WALLEYE FISHING
Lake Erie is the Walleye Capital of the World!
Prime Walleye fishing season starts early spring and continues till July. Walleye fishing is known to go all year long but the prime fishing picks back up heavily for late September and October walleye fishing.

Walleye feed mostly on emerald shiners, gizzard shad, alewifes and rainbow smelt.

The Walleye has a long slender body with a yellow-olive and bluish-brassy overcast on the sides. The belly is a milky-white. It has a large clouded eye and a dark blotch on the webbing between the last three spines of the first dorsal fin. The walleye is also known for its numerous sharp teeth. 

PERCH FISHING
Perch fishing can be the most fun and exciting for the whole family. The fast fish often seem to jump into your boat faster than you can catch them. Perch fishing is part of the sport everyone can enjoy and always makes for a great day out on the Lake.
 
Over the past several years Perch fishing has increased so much that the ODNR increased the take home limit from 30 to 50 for 2006.

For the most part the Prime perch season starts in September and continues thru October. Even though the height of perch fishing seems to be in September and October you can count on perch fishing year round on Lake Erie because of the large abundance of the fish. 

Perch fishing has the greatest success on Lake Erie using spreaders with shiners, minnows, worms or cut bait fished near the bottom.

Normally the fish grows between 5-12 inches and weigh around ¼ of a pound to 1 pound. But Lake Erie is known for its jumbo Perch that can reach as much as or more than two pounds.

The perch have golden yellow to brassy green with 6 to 8 broad, dark vertical bands and a white to yellow belly. They have many small teeth but no large canines.

BASS FISHING
Lake Erie can be a dream come true to a smallmouth bass angler's. Lake Erie’s Western Basin is the place to catch 5-pound smallmouths.

May is the best month for Lake Erie smallmouth fishing because the bass will be in relatively shallow water, where they tend to be aggressive during the pre-spawning period. Once the big lake warms the water stimulates action up and down the food chain, starting with plankton. The smallmouths invade the shallow water to feed heavily on shiners, smelts, shad, crayfish and, more recently, round gobies.

Jigs are generally the top lures for springtime smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Erie.