Lake Erie Walleye 2025

[SchultzFishingTeamOutdoors]

13 minutes ago, Pequod1 said:

Just wondering if they got the cleaning station at Hanover back working again. I haven’t been around in a week

 

It was up and running yesterday 👍

[Tradman]

If anyone would like to drift fish out of Conneaut Ohio give me a shout, it's been a blast, only trolled 1 time this season and only had one time we didn't get our limit. We've been drifting between 70 to 74 feet , casting harnesses, These fish fight way better than most think when on a spinning rod.

I'm retired or retarded depending on who you ask , can fish most any day the lake allows. All you need to do is show up and fish,  don't need gas money but  you can bring me a good Italian sub and a Coke for lunch. Have a 28 Penn Yan so you'll be fishing on a nice boat

[Pequod1]

Just heard the cleaning station is closed all this week at Hanover. The grinder broke.

if your a senior, launch at the state ramp for free during the week and clean fish at the small boat harbor. It’s a bit of a pia but when you limit out before 9:00, you have plenty of time to go to Buffalo.

[mr 580]

Cleaning station in Dunkirk has been up and running again.  Important with these grinder stations is to put one fish in at a time. Stuffing a pile of carcasses at once over loads/ plugs grinder.  
Just an FYI that DEC and USCG have been around checking for unlicensed charters.  I’ve had to show credentials and a buddy was boarded while we were fishing and landing fish even with boards out.  It’s no joke if you get caught.

[idn713]

Well. Erie is hilariously insane. We have never tried this before so I gave it a go today.

 

Ran out to 69 fow out of the Catt, put down 2 harnesses on two #2 chinook divers on a 2 setting. We had the divers out 115. We set down two riggers with harnesses at 55, 50 feet behind the ball.

And well………we never once stopped reeling on fish. Keeping four rods in the water is an absolute chore. Had the 3 man limit in under 2 hours. This fishery is just bonkers. 
 

Best down speed was 1.8-2mph at the ball. Big thanks to Fisherman21 for some pointers from his trip out, helped us be on fish from the jump!

 

 

[SchultzFishingTeamOutdoors]

21 minutes ago, idn713 said:

Well. Erie is hilariously insane. We have never tried this before so I gave it a go today.

 

Ran out to 69 fow out of the Catt, put down 2 harnesses on two #2 chinook divers on a 2 setting. We had the divers out 115. We set down two riggers with harnesses at 55, 50 feet behind the ball.

And well………we never once stopped reeling on fish. Keeping four rods in the water is an absolute chore. Had the 3 man limit in under 2 hours. This fishery is just bonkers. 
 

Best down speed was 1.8-2mph at the ball. Big thanks to Fisherman21 for some pointers from his trip out, helped us be on fish from the jump!

 

 

Great job on the crush fest! 🇺🇲🤘to say Erie is awesome is a understatement...

[Pequod1]

That screen is amazing!  They said there were 80 million walleyes over 2 yrs old in Erie. I doubt that. Probably 200 million!

Nice  job. I’ll be out the next two days.

[GAMBLER]

21 hours ago, idn713 said:

Well. Erie is hilariously insane. We have never tried this before so I gave it a go today.

 

Ran out to 69 fow out of the Catt, put down 2 harnesses on two #2 chinook divers on a 2 setting. We had the divers out 115. We set down two riggers with harnesses at 55, 50 feet behind the ball.

And well………we never once stopped reeling on fish. Keeping four rods in the water is an absolute chore. Had the 3 man limit in under 2 hours. This fishery is just bonkers. 
 

Best down speed was 1.8-2mph at the ball. Big thanks to Fisherman21 for some pointers from his trip out, helped us be on fish from the jump!

 

 

 

 

 

You should have jigged walleye on that screen!  Nice job Isaac!  

[Gator]

Damn! Now if only they would trigger the release or trip the Dispy themselves lol. I went once with Jim earlier this year (thx!). So I got that out of my system. I even knew there was a fish on the end of the line once.

 

It's grocery shopping, and much like Wegmans, fun the first time. To each their own, but I will stick to chasing kings and smallies. But man if you have a couple kids, what a great way to get them hooked!

[Gill-T]

Gator, the cold water season has walleyes fighting better. That being said they have the same tactic as lake trout when hooked trolling- open mouth to deploy air bags. 

