Lake Erie Kayak Trip: Monster Walleye

The following blog will contain two perspectives of our Lake Erie trip on Friday April 18, 2014. Aaron Stiger and I will share our thoughts and stories from that "Trip of a Lifetime." We do have a little overlap in our stories but I felt that if you, the reader, knew ahead of time you could both appreciate the differing perspectives and avoid some of the confusion. Aaron's part and my part will be separated by differing color text. Sit back and enjoy. 

Planning the Trip....Aaron's Role

Kayaking..…. It is something many outdoorsman/women enjoy doing in their free time. Whether it be the adrenaline junkies of the white water world or the casual paddler whom takes time to enjoy the scenery, people have grown very passionate about the sport of kayaking. Sometimes I encounter fellow kayakers that will see me with my kayak in the truck and will strike up a conversation about the hobby we share.

Fishing…….Yet another pastime that many people enjoy, whether it be from a bank or from a boat.  Many father/son bonds have been established, friendships created, and memories made on the water. 

Kayak fishing……….. Not as many people have caught on to this yet.  Even to this day it still amazes me at the sheer number of people who haven’t been introduced to the sport of kayak angling.  At times you get some very strange looks, or even your picture taken, while on the water or driving to the water.  

Kayak fishing Lake Erie in early April…….  Now, even the local Erie bait store said we were crazy for this one.  But, that is exactly what we intended to do on Friday, April 20^th. 

I’ll give you a personal account of the best quality day of fishing I have ever had, and the preparations that led up to that day.  Sean covers the play by play of what happened in detail below, so I’ll do my best to fill in the blanks with some of our thoughts throughout the trip.

The whole idea of the trip actually began three years ago.  Jim Martin can take full credit for being the mastermind of this opportunity and the anglers that went Friday are definitely the beneficiaries of his foresight.  But, back to three years ago- I moved in two houses down the road from Jim, and while driving by his house one day I saw a kayak in his garage.  At that point I also enjoyed kayak fishing so I stopped in.  Needless to say, an instant friendship was formed.  Jim informed me that he was a Lake Erie guy through and through and that it was the place to go for limits and monsters.  In my mind, it seemed like one of those “grass is greener on the other side” types of attitudes, and I took it with a grain of salt, but I also kept it in the back of my mind as a possibility someday.
Even though I wasn’t quite buying it, I took my little ten-foot sit inside Future Beach Trophy up last year and faced 3-5 foot swells and was miserable in about 30 minutes.  After a morning of dry-heaving over the kayak on the beaches of Cleveland, Ohio, I had never planned on returning to the big lake again. 
So, three weeks ago, when Jim put it in my ear that he wanted to hit the walleye spawn during its prime after ice-out, I was hesitant.  However, I was now equipped with a new Cuda 14, which is designed well for big waters such as Lake Erie.  I agreed that the trip could be a success, but only would go if we had a 2 foot or less wave forecast for the day.  At that, the trip was planned…… weather pending.  We watched that forecast and analyzed wind and wave patterns for the next 21 days.

In the next three weeks, Jim, Joe and I poured over Navionics maps and looked for as much insight to the areas we planned on fishing as possible. You can find many helpful maps on Navionics.com and clicking on the WebApp button.  After searching these maps, Jim narrowed our focus down to a couple of different areas.  We could either jig off of the Davis Bessie power plant, or we could troll off of Catawba.  Jim explained that the Davis Besse powerplant was a slow-declining mud flat that only reached about 12 feet deep, and that was the place to jig.  He informed me that trolling would be more productive over by Catawba.
I next jumped into the Lake Erie reports on OGF seeking insight and information.  That is a great place to go as the guys there will pour out their knowledge on the subject anytime except tournament times.  I read and re-read Jim Stedke’s Mid-Winter Seminar.  After reading it, I still had some more specific questions.  Jim Stedke was the 2013 OGF Angler of the Year for his knowledge and mastery of Lake Erie.  Luckily, Jim goes to my church in Wapakoneta and so I gave him a call and he provided us with some valuable insight about the lake, the baits and methods we should be using, and some very specific areas to look for when we were out there.   At this point, I bet you want to know what Jim told me-  well, we are all kayak brethren, so here it is-  We planned to slow troll Deep Husky Jerks in pink and purple at 1.0-1.5mph until they touched the bottom in 22 feet of water. We decided that trolling was going to be our focus, and the outskirts of Clinton’s reef was going to be our target.  We fished in the muddier water where the water was a touch warmer than the clearer water.  If you follow that program, you just might have some luck out there as well!

