A few of many spots to search? West of North Bass Island along the border a few miles and down to Rattlesnake Island. Around West Sister Island. The north and east side of Kelleys Island. Between Middle and North Bass Islands. Also try different times of day. Evening can be better than the morning. Try shallower depths early in the morning and late evening. Move until you find active fish, don’t stay in one spot too long that’s not producing. The walleye are often there, you just have to find active fish and then figure out how to catch them.

Great reply West Basin

I'm interested in learning more about the migratory patterns of the Walleye in Lake Erie. It's obvious from your reply that you have some knowledge on this subject. Can you point me in the direction of any material that I can use to read/study more on this subject? I'm curious where you gained your information, was it primarily from experience fishing the lake or have you also studied this subject? I'm relatively new to walleye fishing on Lake Erie, and always trying to find out as much information as I can. My family and I have made Port Clinton/Marblehead our summer home away from home the last 3 years. We keep both our camper and boat there. We enjoy getting out on the lake and catching the walleye as much as possible. I've made it my habit to talk to as many people as I can in the bait shops, fish cleaning stations, on the dock, etc.

I'm specifically interested in locating the water with characteristics the walleye like as you mention in your reply. Outside of watching the satellite images and checking water temps, do you have any specific advice on how to go about this?

Thanks again for the great reply, and I'll look forward to hearing more from you on this subject.

Matt