The morning sun had not even cracked the horizon when Jerry Meyers Sr., motored the Watch Witch out of the mouth of Turtle Creek into western Lake Erie, just west of Davis-Besse nuclear power station.
He ran barely a mile or so toward the nearby Turtle Reef and shut down in 10 to 12 feet of water. One of the guys had a jig and minnow overboard and a fish on before I even had my rig tied on.
It was barely 7 a.m. and the first walleye, a male just under two pounds, was in the cooler. A half-sun was just putting in a red-orange appearance in the east beyond the Perry Monument, well east of Put-in-Bay. With fish in the box and more on the take, it already was a beautiful day on the lake. And that didn t even count the sunrise.
By 8:15 a.m., we were done, as least as far as keeping fish. Each angler had a limit of four walleyes, 16 fish weighing 30 pounds. Perfect for the table. All males. Two and three at a time sometimes would follow a hooked fish to the net.
We can fun-fish now, announced Meyers. Oh yeah. By 10 a.m. we had boated and released another limit of fish, or maybe a few more. Nice.
The next day with other fishermen and a 6:30 a.m. start, we had em by 7 a.m., said Honest Dan Tucker, who wouldn t lie and who fishes with Meyers when he s not running Erie Sport. Day after that we had em by 7:25 a.m.
That is the way the story has gone many days on the lakeshore, from the Toledo Ship Channel east to the Davis-Besse area in this, the jig-and-minnow season. Large schools of walleye in the pre-spawn mode have moved inshore, and this year, thanks to the Mother Lode year-class of 2003 fish, there are plenty to go around.
You could start right in about eight feet of water and catch fish, said Meyers, a veteran charter skipper known to his Nort Taledah fishing buddies as Meatpole.
In a word, Meyers sums the lake fishing season so far as excellent. But he expands on that somewhat. You couldn t ask for much better fishing, except when we get a northwest or northeast windstorm. Then it takes a day or two to get settled.
When the water is too chocolatey off the Davis-Besse area reefs, Meyers motors west to Maumee Bay, where he and lots of others fishes anywhere from Turtle Island to Little Cedar Point. His theory is that the sweep of current from the Detroit River helps clear up the bay more quickly after a blow.
The weapon of choice this time of year for casters is a 5/8- to 3/4-ounce purple hair jig or a chartreuse jig, dressed with a bit of plastic tail and a stinger treble hook. Color doesn t seem to make much difference right now, said Meatpole. But the stinger is important they re hitting short.
The skipper prefers to hook his minnows upside down because they tend to hold better that way. The walleye don t care. One of the stinger hooks is threaded into a piece of the minnow s tail. Just make sure the minnow runs straight.
Meyers expects jig-and-minnow tactics to prevail until the first couple of weeks in May, when the water warms and the fish become more active. Then, he adds, they ll chase more. Then we ll go to a mayfly rig.
The latter is a hybrid of a shortened worm harness and the old standard, the weight-forward spinner. It has become very popular, and productive, in recent years dressed with a nightcrawler, of course.
Meyers said it is hard to predict how long the fish will remain in tight to shore. It depends on the weather. They ll scatter around.
Then he will start searching around Niagara Reef and A-, B-, and C-Cans, or even L-Can, all of which help mark the Camp Perry Firing Zone. The 03 year-class of walleyes is so big, Meyers notes, it doesn t matter where you go, you ll catch something.
Judging from the number of boats you see out there in recent days, even in mid week, he s right.
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Some walleye fishing notes Treble hooks are banned in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers and inner portions of their bays until May 1. A map detailing the bay areas can be found at the state Web site, www.ohiodnr.com. For Maumee Bay, for example, you must stay outside the Turtle Island-Little Cedar Point line to use stingers until May 1.
Also, Michigan waters of western Lake Erie and Detroit River are open year-round again but the Michigan daily creel limit is five in the lake, 15-inch minimum, same as Ohio.
The Ontario side of the Detroit River is open as well , but with a six-fish limit. However, Ontario Lake Erie waters are closed March 15 to May 12. Ontario has no minimum keeper length.
Main lake spawning currently is under way, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
On the rivers The peak of the walleye runs on the Maumee River is under way and should remain at that level for another week and a half or so, according to Gary and Jan Lowry at Maumee Tackle.
Good numbers of limits were seen at the shop this week as anglers weighed in for photographs. The largest fish of the season weighed at the shop came in this week, a female weighing 11 pounds, 4 ounces.
In addition to jigs and tails and Carolina-rigged floating jigheads and tails, some anglers are dressing their hooks with Berkley Power Grubs in an array of colors, the shop said.
On the Sandusky River at downtown Fremont, good numbers of fish were in the river but activity at mid week was somewhat slow, according to Bernie Whitt at Angler Supply. Whitt noted that the first of the white bass have showed up but the main runs have not yet started. White bass usually do not run in earnest until most of the main walleye runs have left the stream.
A youth fishing program, featuring freshly stocked rainbow trout, is set for tomorrow, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Pearson metropark pond. It is based on the Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs project for ages 15 and under.
Contact Steve Pollick at: spollick@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
First Published April 14, 2006, 11:41 a.m.