Many people believe there is more to fishing than just catching…and I would have to agree! The walleyewisdom.com team traveled to Lake Erie the last week of April to see if the weather would cooperate and allow us to catch some spring walleye! Our teammates included my son, Chris, and his friend Dave Z. from Chicago; my son-in-law John Berry and his brother-in-law Duane N. from Missouri; and our Canadian fishing friend and guide on Lake Ontario, Jim Lyon. We all arrived at Bays Edge lodging in Port Clinton Sunday to set up for the week and get ready to fish Monday. I had purchased a small freezer from Best Buy we loaded in my Ranger 620 for the ride over with high hopes of filling it full of freshly caught walleye! On Monday, we ran my Ranger along with Jim’s Ranger 621 and our teammates up north out of the Catawba Island boat ramp to fish the US/Canadian line from just east of North Bass Island toward Kelly’s Island. We joined the many boats there and spent a good day catching nearly six limits of Lake Erie walleye! Our pattern would continue for the balance of the week with Jim catching more than me then me catching more than Jim. We rotated our pals so they could fish out of both boats and learn from each captain. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday found us traveling to Vermillion where we found bigger fish at 36-38 feet in dingy water that cleaned up over the three days. We pulled Bandits and the new Dead-Eye baits. Over half our fish were coming from a JT Custom Bandit I had ordered for each person as a gift called “walleye wisdom”! Wish I had ordered more because they are no longer available. We discovered the other colors working were blue/chrome and black/chrome depending on the sun/sky conditions. The biggest fish in my boat was caught by Duane on Thursday: a fat 29 1/2 incher that weighed about 9.5lbs! This one came on the chrome Bandit Generator with a 2 ounce snap at 50 feet of line out then a total line out of 130 feet getting the bait down to below 30 feet. Long lining baits running shallower in the morning and deeper in the afternoon seemed to work. We caught some nice fish using the Lance Valentine “2 pound ball” program (like a downrigger) with braided line on a wire Talora trolling rod, a six foot mono leader, and a Smithwick Perfect 10 shallow running bait. Friday became our “blow day” and we obeyed the wind and chose to take a day of rest meeting up with friends Captain Julia Davis, guide Chris Gupton, and Darrell Wood from Hi-Tech Custom baits. Juls made some tasty treats for us to share! On Saturday, we decided to launch again from Catawba and fish north of Rattlesnake Island trolling west to east between North and Middle Bass Islands. We had to get back to Bays Edge for fish cleaning by 4pm to pick up by 6pm. With 15 minutes on my timer set to leave, we pulled a double and ended with 18 fish in my boat while Jim’s boat caught 10. Our new freezer was full along the the condo refrigerator freezer! We got up early Sunday morning, packed our bags, distributed the fish for the rides home, and drove our separate ways. We encountered a stiff northwest wind all the way back to Iowa that continued for three days after we got home. My thanks to our teammates who caught the fish, processed the fish for freezing, made sandwiches, and shared in the nightly dinners out to some favorite places. For me, this was a memorable trip after a year of five skin cancer surgeries and 35 radiation treatments on my face along with new treatments for my CLL internal cancer. I’m thankful to each person who came on this trip helping me on and off the boat making Lake Erie memories! Daily reports are posted on my personal Facebook page if you want to look back over the week. Thanks, also, to Mike G. posting this report and our pictures for everyone to enjoy! Until the next trip…tight lines…Spike