Closer to the trip, Jim Martin told me had also invited Sean, Neil, Jeff, and Joe, which I thought was great because they are all great fishermen in their own rights and the company would be a great time, even if we did not get into any fish. In high anticipation of this trip, I bought a few custom Deep Husky Jerks off of Ebay that I thought would be my staple baits during the trip.  

On Tuesday, a few days before the Friday trip, the wave forecast came in.  It was looking perfect at 2 feet or less.  As long as this forecast was legitimate, it was going to be game on! Wednesday came and I went and loaded up my kayak at Jim’s house, because Thursday I knew I had a track meet and would not be home until later.  I stayed up Wednesday evening until about midnight packing, checking, and double checking my gear.  I went to bed that night excited and ready to go.  Just one more day at work.

I am a teacher for my profession, and on Thursday school went quickly.  However, I still had that track meet.  At the meet, I watched the hours roll by, 5-6-7-8-9-10’clock.  I knew at this point it was going to be a rough morning.  I finally arrived home at midnight from the meet got ready for bed, and set the alarm for 4:00am.  

Jim and Sean rolled in at 4:45am, and a surprise guest, Amanda also joined the group.  Unfortunately, Jeff and Neil were unable to come, so we headed up to Beaverdam to pick up Joe Wolford and we were on our way.

Planning the Trip.......SEAN

Its quite the rare occasion when someone puts me on fish but that is exactly what happened last Friday when we made our way up to Lake Erie. Jim Martin, a friend I made during the Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail tournaments last year,  sent me a text early last week asking if we wanted to head up and try for walleye on Lake Erie. I have to admit I was hesitant at first, it was a long drive and I'd have to shift my work schedule around in order to make the trip. I told myself that I was probably only going to head up if someone else went with me. Its a long drive and I really didn't want to make it by myself, especially when I knew that I'd be running on very little sleep on the drive home. Both Jeff and Neil had to work on Friday so my options were dwindling quickly, however Amanda started to show interest in the trip later in the week. Jim called me up Wednesday and asked me if I was going to be able to make it, and without hesitation I said yes. To be honest I hadn't made my mind up before that conversation, if he had texted me that question I'd probably told him I was uncertain. Little did I know that this phone call would help push me into one of the best trips I've had in a long time.


Thursday morning I woke up at 6am and went to work at 7am. I worked my typical 8 hours and then drove straight home. There I loaded up our kayaks, rods, tackle, waders, etc. I jumped in the shower real quick, grabbed a bite to eat, and then Amanda and I hit the road. The first stop on our list was Bass Pro Shops, I had lost a rod holder a few weeks ago and I would need one to troll for walleye on the lake. While we were at bass pro I also picked up some Reef Runner's Deep Little Rippers, a few jig heads, curly tails, and various other terminal tackle. We left bass pro around 6:30pm and then stopped to grab a bite to eat. From there we drove an additional two hours before eventually arriving at Jim Martin's house. We unloaded all of gear off of my trailer and then loaded everything up onto Jim's trailer. We sat around and talked for an hour or so before deciding to head inside and trying to get some rest before our big trip in the morning. Sleeping was pretty easy for us since Jim had let us crash in his spare bedroom equipped with a queen size memory foam mattress. (It was the first time I've ever slept on one and I absolute love those beds. In the last 2 years the amount of time I sleep each night has plummeted to an average of 6 hours. I think getting one of these beds may just be one of the best investments I can make in order to get the most out of those 6 hours..........back to the story.) We crashed a little after midnight.....after looking at Lake Erie on my navionics app, the local weather reports, reports on Ohio Game Fishing Forum, etc.

My alarm clock went off at 4:15am and I sprung out of bed, it was go time. Amanda wasn't so enthusiastic about waking up. Eventually she rolled out of bed and started getting ready. Thirty minutes later, a new speed record for her, and we were ready to hit the road. Jim, Amanda, and I drove down the road where we met Aaron Stiger. I had talked to Aaron several times on OGF and Facebook, and had even signed up to do two OGF crappie tournaments with him, so it was pretty cool that we were going to fish together as well. From there we drove down the road and met up with Joe Wolford, also a friend I made last year during the BKFT tournaments.  The five of us then made our way up to Lake Erie. After what seemed like the shortest 2 hour drive ever, we had arrived at a bait store only a few miles from the lake. 


THE TRIP....Sean

We went inside and started to grab a few lures. Aaron, Joe, and Jim struck up conversation with the old guy who ran the shop. Jim asked the old man what the walleye were hitting on and he told us that the Rapala Deep Husky Jerks in pink and purple had been the hot baits. That was all he needed to say, each of us picked up a couple of each color.

