Trophy Walleyes Are Being Caught On Lake Erie
3/18/26 Lake Erie Weekly Fishing Report
High winds have plagued the Lake Erie region the last week, not allowing for much Lake Erie fishing to happen in the last week. South West winds up to 50 MPH has water blown out of a lot of marinas causing another seiche in the western basin. Floating docks that are in the water already are sitting on the bottom from the low water. However there was a little walleye fishing before this blow started.
I headed to Mazurik's boat launch with Captain Matt from Lake Born Co. and his 622 Ranger. The weather man had missed the forecast. The winds were under 10mph out of the north, skies were sunny, air temperature was in the high 40’s, seas were under 2 feet. After I backed Captain Matt down the ramp, launching the boat, I went to park the truck and trailer and noticed that there was only one other rig in the parking lot. I thought to myself that at least the boat traffic shouldn't be bad. LOL. Matt set a course for the SE corner of Kellys Island where we both thought would be a good place to look at this time of year as a common spot for female Lake Erie walleyes to stage for the spawn. The Ranger went on plane and no sooner than we reached a comfortable cruising speed the Lowrance fish finder lit up with marks. Off plane we came and started “looking” to make sure the marks were consistent enough to troll on. After a low speed pass of about half a mile upwind we went to deploy the trolling gear. The water has a good stain color to it making the walleye feel comfortable. If you fish Erie you already know a stain in the water color holds the bait fish and walleyes follow the bait and feel more secure due to lower visibility. Reaching our starting spot, speed was set to 1.3 mph at the lure using the Fish Hawk on the down rigger, the trolling rods went in the water with Smithwick P 10’s and 2 oz snap weights on Captain Matt's side. I chose to put Deep Walleye Bandits on my 3 rods due to the water being 38 degrees in the stained area. Bandits have a different, more aggressive action that the walleye love when the water reaches that magical temperature. I thought it was a little early for the Bandits but hey nothing ventured nothing gained. The first fish came to the boat off Captain Matt's side, then BAM my side fired with number 2 coming in on a Bandit. The next 2 fish came from Captain Matt's side, which told me I’m a few water temperature degrees early on the Bandits. I wound my 3 rods in and quickly switched them over to Smithwick P 10”s matching Captain Matts program. Once back deployed my side of the boat went back to catching fish. Any color with a white base was pulling the work load. White base lures this time of year mimic the large shad in the lake that are the main food source. Always match your bait fish profile no matter what time of year or body of water you're fishing. Just because you caught fish on lure x last year at the same time of year on the calendar does not mean it will work this year! In a short time we were at 10 fish in the boat only needing 2 more for our daily walleye limit. About the time we were giving fist bumps, the skies changed and it started SNOWING on us! The bite slowed way down till the squall passed, a short time after the sun peeked back out BAM 2 rods went off making our daily limit of Lake Erie walleyes! One of the 2 last fish to come to the boat was a 28.25 inch Fish Ohio making the trip out well worth the memories.
With the conditions we had I felt like Lake Erie fishing could not have been any better. Neither of us really had high expectations for this adventure due to previous weather and lake conditions. However the years of knowledge of knowing and understanding feeding and migration patterns of these Lake Erie walleyes paid off for us. The Captains freezers definitely have a head start to the 2026 fishing charters season. To date in the 5 times out on the water since ice out over 60 walleyes have been vacuum sealed and in the freezer! Soon I will start sharing some of these packs of walleyes with the elderly and widows who don’t get fresh walleye often. Sharing these is one of the many ways I enjoy giving back to the community!
Until Next Time,
Gotta Go, Fish ON 🎣 Get The Net‼️,
Captain Kris