Wading Presque Isle

welcome to the boars first off and you can park just about anywhere its legal to park at PI and start wading and casting. Any parking lot next to the water will be fine. Give er hell and good luck. You never know what you will hook up into at PI. Its always an adventure for me.

                                                                      The Deetz

It was actually your recent post with the pictures of bass and pike that got me motivated enough to pick up some new equipment. I had been wanting to give it a try since the steelhead fishing has slowed down but hadn't gotten around to making any sort of plans. I picked up some cleos and various crankbaits after work tonight. Maybe if it isnt too rainy on sunday I will make the trip out.

Looks like they are calling for sun tomorrow. Might go and give it a shot after work. I will be sure to get a picture of anything I catch for the required "proof".

Didnt catch or see anything (except 4 dead turtles). I dont know if I just tried all the wrong places but I didnt see anything bigger than a 3 inch bluegill. I started fishing the lagoon right after the first bridge, I walked about 500 yards along the shore east of the bridge. Then I relocated to the lagoon park area with the boat launches and fished all the way down past the bridge towards perry monument and tried in the bay/inlet at the monument. Waded out pretty far just to see if anything was even alive out there, nothing to be found. :-(

Did ya whip any spoons?

This might be of interest. It was in the Erie Times 2 years ago.


No boat required to find fish in Presque Isle Bay
By KARL WEIXLMANN
Contributing writer
Last changed: Jun 22, 2008
"Wadering," what author David DiBenedetto's 9-year-old nephew called fishing in a pair of waders, is one of the best ways to enjoy the great outdoors with a rod in hand on the beautiful Presque Isle peninsula.

As the waters of the bay and outer beaches warm during summer, all that will be needed are a pair of shorts and an old pair of sneakers. The wade fisherman immerses himself in the water and becomes a part of the natural environment. The enjoyment comes from not only a pull on the line, but also from all of the other natural wonders that the park has to offer. A red-winged blackbird call beckons you to the water as a Great Blue Heron takes off at your disturbance. Birds of all shapes, sizes and colors flit about the trees. Bald eagles, ospreys and turtles share your fishing grounds.

All of this visual splendor alone is reason enough to visit Presque Isle, but one of the best reasons is to catch fish. A $20,000 bass boat is not needed to enjoy some of the best fresh warmwater fishing the country has to offer and would only detract from the total experience that wade fishing offers. When you're wading, it's just you, the water and the fish as you ease into a liquid, emerald city where the residents have fins. You're not relying on high-tech gadgets used today to find and catch fish. It's fishing in its most primal element. While virtually the entire south side of the peninsula can be successfully waded and fished - that's more than 7 miles of publicly accessible water - game-fish species often concentrate in areas where habitats converge and edges occur.

Here's a list of some of the best spots and areas for wade fishing on Presque Isle:
Head of the Bay
A neat spot to access the head of the bay is not the first, second or third parking lot near the entrance of Presque Isle State Park. It's actually located on the south side of the bay at the foot of Sommerheim Drive off West Sixth Street.

A firm, sand bottom leads to tall stands of reeds that largemouth bass call home. Openings in the reeds provide largemouth lairs and ambush spots for a well-cast weedless swim bait, rubber worm or popper. The farther anglers cast into the reeds, the more likely it is that the lure will entice. Wading west of these reed beds is hazardous on the soft, mud bottom, but decent footing can be found to the east along several coves.

Northern pike and a lot of largemouth can be caught along the first, second and third parking lots to the north as well.

This area has a smaller, wadeable, sand flat and a near-shore dropoff. Caution should be shown when wading west of the first parking lot because of the soft bottom.

Stink Hole Point A variety of freshwater habitats that hold largemouth, smallmouth and panfish can be found at Stink hole point, named for the sturgeon carcasses that used to be dumped here in the hidden cove when Lake Erie once had a commercial sturgeon fishery.

The area can be accessed by taking the first dirt road to the right near the viewing platform overlooking the stink hole. A reed point extends out into Presque Isle Bay here. There is a large, sand-flat dropoff along the west side of the point that holds largemouth and an occasional smallmouth. The demarcation line between shallow and deep water can be seen where the yellow sand bottom hits the dark green water that indicates depth and the growth of weed beds. Channels can be found running through the reeds that lead to a large flat and bowl-shaped cove on the east side of the stink hole.

This area has a large sand flat along the east flank of the reed beds, with the dropoff running closer to shore as you wade east into the cove. Some nice largemouth can be caught here, and pike and muskie sometimes are laid up in the cove. This area also can be accessed by parking along a small pull-off farther up the road where the bike trail turns toward the bay and a row of trees is formed between the bike trail and the main road. Wading to the west puts you in the back corner of the cove that remains calm during a hard west wind. This is also the starting point for a rocky shoreline that runs all the way to the fourth parking lot with a steeper dropoff and better smallmouth fishing.

Fifth Parking Lot The fifth parking lot sits in the middle of a bend in the shoreline just before the Ranger Station and gives shore-fishing access along the south side of the peninsula all the way to the Niagara Launch. A nearby 23-foot deep depression in the bay gives deep-water access to lunker largemouth that move shallow in the morning and evening hours. A nice, sand bottom with a shallow slope and a good weed line can be found here. Around the bend and to the east, the deeper water will be found closer to shore.

