EARLY SPRING WALLEYE TROLLING
Shallow-Water Giants: Early Spring Walleye Trolling on Lake Erie
Guide Capt. Tod Venema has learned that when wind and muddy water shut down the traditional spring river bite, staging fish in the lake offer a reliable big fish alternative.
When a Negative Weather Pattern Becomes a Positive
As a longtime Lake Erie fishing guide, my spring walleye season starts in the middle of March as the ice leaves Lake St. Clair, and usually lasts until mid-May. My most consistent fishing during that time of year has always been in the Detroit River. But last year, persistent high winds kept the river very muddy and basically unfishable, for weeks on end.
But guide clients still expect amazing catches that live up to Lake Erie’s reputation. Muddy river or not, I needed to produce some great days of fishing. That’s what led me out to the shores of Lake Erie.
Understanding the Stages of the Walleye Spawn
In early March every year walleye will stage in shallow water along the shoreline, waiting for the right conditions to head up river where they’ll spawn. The smaller males are always the first to enter the river and the last to leave. But the bigger females don’t spend much time in the river at all—sometimes less than 24 hours—before heading back out to those same staging areas to recover. Knowing this, I was able to locate good numbers of big females in very shallow water, where it’s easy to troll for them.
Why These Shorelines Reload with Fish
Some of the most consistent ports for this early spring pattern include:
•Sterling State Park
•Boles Harbor
•Toledo Beach
•Marblehead
These areas all have shallow shoreline flats where staging fish concentrate before and after their brief spawning runs.
Dialing In the Trolling Spread
To cover water efficiently, I troll Bandits and Smithwick P-10 crankbaits behind Church Tackle TX-12 planer boards and TX-007 stern planers in areas as shallow as 5-feet.
Many days, I set my crankbaits less than 10-feet behind the planer board. It’s not uncommon to net your fish without even taking the board off your line.
Big Numbers and Big Fish Potential
Many of these spring outings ended with a four man limit of 5-to 8-pound walleyes with an occasional 10-plus-pounder mixed in—often in just a couple hours. My biggest walleye of the year came from this pattern last spring. That fish was nearly 31-inches long and topped the scales at just over 12-pounds.
Bonus Species Opportunities
One of the best parts about this early spring walleye trolling pattern is that it often produces a mixed bag. Steelhead, musky, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and white bass are all common bonus catches while targeting these staging walleyes.
Shallow Water, Big Fish
If spring fever starts setting in on those first warm days of the season, consider heading to the shores of Lake Erie and giving shallow-water trolling a try.
Capt. Todd Venema
Third Coast Charters
231-740-0304
toddvenema@gmail.com
