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My week at Erieau


limeyangler

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Hi Y'all,

 

Got back home from 'Down South' on Saturday...sheesh we drove over 6000km round trip...cant wait to get back on the water as opposed to the tarmac...lol. Anyway, the trip was to see my in laws near London Ontario...staying at their trailer in Erieau, then a week later drive to South Haven Michigan to pick up my Mum and Dad who have flown over from England and were staying with friends there at a waterfront home, stay there for 2 days and then bring ma and pa back up North to our place as they have not seen us our the house since our move almost 2 years ago.

 

I knew I was not gonna have a lot of time to fish...but staying by lake Erie and then Lake Michigan looked promising and i had arranged prior to leaving to go out for bows/steelhead with a friend of my in laws.

 

 

After 2 days of driving we arrived at Erieau. The in laws were there waiting and after a short hello from me ...lol...i was out walking along the pier to check out the fishing possibilities, chat with the anglers fishing and sus out what tactics/bait/methods and species were about. as i walked up the pier i put on my polarized shades and right away spotted some fish swimming up the side of the pier wall...i rushed back to grab a rod and threw on a Northland Thumper tail minnow plastic on a jig and within minutes had caught my first ever LMB! i don’t think they fight as good as SMB though.

 

 

 

FIRST EVER LMB FOR ME!!!

 

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After chatting with the locals on the pier it seemed that a bobber set up during the day was the preferred method with either worm or minnow bait and the next morning i headed off at about noon for a session. Minnows were hit and miss from the minnow wholesaler but worm seemed to work best and i bought some power bait minnows as back up. it was not long before i was catching some nice SMB.........

 

 

LOTS OF THESE GUYS ALONG THE PIER

 

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There were a few other guys fishing either side of my wife and i, one was catching crappie...big ones too....using artificial minnows, and another guy who was struggling to catch anything until he swapped over to a bobber. After he swapped to bobber he started hauling in bass after bass. All this time i was still catching a few but this guy was catching non stop. Curious as ever i walked over to inspect what the secret was...he had live crayfish....SO THATS IT! he was also getting into some very large Sheep head, which looked great fun to catch on the light gear.........

 

 

 

SHEEPSHEAD SEEM TO LIKE CRAYFISH BEST AT THE PIER

 

 

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THIS ONE WAS HUGE....IT TOOK THE GUY A WHILE TO GET IN

 

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I did not have any crayfish but i did have some gulp crayfish scent spray so sprayed my night crawlers with it and was rewarded with a couple of smaller ones....they really put up a good fight even if i was told not to eat them.....

 

 

 

I GOT A COUPLE OF SMALLER ONES

 

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The guy fishing on the other side of me was hauling in really nice crappie all morning, using powerbait minnow things, i had some in my bag so thought I’d give it a try too. I got a couple but the biggest one was caught by my wife when i handed her my rod to hold while i went over to help out the other guy land another big sheep head...lol...always the way eh? it would have been a PB for me at 13", now my wife holds the record....lol.

 

 

 

I SAID HOLD THE ROD, NOT CATCH 'MY' PB CRAPPIE OF 13"...SHEESH.....LOL

 

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The next day i was introduced to Sonny. Sonny is from Detroit and like my In-laws spends his weekends during the summer in his trailer. Sonny is a true original....i thought i was gonna have to kill him...he never ...ever....ever...shuts up!...lol...but we had a blast and became good buddies in a short space of time. Sonny fishes for crappie at the harbour wall almost every night he is down there, and i joined him when i could. The first time we went out we got there at about 9pm and fished to 11pm. We used long poles to get out from the wall a bit, with just a half ounce sinker set 10" above a small Aberdeen hook, we also used a bobber set up, but the current along the wall made this difficult at times. Sonny fished at about 5' below the surface whereas I found the bite better slightly deeper at around 9' in 16 FOW......sorry Sonny...lol.....but there were more at 9'!!!!! That first night we only got three...but went back at 4am and we got around 15-20 crappie by 9 am,. At 9 we moved to a friend of Sonny's dock for some blue gill and got a few of those too.

