September 1st Steelhead fishermen: Early in the morning at 12 MIle Creek the steelhead have been trying to make their way into the creek. So on Saturday when it rains we will see steelhead in the creek as long as we get enough rain to open the mouth up.
August 31st A very good perch report has finally been quite a bit more steady. Fishing off NE Marina in 64-65 fow, off the Light HOuse in 64 fow. Don't be afraid to break away from the perch pack and go deeper. You will find bigger fish and alot less fishing pressure. We picked up jumbo perch trolling with renowsky plugs in 77 fow while walleye fishing.
Just a reminder that after Labor Day(Tuesday) we will shorten our hours and plan on closing at 6:30 pm unless the demand is there for us to stay open later. We will still open at 6:00am, every day.
We fished yesterday west of Walnut Creek in 77 fow and limited out on Walleye & Steelhead. The eyes were hitting blue renowsky's at first then copper spoons in bright colors. The steelhead really liked brite orange & crome spoons, plus a chrome stinger with a blue tree off the downrigger and the eyes were off dipseys using braid line 15lb set at 3 1/2 and 170' back.
Wednesday August 25th A fresh report off of Shades Beach in 60 fow for some nice size walleye taken with downriggers and dipsey divers on spoons & plugs. If heading out today be carefull, there are waterspouts all over the place this morning and early afternoon. The perch bite this morning was horrible for the anglers in close, the best fishing was in 60 fow and got limits.
Just posted a couple of new pictures of an angler who caught a 15lb catfish yesterday and today got a 22 lb carp. They were both 32" long, the catfish had a girth of 18" and the carp was 24" girth. Nice job Jim!
Tuesday August 24th We've had very good reports of walleye being caught on the ridges of the shipping channel just outside the north & south pier. They are in close and hanging in 15-20 fow. Perch are off the lighthouse, just look for the big red party boat.
I finally got the pictures of the ladder that was put in at 4 mile creek and they are due to open the dam close to the end of the month.
Check out the other pictures on our photo gallery!
Saturday August 21st Our 3rd year anniversary today and thank you all for your continued support, plus you have watched us grow over these few short years. Lets hope with a little luck from mother nature and you that we can continue for many years to come.
A walleye report that will be hard to believe. The bass anglers are on to something here. They like to fish the drop off's in the lake and are finding walleye on the drop off's. They are fishing in 20-25 fow and there is a shelf where it comes up to 10-12 fow. Fish the drop off with crank baits. The humps are all good places to throw your bait or jig. We would not mention this if it only happen 1 or 2 times, however this is something that has been consitent. The eyes that we have been fishing were in 76 fow have moved in to 69-72 fow off the condos. Good reports from Shades fishing the second set of humps just on the inside of the mountain dragging lead weights with crawler harness's. Last night the fish we caught we on the bottom and got them using big dipseys on a 3 1/2 setting with our line out 180' with 15# braided line using blueberry muffin, and a blue Rapala stick bait. If you don't have any renowskys try your rapala's or reef runners in the darker colors.
Friday August 20th Lately the big waves have been a huge factor for fishing deep water, plus there have been quite a few fronts coming through causing the pressure to drop and it seems to me that the bite drops off also. We got to fish out off of the Condos the past 2 days doing very good the first day off copper spoons and purple & blue worm harness. Managed a limit in a couple hours. Yesterday was a totally different story, made it around the Penninsula in no time & in no time the lake kicked up. We managed 3 fish off the downriggers while others were using dipsey divers set at 3 1/2 arounrd 180' back. We tried that on a new worm harness in green & chrome and got a huge steelhead. Only to snap my 15# braided line at the back of the boat. Tip of the week is to use snubbers if you think you might hook into a steelhead, also leave your drag set very light before you put it into the rod holder or set your line going out srew a little tighter with the clicker on. We do carry them here made by dreamweaver. Looks like another item to add to the mix. Waves today are 2-3' with winds out of the north east. Perch have been on small side this year and if you are getting into some lunkers let us know where & how. We caught a 12" perch off the worm harness in 72 fow off the condos with no other perch boats around. There are still some really nice eyes coming out off of shades in 46-47 fow and on the outside of the mountain.
