Roll With the Flow

by Gary Engberg

November 06, 2001

This was to be the trip of the year for some friends and me. We were going to Lake Erie to fish for giant walleyes on the best walleye lake in the world at the best time of the year. I was going over a few days early and get set up, check out the fish locations, and prepare for the arrival of my buddies. What could go wrong?

Many of you have read articles I have written singing the praises of the walleye fishing on Lake Erie. It is the best there is for both size and numbers. Port Clinton is the spring and early summer spot to base out of and later in the year the fish migrate eastward chasing huge schools of emerald shiners and shad. These are the primary forage fish in both the Western and Central Basins of Erie. By late September and early October, the schools of walleyes have made their way to the area between Marblehead and Vermilion. The spot to base out of is Huron, Ohio that is located at the mouth of the Huron River where it empties into the big lake.

Sometimes, the best plans get a monkey wrench thrown at them and that is what happened to me. The one variable which one has no control over is the weather. High winds had been blowing on Erie for the past month dirtying the water to the color of chocolate milk. The water usually is clear allowing about 10 feet of visibility. Now, I couldn't see the prop on my big Mercury OptiMax. This, coupled with high winds produced 5 to 6 foot waves, which made fishing impossible and very unproductive.

In the past and this is my fourth year fishing the fall walleye bite at Huron, you could expect a few "blow days". But, this year despite the warmer than normal temperatures, the wind had rarely ceased to blow. The winds from the west and southwest have been blowing across the whole lake making fishing for walleyes very difficult, even if you can launch your boat and fish. The few days when I could fish were very unproductive catching a few fish, but not the normal limits of 7 to 8 pound fish. One Illinois angler caught a 15-pound fish, but this was the exception and not the rule. Normally, I would have a couple of double-digit fish everyday. But, not this year.

My friends Wally Banfi of Sauk City and Terry and Trevor Frey of Black Earth were on their way from Wisconsin looking to catch the great fishing I had bragged about for years. The first day, we couldn't fish due to high winds and big waves. Day two looked better and we launched early and headed out into Lake Erie searching for the schools of big walleyes. We found walleyes on my Lowrance LMS 350 electronics everywhere we fished. There were fish on the bottom and all the way up the whole water column. We fished anywhere from 30 to 42 feet with little success. Wally finally caught an 8 or 9 pounder to break the ice, but we basically got frustrated seeing walleyes constantly that wouldn't bite due to the dirty water and the abundance of baitfish.

I was at wits end by now and thinking if there might be an alternative plan to save the trip. I knew that there also was a good population of smallmouth bass in the area. I checked my Hot Spots map and saw that the shoreline off Vermilion was only a few miles away. The boys said go for it since at this point action was the most important factor and we weren't having much of it. Lake Erie also is known for great smallmouth fishing and I had experienced it on the Canadian side a couple of years ago.

We slowly motored over to the east shoreline near Vermilion and found the breakline and good structure in 18 to 20 feet of water. I marked fish everywhere there were humps and breaks. We started trolling Reef Runners and Mann's Stretch baits at various depths moving slowly in and out over the structure. Viola, after only a few minutes Trevor Frey had a monster smallie jerk the Off Shore planer board back and go airborne 3 times before breaking the line. This bass was in the 6 to 7 pound range and one of the largest smallmouth I had ever seen. Soon, we had 3 to 5 pound smallmouth pounding our baits at will. The day was saved and we even picked up a few smaller walleyes. I knew now that even if the walleyes wouldn't cooperate the fighting smallie would.

Sunday was the last day my friends would be at Erie, so we were on the water by sunrise. We headed back to the Vermilion area where we found the fish the day before. The smallmouth were still where we had left them the afternoon before and we caught big fish at will. Anyone would be proud and happy having fish of this size and in the numbers biting. After a pass when we caught 4 fish in a couple of minutes, we decided to end back out into deeper water to try for walleyes one more time. It was a waste of time and after an hour and a half of nothing, we headed back to catch smallmouth till the sun started to set. The waves started building and we slowly motored back to the boat ramp at Huron. Plan B worked and saved the weekend for my friends. I call it rolling with the flow. What you want may not happen, so always leave room for other options. Or Plan B.