From there we drove down the road a couple miles to the boat ramp, where we started getting ready. We unstrapped all of our kayaks and began loading our gear into them. The five of us then decided what each of us was going to tie on, Jim wanted to make sure that we were all working different baits and different colors so we could find out if the fish were interested in one color or bait more than the others. (This is where Jim went into "Guide Mode".) We quickly tied on our lures and started putting on our waders. After 20 minutes, several guys driving by telling us we were crazy, a few photos, etc. we were ready to hit the water.

The boat ramps were super busy so we decided to launch off of a rock beach nearby instead. The lake looked great. The only real waves at the time were the ones that the big boats where creating as they launched from the boat ramp. As we paddled out Jim and Aaron began talking about where we should go, they eventually decided to head a mile away and fish a small reef only a few hundred yards off of the shore. We arrived at our destination and began dropping our crankbaits back behind the kayaks.We started out by tossing them back 50-70 feet and then trolling at approximately 1 mile per hour. Jim and Joe had trolling set ups with line counters to there methods were a little more precise than Aaron, Amanda, and mine. We made a quarter mile pass without a single bite to show for it. At the end of the run we made a wide U turn and trolled back down the bank this time a little further off shore. Nearly at the end of the pass I hear Jim yell, "FISH ON!" I stopped paddling to watch him fight the fish. After a short battle he brings the fish to the surface and into his net. He didn't seem to thrilled about it so I asked him what he had and he replied, "Just a stinking sheepshead." I told him that it was better than nothing.

It wasn't necessarily what we were after but if I had to chose between a shut out and a day full of drum/sheepshead I'd choose the drum every time. Jim told us how far back he had his lines, which let us know how deep he was trolling his crankbaits. Amanda and I adjusted our rods and started trolling again. Amanda was the next to strike, following suit she also yelled, "FISH ON!" After a brief battle she also pulled in a decent drum.

At this point Jim went back into "Guide Mode", he wasn't interested in beating drum up all day instead he wanted to find walleye. If it were my choice I would have probably stuck with the spot where I knew the fish were. He however insisted that we head out off shore to a pack of boats that we saw on the horizon. We lined our kayaks up 30 feet apart and began trolling our way off shore. It didn't take long before our fish finders began marking schools of long fish. Some of the returns were taking up half of my screen as I passed over them. Before I could analyze my screen too hard Jim yells out, "FISH ON!"

As he was fighting the fish I wasn't too sure that he had actually hooked into a fish, because his rod tip wasn't moving a whole lot. It was bent with the weight of a fish, but it wasn't putting up much of a fight, if any at all. He eventually got it up to the side of his yak and it started working his drag. After a few quick bursts he got her into the net.....a nice 25.5" walleye.

Jim was right about heading off shore, I could not deny that. We snapped a few pics of his fish and then set our rods back out and began trolling. While we were getting ready I told Jim that a 25.5" walleye was going to be hard to beat, I thought for sure he had Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trial's Saugeye/Walleye/Sauger Yak Ohio category won with a 25.5" fish. He agreed it was a heck of a fish.

We trolled out a few hundred yards before Jim said that we should probably head back toward where he landed his walleye and see if we could pick up a few more. A few minutes later and I had hooked into my first walleye of the evening, and it was a dandy too! Jim was a 100 yards away so I didn't say much at fist, I figured I could land it by myself....and then it surfaced barely hooked. I yelled out for the net and Jim came to the rescue.

It was by far the biggest walleye I had ever caught at 27.5" and 6.25lbs. I had passed Jim in the BKFT Yak Ohio category and I was certain once again that this fish was going to stand in first place for the rest of the year. (I WAS WRONG AGAIN)

The five of us began to make laps around the GPS mark that Jim and Aaron had placed into their fish finders. Thirty minutes later Aaron yells out, "FISH ON!" Jim makes his way over to Aaron and helps him land his fish. I hear Aaron let out screams and I see him throw a couple fist pumps into the air. Jim looked back and told me that this was a PIG! I paddled over to see what all of the commotion was about, and Jim was right Aaron had landed a giant.....quite possibly a fish of a lifetime.

The fish went 9lbs 2oz and measured just over 30", Aaron's new personal best walleye. The fish were getting bigger and it wasn't even lunch time yet. The five of us started working the area hard in hopes of finding a fish even larger than Aaron's. A few minutes later he came close to beating it himself, by catching another giant 29" walleye. 