[sherman brown]

2 hours ago, Gator said:

Damn! Now if only they would trigger the release or trip the Dispy themselves lol. I went once with Jim earlier this year (thx!). So I got that out of my system. I even knew there was a fish on the end of the line once.

 

It's grocery shopping, and much like Wegmans, fun the first time. To each their own, but I will stick to chasing kings and smallies. But man if you have a couple kids, what a great way to get them hooked!

 

 

you need to switch to the lite bite slide divers. i switched A few years ago from the deeper divers after starting with the dipsies and haven't even had i thought about giving up the lite bite divers.

 

i don't use the slide but tie a 7' fluro leader and lace it through the lite bite arm and set the tension as light as it will go. then i set the rod tension as tight as needed to stop false release's. this lets the fish dictate the release. most small fish trip the diver when they hit. even yellow perch and small white perch trip it most of the time.

 

if you are having trouble with the fish not tripping the diver you can try setting the tension lighter but this has a fine line between false releases or not tripping. but the LITE BITE slide diver does this for you. you can start with 2 of them and run them just like you run a dipsy but these have a separate release for how hard its set on the lite bite arm to release so easy by even most small fish. but you want to start with the small ring and standard weight which i believe is 2 OZ then it's very close to a dipsy. if you want to ask any questions about the lite bite diver feel free to message me.

[Gator]

3 hours ago, Gill-T said:

Gator, the cold water season has walleyes fighting better. That being said they have the same tactic as lake trout when hooked trolling- open mouth to deploy air bags. 

With all due respect to Brian, I haven't fished lakers on my own boat since we used to place in the top three every year jigging off the Niagara Bar...in the 2000s lol. I own a bunch of Gambler Rigs, but only because of solidary with a brother, you know?

 

As for the Lite Bite slide divers, that's a great tool, as are the Chamberlin releases where you can really tweak the tension. If I were fishing them routinely, that's how I'd rig it. But I need more tackle like I need a hole in the head. If somebody's just getting into it, certainly worth rigging up right from the start. 

 

Now, I'd be down for a nighttime trip in the late Spring on Erie. I LOVE fishing at night. I've been taking my kayak out an hour prior to first light all summer and man, the solitude is amazing. The bass fishing hasn't been bad either.

[whaler1]

4 hours ago, Gill-T said:

Gator, the cold water season has walleyes fighting better. That being said they have the same tactic as lake trout when hooked trolling- open mouth to deploy air bags. 

True. Caught a big incidental walleye drift fishing the bar last winter. Fought well, surprised it was an eye when it came up. 
Lakers also fight much better on light tackle fishing Devils Hole in winter. That being said I’m disappointed I blew a drift on a laker. 

[Pequod1]

I’ll have to investigate the lite  bite slide diver. Now I know why gator gave me all his dipseys😂

Edited August 15, 2025 by Pequod1

[Pequod1]

Got another quick two man limit at the Cat today. They would not touch the plugs I put down but hit the spoons hard.  I launched at the State ramp thinking the Hanover cleaning station was closed but when I checked on the way back, it was working. The guy there said it was a on again, off again situation.  He wanted $12 just to clean fish so we went to Buffalo and was greeted by a 35 minute wait.  Please tell me why some guys clean walleyes with a 6” knife and act as if they are giving them a manicure! Jeez!

[13owhunter]

I was that guy cleaning fish with a regular knife this season exactly once.  Bought an electric one as soon as I got home after watching guys fillet 3 fish to my one.  While I can't say I'm the greatest filleter of fish, I like to think Im better than most with a knife.  I can certainly make short work of a limit of walleye with my new electric one.  =0)

[sherman brown]

On 8/15/2025 at 4:42 AM, Pequod1 said:

I’ll have to investigate the lite  bite slide diver. Now I know why gator gave me all his dipseys😂

 

 

they are a little expensive. when i bought mine they came with the large and small rings and the standard weight but now i believe they don't come with rings or weights and cost more. the ring set and weights can be bought separately. once you use them you won't regret spending the money.

 

if you're not sure about paying for them you can always get 2 for one side of your boat and run your dipsies on the other side.

 

i have several i bought used of fishing forums for spares, so keep an eye out for used one. I've been using most of the ones i started with i don't believe they ever wear out.