August 17th A great report today for the steelhead anglers! We have been seeing an early run of brown trout and a few steelies coming into the creeks very early in the morning. I hate to say it but Walnut Creek has had the majority of fish coming in. It won't be long now for what looks like a great season for steelhead & this year we will see plenty more big brown trout.
The walleye have been active on the downriggers more than usual, hitting off of copper colored spoons. Also dipseys have been working very good also with spoons & worm harness's. We tried to fish yesterday but the waves & wind got the best of it and had to turn around & come home. On the east side plugs have been hot for us off the lead core line.
Perch have been small in size for the most part. While we are out trolling we are seeing big schools of perch on the fish finder in deep water with no one around fishing for them. Break away from the perch pack and scout out other areas for bigger perch.
Sunday August 15th While we have been out fishing for eyes we have been seeing some pretty big schools of perch in 75 fow with no one around perch fishing. The anglers that are perch fishing we are hearing that you need to pay close attention to your fish finder as most reports are that the perch have been up off the bottom as far as 9 cranks up on your reel.
The eyes are still all over the place around here. We fished yesterday for a couple of hours out off the condos in 72 fow and got a limit. 2 of the fish came off the downrigger using copper watermellon, and razberry shark copper, both Mighigan Stinger spoons. The others were on 7 colors of lead core line off the boards using purple/blue with yellow dots worm harness. We did get some new colors of worm harness's in so on by today and stock up before they are all picked over. We are still getting some really great walleye reports from all over the east side from 45 fow all the out to the Canada line.
IT won't be long now till we start to see the steelhead in the creeks and I hope to be the first to give you that report.
Sunday August 8th Perch are in the 57-65 fow range off the point, the Lighthouse, & off of Shades. Just spend a little time with your fish finder before you drop anchor.
Some really good walleye reports are off the white tower in Harborcreek in the 85-95 fow. A little east of that are walleye mixed with in with steelhead trout all on the outside of the mountain. Another good spot is out off the condos in 95 fow. Another good spot is when your at the point, set your compass at 330 in a NW heading and fish the US/Canada line just stay in the US waters about 1 mile inside the line. Use your planer boards with 5 colors of lead core line. We get allot of questions on that so I will do my best to explain how that works. First you put 175 yards of backing on your reel. We prefer braided line. Then tie your lead core line to the backing, wind up 5 colors of lead core or what ever you want to set that reel up for. A rule of thumb is 8' deep for each color you let out. The once you have your lead core line cut where you want it you tie on a 6-8' leader of flurocarbon line that is invisable to fish in the water. Then a good intercostal ball bearing swivel to attach your bait to. When your ready to fish let out all of your lead core line and about 50-60' of backing and attach it to your plainer board line and let it out. Some really good baits are necular green worm harness, renosky stick baits, copper watermellon, white, red & white worm harness. Today & yesterday was black & silver deep diving plugs. Another real good color for us has been hot pants worm harnesss either in the willow leaf or colorado blade. If you have any questions please stop in on Tuesday or Wednesday while I'm here so we can get you going in the right direction to having a good day and landing some fish.
Tuesday August 3rd The perch have finally decided to co-operate. We are hearing good consistent reports from anglers fishing around the 57 fow areas weather it's off shades or off the point. it's too bad that the emerald shiners are no where to be found along the shore lines now that the perch are getting active. All we are catching are small shad with only a few emeralds in the net. We have a fresh batch of golden shiners due in either today or tomorrow. Walleyes are all over the place this year. The key is finding the right color & depth, and going in the right direction either into or with the current. We were out last night for a couple of hours and boxed 10 big ones out off the point. As a bonus the steelhead are starting to get into the mix to using spoons off the downriggers.
Saturday July 31st Perch fishing off the cribs in 35-40 fow has been real good from reports we have had this week. Limits of big perch is what we were told. We also marked allot of perch just outside the last bouy on the edge of the shipping boat channel. It seems a little close for this time of year and does not make much sence to us but the fish are there. Reports also include 45, 55, & 57 fow off the point and at 58 fow just west of Shades beach.
Wednesday July 28th The best we can provide for the perch anglers is to be at your spot and watch the sun come up and start fishing before the sun comes up. We hear the fellows are limiting out first thing in the morning and home by 9:00 am. We are stocked up with Sabiki rigs that will really increase your success rate for perch. Sometimes you don't need any bait on them.
