Spring fishing

[cycleguy]

What electronics do you have on the boat and what mapping chip do you have for it? It's important to have accurate mapping info if you're going to fish near the reefs. You do not want to go over the top of some of them...you could lose your prop, or do some other damage.

Love this thread as someone who is dreaming of making a trip over in the spring for the first time!! I have a good paper map, and a chip in my hummingbird just for this trip. With a 17' aluminum (Lund Fisherman)… I guess I need to go back and look more at the maps and such. Do some of these reefs get that shallow? I hadn't realized that. I assume your advice aligns with part of Matt's post on not being out there at night without experience.

[wakina]

Love this thread as someone who is dreaming of making a trip over in the spring for the first time!! I have a good paper map, and a chip in my hummingbird just for this trip. With a 17' aluminum (Lund Fisherman)… I guess I need to go back and look more at the maps and such. Do some of these reefs get that shallow? I hadn't realized that. I assume your advice aligns with part of Matt's post on not being out there at night without experience.

I can say with some certainty that there will be at least one and possibly 2 spots that could give you some serious headaches. The first one that I am going to refer to is the most dangerous one and that is Crib Reef, there is a shallow spot on that reef that will do damage to your lower unit if you happen to get over it and possibly to your hull if it is 3ft or more waves. If the Buoys are in place the marker for the reef is several hundred feet I believe SE from the danger spot. This is due to the fact that the buoy tender that places these marker buoys require more water depth to safely get any closer.

The second one is located on Niagara Reef but that spot can be navigated safely if the water levels are normal to higher and not to low. The depth on that spot is roughly about 3 ft but that is calculated from the mean water levels and can fluctuate with how high or low the lake water levels or with a stiff W or SW wind that blows the water to the east that spot will be closer to the surface. That condition can last for several hours once the wind stops blowing as it takes awhile for the water to traverse back to the west end seeking its own level. Both of these spots are within the Reef Complex which is within the Camp Perry Firing Range Danger zones. Crib Reef is some what centered in the firing range and Niagara Reef is located on the east side of the firing range with some of the reef outside the firing range and the majority inside the east boundary of the firing range.

Check your map/chart for the location of these 2 spots so you are familiar with the areas that you would encounter the danger spots.

With a 17 ft boat and outboard you very well MAY be able to navigate over the shallows at Crib Reef without incidence. If something was to happen you only have a precious few minutes to get rescued before succumbing to hypothermia in the frigid water conditions, even with a life vest on and that is probably one of the
reasons Matt posted what he did.

[Madd Matt]

Yes, I agree with Wakina. Also, we will never know about what caused accidents to occur and claim the lives of well seasoned life-long Erie anglers... However, even knowing the reefs, having them marked well on my navigation, depth alarms and radar will not tell you about the full size tree log that floated out of one of the rivers in the Spring after the thaw, when you run over it (or even a much smaller log) and it knocks your prop or outdrive sideways for a split second and flips your boat, you have a few minutes to be rescued, or maybe a couple hours in a Mustang Suit.... maybe.

During the daylight hours it is a mental task in the Spring to avoid the debris that flows out of the rivers that rise during the Spring and wash off the shores out into the lake. Last year we saw a large blue tarp on Toussaints, I've seen a kayak, coolers, just about anything that people have along their "river banks." More than anything though is the amount of logs and large "firewood" chunks. I would comfortably say that there isn't an April fishing trip that is more than a few miles offshore that you don't need to maneuver around a potentially dangerous chunk of debris or dangerous floating object.

I am not claiming to know what caused the accident 2 years ago and claimed the lives of Brain Huff, Andrew Rose, Amy Santus, and Paige Widmer. But I do know that the next morning while fishing on the reefs and learning about it on the water over the radio as to what the Coast Guard Helicopters and boats where doing in the area was a sombering feeling. The derbis in the water that day was a typical Early Spring day and significant. I remember because we investigated every floating object on the way back to the dock that day and it was a long ride home.

If you haven't been on Lake Erie in the early Spring, and your experience is strictly limited to Summer and Fall trips or trips with a charter, please be very careful of debris and think twice about driving at night.

-Matt