Walleye

New to Erie fishing, what's the hot bite for walleye this year. Looking for advice on tackle and methods, best places to launch.

Drift emerald shiners of the bottom on little spinners from eagle claw. I use 2 spinners. 1foot off bottom and about 1 foot above lower one. 1 or 2 ounce weight on bottom.

Just wondering do they still make or sell the Golden Nugget lure up that way....been years but that was a hotty back in the day.

Jets and spoons

A friend and I spent two days last week drifting Erie Dearies and worm harnesses and limited out both days. The big thing is finding the right depth and to repeat it each drift. We did troll some with dipsy's  but would rather catch fish by feel instead of dragging lures. We also caught a bunch of other fish but no yellow perch.    Lou

Everybody on the edward john is

Boy, how a day or two can change things. The pattern on Friday certainly changed for Sunday (somewhat). The below are my results, and may differ from others (in other words, someone else day might have different results).
 
We ended up with 11 walleye, all in the 17-21 inch range.
 
Fish seemed more scattered with the east wind turning north. Waves were probably 1 foot, maybe a bit bigger. Action was slow when the wind shifted and the lake laid down for an hour or so. Started out of East Ave at 5:30, headed north of the dumping grounds in 55-60 FOW. Action was slow with 1 fish coming in on a dipsy (3 setting, 140 back, red/purple/yellow stinger). Marks were far and few between, bait was non-existent.
 
Picked up and headed more north easterly into 65 to 70 FOW, again, limited marks and limited bait balls. Picked up 1 on rigger, 20 foot back (I know, too short of lead for some guys), purple bay-rat, set 55 foot down - and 1 on 5 color lead down the chute using the same purple bay-rat. After that, nothing.
 
 Headed back towards the north east corner of the dumping ground in 58-62 FOW and found what we were looking for. Fish were still scattered a bit, but not as spread out. Lot's of bait, and lots of bottom huggers. The wind shifted predominantly out of the north (less than 2's). Once we fine tuned the game, we proceeded to quickly add 8 more to the ticket. 5 color down the chute took the bulk and you could not seem to keep it in the water. Purple bay-rat won the day. 
 
Only 2 fish on riggers, one keeper and one undersized.
 
Dipsy bite was slower than on Friday.
 
Leadcore with all 5 out seemed to be the ticket. We tired raising the riggers and dipsy(s) up to match the roughly 40-45 depth of the lead, but just didn't produce. 
 
Water picked up around 10, rollers slowly became a chop.  
 
I was happy to finally see a perch pack of boats. They were off Shades, probably int he 55 foot range. Maybe 20 boats all stacked up (sure some were walleye jigging too). 
 
Junk still seems shallow.  

Out on 8/25 (Saturday), fighting the nasty south wind. Got out to the 50 foot mark off of the point and she got nasty, moved back into 40 FOW and decided to see what daybreak brought. Set up in 43 FOW at 6:00am, figuring we would not do much good. 
 
Started off with a 20" walleye off a #1 dipsey, 76 back, set on 3. Was using a small in-line spinner (mepps style). 
 
Took 1 sheephead (3 pounder) on a stinger, dipsey....85 back in 50 FOW (set on 3). Took a second sheephead on 5 color down the chute. He was pushing 7 pounds. He hammered a "Flashy Muff" deep diving Bay-Rat.
 
Ended up trolling north, with the waves, even though I knew it would make a rough ride back. Made it to 58 FOW, but had to turn east as the wind shifted. Lake kick up to 3'-5', so figured keeping it east would be the best. 
 
Found some bait hugging the bottom in 55 FOW, so as a last resort to get 1 more,  decided to slide out a large stinger spoon (green/purple) to the 140 mark. Wham, as I slid it back she hit hard. Ended up with a great battle with a 8# walleye.
 
We turned back to the south and realized it was time to pack up (around 8:am). Waves were really starting to cap, and was taking a few over the nose. Ended up cruising back in at a brisk 6 MPH.....lol. 
 
Should have stayed in bed. I looked at the Walnut creek buoy when I left Meadville, was in the 2.6 range, with 15mph south winds. When I looked at 8am, she clocked in at 20+ MPH, and was tossing 4.1. I am guessing it got worse as the south wind turned southwest. 

Fisherlady2
Appreciate the report, we got up at 0430, checked the buoy and wind forecast and went back to bed, lol. We had fished that area on Friday with a 4 man limit but it was a slow, steady pick. Dipsys bumping bottom with big spoons or stick baits and storm thundersticks on 5 colors worked for us.

Thank you Fisherlady2 ! We should have stayed home Saturday, but had a new guy wanting to head out and didn't want to disappoint him. Even with only a handful of fish, the 8#er was his personal best, and I was glad I got to be part of it. He certainly got his taste of Erie fishing.......and Lake Erie's cranky reputation !  
 
Glad you picked up a 4 man limit ! I love days where there is a steady pick of fish......even if it seems slow by some peoples standards. It gives time to enjoy what is around you, and gives time to think about the fishing. Nothing better than talking with with friends while waiting for the next rod to bounce ! However, it seems the days where 4 or 5 rods go off at once are when I only have 2 guys in the boat !! Talk about stressful.  
 
I have been really happy to see the number of smaller boats out this year. With the weather data, and new weather buoys, people are able to make more confident decisions about heading out to enjoy the fascinating fishing the last few years. It is so awesome to see the dad in the 17 foot boat taking his 2 kiddo's out to try their hand at the great resource. If anything good has come from the web, it is the ability to track weather in real time. It is also a blessing that good fishing can be found shallower (30-40 foot), as well as deeper. I haven't had to make the 9 mile runs the last few years to chase them down !  
 
I try to give a good report, and a factual report. When I see that 3000+ people have looked at this, I hope people are getting useful information that helps them catch more fish. I hope to be out Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday......but the weather isn't looking great. May have to plan my days around the rain and wind.  

Yes, that is it... keep in mind, for east and South winds it is only a very vague tool at best. The buoys are relatively close to shore and wave conditions change rapidly as you get further out on south or east wind days. On north and west the are a better true time reflection,but again it has variables and conditions. Recent swings in wind directions can 'knock the tops off of waves', creating a lower wave height reading but makes for a pita day for boat control and a washing machine affect till previous days wind effect fades off.   Look at the history of the past 2 days and an hourly forecast for a nearshore point for the day you are planning especially on smaller boats or if you need to devote one person just to boat control.  There is no single tool or source which will give you a whole picture, rather it needs to be a cumulative thing based on many factors. Recent history, Potential wind and electric and ease of boat control (expected troll direction) being our primary concerns.