Twenty five minutes later Jim yells out, "FISH ON!" I paddled over quick to see if Jim needed any help, and of course to see if this was another giant. Sure enough he pulls up a 29.5" PIG, which was good enough to make it his new personal best as well. (Aaron, Jim, and Myself had now set new personal bests.)

In less than an hours time we had landed 4 walleye over 25.5", this was quite possibly the best hour of fishing I had ever seen hands down. However the following hour would go down as one of the worst hours of fishing I've ever had. We, as a group, fell into s slump. I'm not sure if it was what were were doing or if it was something that the fish were doing but we couldn't bring a fish into the net to save our lives. I hooked and lost 3 decent fish after fighting each of them for nearly a minute. At one point Aaron hooked up with a solid fish that he fought for the better part of ten minutes. He hooked up and Jim immediately paddled over with the net. Knowing that we had lost the last dozen fish that we had hooked I continued to troll fearing the worst. I got to the end of my troll and started heading back to the shore when I realized that Aaron was still fighting the same fish. Here's his play by play.

THE BATTLE.....Aaron

As our group was reeling in monster after monster during the hot bite, my rod slowly doubled over, and I assumed it was a snag due to no other movement.  I pulled, I tugged, and had my rod tip high and low in the air looking for ways to free that snag.  I even reeled in my other line to reposition myself to free the snag.  As I was about 30 feet around the other side of the snag, I felt the slightest resistance pull away from me and a subtle but definite “thump” of that head turn away from me.  At that point I realized I had made a huge mistake and this was no snag but a Goliath fish that was literally sitting on the bottom with my bait in its mouth, just as Jim Stedke had described to me. 
I called Jim Martin over to get the net.  I pulled and tugged, but could not get the fish off of the bottom.  My Medium Light St. Croix Avid spinning rod was doubled over and I had that helpless, yet amped up feeling of wonder you get when your mind races about just what could be under the water.  I could not horse this fish in either.  Having only 10lb monofilament on, there was a very real danger it could break the line or pull the knot from its sheer weight.  When Jim got over, he told me to gently lift until I got it off of the bottom and then reel down quickly to keep the line tight.  He was right, I wasn’t going to land this fish unless I made the first move.
This was the moment of truth.  I raised my rod, and watched it bend.  More……more…..more…until it looked like one of those Ugly Stick advertisements with the rod in a complete circle.  Then, it happened-  I felt the fish’s fat belly raise off of the bottom ever so slightly.  It felt like pulling a large rock out of the mud and you free that suction that has been holding it in its place for an eternity.   As the fish was awakened from its comatose state and rose from the bottom, it began slowly swimming.  It did not realize it was hooked, it just knew it was not on its cozy resting place any longer and was seeking out a new habitat for the time being.  My drag slowly tick, tick, ticked away until I had much more than 100 feet of line out, and it was tight as a bowstring on my rod.  At this point, Jim was latched onto the starboard side of my kayak, and so the fish could not haul us both.  We were stationary, and it was going to be a test of wits, skill, and luck to land this beast.

At 5 minutes, the fish was still taking drag whenever it pleased, almost knowing that I was but a pawn in its game, and it the unmistaken ability to put me in a checkmate whenever it pleased.  Eventually, however, I was able to turn its head so it was at now least facing our kayaks.  I began making progress using the lift, drop, and reel technique I described earlier.  As the fish was about 20 feet from the boat, it definitely saw the boats and tried to spit the hook.  One of those trebles caught it, and the fish, and now the fight, was on.  At that point, a more aggressive fish came to life and it was ripping drag at a very good pace.  It put my Pflueger President 6935 to the test for sure.  Luckily, we are in the late spawn/ post spawn time, and so I continued to work it back after it exerted so much energy ripping drag.  At 10 minutes into the fight, my wrist was definitely hurting but I had gotten the fish with 5 feet from the boat.  The water clarity was only about 1 foot, so we could not yet see this giant. 
Immediately, I realized something was wrong.  Jim’s line had drifted and was now stuck around my lure that I had reeled in earlier.  I had no choice but to work the fish around the other side of the boat to land it on my own.  I took a deep breath and extended my arms out over the left side of my kayak and around the rod.  I still had most of the tension on the fish, but this was an awkward movement to make, and I wasn’t just handling a 2lb bass to flip into the boat.  Certainly, it was not the type of move you can pull off with a 10+ lb fish on the end of the line in most circumstances.   This walleye seemed to know it and it actually darted toward the boat, causing immediate slack in my line, I countered with a quick reel and tug, but saw my rod tip make three quick tick-tick-ticks, and I realized that was the fish waving goodbye.  I saw my Husky Jerk dart back up to the surface, and my heart was broken.  The fish was within 3 feet of being landed and I lost it.  I never got to see the fish, and honestly I am glad I did not.  If I would have, it would have made it that much more of a disappointment.  I cannot say for sure how large it was, but it was considerably heavier than the 9.5lb walleye and the 9.2lb walleye I had caught earlier in the morning.  That loss, however, will keep me going back to Lake Erie until I feel that steady tension of a sure-fire big, experienced fish again.  Next time I will land it.