 

If you try them PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THEM.

[Pete Collin]

Made my second Erie Walleye trip this morning out of the Catt.  Took my boat instead of Steve's bigger Lund because he has not yet outfitted it with downriggers, dipseys, planer boards, rod holders, you get the idea.  Great boating conditions.  Lots of guys out there.  Everyone seemed to be catching them.  But one thing was evident - the sonar screens were dead!  Walleye must be boat shy, becuase we did just fine today but the fish hid from our Lowrance.  There were a combination of bites off the bottom, and suspenders 60 feet down.  Every rod got fish, but the Lead  core was the star of the show.  But very few strikes were detected!  We had to check the lines frequently because we towed an awful lot of nice walleye around without knowing.  They averaged nice size, lots of 4 pounders. and only 2 shorts.  The cherry on top was that when we brought the lines in for the day, we had 2 fish on out of the 4-rod spread.  Had  a first - popped the last rigger, and a fish bit as I reeled it in!  

I want to poll everyone.   We haven't gotten one yet that was bigger than 24" or so.  Do you all get big ones every so often?  Do you have to target big fish to get them?  I ask because I have little walleye experience, got some incidental ones on Canadian trips going after trout.  Would love to get a personal best, have yet to do so!  Can you show some pics of this years's big ones?

peteerieaug.heic

[Pequod1]

I might have see; you out there today if you were by yourself.

i can’t believe you did not see fish on the screen. 58-61’ was loaded just west of straight out.  Later in the morning, we trolled out to 71-73’. We did have a blank screen from 62-69’ but   I knew from previous days the 70-78’ depth was good and the screen was loaded out there too.  Maybe you were in that dead zone between schools.

As far as big fish go, they seem to be hanging out more solitarily and the only guys I saw targeting them were during last weekends NWT. They “ hunted” them down with their live scopes and dropped a jig with a worm on them. 
I have been lucky and caught two 27” fish yesterday and today. And believe me, that was luck.

 

 

[Pete Collin]

6 minutes ago, Pequod1 said:

I might have see; you out there today if you were by yourself.

i can’t believe you did not see fish on the screen. 58-61’ was loaded just west of straight out.  Later in the morning, we trolled out to 71-73’. We did have a blank screen from 62-69’ but   I knew from previous days the 70-78’ depth was good and the screen was loaded out there too.  Maybe you were in that dead zone between schools.

As far as big fish go, they seem to be hanging out more solitarily and the only guys I saw targeting them were during last weekends NWT. They “ hunted” them down with their live scopes and dropped a jig with a worm on them. 
I have been lucky and caught two 27” fish yesterday and today. And believe me, that was luck.

 

 

Well that explains that.  We heard they were between 70 and 90 feet.  Best action was in 80 feet.  Drove right past your depths.  But the average size was nice so we enjoyed ourselves.  That's not me in the thumbnail, that's my buddy Steve.  I don't like to fish Erie alone.

[Shorthanded]

We too fished out of the Catt. Headed straight out, found fish in 70-85 row, fish down 45 and 60ft. Headed west. Willow blade harnesses on downrigger, and 124mm dipsys on three setting with 120-140ft wire out, speed 2.0-2.2 mph, only needed three rods for 12 fish limit.

[Shorthanded]

There are few big fish in the population currently, best advice I can give for finding and catching larger walleye: find smelt schools, don’t fish in the school but around the outside of them. And just as important find your own water, don’t fish with a pack of boats.

[Pequod1]

Exactly. Good advice.

Buddy fished Canada side yesterday and today. Didn’t matter where he was, fish were everywhere. Those yearling perch are going to take a hit this year.

[SchultzFishingTeamOutdoors]

Left mouth of the Catt today 9:00am pulled rods at noon 3 man limit and 2 nice perch worked NW 60 to 73 fow ended on a east troll touch east of the Catt navigating away from traffic was key today.  Riggers with burner's 52 to 60 down burner's on 7 color spoon on 5 color divers 2.5 setting out 114 to 140 with harnesses best color's for us today was chicken spoon, county fried chicken and wonderbread 

[billyp]

Hello  I am looking to fish lake Erie Tuesday Aug 19. I have never fished lake Erie and  will be coming from the Rochester area. Just looking for suggestions on where to launch out of. Thanks for any suggestions in advance. Billy