Sandusky Bay hosts excellent early summer fishing for big channel cats. By mid-summer, this extends to Lake Erie’s shallow reefs and drop-offs. (Shutterstock photo)
June 11, 2025
By D'Arcy Patrick Egan
Lake Erie has long been renowned for its plentiful walleyes, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and steelhead trout. However, a less celebrated species—channel catfish—is now drawing anglers to Erie’s Sandusky Bay, where an exceptional springtime trophy fishery has taken shape in recent years. The bay, stretching 22 miles from the Sandusky River’s mouth to sprawling Lake Erie, contains huge schools of channel cats, including specimens topping the 30-inch mark and weighing between 20 and 30 pounds.
I’ve chronicled Lake Erie’s fantastic and diverse fishing for decades for The Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest daily newspaper. So, when I learned of the blossoming trophy channel cat fishery on Sandusky Bay, I knew I needed to experience it myself. That opportunity came when Sam Horn, of Angry Floater Fishing (angryfloater.com ) charter service, based on the Marblehead Peninsula, invited me out to fish one morning and show me the ropes.
The author shows off one of many large channel catfish caught and released on a late-spring morning on Sandusky Bay. (Photo courtesy of James R. Horn) CHASING MONSTER CHANNEL CATFISH Horn has fished Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie for walleyes, perch, bass and catfish ever since he was a child. However, he really started focusing more on channel cats about five years ago when a fellow catfish angler from Oklahoma opened his eyes to the bay’s trophy fishery. Horn now runs a custom pontoon boat stocked with the latest in catfish tackle and electronics and has become one of the best known catfish guides on Sandusky Bay.
While Horn still guides for headliner species on Lake Erie, he loves his “Monster Season,” when big catfish spawn (or prepare to) close to shore. Many of Sandusky Bay’s largest cats are caught in the pre-spawn and spawn between the full moons of May and June. Big pre-spawn cats usually start moving into position as the bay’s shallow waters slip over the 60-degree mark.
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Solid post-spawn fishing lasts through July before slowing down during the dog days of August. Right after the spawn, big male channel cats guard the hatching catfish fry while females feed and recover. Large cats can be caught throughout summer by anchoring and dropping rigs or drifting with big floats that suspend baits a foot or two off the bay’s shallow flats. As summer continues, larger fish head to Lake Erie and gather and feed around shoreline drop-offs and shallow reefs.
Horn says clients often catch a couple dozen or more big cats in a half-day trip. The guide, and most of his anglers, prioritize catching and releasing big fish over filling a cooler—which is good since regulations permit keeping only one channel catfish 28 inches or longer (there’s no daily limit on channel cats under 28 inches). The heaviest channel catfish caught on Horn’s boat last spring was 36 inches and weighed 28 pounds. He says they almost always have at least one 20-pounder on guided trips.
On my own spring trip with Horn and his brother James, Horn had me wear a fish counter on my wrist and challenged me to crank in as many cats as I could. Before lunch, we’d notched 48 catfish on the counter, with some topping the 20-pound mark. My best was a 36-inch dark gray male weighing 26 pounds. It was a day of fishing I’ll not soon forget.
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PRACTICAL SANDUSKY POINTERS While Horn and other guides are turnkey options, anglers can tackle this fishery solo. There are many good places to fish Sandusky Bay—from boat or shore—and ample access points. Boat anglers can follow Horn’s lead and anchor in productive current. Areas where the Sandusky Bay roads and railroad bridges create current choke points are good examples. Horn says big cats congregate in the current to feed, but they’ll also roam the shorelines.
The guide mostly anchors and drops baits, though sometimes he’ll troll diving plugs or drift live baits suspended under orange, tennis ball-sized floats. The large, visible floats start zipping along the surface when a big cat takes the bait.
Shore-bound anglers can focus on similar current pinch points. The old, long-defunct Sandusky Bay Bridge, replaced by a four-lane highway, has been made into an ideal fishing platform. It has ample parking, dumpsters and portable restrooms. Many bank anglers also fish along shoreline riprap, especially after dark. The long railroad bridge over the bay is off limits to anglers on foot, though.
Sandusky Bay is perfect for smaller watercraft. The protected bay usually stays relatively calm, even when heavy winds roil Lake Erie. The state boat launches within Sandusky Bay are great for small boats, kayaks and canoes, too.
