4-23-22 Lake Erie Fishing Report

We pushed the start time out to a 9am start this morning. We wanted to let the East wind calm down after battling it the day before. The timing worked out great as the lake was laid down when we left the channel. Went out to the spot we fished yesterday and jigged 18-20 FOW. Made one short drift and had some decent action. We were catching the usual eater male jig fish but we knew the clients really wanted a shot at some bigger fish. There were hundreds of boats out jigging, which made navigating the jigging areas difficult. LOTS of pressure on those jig fish on a blue bird sky day with flat seas can make for a slow grind. After one short drift jigging, we put the rods away and made a long run to some trolling water. 8-9 miles later we found some good marks and set gear in 32 FOW. It only took a minute or two to see the first board fly back. We knew it was a good one right away. Once we got it in the boat, everyone was amped up. Then another board went flying back. For the next 30 minutes it was a little chaotic with action. After an hour or so, we had their limit in the box. They wanted to fill out the trip and play catch and release, so that's what we did. Caught 5 or so doubles and had steady action. Released a ton of fish to swim another day! Best speed for us was 1.9 - 2.1 mph today. This is fast for this time of the year. We try to push the limit on speed as much as possible as we can cover a lot more water at 2.1 vs 1.5, etc. Bandits 50-100 back did the most damage. Our best lure today was the Wonder Woman Bandit at 100 back. Next best was a Suspending Bandit in Blue back Black stripe at 80 back. It caught a lot of the fish! The Bandit Suspending Minnows definitely proved their worth today! Old faithful Blue Chrome caught as well. Got a few on a Gold Digger Reaper. Awesome size class fish today. 1 female we released had eggs, the rest were all spawned out. Water temp was 48 degrees. Water clarity was about 1 - 2 ft. Water color was a teal/gray color. Looked great, just like it was a little stirred up from the East wind. The guys had a great time and were all smiles. The weather turned out to be absolutely gorgeous! Headed back in and got the fish cleaned up. Can't wait until the next trip! It's the most wonderful time of the year!