 

 

 

 

SONNY WITH 1 OF 3 CAUGHT THAT NIGHT

 

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WE WENT BACK AT SUNRISE

 

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WE DID MUCH BETTER IN THE MORNING

 

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FINISHED THE MORNING CATCHING BLUEGILL AT A FRIENDS DOCK

 

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I also got the chance to get out with another weekend resident at the park called John. My father in-law had told John we were coming down, and that i was fishing crazy and wanted to get out for trout and salmon...so John, who has a boat at the marina, took us out.

 

We headed off at around 7:30 am and got back at 1pm. There were 4 of us...John(the captain), Ed.......another really nice guy who weekends at the trailer who came out crappie fishing with us too and my brother in-law Andrew who visited us for 2 days. The weather was perfect, in fact John said he did not think he had been out in his boat when the water was that calm for decades. We were only out about 4 miles and we fished in 60-70 FOW using 2 Downriggers and 4 dipsy divers. The fish were all taken in the 40' to 20' depth range. We got 5 in the end, i got 2 really nice big ones, Andrew got 2 and Ed got another medium one. John just said he was happy to be out in the boat and watching the fish jump out the water when hooked was enough for him....THANKS JOHN FOR THE TRIP, MEMORABLE!!!!!! we did not get any salmon, but all rainbows took flight and was an awesome experience.

 

 

ED WAS HELPING JOHN PREP THE RODS WHEN WE ARRIVED AT 7AM

 

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AN ABSOLUTELY PERFECt MORNING

 

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JOHN WAS AN EXCELLENT TUTOR.

 

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THERE WERE LOTS OF BOATS OUT THAT MORNING

 

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ANDREW WITH HIS FIRST ONE

 

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I GOT A COUPLE TOO

 

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The last night we were there the grand crappie fishing extravaganza at the harbour wall was on! the three stooges as i called them were there....that is my father in-law Dave, AKA "sleeping Jesus", AKA 'George', AKA Colonel Sanders...all the names have stories but would take to long to explain...lol, Ed, Mark and me were all fishing my wife sat with us and everyone else showed up to watch at various points of the evening. We caught lots of fish, but the best bit was the banter between the three old fishing buddies who sit there year after year teasing each other and telling their...'stories'...

 

 

 

MY FATHER IN-LAW DAVE......AKA "sleeping Jesus", AKA 'George', AKA Colonel Sanders.

 

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THE WHOLE CREW AT ERIEAU

 

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GREAT TIMES....GREAT COMPANY!!!!

Edited by limeyangler
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Great memories for sure. Man, that shot of shore fishing at night with a Coleman lantern sure brings back a lot of fond memories for me. Thanks for sharing that....just a stellar report Bud.

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Guest Johnny Bass

Great Report. That is some pretty impressive fishing from shore! Looks like the trip was a success, filled with a lot of different species. Congrats on your wife's PB. Thanks for sharing.

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Great report,pics and videos limeyangler :thumbsup_anim:

 

You guys sure got into a very good mix bag of fish :thumbsup_anim:

Congratulations to both of you....first your wife for her PB and you for your first LMB :clapping:

 

Anyone fishing with live leeches while you were down at the pier??

 

Again great job and thanks for sharing

Leechman

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Great report,pics and videos limeyangler :thumbsup_anim:

 

You guys sure got into a very good mix bag of fish :thumbsup_anim:

Congratulations to both of you....first your wife for her PB and you for your first LMB :clapping:

 

Anyone fishing with live leeches while you were down at the pier??

 

Again great job and thanks for sharing

Leechman

 

 

Nope Leechman...did not see any leeches being used, on the next to last day i was there i went out on the pier and a guy was casting out 4" watermelon and brown/sparkle tubejigs and getting some real monster bass...i mean all around 5lb mark, i only had a chartreuse tube with me but had no luck with that.

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WOW!!! A fantastic report, AS ALWAYS!!!!!! What a great week :) Next time you are down in Eriau, try fishing around the marina just outside the entrance to the provincial park...nice bass and the odd bowfin there, for one heckuva fight :D

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