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Current Helpful Hints Page

The newest “hints” are at the top of the page, as you scroll down you are going back in time, so if I contradict myself use the most current.

November 2005

Here is a copy of the post from Nov. 17 with a sonar screen capture and my interpretation of it.  It seemed to be popular so I thought I would move it over to this page also:

Although I have seen much better looking screens in past falls, this was decent.  There are yellow, red and blue schools of baitfish up high.  Those are most likely gizzard shad but also could be emerald shiners.  This time of year in the Huron area I would bet on shad.  There are some pretty good scattered hooks in the middle of the water column and towards the bottom.  I would consider the fish in the bottom 5 to 10 feet to be mostly inactive, with the marks in the middle and towards the top under the bait being the ones that might actively feed and be easier to catch.  Normally I wouldn't bother putting too many lures down that low for the marks on the bottom, but they warrant at least one lure to see if they'll hit.  I was running one lure down deep, a few in the middle and one up high.  I ended up catching one 26" walleye on a reef runner in the middle of the water column but that was it in this area (the 26.5/24.7 lines).  You'll notice a lot of clutter on the screen up high.  I do not use "noise reduction" or "surface clutter" settings because I like to see the raw returns and interpret it myself.  To combat the clutter I turn up the colorline so that stronger returns show up in brighter yellows and reds.  If you turn down the surface clutter it will sometimes eliminate high marks and they are the most important to see since they are active fish.  If you can get past the annoyance of looking at clutter you will be surprised how many hooks will appear within the high clutter.  With sensitivity turned down or with surface clutter reduction you would have never seen those marks.  Anyway, here's the picture:

June 2005 The Basics

Trolling for walleye can seem like a major problem or the simplest thing in the world, depending on how you approach it. There are a few basic things that I do each and every time I go out. First off I am assuming you are properly equipped, that could be another topic.

1. Find them. Us your sonar to locate what looks to you to be a school of walleye, so you need to be intimate with your equipment and know what a walleye looks like on your sonar. Looking for boat packs will sometimes work but you are then depending on someone else’s skill and judgment.
2. Set up on them. Try and determine which way is best for you to troll. Generally this is with the waves or into them. Other times you may want to quarter the wave. You need to know your boat and how it handles in different wave conditions.
3. Bait selection. What baits have been working best, which have you caught walleye with in the past, start with your “go to” baits and put out as many different baits as you have lines. Once you “hopefully” catch one or two make bait changes to the successful bait.
4. Speed Control. Understand a little about walleye and how they react to temperature, weather and water conditions. The colder the water the more lethargic the walleye will be so the slower you need to troll. The same goes for muddy water conditions. Warmer waters mean more active fish so your speed may need to be increased. General rule start around 2mph and adjust.
5. Return to hot spot. Once we catch a walleye we will go for about 5 minutes, if not having caught another we make a circle, figure eight or do a 180-degree turn and go over the same spot again. Walleye are schooling fish and generally where there is one there will be others.
6. Don’t waste your time. After some period of time if you have not caught any walleye or are into all “trash” fish go back to 1 and start over.

June 2005  Equipment use on “Denied”

I often get questions regarding what equipment I use, the following is my list, other stuff will also work but this is what I use.

My boat came with four pole holders down each side; I added four across the transom. They are Bert’s and are steel. Avoid any plastic or space age fiber ones. I have a total of 12, you can’t have too many.

1. Poles are 7-foot Shakespeare Ugly Sticks, medium action model CAL11000, one piece; they can be bought at Wal-mart for less than $30 each.

2. Reels are Daiwa sg27lc. Don’t try anything else, others on the market either are too cheaply make or cost way too much.

3. Line is Berkeley’s Fire line; 30# test that is 12# diameter, use a 50# snap swivel on the end of the line to attach the jet or dipsy.

4. I use all large Luhr-Jensen dipsy’s size 1, which are 4 1/8” in diameter, get black or other dark color. DON’T use bright or chrome ones they seem to scare off the fish.

5. Jet divers are size 30; they work best for Lake Erie with crews of less than 6 people. Black color also.

6. We use “Off Shore” inline boards with clipper releases. Usually we run two per side of the boat. Boards are used to pull jet divers out away from the boat giving us maximum spread between baits.

