What a week we had fishing Lake Erie May 22-28!! Tracy Hayward and I drove over to Port Clinton on May 21. We had made reservations to stay in one of the Condos at The Bays Edge. We were impressed with the condo layout and the niceties set up for people fishing with charter captains or bringing their own boat. Our Canadian friend, Jim Lyon, arrived with his fishing pal from Ottawa, Bob MacMillan. My friend, Tom Harrison, from Chicago joined us Saturday and fished with the group until he left Tuesday evening. Then, the Speicher boys, Chris and Matt, joined us Tuesday evening and fished the remaining four days out of my boat. Jim’s other friend from Canada, Doug Godfrey joined us Wednesday night and fished until Saturday with Jim. Tracy fished a few days with Jim and caught the biggest walleye of the week, a 31-incher that weighed nearly 11 pounds!! We caught numerous 25-inch plus fish plus our limit of eaters every day but Saturday which we declared catch, photo, and release day. We fished for the smaller fish just north of the Fenwick Marina location all the way to West Sister Island. Our bigger fish came off the east side of Kelly’s Island and just north of North Bass Island near the Canadian border. We made a half day trip to Huron looking for the bigger fish we caught there last year but pulled out after little success. This year it was all crankbaits, all the time! Our best were the new Bandit deep diving walleye lures with custom painted colors from Domka while our biggest fish actually came on the Berkley Flicker Minnow #11 Pro Slick Alewife. We ran the Bandits on the outside boards 18-25 feet back and ran the FS’s 90-110 feet behing the boards. Jim had great success with the custom Bandits he bought in Port Clinton at different depths. You just have to try running the baits at different depths and remember those Lake Erie walleye will bite on the high baits! We did endure a few warm days with the wind dying down and the bugs coming out. We came off the water early Saturday afternoon to observe all the craziness at the boat ramp with people trying to put their boats on the water for the first time this season–what a zoo! We got the covers on our Ranger 620’s just before the big thunderstorm hit Saturday afternoon! We ate good in the evening and hit our favorite spots including Mon Ami and a new find, the Orchard restaurant. Everyone headed for home early Sunday morning with plenty of “windshield” time to reflect on the week’s catch. Finally, I want to thank Chris and Matt for their great help in the boat and Tracy’s assistance in the drive out and back–those three had some great walleye on the line!! And…we can’t forget the Canadian friends who every year remind us of the connection we have as anglers! Same time next year!! Spike
