To consistently hook up with Eastern Basin walleyes in summer, you need to find the thermocline, which is often between 40 and 80 feet deep. (Photo by Ross Robertson)
August 15, 2024
By Ross Robertson
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You often hear about walleyes seemingly vanishing into thin air once the weather gets hot during the dog days of summer. On large bodies of water, such as Lake Erie, this happens because walleyes migrate literally hundreds of miles as water temperatures begin to rise. In fact, the majority of Erie walleyes spend their winters in the western end off the shore of Ohio as they prepare to spawn in the spring. Once the spawn is over, mature fish quickly begin moving east.
The Eastern Basin of Lake Erie begins around Erie, Pa., and stretches all the way to the end of the lake around Buffalo, N.Y. Unlike salmon and other species that tend to migrate into cooler water, this walleye migration has more to do with food than comfort.
FISH THE FORAGE Eastern Basin Lake Erie walleyes prefer smelt. An average-size smelt is between 2 and 4 inches long and somewhat smaller in diameter. Seasoned veterans of the Eastern Basin walleye bite know that smaller lures that mimic that forage catch more fish day in and day out.
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While knowing the general area to target these elusive walleyes is a big first step, getting a lure in front of them is often where first-timers fail. In the summer, a thermocline, or temperature change within the water column, will develop, and a majority of aquatic life within the system will be found at or just above it.
This small window has to do with the preferred oxygen levels of most of the life within the system. This temperature change typically takes place anywhere from 40 to 80 feet below the surface, and it’s often distinct enough that it appears as a constant, fuzzy line across a sonar screen. So how do you get down to the fish?
Smelt in the 2- to 4-inch range is the most popular forage of ravenous Eastern Basin ’eyes. Use baits in that size range to score. (Photo by Ross Robertson) LEAD-CORE BASICS Lead-core line consists of a hollow Dacron or braided sheath with a lead core that runs the entire length of the line. The line itself changes color every 30 feet so anglers can easily keep track of how much line is in the water. Because of this, a line counter reel is not necessary, and a less expensive reel with a larger capacity, like a Shimano TR200, works well.
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Like any weighted system, the faster you go, the less the line dives in the water. At a speed of roughly 2 mph, most 18-pound-test lead-core lines will achieve 5 feet of diving depth per color in the water. Newer lines, such as Sufix 832 Leadcore , has a super-braid outer sheath that allows for a strong yet much smaller diameter line that results in less drag and additional diving depth. This allows the Suffix 832 to gain a whopping 7 feet of depth per color of line.
To fish lead-core, spool a backing material (up to 200 feet of braid or mono) onto a reel and then splice in the lead-core with the number of colors you will need. Typically, this is done by removing a 6-inch section of the lead core to make the knot smaller. A back-to-back Uni knot or even a super-small swivel are good choices for this connection. The same type of connection can be used on the other end of the lead core to attach a leader. Leader lengths can vary anywhere from 7 to 50 feet depending on water clarity.
This system requires multiple reels to cover a variety of depths, but it is popular with locals because of its effectiveness. The ability to have your weight distributed along a 100-plus foot section of line helps reduce boat surge and allows the lure to be more consistent in the water column, even with speed and direction changes.
Typically, planer boards are used in conjunction with lead core to both get lures away from the boat and to enable the use of multiple lures per side without tangling. If I could use only one bait behind lead core, the easy choice would be a Storm ThunderStick .
The Storm ThunderStick is the author’s go-to diving plug to use behind lead-core line. (Photo by Ross Robertson) DIPSY DO’S AND DONT’S Another effective salmon-fishing-type diving system is a Luhr-Jensen Dipsy Diver . This weighted disk has a release mechanism that forces the disk to dive when clicked into place but trips when a fish hits. This release allows for easier retrieval and less forced pressure when fighting a fish. On the bottom of the disk are settings numbered 0, 1, 2 and 3 that allow the Dipsy Diver to plane away from the boat at various angles to both prevent spooking fish and to run more than one line per side. Zero provides limited dive and goes directly below the boat, whereas each increasing number will allow the Dipsy to plane out farther from the boat. It should be noted that there is a left side and a right side, and if you reverse those you will have a mess on your hands.