7. Between the dipsy or jet and the bait, I make my own 6 foot leaders, 17 or 20# vanish line with a good ball bearing snap swivel on one end and a simple snap (spoon end) on the other.

8. Buy a copy of Precision Trolling, Big water edition; it gives you distances back for depth desired.

9. I have two combination fish finder / sonar. One is an older Lowrance LCX-16c, which usually is on sonar only set at 50 kHz. The other is also a Lowrance LCX-104-c, which is a large screen model, I run in on split screen with one side on sonar at 200 kHz and the other on gps/mapping. I have a Navionics map cartridge for Lake Erie for both. I wanted the two units to be totally independent of each other and they are except for the battery supply.

Now before someone decides to write me saying their “dog” is better than mine, you are free to use whatever you want, I have found these item to be dependable and worth the cost so feel free to start your own list if you like J.

February 2005 Other than a safe boat that you can depend on to bring you home; the two most important pieces of equipment for fishing are a gps (mapping if possible) and sonar. Since the walleye are so inclined to congregate on structure (changes in elevation) you need to be able to locate these spots by map and L/L numbers. Once you find a spot that could hold fish you need to be able determine if the walleye are actually there or not, don’t waste your time fishing where there are no walleye present. Learn to use these two devices completely and your fishing experience will be much more rewarding.

February 2005 With spring on the way its time to discuss baits. In early spring while the water is still quite cold stick or plug baits will work. Baits like husky jerks, rip sticks and the like will do a fine job but in my experience only until the water starts to warm and the walleye start moving deeper into the water column. Once we see this happening we will start running spoons and / or worm harnesses. I think the reason spoons and harnesses work better for us is because we can place them at a fairly precise depth, which is just above the walleye. So don’t let anyone tell you that only stick baits or spoons or harnesses are the things to use, you need all of them and more. It all depends on the weather, the water temperature and finally what the walleye decide they want on that day.

Towing Service (2/05) I would no more go out on Lake Erie without towing service than I would without life jackets. In my years of boating I have needed towing service twice. Once just off South dock of Peele Island and the other we were West of Niagara buoy. Either time the cost would have been in the $300 to $500 range. YOU just can't afford to be without it. I have an extended range contract that covers from Toledo all the way east to Lorain. The cost is $65 or $70 per year. I use West Harbor Towing but there are several others, Boaters Emergency, Boat US, etc. Don't leave home without it.

Internet access sites at Port Clinton for public use, if you know of other sites let me know.The library on Madison St. has 16 terminals.The Admiral Perry Hotel has a terminal in the lobby, four minutes for $1.00Holiday Inn Express at SR-53 and SR-163 has wireless (wi-fi) access if you are so equipped as do Pilot and Jet truck stops.

Aug. 04 - Yellow perch fishing - Perch fishing really picks up once the cooler days of fall get here. Yellow perch are found over most of Lake Erie but you need to find the places that hold concentrations of these taste guys to really get the enjoyment of fast and furious perch fishing. Perch like rocky hard bottoms since that area is where they find their favorite foods. Start looking by using your sonar, you are looking for lots of small marks on or very near the bottom, when really concentrated they will look like a second bottom with very little separation from the real bottom.

