This will keep some boats in the water late this year!

[OhioFisherman]

Time is running out, but they are pushing 14 pounds now. There will a couple of happy people with new boats.

[Old Ironmaker]

14 lbs. is a big fish even here on Erie, even Quinte under the ice. It has been very calm here for the last few days here on the north shore at least. Last week Ore boats were being tossed around. I had Zebra mussels on the deck. This lake can be a beast without warning. November is our high wind month. 

There is a Walleye tourney on Erie every summer, the 444. I think it means 4 days, 4 men, 4 locations, or something close. The north shore tourney is out of Port Colbourne on the east end of Erie. The other 3 are on the US side. The Pt. Coulbourne tourney is sold out months before the date, it was $400 per boat a few years ago when we entered and got blown off the lake in buddy's 21 foot StarCraft both Sat and Sunday, the first few days was like glass, they aren't the big money days. Don't quote me but each location is a 40K first prize. There plenty of pros every year with $100,000 or more barges. I don't know who won the CDN event this year but for the previous 2 years local guys here took the prize. I met the kid that won 2 years ago and his boat was a 17 footer with 4 on board. Better be organized for that and 8 lines, and the boat owner was a massive young lad, had to go 250 or more .  If his 3 mates were even close to the same size it would be cramped a tad and the water line had to be high to say the least. Let us know when the numbers are in my Buckeye friend

Johnny D. 

[OhioFisherman]

LOL, John it's a beautiful late fall day here, sunny and bright and the temps will be pushing 60, although they are calling for storms and wind later on in the day. It's looking like one of the nicest days weather wise in the last month, and the tournie ended at 8 am this morning. The weigh in station was supposedly open all night for last minute fish entries, it was raining and blowing last night here so the numbers are probably final?

big fish in the open 13.745  30.50 inches and in the kids 11.275  31 inches, better weather might have changed those numbers a bit over the course of the tournament, but I doubt by a lot, maybe a pound or so, it's Erie and those numbers are pretty good for a walleye anywhere?

Ya Lake Erie can be a beast any time of year, it doesn't take much of a sudden storm to get it moving. I still recall going out one late fall day years ago smallie fishing and having the fog roll in, we were only fishing less than a half a mile from shore and luckily could hear the trains passing on shore or we wouldn't have known where shore was, I put a compass in my boat before the next trip out.

Kind of mixed emotions about this, it's nice to have great walleye fishery close by, but just from experience in my own family and circle of friends it has changed tourism to Canada, very few people that I know that used to make an annual trip up north still do. Different strokes for different folks? The scenery and Canadian experience was always worth the trip for me, good fishing or not. 

[OhioFisherman]

Incidental catch from the fall brawl.

https://www.toledoblade.com/MattMarkey/2018/01/06/While-still-grand-record-trout-fish-leaves-angler-about-81-000-short.html

[dave524]

30 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

Incidental catch from the fall brawl.

https://www.toledoblade.com/MattMarkey/2018/01/06/While-still-grand-record-trout-fish-leaves-angler-about-81-000-short.html

Most would guess the NY State record Laker would be a Lake Ontario fish, nope, Lake Erie as well. The guys fishing the upper Niagara for trout and pickerel during the winter get some slob Lakers there as well. 

[OhioFisherman]

Going back a lot of years to when they used to stock salmon here, my brother and my dad were out one day trolling deep for them and dad got a 4-5 pound lake trout, as far as I know they are a rare catch in my area of the  lake. Also saw a pic of a guy netting a muskie in the fall brawl, another pretty rare fish in this part of lake erie.

[porkpie]

We caught lakers off the lighthouse at long point this summer when trolling for pickerel.  Surprised us but apparently not that uncommon!

[dave524]

5 minutes ago, porkpie said:

We caught lakers off the lighthouse at long point this summer when trolling for pickerel.  Surprised us but apparently not that uncommon!

I was the Park Naturalist at Long Point Prov. Park for 2 seasons in the 70's, the deepest point in Erie is just off the tip of the point.

[OhioFisherman]

42 minutes ago, porkpie said:

We caught lakers off the lighthouse at long point this summer when trolling for pickerel.  Surprised us but apparently not that uncommon!

Pork, just guessing that long point is at least 100 miles east of the areas I used to fish, deep water so more common?

[porkpie]

I don’t know, it was a surprise to us but apparently not to some other guys we talked to at the launch.  We weren’t even dragging bottom at the time, maybe 35 down over 80.