The nice thing about Dipsy Divers is that they get deeper more quickly than lead-core line and can be used alongside planer boards. The larger size-1 or “mag” size Dipsys pull too hard to be placed on planer boards, but they work great when they’re run right at the boat and out to a 3 setting, which is near where your inside board line will be in the water. This allows you to cover more water and easily fish deep.
The gear required for fishing Dipsy Divers is fairly basic. A rod that is a little heavier and with more of a moderate action than a planer board rod will allow you to handle the force of the diver, yet see when you have a fish on and then fight the fish without ripping out hooks. Braided line such as 30-pound Sufix ProMix is advised for this application to get baits deeper, see bites more easily and allow the release mechanism to trip.
Time has taught me that that leader length matters. The cleaner the water, the longer the leader. When fishing finesse-type presentations such as crawler harnesses, leaders can be in excess of 12 feet. If you aren’t catching fish, however, don’t be afraid to increase the leader length. Also, make sure to use fluorocarbon line (up to 20-pound test). Dipsy Divers should be used with shallow-diving lures. The Dipsy itself is a diving device, and a deep-diving lure can cause tangles and counteract the device. Popular lure choices are small flutter spoons, crawler harnesses and shallow-diving stick baits. A couple of my personal favorites in the deep, clean waters of summer are the Rapala Scatter Minnow and Storm Jr. ThunderStick.
The author rigs a Fish Hawk X4 to a downrigger to keep tabs on temperature breaks and true speed when trolling. (Photo by Ross Robertson) DOWN AND IN The downrigger is also associated with salmon fishing for its ability to fish deep very easily. A weight often exceeding 10 pounds is lowered on a wire cable, and the lure is secured in place via a release clip. This allows for a small flutter spoon like a Silver Streak Mini to be fished as deeply as necessary. The nice part about downriggers, such as the Cannon Mag 10 , is that this system fishes inside both the lead-core and Dipsy setups so you cover the entire stretch of water from directly below the boat to your outer planer board.
It is true that when walleyes are exceptionally spooky, they don’t tend to bite presentations directly under the boat as readily as they do lures spread farther away. When this is the case, or you aren’t catching fish on downriggers as consistently as you are on other presentations, lengthen your leader to get the lure away from the cannonball and boat more. In the old days, fishermen only ran their lures roughly a rod’s length behind the cannonball weight. In the cleaner water we are seeing in the Eastern Basin, or when walleyes are picky, it is not uncommon to use as much as 30 feet of leader behind the ball before clipping it into the release.
To catch Lake Erie walleyes in summer, you must go deep. Lead-core line, Dipsy Divers and downriggers are among the most popular techniques. (Photo by Ross Robertson) Even when catch rates aren’t amazing on the downrigger lines, it is still effective to use one to place a Fish Hawk probe below. The Fish Hawk X4 is a speed-and-temperature probe that allows you to see temperature breaks and true speed. The currents in the Eastern Basin are wicked and can fluctuate well over 1 mph. If you have ever trolled one direction and caught fish hand over fist, only to troll back the opposite direction and not catch a single fish, you likely have experienced current without even knowing it. The change in speed causes your diving devices to change depth and your lures to change action. The current in the Eastern Basin is an unseen but very important factor in your success or failure.
Lots of folks will tell you that “fish don’t grow legs,” but knowing that walleyes will migrate more than 200 miles can make it feel that way when we are searching for them. The good news is that if you have a plan for how to fish the deep water of the Eastern Basin of Lake Erie this summer, you will likely be rewarded with some giant walleyes.
This article was featured on the August 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