 
Back to Work.......Sean

After Aaron lost that fish the action died down, eventually Amanda finally broke the slump with a sheepshead/drum in the mid 20" range. It wasn't exactly what she was looking for but she'd take it.

Amanda was still without a Walleye, but it wasn't for a lack of effort. She had caught more fish than anyone else, however the walleye weren't wiling to bite for her yet. Joe had hooked quite a few walleye and even nearly landed one.  However it flopped out prematurely before we could get a picture of it. It was also in the mid 20" range.

An hour later Amanda landed yet another drum while trolling, this one was much bigger than her previous two....topping the scales at over 9lbs and measuring over 27.5".

Amanda had finally figured them out, and with persistence was even able to fool her first walleye into biting. As with all walleye on this trip, it was a giant too.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to find where the walleye had disappeared to. The marks that were appearing on our fish finder earlier in the day had disappeared completely. We also noted that the water had cooled down 3 degrees and gotten significantly clearer as the day progressed. Jim and Aaron hypothesized that the muddy water was warmer and that the walleye probably followed it wherever it went.

Later in the evening I paddled out toward Joe whom had trolled several hundred yards away from the rest of us. As I approached him he was fighting a fish, which happened to get off mere seconds later. I noticed that my fish finder started to pick up activity once again but this time around it looked different. It almost looked like schools of crappie, after 30 minutes of drifting around I figured out what they were....prespawn white bass.

At 6:30pm we decided to call it quits for the day, we had all caught a decent walleye and lost more than we'd like to admit. We paddled back to the bank where we were met by a local ODRN officer. He gave us the typical, "you guys are crazy" talk and then we showed him just how crazy we were.

I think he was pretty impressed to say the least. He even told Aaron to get his mounted, which I think Aaron is going to follow through with. And to be honest Jim's Walleye isn't much smaller, so if i were Jim I'd definitely consider mounting that one too.


 HOME AT LAST.....Aaron

When we got home, we were greeted by my family members and they snapped a few photos.  We all pulled out the walleye we had caught, all in all 5 fish weighing over 40lbs.  The next morning, Jim and I met up and cleaned the fish.  I took my fillet table, or as I call it, the “murder table”, and we went to town.  My Mister Twister Saltwater electric fillet knife worked great.  We were done in under an hour, which I think is impressive considering neither of us has cleaned walleye that size before.  We cut out the cheeks, as they are the most tender part of the walleye.  They are truly the fillet mignon of the walleye, and nothing went to waste on these fish.  We ended up with 5 huge butterfly fillets.  Those are 18’’ wide each on the table.   

When it was all said and done, we had over 25 lbs. of walleye fillets to fill our freezers and feed our families and friends.  And I’ll tell you what, feed them it did!

All in all, it was a great day.  Everyone caught a fish, and some of us caught two.  I ended up with a 29’’ 9.2lb fish and a 30 3/8’’ fish that weighed in at 9.3lbs.  All of these fish were personal bests for the anglers that braved the lake that morning.  It will go down as one of the most memorable days of fishing in my life I am sure.  I hope to make many more memories with that group of anglers again, and I’m sure I will.  I wanted to thank Jim Martin first and foremost.  He is a selfless angler who puts friendships over fish.  He had the whole idea of the trip, and executed it to perfection.  Thanks, Jim.  I also wanted to thank Jim Stedke for sharing the encyclopedia of knowledge he has on walleye fishing with a group of lowly kayak fishermen.  Finally, I would like to thank Sean, Amanda, and Joe for making the long trip up there with us to create memories and share stories.   I hope this trip will inspire other passionate kayak fishermen to get out there and pursue something they have always wanted to do, whether it be a flow they haven’t fished or a lake they thought was just too big.  Enjoy your time on the water, and cherish the time with your friends.  Tight lines.

 
Thanks......Sean
I wanna thank Joe, Aaron, and Jim for letting us hang out and fish with them. It felt like we had been fishing partners for years, which is a testament to their characters....just good all around guys. We had a blast and were fortunate enough to caught some giant fish. I also want to thank Jim and his wife Amber for opening up their home to us and letting us stay the night.