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Posts: 7
| As my name suggested, I live on the edge of Lake Erie and have been muskie fishing for about 10 years. I mainly fish inland reservoirs and also venture over to LSC and some of the other Great Lakes systems, but Erie has evaded me for years. We catch them in the local tributaries and there is always a few caught by guys chucking spoons for steelhead or trolling for walleyes out in the main lake.
So, from a high level, I'm looking to see how some other seasoned anglers would even begin to tackle such a lake as Erie. I know they catch them to the east in Buffalo Harbor and the Niagara system, they catch them to the west where the Detroit River dumps out, but how about all the places in between? We have power plants that put out warm water discharge, we have break walls, etc., but when it comes to typical muskie structure (weeds, breaklines, etc) are almost non-existent. My strategy is going to be finding bait and areas that consistently hold bait and target them.
Also, thinking about lures, I often wonder if a 40 lb fish would even move to touch a smaller shad bait. Am I better off trolling with big cranks? |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | The reason you are not seeing or catching them in the areas you described is because they are not there, plain and simple. A small bait will not keep a muskie from striking but a large lure will keep a fish with a small mouth from taking, unless in an extremely active state. |
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Posts: 7
| I think the fish are out there. As I stated, walleye fisherman often hook up and get bit off or sometimes do land the fish. And that's using small baits like spoons, crawler harnesses, and reef runners. I do believe there are open water fish out there that don't relate to the structure, but rather the mass schools of perch, walleye, and emerald shiners. A fish doesn't need to ambush when there are 10,000,000 perch above it's head. That's just my assumption though. I have never tried fishing out there for them. There are quite a few reefs out there that top out at 25'-35', so getting a small bait down may be tough. |
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Posts: 84
| Good luck. On green bay and St. Clair, you see multiple incidental catches from walleye and smallmouth guys every day. On Erie you hear a of few musky caught each year. If i lived on the edge of lake erie musky would be that last thing on my mind. |
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Posts: 981
| I'd say focus on the warm water discharges in the fall periods. |
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Posts: 7
| Imobley - 3/20/2015 3:29 PM
If i lived on the edge of lake erie musky would be that last thing on my mind.
This it the entire reason why I want to fish it. Most people write it off. I know of a 40 lb fish that was caught in a small trib and I guarantee it's home is Lake Erie, not a creek you could throw a ball across. The fish traps at the power plant often have muskies caught in them.
It is LSC or Green Bay? Absolutely not and my expectations are not even close. But I'm in it for the hunt and the "needle in a haystack". We can catch walleyes in our sleep out there. Putting together a puzzle like this would mean a lot to me, even just one fish. |
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Posts: 2024
| My opinion, when you do narrow it down and find them, keep your lips sealed tight! Ha! They may be more easily located during spawning time. There was a thread about the St. Louis River recently that may help you narrow down your search. |
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Posts: 1529
| I have caught musky in erie. theres some spots. largest problem is habitat. theres very few weedbeds and ambush points. |
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Posts: 345
Location: Poynette WI. | Maybe try trolling and covering alot of ground or spend a lot of time driving around with the locator on and come back to the spots or stretches that looked most appealing. |
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Posts: 147
Location: Milwaukee, WI | You must talk to the man in the photo; Howard Wagner. He has done what you are trying to do.
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Posts: 7
| Howard fishes near Buffalo Harbor and I'm sure he does venture away but like someone else posted, there's no talking about that stuff. I know he did catch that fish on a Legend Plow. |
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Posts: 719
| Western basin is deeper than St Clair but is the same temp and has the same food. They could spawn in the Detroit River and move out. I've always thought historically there was probably a ton out there before Erie was pronounced dead decades ago. I've also talked to some Ohio walleye charters that catch small ones out by the islands. |
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Posts: 157
Location: Lincoln, NE | Sounds to me like 1. You know that they are out there. 2. You know it won't be easy. 3. You are fine with that if you can connect with one good fish. I say go for it. Find where the baitfish + structure + adjacent to deep water all lines up and go for it. Troll some big baits like 12" Deep Threats, Headlocks and Legend Plows. If you connect with a fish or mark something on your electronics maybe try throwing rubber. The payoff could be huge. Big fish are never easy. They get big by being hard to catch. Good Luck. |
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Posts: 1
| You should read Tom Gelbs book. Very interesting stuff about open water fish along the same lines of schooling baitfish etc...I think it would be a very good read to start pointing you in the right direction out there. |
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Posts: 455
| Waste of time. Too much water too few fish. Just fish the tributaries and other spots you have caught them before in past. |
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Posts: 42
| LakeErieFishMan - 3/21/2015 3:49 AM
Imobley - 3/20/2015 3:29 PM
If i lived on the edge of lake erie musky would be that last thing on my mind.
This it the entire reason why I want to fish it. Most people write it off. I know of a 40 lb fish that was caught in a small trib and I guarantee it's home is Lake Erie, not a creek you could throw a ball across. The fish traps at the power plant often have muskies caught in them.
I would then go out and work the water! No way of knowing whats out there until you try and really work it. I was told for years, a lake near my home town in PA, didn't have a musky population. Well after catching a few nice ones and people seeing me catch some, its now fished more often for Musky. Now the size I've gotten are 25" to 38" nothing huge but they are in there. I'm talking about Lake Marburg, PA guys!
