Current Western Lake Erie Fishing Report
Western Lake Erie Walleye's Post Spawn Are Hungry!
4/28/26
Calm seas and stable weather has been the story over the last week at Lake Erie in Port Clinton, Ohio! This week's Western Lake Erie fishing report will focus on trolling, as calm waters have been the story. Jig fishing is still going strong; however my recent clients have elected to troll for a better grade of Lake Erie Walleyes. Jig fishing is producing smaller jacks still spawning. Casting and hopping back to the boat has been the key to jig fishing success.
Setting sail in Western Lake Erie from Wild Wings Marina with a west heading to the Toledo water intake has been producing the bites. Seas have been calm less than 2 ft, skies mostly sunny, air temperature in the high 60’slow 70’s, barometric pressure steady, water quality just a light stain of dirt.. I have been leaving the dock at 6 am in the morning running to the fishing grounds in the dark and having all the trolling gear in the water as the sun is cresting to capitalize on that early morning bite before any other boats have a chance to run the fish over. Water temperature is at 54 degrees so the speed has picked up to 2.2 - 2.4 MPH SOG(speed over ground) both over ground and at the lure. Walleye seem to like the sweet spot of 2.3 on the Fish Hawk with 15ft of down rigger cable out. Water depth most productive for me has been in the 22- 23 foot water area. I have been trolling custom painted big stick crank baits on the board lines 70 ft back. For those of you reading this that might not know the lengo we use line counter reels to get lures at a desired depth by the amount of line we put out. The more line out the deeper the lure goes down in the water column. At 70 feet of line I am targeting the 17 to 18 ft down in the water column. On the corners of the boat I went to SPOONS! YES SPOONS in the month of April! WIth the water temperature being in the 50’s right now and the speed picking up Small Michigan Stinger size spoons are taking some “shots”! Shots is a term us captains use instead of the term bites, “shots” just sounds way cooler than bite! LOL! I have been targeting the same depth down in the water with the spoons. The crankbaits are 17 - 18 feet down. The spoons are really hot one day taking lots and lots for shots, then cold the next taking only a couple, it's April and that is to be expected fishing Lake Erie. The overall grade of fish being caught trolling had been very impressive this past week. I think I have had at least 6 Fish Ohio’s in the past week. A fish Ohio is any walleye caught in Lake Erie over 28 inches in length. Anglers can take a photo of their catch and summit it to the ODNR online and get an official Fish Ohio certificate with your picture on it and a commemorative hat pin!
Pro Tips:
- When you're trolling for any fish and the bite it tuff speed up! You are most likely going to slow. Walleye especially will bite up to 3 mph!
- When trolling look for the current, read your rods and your spread watching to make sure everything is pulling square. The current is not always with or against the waves. Fish with the current and directly into the current will always produce the most shots.
Until Next Time,
Gotta Go, Fish ON 🎣 Get The Net‼️,
Captain Kris