2017 Boat Fishing Season

It's almost that time of year! Can't wait to get back out on the big pond and I'm sure many of you can't either. Our first weekend of the open lake season will be the second, third, or fourth weekend in April, as long as the water is 34°+ and sustained winds are below 15mph (but you know, it's Erie!) haha. We'll be chasing Lake Trout from 30-140 FOW offshore as well as Northern Pike in PIB in April and May, take a break in June for the other Great Lakes, and then be back for the nearshore and pelagic offshore fishing in July and August for Steelies, random/rare Salmon, Walleye, White and Rock Bass, Smallies, Drum, and hopefully a few lunker Char in the mix too.

Anyone else going to be crazy enough to get out for some frigid spring fishing? If so, what's your target species? Hope to see some of you on the water this year, fish on!

Mountian Man
Ill paddle my canoe to the first trench.

Cmon. Get with the times man. Kayak...

Mountian Man
Ill paddle my canoe to the first trench.

Dang Mountain Man for someone who quotes Ceasar I would think you might be concerned paddling your canoe to the trenches this time of year. Idus Martiae......😒

Been on the boat 3 times,twice to P.I. the bay (jumbo city) once to Arthur ( crappie). Shore fishing 5 times. I've taken advantage of the early warm weather. I wondering what this up down weather going to do to the spawning of fish. Where at least a month ahead of the bite of some fish. I never caught perch in the bay till late March and April.

psu_fish


There is a guy on Youtube under the name Great Lakes Kayak Angler
 
He is catching big Kings and Coho on a yak on Lake Michigan, with torpedo divers and dipsys. Pretty impressive

That's kind of wild.  Well done.

genieman77

Mountian Man
Ill paddle my canoe to the first trench.

paddling is for  kids, duud      ..L.T.A.

I have a trolling motor on mine...

genieman77

Indiana_Bob


I have a trolling motor on mine...

 I considered going that route  til I found a new (less than 7 hours)  4HP Yamaha at a garage sale for $400.It's a 4 stroke but still weighs less than a deep cycle battery alone.if I recall, it's 37 pounds  ..L.T.A.

You got me thinking. Just looked at Honda site. They have a 2.3 hp that weighs 29.5 lbs..

genieman77

Indiana_Bob

You got me thinking. Just looked at Honda site. They have a 2.3 hp that weighs 29.5 lbs..

 you'll love the ease of use compared battery/troll setup ..L.T.A.

I purchased mine when I was working in Michigan. Used it on the Lower Pere Marquette and Manistee River for salmon and steelhead.

Big Tuna
Been on the boat 3 times,twice to P.I. the bay (jumbo city) once to Arthur ( crappie). Shore fishing 5 times. I've taken advantage of the early warm weather. I wondering what this up down weather going to do to the spawning of fish. Where at least a month ahead of the bite of some fish. I never caught perch in the bay till late March and April.

It's odd to be sure. There'll probably be sunfish spawning in April instead of late May. Do you remember what the water temp was in the bay?

eyesandgillz

psu_fish

Indiana_Bob

Mountian Man
Ill paddle my canoe to the first trench.

Cmon. Get with the times man. Kayak...

There is a guy on Youtube under the name Great Lakes Kayak Angler He is catching big Kings and Coho on a yak on Lake Michigan, with torpedo divers and dipsys. Pretty impressive

Pretty cool.  Nearshore for smallie, eyes and lakers on Erie, with a south wind, should be no issue.  Modern SOT yaks are more than capable and super stable, as long as you have them set-up correctly.  It would be easy to maintain 2 mph trolling speed with foot pedals, and great exercise, to boot.  Not sure I'd want to try trolling into the wind though...

Onion bags full of tax rocks make great anchors

Big Tuna
February 22 bay temp 34 degreesFebruary 27 bay temp 37 degrees I haven't been back due to cold temps windy conditions. I've been crappie fishing as of last Thursday,now it's to cold for that!

Thanks for the info, glad it's staying cool. Wouldn't surprise me if the bay got some thin ice by Saturday. Need it nice and chill below 40° for the Char next month :).

Have to love it when the weather forecast changes every two hours and winds go from 2 and 8 mph from the south to 26 and 55 mph from the northeast. Then again, Erie has done that to me before on the water lol. Hopefully be on the water next weekend, either NE Lakers or PIB Pike, but if it's that windy then I guess the season is still three weeks away.

Anyone know where (if) I can get gas on the water this time of year? As of now it's looking good for this weekend (knock on wood!) so we'll probably put in at North East for the day, fish six or seven hours, then pull the boat out, gas up on land, and go put her in our Marina in PIB where it'll stay for the remainder of the Spring season. I know last year the only place we could find gas before May was North East but they don't even open until mid April to my knowledge.

^May 1st.

Well, we realized today that North East doesn't have their launch docks in yet, so I suppose Lakers are out for this weekend, not to mention the 5-8' waves and howling winds probably pushed them over to Canada lol.

Sooo, anyone have bay reports from this week haha. I still plan on making the most of our first weekend floating on the water this year, so we're going to target Pike, Smallies, Steelhead, Browns, Perch, Crappie, Sunfish, holdover Burbot(?), and anything else that wants to eat a worm, spoon, jig, swimbait, plug, or streamer tomorrow! Not looking for secret coordinates or anything, just wondering if you guys have general info on certain zones that whatever species is holding in, or the hot lure, etc.. Thanks in advance! Maybe I'll see some fellow psychos out on the bay in the 28° wind chill tomorrow!