Cut baits work well for Sandusky Bay channel cats. Shad and skipjack herring are two solid choices. (Photo by Keith Sutton) TIPS ON CATFISH BAITS AND TACKLE Most anglers, whether shore-bound or in a boat, use heavy-duty spinning tackle, often a 7-foot, medium-heavy rod with a reel spooled with 15- to 30-pound-test monofilament or braided line. (Baitcasting rods of 7 to 10 feet paired with suitable reels also work). To the line, they’ll tie a 3/4- or 1-ounce barrel sinker, a swivel and a 24- to 36-inch 15- or 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Most use size 4/0 or 5/0 to 10/0 Kahle or circle hooks. Horn uses 2- and 3-ounce sinkers and 7/0 and 10/0 offset octopus circle hooks to target larger cats. He prefers 7-foot, medium-power Ugly Stik GX2 rods and 4000- or 6000-size Avenger ABF reels.
Horn says good catfish baits include uncooked shrimp, cut baits (shad and skipjack herring), nightcrawlers and chicken livers wrapped in spawn sack mesh. He lists hot dog chunks soaked in cherry Kool-Aid as another solid option. But, his favorite baits are rainbow trout that he procures from a local fish hatchery. (Trout used for bait must come from a hatchery to be legal; caught rainbows may not be used as bait.) Horn always cuts the small trout in half before placing it on a circle hook.
HOOK A MONSTER FOR ARM-TIRING FUN Ohio’s Sandusky Bay offers some of the region’s best channel cat fishing in terms of both numbers and size. The average pre-spawn/spawning fish is about 12 pounds, and brutes weighing 20 pounds or more aren’t uncommon. These larger fish battle hard when hooked, and they can wear out newbies, or even experienced anglers, in short order.
“For most catfish anglers, a big Sandusky Bay fish is the largest, by far, that they’ve ever caught,” Horn says. “Few sportsmen have ever seen a 20-pound channel catfish, but last season my customers consistently hauled trophy channel catfish of that size to the net.”
Gus Gronowski caught Ohio’s current state-record channel cat on August 15, 1992, while trolling diving plugs for walleyes on LaDue Reservoir. Measuring 41.5 inches and weighing 37.65 pounds, it has held the record for more than three decades. However, many, including Horn, suspect a Sandusky Bay fish may one day supplant it.
Anglers earn a Fish Ohio award for catching a channel catfish that’s 26 inches or longer, and a total of 689 were handed out to Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay anglers in 2023. With the sheer number of large channel cats found in Lake Erie, it’s entirely possible the next record may be a big, pre-spawn fish caught one spring on Sandusky Bay.
Channel catfish hotspots on Lake Erie's Sandusky Bay. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Access points, launches, tackle shops, accommodations and more for traveling anglers. Anglers fishing Sandusky Bay have two main state-run boat launches available. The Dempsey Fishing Access and Boat Launch offers boat ramps and shoreline fishing access on Sandusky Bay. Mazurik Fishing Access and Boat Launch provides ramps and access on the northern side of the Marblehead Peninsula and even has a free fish-cleaning facility. Commercial fish-cleaning facilities, including Bay’s Edge Fish Cleaning near the Sandusky Bay Bridge shoreline fishing area, are also around. The Bay’s Edge complex contains the Bay’s Edge Bait & Tackle Shop, custom rental condominiums and the Mark I Sportfishing charter service, too. There are plenty of private boat launches, tackle shops, hotels, motels and restaurants in the area as well.
Traveling anglers can also pursue walleyes and smallmouth bass on Lake Erie. After several good to exceptional spring hatches, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife 2023 estimate suggests there are around 89 million walleyes swimming in the big lake, not including those that are 2 years old and younger. Hundreds of charter fishing guides operate from Toledo to Conneaut along the Ohio shoreline, and many crowd the Lake Erie Islands area targeting walleyes migrating to the Central and Eastern basins in early summer. After Gregg Gallagher caught a 10.15-pound Lake Erie smallmouth in November 2022, many anglers have flocked to Erie for its big bass, too.
Attractions and entertainment options abound for anglers with families. Cedar Point Amusement Park, Kalahari Resort and Great Wolf Lodge are possibilities. Meanwhile, Put-in-Bay Resort on South Bass Island is known for its music and parties, while Kelleys Island, just to the east, is more laid back for families.
This article was featured in the May 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe
