Slick Water, Slow Drifts: Port Clinton Walleye When There's No Chop
Everybody loves a chop on Erie because the walleye eat in it. But the calm, slick days are when most anglers fold. That is exactly when a slow, deliberate harness drift out-fishes the whole marina.
The last two weeks out of Port Clinton have been a clinic in patience. Fish are scattered across the mud basin in 24 to 30 feet, not stacked. They want a crawler moving just fast enough to spin a Colorado blade and no faster.
Bouncer weight is everything
Match the bouncer to your depth and speed so the line stays at roughly 45 degrees. Too light and you drag through the mud. Too heavy and you plow. In 28 feet at 1.0 mph we run 2 ounces and tick bottom every few seconds.
Chartreuse and copper-orange have been the two blade colors that matter in the stained western water. When the sun climbs, downsize the blade before you change the color.
More from the journal
- MichiganFishing Report
Ludington Kings at 58 Feet: The September Thermocline Bite
Marcus Delaney - ErieFishing Report
Steelhead Alley: Read the USGS Gauges for the First Cold Rain
Dana Whitfield - SuperiorField Notes
Marquette Lake Trout: Tungsten Over Rock, Bites on the Drop
Ingrid Halvorsen