Once you have found them you want to anchor above or very near them. A good heavy anchor with a few feet of chain attached between the anchor and the anchor line will help you get a hook into the rocky bottom.
We tie our own perch rigs using 17# test mono, start by tying on a snap swivel, then go up the line about 7 inches and tie on a cross lock snap, then up another 7 inches and tie on the second cross lock snap. Finally about a foot above that cut off the line and tie an overhand knot leaving a 6-inch or so loop. This is the end that you will attach to your pole line. Now on each of the cross lock snaps, attach a 6 inch snelled 1/0 or smaller hook. To the snap swivel attach a ½ oz sinker.
Done correctly you have a sinker on the bottom with a snelled hook just off the bottom and a second snelled hook about 6 or 7 inches off the bottom.
I like minnows in the 1 to 1 ½ inch range but you have to take what you can get. I thread the minnow onto the hook through the mouth and out the tail but you have to improvise depending on size of the minnow. Anyway with a minnow on both hooks, lower the rig to the bottom, you should feel the sinker hit the bottom, lift up until you have tension on the sinker while not lifting it off the bottom. When perch try and take the minnow you may feel a “tap – tap” or just feel a slightly heaver pull on the line. That’s the time to set the hook, reel in and see what you have. Be prepared to loose lots of minnows while trying to get the “feel” of a perch sneaking the minnow off the hook, they are masters of that. When you really get them going (feeding frenzy) you can drop the sinker to the bottom and immediately set the hook and see if you feel a fish on the line.
If you don’t want to go to the trouble of tying your own rigs most bait stores sell spreader rigs, which work well also.
I use a short ultra light rod with a spinning reel for perch fishing. Usually you can find them at wal-mart for about $25.00 or so. 36 to 48 inch rods are long enough. I use small diameter fire line, which has no stretch, and helps you feel to perch trying to take your bait.

July 04 – “Birds of a feather flock together”

Or in this case walleye from the same years spawn do seem to school up together. If you get into what looks like a large school of walleye but the only thing you catch is the “little guys” this is most likely what is happening to you. We have on occasion found schools of larger walleye with some smaller ones mixed in but it is more likely when you find small ones they will be in the company of lots more of their kind. Maybe there is safety in numbers, I don’t know but when we get 5 or 6 little ones in a row without anything larger we look for another spot.

June 15, 2004 – Mayfly hatch and walleye fishing.

Contrary to popular belief the mayfly hatch does not hurt the walleye fishing. When looking at the sonar you will see large clouds of mayfly larva that are more dense than bait fish and seem to hang closer to the surface but you will also see walleye arches around this mayfly larva clouds. Working around or even through these clouds will often bring good catches of walleye as well as fouled lines with the larva. IF the mayfly hatch is huge like 4 or 5 years ago then the walleye get so full they are not hungry and that does slow down the fishing.

June 14, 2004 – Erie’s Little Treasures

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of getting out in Lake Erie’s western basin this year, last year crop of walleye now 6 to 9 inches in length are everywhere. It is not unusual to catch one or two for every keeper size walleye. It is impossible to keep these little guys off your lines but it is equally important to handle them gently so they can grow up to be big guys in a couple of years. It is best to not handle them if possible, we try and shake them off the hooks without lifting them out of the water, if this is not possible I lift them up to were I can get a hold of the hook with needle nose pliers, the turn the hook up side down and shake them off. It is very important not to handle them as your hands will wipe off the protective coating and make then susceptible to disease. If you have no choice but to handle them wet your hands first and be as gentle as possible. Remember in a couple of years these will be keepers.

June 2, 2004 – DNR checking fisherman getting off the Miller Ferry Boat from South Bass

I heard second hand that DNR enforcement were checking fishermen and boats the were departing the ferry boat and I was not sure what if any special problems these folks might encounter so I sent the following question to the wildlife Internet answer folks and the following is my note to them and then their answer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dean [mailto:dean@cinci.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:46 PM
To: Wildinfo.Law@dnr.state.oh.us
Subject: another question

If I go to South Bass Island and take my boat over on the ferry, stay five days, fish everyday how may walleye am I allowed to have in possession assuming I am check while getting off the ferry boat at the lakes shore? Second part to the same questions; do I have to leave the skin on the walleye filets? Any other things that might come into play for people staying on the islands and later returning with their catch to the mainland?

If you go to South Bass Island and return on the ferry, you may possess a limit of fish for every day you were there provided you are properly licensed.  The fish must be in the round with skin attached while unloading the fish from a boat, or when the fish are placed in a container or vehicle at shore on or near a dock or pier, or when leaving the dock or pier.

They don’t say so but I suspect it would be your responsibility to prove how many days you had been on the island. Ferry tickets, receipts, etc.

Definition for 1501:31-1-02      

(LL) "Round" when used in describing fish means with head and tail intact

May 30, 2004 – Trolling Bags – I have had a couple of questions regarding what make and how to rig trolling bags.