Big Bend Flats The big bend flats run all the way from the Waterworks Ferry Dock to the West Pier and the entrance into Marina Bay. A south, southwest or west wind can send white caps into these waist-deep, hard-bottomed sand flats that extend hundreds of yards from the shoreline. When the flats are calm and clear, the bay comes alive as predatory fish chase schools of emerald shiners, and carp spawn in the shallows. Good largemouth habitat is found near shore among the many trees overhanging the shoreline or any log, tree or tire lying on the bottom.

Steve Brugger, owner of Lake Erie Ultimate Angler, once landed a huge channel catfish on a fly rod from one of these tires lying on the bottom of the bay several years ago. Smallmouth can be found along offshore weed beds and dark bottom areas that contain large amounts of zebra mussels that you can feel crunching beneath your feet as you wade. Algae attach to these zebra mussels and help conceal the fish, giving the bottom a darker, pea-green color when the sun is up. Any piece of dark bottom on the bay is a potential fish-holding structure.

Main Bay Flats The main bay flats run from the East Pier all the way to Perry Monument and contain the largest numbers of smallmouth to be found in Presque Isle Bay.

These flats also extend hundreds of yards from shore, with most of the smallies found in the deeper, bottom depressions that run parallel to the south shoreline of the peninsula. The area contains a superb, deep dropoff directly south of the East Pier that extends out into the bay. It's regarded as a big fish hangout, and a 52-inch muskie was boated nearby several summers ago.

The main bay flats can be hard to wade when water levels are up, so a float tube or kyack sometimes can be helpful for reaching fish. On some mornings, an angler can catch a northern pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass on the sand bar point that extends into Misery Bay in front of Perry Monument.

Marina Lake and Misery Bay Except where the boats are moored in Marina Bay, the entire shorelines of Marina Lake and Misery Bay can be fished by wading, and both offer good fishing for all species. However, smallmouth are harder to find in Marina Lake than in Misery Bay. Both bays have produced northern pike and huge muskie. Evening or early morning top-water bites are good for largemouth in both bays, while smallmouth can be found around the rocky points near the entrance to Horseshoe Pond in Misery Bay. Current moving in and out of Horseshoe Pond can attract baitfish and game fish to these areas.

Thompson Bay Thompson Bay offers excellent wading on the north side of Beach 11 with panoramic views of the Lake Erie shoreline. Many dropoffs, depressions and underwater troughs hold smallmouth, largemouth and pike. Some of the biggest northerns on the peninsula have come from Thompson Bay. Casting parallel to the edges of the weed line in the north portion of the bay is a good technique.

Waders should be careful not to walk off the many dropoffs that occur in this area. These can be hard to see during overcast days. Several years ago a wading angler stepped off one of these Thompson Bay dropoffs and drowned. Safety while wading should be given serious consideration and fishermen who can't swim should wear one of the flotation devices that fill with air when a ripcord is pulled. While the peninsula is a 7½-mile-long sandbar jutting into Lake Erie, some areas have soft, deep mud bottoms or currents that can cause wading hazards.

Outer Beaches Attention shifts to the Lake Erie shoreline of the outer beaches on the north side of the peninsula during the dog days of summer. The outer beaches are a surreal place to hook up on bass; there are no lily-pad fields or classic structures. The huge expanse of Lake Erie is directly in front of you, but the fish are here, seeking cooler waters and the large roaming schools of baitfish.

Having a park ranger come roaring up to you in a four-wheeler with sirens screaming and lights whirling is not a tranquil fishing experience, so stop at the park office to become better informed. The park rule is that you have to be at least 100 feet away from a designated swimming area in order to cast a line. Use the lifeguard stands as boundaries and be at least 100 feet away from them. This still leaves a lot of beach open, including two hot spots, east of Beach 10 and west of Beach 1. For a unique experience, try sight casting to cruising surf zone sheepshead, a freshwater drum. They're harder to catch than the bass.

Caught about 40 between Thursday and Saturday i have a pic of on of the good largemouth. I caught a few bigger than this one on Saturday but I didn't have my photographer(my girlfriend) with me haha.

no

ORIGINAL: Mags00

Guess i'm gonna have to research this heavily since heading up this summer and don't want to drown while trying to wade. Any suggestions where it would be wise to start if you have never waded up in Presque before?

I suggest starting in ONE inch of water and ease into it if your scared of drowning. Just remember , there are soft spots and you can go in very easily if your not careful. just sayin'



OH YEAH and..........


6point7 is nascar god for the week

can you please explain where the soft spots are?

lol but nothing really short from just walk in and hope for the best and if you sink then just gtfo?

Lol thanks for the confidence just wasn't sure if there was anywhere it would be wise to start if you've never waded up there.

ORIGINAL: FishBurgh

can you please explain where the soft spots are?

Check the top of your head

Floating rapala

Plastic Grub

Picked one up with a cleo as well

Witnessed quite the angry beaver family slapping there tails against the water.

I actually think it may have been a burbot