We are still marking walleyes off the point to the condos in 62-72 fow. Most are right on the bottom and at last light they are coming up to the thermocline. A fresh supply of worm harness's are here with a great selection at only $1.99 ea. We also just got in some great lake rods for trolling or plainer boards, made by Dawia at only $19.99 ea. Stop in soon so you can get the best selection.
One of our favorite mid to late summer set up's is running single strand wire line 325' back with a TD-11 Rapala Deep Tail Dancer and a 5-6' 15 lb flurocarbon leader. Now we don't get allot of fish on that set up, but we catch really big fish.
Monday July 26th Perch are off the point in 56-58 fow and they are schooled up pretty tight with good reports of nice sized fish and plenty for everyone. A couple of weeks ago there was an earhquake in Canada that we felt here and around that time was when all the perch scattered. Just a thought as to why the perch fishing got so bad. Walleye fishermen, the eyes are just past the perch pack. We went scouting yesterday at some of our early fishing spots in 65-75 fow off the point to the condos and got some great marks where the fish were suspended at 51-56 fow. We only got to fish for about 20 minutes as the waves were picking back up and we blew a fuse and had only 1 spare so we came in and called it day. So it looks like a second run of eyes is coming from the west side and really good perch reports off the point and at Shades beach. Still good at NE marina for the perch & the eyes just past the perch. We are also starting to pick up the eyes off the downriggers however we are running them back quite a bit futher than normal. We usually run our lines back 20-50' but lately we are 75-100' back. We did good on a flat black spoon with brite green tape on the front with an all white back. Deep tail dancer rapala's on a flat line running it back 350' has been pretty good also. The rapala is a TD-11 in the blue red chrome color and good reports on the perch deep tail dancer TD-11 also. 2-3 ft waves today with winds out of the west at 15k, Tuesday 1 ft or less with sunny skys both days.
Wednesday July 21st Some anglers are hitting perch quite regular while most are only getting a few or a few dozen. It has been a hit & miss summer for perch so far. The best we can mention at that is to serch with your fish finder before you drop anchor. This may be a time consuming effort, just looking for a school but once you find them the pay off could be a nice limit of jumbo perch. To add to that, we just received a fresh supply of our glow skin Sabiki Rigs with a lower price than the last batch. It's not a cure all but they sure do work on those days when the perch are being fussy.
The walleye bite has just been incredable this year so far over here on the east side. Weather your off of Shades or the point or NE Marina, they are all good spots. NE Marina has been heating up a tiny bit on Steelhead also. I'm going to try over the next day or 2, to get some pictures of the ladder that is being installed on 4 mile creek. As I was looking at it last night, we are very impressed with how the fish commission is spending our license fees to such a good cause for all angler of steelhead. It is a win win for all of us.
Monday July 19th The fishing out of NE marina last night was really hot for walleye. We fished in 95 to 115 fow all off of worm harness's using the plainer boards with lead core line. We landed 10 in about an hour and a half.
Sunday July 18th 58 fow off Shades for perch has been a hit & miss depending on the time of day your there. Another one to look for is the Edward John and fish around them. We just got a new shipment of crawler harness's for walleye. 18 different ones now in stock and more on the way this week all priced at $1.99. The walleye bite out of North East Marina has picked back up in a big way in 60 fow. We are only a few days away from another big walleye tournament so the info as to where they are is getting hard to come by so try your old spots and talk to your buddies as to where they are fishing.
Thursday July 15th An excellent perch bite today at 45 fow straight off the point. Picking at perch today west of Shades in 58 fow. A fresh report is that the perch are following the crill and the latest report is at 56 fow off the point.
Wave report for the Lake; click on the link below:
The retaining wall and bank immediately adjacent Cascade Creek in the City of Erie, from the parking lot located next to the Victorian Princess office building downstream to the foot bridge, is very unstable and has been "roped off" by the Erie Western Pa. Port Authority to ensure the safety of anglers and all persons in the area. Two large concrete blocks that are part of the retaining wall have already fallen down over the steep bank and into the creek. This is a very dangerous and unstable area at this time. Please do not attempt to walk in or around the retaining wall area until further notice. Thank you for your cooperation.
Please remember that the conditions can change from minute to minute or hour to hour. If we post a report that someone caught fish at some point in time or place, that they may have swam away by the time you get there or the conditions have changed & is no longer fishable, which does happen quite often.