I have had several different brand of trolling bags over the years and this spring ordered two 28 inch heavy duty trolling bags from www.amishoutfitters.com, these bags are hand made and look like they will last for a long time. Amish Outfitters owner is Frank Kittrick, who runs a charter boat (Y-Knot) on Lake Erie so he has his own “testing” laboratory. I am impressed with these bags, called “buggy bags” and if you are in the market for trolling bags these are the ones to get. Price was about $100 for the pair; these are true trolling bags and not drift bags, which are much thinner material and less durable.

To rig trolling bags you first need cleats on both sides of the boat about mid-ship or a little further forward. I have cleats I use to tie my spring lines to when docked and they are used for the front line to the bags. To set up the bags, with the boat on the trailer I tied a 3/8” line to the front of the bag, then adjusted the length to the mid cleat so that the back end of the bag could NOT reach the prop. I than added a second ¼” line to the back of the bag which is used to dump the bag when pulling it in and made this line long enough to let the bag get a few feet away from the boat but not long enough where the bag could be pulled under the boat and get into the propeller shaft.

My boat without bags trolls around 2.5 to 3 mph, with one bag out I can get down to 1.9 to 2.2 mph depending on wind and wave conditions, with both bags out I can troll at 1.3 to 1.5 mph again depending on wind and waves. Speed is one of the variables, which we must adjust to what the walleye want so if you are having problems catching walleye when you know you are over them then speed is one place to look.

First you find them, put bait above them, adjust speed and then change baits and/or colors.

May 29, 2004 - It seems that this time of year the walleye are moving east in schools several days to a week apart. We have had four occasions where there were few if any walleye marks around Kelley’s Island to be followed days later by the marks being stacked again. This past Thursday (5/27) there was a large school a few miles west of Green Island, by Friday they were into the south Passage around Starve Island and I expect them to be SW of Kelley’s Island this weekend and hopefully into next week. By the reports I get from folks all over the lake patterns become apparent and movement is almost predictable. SO I will go out on a limb and predict that these waves (schools) of walleye moving through the islands will continue though most if not all of June, SO my plan is not to run all over the lake on $2.30 a gallon gasoline but to concentrate on a few spots that have produced in the past. My efforts will be within a few miles of Kelley’s Island as it has been all year. Where I have the advantage over you working types is I can wait for them to show up and then work them hard. The schools that are now off A-can on the range will likely move in a different pattern from those moving east. They will eventually leave the range and move west toward West Sister then up into the area between West Sister and Middle Sister but closer to the Toledo Shipping channel and then on to the east of Middle Sister Island. This movement is typical of past years and seems to be repeating its self again this season; the only thing that will change this movement (for a while) is the weather.

I sent a question to OHIO DNR regarding the number of hooks allowed per line. My question was if I were running a 3-way off a single line could I use crank bait with three treble hooks and a harness with additional hooks. I way trying to find out if the “3 hooks per line” actually meant hooks or baits. Their answer follows and the law does mean hooks. So you can have out two lines per fishermen with no more than 3 hooks per line total. A treble hook counts as a single hook.

 Answer;

Under Ohio law you cannot run more than 3 hooks per line, so if your

Crank bait has 3 treble hooks then that is your 3 hooks, it would be a

Violation to attach a worm harness to this type of rig. Remember that 1

Treble hook even though there are 3 hooks on it is considered 1 hook. I hope this clarifies your question.

Wildinfo_Law [Wildinfo.Law@dnr.state.oh.us]

May 23, 2004 I recently had a person ask the question “how do you know the fish are high when they don’t show on your sonar?” I find this a good questions and worthy of a helpful hint.

First of all it helps to have an idea of how walleye react to specific situations. Walleye like water temperature of 67 degrees, this is their ideal temperature or so I have been told by fisheries biologists, at present the SURFACE water temperature is right around 60 degrees and a few feet down it is much colder, SO in early spring when the water is cold keep in mind that the walleye may be high because water is a little warmer. I make a point of running at least one bait up high (top 10 feet of water or so) to see if the walleye are high even when marking fish on the bottom. If you look at my recent reports you will see where I took a few fish on a husky jerk back 35 feet off a board which would put the bait around 10 feet down. This is my “tell me” bait so once I get a walleye or two on this high bait I switch most of my other baits to high, but not all, I always leave one low in case those low fish decide to turn on.