Edited by fishpmc 3/22/2015 7:55 AM
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Posts: 3
| Hi, I fish muskie in Ohio also. There are a lot of guys curious about Lake Erie muskie, and there seem to be more incidental catches each year. I once heard an ODNR official talk about pre-1900's Lake Erie and he said commercial fishermen were taking millions of pounds of muskie for the fertilizer and dog food industries. It was eventually netted out, and then changes to spawning grounds, etc prevented a recovery. Now with zebras cleaning water, gobies becoming a food source, negative additions might improve things for muskie. |
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Posts: 3
| Just posted my first post, sorry I should have introduced myself. Hi folks, LONG time lurker, and over the years many people on this board have greatly helped me to become a better muskie fishermen. A big thank you! |
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | I am not too familiar with the was end of Erie but I do find it interesting that lsc is so prolific and this end isn't. Both were horribly polluted and commercially fished. Too bad a restoration could not be undertaken.
The comment about weeds and ambush points could not be further from the truth. Lsc fish relate to bait. |
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Posts: 719
| If you visit Pelee Island you can go in the historical center and look at fish harvest records from pre 1900's. I was stunned to see the number one fish taken commercially in the western basin was northern pike. Nothing else was even close. I am assuming this was because they were easy to access year round and had alot of marshland and creeks to spawn in, especially around Toledo. Much of that is concrete and break wall now. |
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Posts: 295
| Get a graph you can trust. Dial it in so you trust it. Dont rule out pulling double tens behind a downrigger ball... Can be deadly. You'll be able to see fish following your bait on the graph. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | bryantukkah - 3/22/2015 12:01 PM
Get a graph you can trust. Dial it in so you trust it. Dont rule out pulling double tens behind a downrigger ball... Can be deadly. You'll be able to see fish following your bait on the graph.
Just curious...how can you see fish following your bait on your graph while trolling?
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | MD75 - 3/22/2015 9:14 PM
bryantukkah - 3/22/2015 12:01 PM
Get a graph you can trust. Dial it in so you trust it. Dont rule out pulling double tens behind a downrigger ball... Can be deadly. You'll be able to see fish following your bait on the graph.
Just curious...how can you see fish following your bait on your graph while trolling?
Not sure, but maybe with a down rigger, his lure is still in the cone? |
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Posts: 22
| Yea, you can keep the downrigger ball on the graph, and then see the fish come up and follow it. I see it alot with salmon on lake michigan. Next time I see it ill take a picture of my graph. |
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Posts: 1529
| tod m. I live here in the region. weeds and ambush points are reference to erie not lsc. I have fished this area since 1956 . for erie the west corner musky do relate to these weedbeds ambysh points. how would it not be you can troll for miles but any action is in the areas I mentioned not open water areas..running a charteboat in the western basin in ont after countless miles has shown these areas. . sorry just dis agree whats happening in my back yard lol. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | Unchained - 3/23/2015 5:45 AM
Yea, you can keep the downrigger ball on the graph, and then see the fish come up and follow it. I see it alot with salmon on lake michigan. Next time I see it ill take a picture of my graph.
That sounds cool...I would love to be able to see that. I've never run downriggers before...how far behind the ball do you set your lure? |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Check out Waterwolf Charters ( Bob Walters ) videos he's running 3 feet behind the ball. There is a video called Muskies Live he's running 18 inches. I just picked up a downrigger adapter for my Aqu Vu going to play with it this summer. |
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Posts: 431
| You can definitely see fish come up and take a look at your bait when trolling a downrigger. If your graph has a 50 kilohertz beem and a 200 (pretty common) the lower frequency will show this better, because it is a wider cone. The deeper you run the wider the cone is so its easier to keep the ball in the cone. Ive had days salmon fishing where you get lots of follows and very few strikes, sometimes you can even throw a speed change or direction change in to trigger a bite when you see the second line show up on the graph. Pretty cool when it goes down like that. |
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Posts: 3
| I usually fish LSC a couple of times each summer, and last year I bought a map of Lake Erie western basin and I researched muskie catches being reported in the western basin. It seems like it would be worthwhile to try fishing the area where Detroit River is dumping into Erie. Then slowly expand your range while trying to stay on fish. Problem is a lot of that area is Canadian waters and they probably enforce the same opening date as LSC.
There are fish caught every year around the Erie islands, and the various reefs, but I am not convinced that there are sufficient numbers yet to make it anything more than exploratory. |
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Posts: 22
| Ive picked them up with lures as far as maybe 25 feet behing the ball. I have no idea what the max would be but i think alot of it would have to do with depth. Ill try to take a picture next time i see it while im swearing at my graph for the fish to bite. |
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Posts: 295
| Yes and yes. The idea there with a downrigger ball and a trusted graph is that you can get an idea if there are fish where youre at without actually having them bite. If you keep getting follows on the graph and no takers, break out the big rubber and go back and cast at them if you want. |
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Posts: 294
| No pro here and by no means an expert, but I think chasing em' in unknown waters would be awesome. Having knowledge that there is any type of population in the areas you are considering would be worth exploring in my opinion, especially knowing the caliber of fish that the Great Lakes produces. I can't speak to the down rigger thoughts, but as mentioned earlier trying to follow them out of the river systems by trolling would be a place to start. Once you've located fish you can cast or jig for them. Who knows maybe you uncover the next LSC or Green Bay. Certainly not a waste of time though. |
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| I remember reading somewhere that, "back in the day" (late 1800s and early 1900s IIRC), they used to commercially fish for muskies in the Maumee Bay area... |
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