Fished Lake Erie out of Wild Wings Marina aboard the Erie Drifter with Captain Tom Straus. This was our first trip to Lake Erie, and we were not disappointed. Captain Tom knows the reefs and the Western Basin like the back of his hand. He knows where these fish live, and he knows how to catch them. Friday evening we set up on Toussaint Reef. Captain Tom used the winds and the waves to maximize our opportunity to catch fish. We set up in 16 feet of water and slid right over the top of the reef. We caught a few fish the first time through and Cap’n put us right back on the fish when we repositioned. The man knows how to fish his boat and use his electronics. Each time we set up to do a slide our track was exactly the same and we would go right back over top of the active fish. We ended up with 15 eyes the first night. Saturday was more of a challenge. The forecast for the night before called for calming seas and partly sunny conditions. This was not the case in the morning when we arrived at the dock before dawn. The wind was whipping the water to a frenzy and coming out of the North and the skys were clear. The game plan had to be revised. Cap’n Tom decided to head to Locust reef and beat the hoards to the fish. Heading out of port, we went through some 4-6footers. The boat (32’ Sportcarft) handled the water perfect. We set up on the North side of the reef and made our first slide and picked up 3 fish. The fish on Locust reef were a bit larger than those on Toussaint. We made a few more slides over the ref and picked up a few more before the crowds showed up. After everybody showed up and chased the fish off the reef, we pulled lines and made a run to Turtle Reef. Nobody was on Turtle. The fish were there and there were lots of them on the Graph. We set up and made two slides, but the fish had lock jaw and would not touch anything we threw at them. We pulled lines again and headed back to where we were before and tried drifting outside the crowd. We pulled the three biggest fish of the trip on our last slide. Our 15 fish bag was testament to Captain Tom’s ability to put us on the fish. The other boats were reporting 1-3 fish catches for the morning. There was only one other boat at the cleaning station with more fish than us, and they went far and wide and deep to get theirs. All in all, we had a great time aboard the Erie Drifter with Captain Tom Straus. I would recommend him to anybody looking to head to Lake Erie’s Western Basin for Walleye. He will take care of you. He offers a full eight hours of fishing, so you get what you pay for. He also offers “executive trips”. All you got to do is show up at the boat, and everything’s included: bait, tackle, ice, food, beverages, fish cleaning, the full nine yards. He also has lodging, so you can plan your whole trip through one outfit. We stayed in his mobile home right at the marina. His was the best on the lot with all the amenities you could ask for in a fishing camp. Check him out today at www.eriedrifter.com Check the pic for an example of the quality fish we caught.