The bottom line is if you are in a spot that historically has held fish and you don’t see them on the sonar, it may well be worth your time to put out a high bait and give the area a try. This can also happen during the may fly hatch when the walleye are high after the larva and not due to the water temperature.

May 2004 Fishing etiquette and boating do’s and don’t do’s.

Each year we see things happen on the lake that cause peoples blood pressure to rise so I hope this list will be of benefit.

1. When approaching a pack of boats that are fishing, slow down and go around if possible, boat traffic causes the fish to scatter and helps no one.
2. Don’t set up in front of another boat that is fishing, go somewhere else or if you feel you must set up in the same place at least go behind the pack before setting up.
3. If you are planning to anchor, don’t do it in front of other boats that are drifting or trolling.
4. When you see boats that are anchored don’t troll or drift through them.
5. Know the rules of the road; boats approaching from your starboard (right) side have the right of way.
6. When entering a channel line up well before the entrance, cutting into line at the channel entrance is not only discourteous but also dangerous.
7. Loud radios or screaming and yelling may be fun for some but is annoying to other.
8. Don’t use you marine radio to discuss things that would be better done on a CB or the telephone. Keep you transmissions short and remember it’s a party line also vulgar language is not needed.

If you have other things that you would like to see on this list let me know. Dean

May 2004 Walleye fishing starts with the hunt.

The inexperienced walleye fisherman feels that if they can just get good “numbers” or find a “boat pack” that they will have a chance of taking fish. While this is somewhat true you need to realize that even though someone tells you exactly where they caught their fish that is no sign the fish will still be there by the time you reach the spot. We fish several days each week, listen to the marine radio constantly, talk to lots of others who have been out fishing, get reports daily from the good folks that frequent this web site and still each time we go out the first thing we have to do is hunt for the walleye. The walleye are constantly on the move, during the course of a day I have seen them move as much as two or three miles as they follow or chase the bait-fish. To help yourself you need to understand your sonar completely, know what walleye look like on your sonar and have an idea how the walleye schools migrate.

I can’t help much with your sonar but I do have pictures of the screen on my unit with walleye showing. These pictures are earlier in this file, study them and then study your documentation. Be sure you can set upper and lower limits, adjust gray or color scale, manually control sensitive for maximum effectiveness. Don’t bother putting out lines until you are fairly sure you are over walleye. All this aids in the search. I hate to see folks run all over the lake because someone tells them “I caught fish there last week”. That’s like going deer hunting in some ones back yard because the saw a deer pass through some days ago.

Facts About Hypothermia

•  The body can maintain it's core temperature in an environment of 82 degrees F or above.

•  Heat loss occurs faster in water than in air of the same temperature.

•  Swimming/treading water may increase heat loss by 35%.

May 04 For some unexplained reason this spring has been a worm bite. There are several ways to present worms, I will try and explain a few of them.

First is worm harness, they are made using about 2 feet of 17 to 20 pound mono line. I fasten a size 4 treble hook to the end of the line using a Palomar knot. Next I snell a 1/0 hook about 1 ½ inches above the treble, then snell another 1/0 hook 1 ½ inches above the first one. Next I add 4 to 6 beads, size 6 or 8 mm, then a plastic quick-change clevis with a size 4, 5 or 6 blade. Colors are left to your imagination but I like gold, sliver, chartreuse and green. Finally a single bead above the clevis, then I tie off the end in a loop using a surgeon’s loop. My finished harness will be about 12 to 18 inches long.

Second is the mayfly rig, which is very much like the worm harness but only has a single 1/0 hook and usually a smaller size 3 or 4 blade. The difference is that with the worm harness I use a full night crawler and with the mayfly rig I only use a piece about 2 inches long. There is a picture of the mayfly rig earlier in “helpful hints”.

