Memorial Weekend 2023 Lake Erie Walleye Report
The 2023 fishing season continues to be fantastic! The walleye action in the far western basin of Lake Erie remains strong and we had an excellent long weekend chasing more Lake Erie Walleye! Every year we try to fish out of our home port on Memorial Weekend. Each year, we remember how blessed we are to have the opportunity to fish in the land of the free, because of the brave. We thank the men and women that served our great county and gave the ultimate sacrifice to make these long fishing weekends possible. We fished Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Both mornings and afternoons were good bites with Monday and Tuesday being best. All trips produced good fish, great memories and limits of Lake Erie Walleye. We will break down our fishing action below. As always, we only sell what we use and carry on our boat! We hope you will check out our website and give us a chance to be one of your walleye gear shops! All trips were out of Fenwick Marina in Oak Harbor, Ohio.
5/27/23 Report
With the NE blow busting up the fish on the inside 15-25' areas we typically fish this time of year, we made the long haul around 15 miles offshore towards the Canadian line. The deeper waters past West Sister island often produce better catches after a steady blow that shakes up the shallower fish. We left the dock around 8:30am, much later than usual as we were letting the lake lay down a little bit and needed some sleep in time! It was a long ride out as there were some good size rollers from the ENE yet. Once we got near the island, the water started to clear up and we started making sporadic, small pods of walleye. We started out trolling and got a few but had been wanting to cast harnesses. We pulled out the spinning gear and got busy. We were casting our Mayfly Magic Rigs in 31-32' of water and catching the walleye on the bottom. We typically don't target bottom fish, but these guys were active. Normally when casting we are counting down and slowly reeling and sweeping the rod back to the boat in the upper water column. Today we were actually hopping the harnesses off the bottom similar to how we fish with hair jigs. The walleye were hitting on the top of the jig stroke. This was a neat way to catch em' casting! We were drifting at .5 - .8mph. All colors we tried caught fish but Brass Hammer and Atomic Blueberry probably caught the most. We were using the standard 3/4 oz Slim Casting Weight that these rigs come with. This was a fun fishing trip and we released all the fish to swim another day. Casting sure is a great change of pace and a relaxing way to target Lake Erie Walleye!
5/28/23 Report
We got a late start this morning again and set lines around 9am. We fished a few miles from where we casted harnesses yesterday but today we were trolling. The water clarity remained good once you got to West Sister. We fished 31-32' of water. Size 1 Offshore Tackle Tadpoles, 36" Diver Leaders and a mix of Stinger Scorpion Spoons and 2.5'' Badmos 70-100 back was our best program. Purple Demon and our custom color Badmo were our best colors. Size zero Dipsy Divers with 48" Diver Leaders and spoons at 48-54' back were next best for us. We got a few bigger fish on Suspending Bandits with a 2oz Snap Weight at 80 back with the snap at 50. Speed was 2.2-2.5mph. Finished up around 11:30 and released a few more before heading in. The bite seemed like it was about to pop off when we were pulling lines.
5/29/23 Report
For day 3 we got out a little earlier and had lines set around 8am. On the run out to the area we fished the day before, we noticed the Lowrance 2d was looking better/different than the 2 previous days. The water was still jacked up and looking like crap but the marks looked like feeding walleye. We were also seeing bait on the screen. It's tough to leave fish to find fish but everything we were seeing said to check some inside area waypoints. We ran around for a few miles and scanned some old waypoints, finding schools of fish. We set up in some water with 6-8'' of visibility and started to troll. About 30 seconds in we stopped feeling anxious for "leaving fish to find fish". It was on fire right out of the gate. With the water having almost no visibility we were running bright fluorescent spoons and cranks. Bright pinks, chartreuse and lime green colors were getting hammered. In the shallower water with limited visibility, the Suspending Bandit cranks too over. 50' back behind the Offshore Tackle Planer Boards was most productive. Size Zero Dipsy Divers on zero settings 30' back pulled a handful of fish as well. We paired these with our 48'' Diver Leaders and Stinger Scorpion Spoons in bright colors. Blueberry Muffin and Purple Demon were best. Our speed was 2.1 - 2.3mph. They wanted it a little slower today. We were only getting bit today going with the waves.
5/30/23 Report
We started much earlier today. We set lines a little before 6am and got to see an amazing sunrise. Not only was it perfectly clear skies, it was nearly glass calm as well. We got some great pictures but the in person sight on the water cannot be truly captured in a photo. After seeing an abundance of these on the water sunrises, it is still an amazing sight each time, almost like the first time all over again. After taking a moment to appreciate that epic sight, we got busy setting lines. The water cleared up and was looking much better than it did the day before in the same area we fished yesterday. With the water cleaning up, we added a chrome based Bill Lewis PWC to the spread in Black Head Wonderbread. This was a good call as it got smoked within a minute of being out. It caught numerous fish and our 2 biggest walleye of the morning. The biggest fish ended up going 28.5''. The other lures in the spread were the same as the previous day, at the same leads. We stayed right at 2.1mph and by 6:50am, were limited out. It was insane action and the fish were eating heavily. It was wild that we already had our limit before the times we woke up the 3 previous days! All 4 days were great, but this final morning was one for the books. As we ran back to Fenwick Marina, it was a little sad to realize that our 4 day fishing bonanza had come to an end. We were yet again grateful for being able to do what we do. Thank you again to the brave men and women that serve and defend our great country and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
