2026 Lake Erie Walleye Jig Fishing Charters Are Underway
Current Lake Erie Fishing Report 4/7/26
Lake Erie fishing charters for the 2026 season are under way. Walleyes have made it to the spawning grounds of Lake Erie and are biting! My first charter of the season was over this past weekend. Long standing client Steve wanted to be the first one out of the gate to kick the season off.
Steve and his group showed up Friday afternoon to beat the wind and rain predicted for Saturday morning. The skies were mostly sunny, seas 3 ft, air temperature was a warming 65 degrees with a south west wind. The warm air blowing over the lake made it very comfortable to be out there. Steve was even in a short sleeve shirt and shorts! At noon we pushed off the dock at Wild Wings Marina and I set a course for Locust Reef, a popular jig fishing spot for this time of year. I noticed that the water was super dirty out to the 12 ft mark then started cleaning up. To my surprise there was about 8 inches of visibility in the water column at Locust Reef. I set us up for a drift on the south neck drifting towards the shallows. The first drift we pulled one fish, that's very typical due to the fact everyone is getting a feel for the Lake Erie jig fishing as it is different from any other jig fishing you might have done. On Lake Erie I use all one ounce Captain Hooks hair jigs, so the rhythm to jig and stay on the bottom without snagging up has to be refined. I was going around the boat and working with the clients showing them the method that works best for me before making a move to what I felt would be better fishing. Several boats were at Locust Reef running over the fish all day, and I do not like to fish in a pack of boats. When I felt that my clients adequately adapted to the Lake Erie Walleye jigging technique , and no longer had any confidence to catch any fish as the graph got bare and the fish came in slower. I slowly made a move to the west to an unnamed jig fishing spot that produces on a regular basis. To my surprise there was not one boat there and the water was much better quality than the last spot. I marked many more fish while setting up for the drift making me think this is going to be fire! The jigs dropped in the water and the practice run at Locust paid off. The bite was not fire like I had hoped, a steady and slow pace walleyes came in the boat. We did not get a limit, which is not uncommon for early April However we did manage enough walleye to keep our interest and for Steve to put on an Easter fish fry!
Top producing colors for the day were purple, black, and white. Jig fishing is more of a reaction strike and I find that color on a regular basis does not matter. It's all in the technique! At the end of the charter Steve was so pleased that he added extra days to his next charter coming up at the first of May!
Pro Tips:
- Keep that jig hopping! Never drag it along the bottom. Hop, Hop, Hop, Hop…..
- Always fish the right “color” of water. 8 inches of visibility is plenty for jig fishing
- Fish colors you have the most confidence in will always catch you the most!
I will have the Sir Walleye back out over this coming weekend for more jig fishing. I like to do a soft start to the fishing season to allow me time to correct anything that the storage gremlins may have broken during the winter. Things will start heating up and I will be fishing much more in the future. In down time Captain Matt and I will continue to “fun” fish and be posting content on Social Media!
Until Next Time,
Gotta Go, Fish ON 🎣 Get The Net‼️,
Captain Kris