Both the worm harness and the may fly rig are fish using similar programs. Bottom bouncer in 3, 4, 6 or even 8 oz weight what ever it takes to get them to the bottom at about a 45-degree angle. You want to feel the bouncer touch the bottom every now and then. Another method is to troll with a 1 or 2 oz inline weight between your line and the harness or leader if you want to use one. With the inline weights you can run them off boards thus getting them out away from the boat.

Third is a jig. Jigs are usually used while drifting or while anchored. The jig is let out until you feel it tough the bottom. It is then lifted up 6 inches to a foot and allowed to drop back to the bottom. Usually the walleye will hit the jig on the fall. Jigs can be tipped with minnows or night crawlers, either a whole worm or just a short piece which ever works best.

Fourth is the PA’s Lures crawler connection. The crawler connection is a weight forward spinner with a large lip cast into the head, which causes it to dive fairly deep. Instead of the hook right after the spinner as in the normal weight forward spinner, a crawler harness with a spinner blade is attached. These lures have been very successful so far this spring. If you are not into making your own harnesses this is the better way to go. A ¾ oz crawler connection will dive to around 22 feet of depth with 160 foot of line out. They can be ran off boards or straight, no other weights or divers are needed.

The following is a note from Travis Hartman who is a fisheries biologist for Ohio DNR. I ask him about how to identify the sex of walleye, that the only way I know was by what ran out when you squeezed them.

Dean-

I (and a whole lot of other fisheries managers) truly wish that you could externally sex a walleye.  Unfortunately, you hit the nail on the head.  In the spring if you squeeze a male you get sperm, and if you squeeze a flowing female you get eggs. There is no other way to sex them without cutting their belly open.  Total length isn't even that reliable, because we have seen males up to 27" in our samples.  That probably means they could approach 28 or 29". I doubt that our samples have included the biggest males in the lake. Granted, if you catch a fish 30" or over the odds are that it is a female, but males get much bigger than I had originally assumed.

Another interesting fact about Lake Erie walleye is that we have sampled fish up to 21 years old.  Generally, males over 23 inches and females over 27" are 10 years old or older.  Last year we sampled fish from the 1982-year class, 21 years old.  We have switched to using otoliths (head bones, also known as lucky stones) as our aging structures instead of scales. Otoliths are much more accurate after 5 years old or so, and we have access to plenty of harvested fish to allow sampling otoliths.  Fish that would have in the past only been aged as 10 to 15 years old with scales are now proving to actually be 15 to 20 years old with otoliths. Last year's PWT sample resulted in over 20% of the fish harvested being over 15 years old.

Sorry to get off on a tangent, but I thought that you would be interested.

Take care,

Travis

Travis Hartman

Fisheries Biologist

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Division of Wildlife

So you want to catch a "Trophy Walleye". (March 2004)

We will handle 10 to 12 walleye each season in the 30 to 32 inch range, so a trophy walleye to me has to be 33 inches. I have yet to hang into this 33-nch monster but I keep trying, it is one of the things that keeps me going each year.

What do we do to try and hang a hog? The following is a list of things we do, hopefully it will help you.

1. Be at the right place at the right time. Spring off the reef while or shortly after the walleye spawn, then off Kelley's Island where they seem to hang around for a while before moving way east and in the fall off Huron/Vermillion.
2. Try and understand the movement of the schools and follow along. By studying there movement from year to year, patterns become evident.
3. Keep as many different bait in the water as legally allowed. What works today may not work tomorrow so start out with a bunch of different baits. Let the walleye tell you what the are interested in, then switch all lines to that bait.
4. Know what to look for on the fish finder and keep the baits at the optimum elevation. Once you spot what looks like a walleye school INCLUDING BAIT FISH, note the depth and put your baits a foot or so above them. To do this you have to know at what depth your divers run with specific line out.
5. Very speed until you find the one that works. I start around 2mph and if that does not seem to work I put out trolling bags and slow the troll, first one bag then two.
6. I fish only one lake and get to know it intimately. The better you know the structure, bump, humps, rock piles, etc. the less time you will waste looking for walleye.
7. Fish the bottom, hogs are too big to suspend for very long.
8. Little walleye hang with other little walleye so if you are into a bunch of small ones, look elsewhere for the big ones.

Keep in mind that the Ohio State Record Walleye is 33 inches long and weighs a little over 16 lbs. It was caught on a perch rig during a fall perch trip off Cleveland, so being in the right place at the right time and LUCK have a lot to do with it.

 February 24, 2004 With spring fast approaching our thoughts go to where to start fishing on the first trip. I have enough data from past years that indicates Locust Point, Crib and Toussaint have been good producing areas during and right after the spawn. I don’t really like jigging or drifting so trolling just outside or around these reefs will most likely be our starting program. We will start with a couple of crank baits off small boards and some spoons off dipsy divers, maybe a couple of worm harnesses until the walleye tell me what they want. The idea is to get as many different bait’s out as legally allowed.

The smaller males normally move onto the reef complex first, then the larger females. Once the females have spawned out, they will move off the reefs and out into open water (USUALLY) north and west toward West and/or Middle Sister Islands before starting to move east. The small males will stay on the reefs for a while, ranging from a day to a week before starting their move into deeper waters. Understand all this is driven by the walleyes pursuit of baitfish.

The following is a copy of dipsy and jet diver settings and depths that I carry in my pocket anytime we are out fishing. These numbers have been refined by me several times and seem to be close to correct. This card is the heart of my trolling program. Remember I am running 2.5 to 3 mph and using 12-pound diameter, 30-pound test fire line so if you are not at the exact same speed and line size you depth may very.

Fishing etiquette or how to keep from running over each other. (November 2003)

It is a big lake but lots of boats are out almost every day and when someone finds fish they are likely to draw a crowd.

There is an on line course that you can take which will help you understand the rules of the road. It is located at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/boating/index.htm it gets into all the rules and situations that you could encounter.

I am only interested at this time with the situation we see when trolling in and around packs of other boats doing the same as we are. Primarily the Rules of the Road say that when two boats are on a collision course one boat has the right of way and the other must give way BUT both have the responsibility to avoid a collision.

Lets say you are trolling in a straight line and another boat is coming at you from your PORT (left when looking forward) side. You have the right of way and should continue on a straight course UNLESS it becomes evident that the other boat cannot maneuver or for some reason is not giving way then it is your obligation to give way and avoid collision. Now same situation but the boat is approaching you from your STARBOARD (right when looking forward side) it is your obligation to give way unless for some reason you can’t then you need to somehow signal the other boat that you cannot maneuver.

Sounds simple right? But what if you have planer boards so far out to both sides that they are in two different counties and there are boats in tight on both sides of you. Big problem that at best will end up with tangled lines, lost tackle, frayed nerves and harsh words.

My advice it to avoid these situations at all costs IF possible.

1. First we keep someone at the helm most all the time. Their job is to look out for boats coming together causing this type of traffic problems. If we see them soon enough then we can maneuver around them before getting involved. When you are close enough to cuss at each other it is too late for avoidance.

2. When it is especially crowded we try and pull our boards in as close as possible. I figure 7 to 10 feet or so between board line is plenty, no need to spread out more than necessary. If it is especially bad we may go to inline boards which require less spread or may even pull the board lines and go to all dipsy diver or straight line baits off the stern, this lets us be much more maneuverable.

3. We all know that the BIG charters running planer boards that look like the side of a small shed a quarter mile out on both sides of the boat always catch fish, right? These folks will have seven or more people on board which means five or six lines off each board plus a half dozen dipsy divers, you know, they look like a giant spider coming down the lake. Odds are maneuvering is not an easy thing for them to do and usually they have a couple of buddies on either side of them what means a mile or so of major problems if you get into the middle of them. LOOK AHEAD and if you must fish where they are, maneuver behind and follow then, join the parade but DON’T try and pass them head on, odds are you will be the looser.

4. With all the traffic these folks draw, most likely the walleye will move out away from them toward the edges of the pack. When this happens you want to be the boat on the outer perimeter of the pack and let the rest push the walleye out to you.

5. A word of advise to drifters or perch fisherman; when you find one of these packs of boats PLEASE don’t run into the middle of them at full speed, get in front of them, shut down and start fishing. That drives me nuts and I am one of the most laid back people you will ever meet. Again move out to the outside of the pack where the fish will be sooner or later anyway and save several peoples blood pressure from a major increase.

6. When trolling and you come upon drifter or perch fisherman there is no need to try and go through the pack, again work around them to the outside if you must but it is best to stay away from them all together.

Remember folks, fishing is a fun thing and not intended to cause heart attacks or blood pressure problems so look ahead, avoid the problems and laugh at the ones that don’t.

Nov. 2003 You may have heard me say that catching walleye is not hard, the hard part is finding them and this still holds true. The better walleye fisherman I know of have a few things in common, whether they will admit it or not.

First they all try and locate the walleye using sonar or information from other before ever putting a line in the water.

Once the walleye are located the next step is to get bait at a depth where it will be above the elevation where the walleye are (better 6 foot above than 6 inches under).

Then by trial and error determine the speed that attracts the walleye to go for the bait. This is done by going faster and/or slower until you start getting hits (1 to 3 mph it can change daily).

Then and only then you can start changing baits and colors trying to find the bait and color combination that works best.

Locate, depth, speed and then color in that order.

Nov. 2003 Do I need line counter reels?

I get this question a lot. The answer is no, BUT you do need a way to determine how much line you have out. If you can do this by marking the line every so many feet or counting the number of times the level wind goes across then you may be ok but it sure is a lot easier using line counters than any other method I know of.

Nov. 2003

What does "40/33 lines" mean? This is one of my most ask questions.

On Lake Erie it is common to give out map co-ordinance for the location of a fishing hot spot by giving the middle two numbers. So when I give numbers or lines I am talking about the middle sets of number in the gps co ordinance (latitude / longitude) numbers. So when I say 27/28 I am using short hand for 41 27.000N by 082 28.000W

Words of caution; if you are fishing more than one day do not take one day’s limit back to the lake or ramp with you when going out again. If checked you can be cited for over limit. My suggestion would be to go to the fish cleaners and see if they will store your fish for you until you are ready to leave town.

To try and clarify the above, I have added a page containing the section of the Ohio Administrative Code that governs daily bag limits and covers the 1/4-mile writing, which applies. The actual section is 1501:31-13-08. If you have problems understanding this writing don't feel bad, that's why judges and lawyers spend months preparing to argue what it says in court. Click on this link to veiw the actual section. It looks like sections A, C and K apply to walleye and M for perch.

The following is an article from the Ohio Sea Grant web site regarding the size of walleye at specific years of age. I refer to this often when trying to determine the age of a walleye. By the way if you are not aware of this very fine and informative web site put on by a group of very knowledgeable and dedicated professionals the URL is http://www.sg.ohio-state.edu/discus/

According to the ODNR, Div of Wildlife report cited earlier, in 2001 walleyes caught averaged the following lengths lake wide:
1+year old walleyes caught=10 1/2"
2+year old walleyes caught=14 1/4"
3+year old walleyes caught=17 1/4"
4+year old walleyes caught=18 7/8"
5+year old walleyes caught=20 1/4"
6+year old walleyes caught=21 1/4"
7+year old walleyes caught=22 3/4"
8+year old walleyes caught=24 1/4"
9+year old walleyes caught=26 1/4"
10+year old walleyes caught=27 1/2"
Now to clarify a couple of things. The "+" refers to the fact that it was beyond the anniversary of its hatching date, which in the main lake is in late April/early May. Most harvest occurs during the summer, so a 1+ fish would be approximately 13 months old in May, 14 months old in June, etc.-but nearly 2 years old during ice fishing season, so you can't really pinpoint an exact size unless you only measure fish caught in a certain month. Also, growth rates vary with available food supply. In years where there is a big year class of walleyes competing for a finite amount of forage (bait fish), growth may be slower than in years where the walleye population is smaller and/or bait production is higher. Another big point is that the females grow larger and quicker than males, and this chart only reflects the average of the female/male growth rates. The three to seven year old walleyes don't look like they grow too fast, but it's because the average is muted by the slower growing males measured in the samples taken. There were not distinctions made at the time of sampling between males and females due to it being summer and there is not an easy way of telling