Thanks to the Walleye Fall Brawl and the Walleye Slam derbies, seemingly everyone has walleye fever in the fall. The cash and prizes paid out for big fish are impressive to say the least. Lots of guys are saving up their vacation time, just so they can fish these derbies and hopefully take home a boat, big cash prizes or both!
Fishing 411 TV videographer, Gabe VanWormer got into the action thanks to Captain Michael Mochan of Strikemaster Charters. This near shore steelhead fishery is something to behold.
While the masses might be targeting Lake Erie’s gold, there is silver in them there hills. Impressive numbers of steelhead push into the near shore waters of Lake Erie beginning in October and peaking in early November. Once the water temperatures dip down below the 60 degree mark, steelhead that are cold water fish don’t hesitate to move out of the main lake depths. Most of these fish are after easy pickings in the form of gizzard shad that concentrate near river mouths in the fall of the year.
Gizzard Shad Are The Attraction
The best action takes place from Avon Point to Cleveland and east to Ashtabula and Conneaut. Pier heads, protected harbors, river mouths and rip rap bank protection are some of the best places to find steelhead trying to corner gizzard shad.
Rapid water temperature drops in the fall stress out gizzard shad, causing die offs and making these baitfish easy targets for steelhead that are seemingly always on the prowl for an easy meal. Because steelhead during the summer months are mostly isolated to the deeper and cooler portions of the lake, these fish feed predominantly on smelt at that time of year. Not surprisingly spoons are the “go to” lures for catching summer time steelhead in Lake Erie.
Come fall when the steelhead move shallow, gizzard shad become their primary forage and wobbling crankbaits become the lures of choice for targeting them.
Strikemaster Charters
Last fall I got an invitation to fish with long time friend, Off Shore Tackle pro staffer and charter captain Michael “Moke” Mochan of Strikemaster Charters out of Cleveland, Ohio. I’ve been fortunate to catch a lot of steelhead in Lake Erie over the years, but never have I had the opportunity to target these fish in shallow water during the fall of the year.
I hurriedly packed some trolling rods, several boxes of steelhead plugs, my in-line planer boards and set off for Cleveland. On the drive down I picked up my videographer, Gabe VanWormer with hopes the steelhead would make a great centerpiece for an episode of Fishing 411 TV.
We arrived in the evening just in time to enjoy a nice dinner with Captain Moke while he filled us in on the bonsai fishing he had been experiencing in recent days. When Moke told us we were going to experience having two or three fish on at a time, it was hard not to be excited.
In the fall of the year, wobbling plugs are the most productive steelhead lures. In Ohio waters anglers can keep up to five steelhead per day in the summer months, but during the fall and winter the limit drops to two fish per day as a means of encouraging natural reproduction in nearby tributary streams.
Cleveland Harbor
In the morning we launched in Cleveland Harbor not far from the Cuyahoga River. Some Great Lakes Angler readers might remember it was the Cuyahoga River that caught on fire back in 1969, focusing national attention to the pollution problem plaguing the Great Lakes at that time.
These days things are much different. The Lake Erie environment could not be more healthy or productive. Besides world class warm water fisheries for walleye, perch and smallmouth bass, the steelhead fishery in Lake Erie has grown steadily in recent years. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources got the steelhead stocking program rolling by using fertilized eggs they procured from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. These days, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario are all actively stocking Lake Erie with steelhead.
The collective number of steelhead stocked into Lake Erie is currently larger than either Lake Michigan or Lake Huron! During the summer months, a generous five fish per day bag limit is set on steelhead in Ohio waters. In the fall, the steelhead limit is reduced to two fish per angler in an effort to encourage natural reproduction in a wide variety of tributary streams feeding Lake Erie.
We barely had our legal limit of six lines in the water when the first Off Shore board ripped back. Before I could get that fish under control and in the landing net, two other fish hooked up on other lines! Our morning was off to a great start, but little did we know that kind of action was going to be the theme of the day.
Some Great Lakes Angler readers might remember it was the Cuyahoga River that caught on fire back in 1969.
Filming Chaos
For most anglers a day when the fish are snapping is something to cherish and the stuff stories are made of. Ironically, when the goal is to film a television episode, it’s actually counter productive to have too many fish on the line at one time! In the TV business the goal is to hook a fish, catch that fish, spend a little time talking about that fish before releasing it and starting the process all over again. Having two or three fish on at one time is exciting stuff, but it makes for chaos when the goal is to shoot an educational, entertaining and fluid TV episode.
Minutes into our day we found ourselves with six rods and planer boards scattered all across the bottom of the boat like a bomb had blown up! To say the least the fishing was red hot, but we had to regroup to try and get some lines in the water, regain our composure and get back to the task of filming a TV episode.
Despite efforts to slow things down a little, we simply couldn’t keep the steelhead off our lures! By mid-morning we had boated and released more than 30 steelhead, doing our best during the chaos to shoot the video we needed and also to get some still pictures, underwater footage and drone shots!
Hot Baits
We started the morning with Yakima Bait 3.0 Mag Lip on one side of the boat and Berkley No. 7 Flicker Shads on the other side. Both of these small profile baits do an excellent job of replicating gizzard shad. The fish gave us little time to experiment with other baits.
When the dust finally settled, the Metallic Gold/Flame Mag Lip was the bait that could do no wrong. This classic lure and color combination seems to produce steelhead everywhere we take it.
The Yakima Bait Mag Lip has a lot going for it. Designed by legendary angler Buzz Ramsey as a trout and salmon plug, the wide wobble, loud rattles, distinctive flash and skip-beat action have been the undoing of countless steelhead in the Pacific Northwest and also the Great Lakes region.
Captain Moke had never fished the Mag Lip before that morning. To say the least he was impressed and I made sure to leave him some baits to use on future charters.
Captain Michael “Moke” Mochan (left) and Mark Romanack of Fishing 411 TV recently teamed up to showcase the near shore steelhead fishery Lake Erie is becoming know for. These beautiful and abundant fish invade the shallows when water temperature drop in the fall and gizzard shad start to concentrate near river mouths and lake harbors.
If You Go
“Most of my charters are targeting Lake Erie’s abundant walleye population, but for a few weeks in October and November, the near shore steelhead fishing is just too good not to book trips,” says Captain Mochan. “Every year it seems that a big push of steelhead show up just before the fall walleye bite kicks into high gear. Once the walleye show up in numbers, the steelhead fishing along the south shore slows up a notch. I think this is in part because steelhead start pushing into tributary streams where they will spend the winter and spawn in the spring before returning to the lake in late spring.”
Lots of anglers also target the steelhead in tributary streams, giving this region the nickname of “steelhead alley” among those who covet the steelhead above all other species.
“By early November almost every angler is laser focused on catching big walleye in hopes of scoring well in the Walleye Slam and Fall Brawl events,” says Captain Mohan. “Without question the Lake Erie steelhead fishery will never compete with the popularity of walleye fishing, but during those brief weeks in October and November when steelhead invade the shallows, it’s hard not to set aside a few days to target silver instead of gold!”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Mark Romanack is the host of the Fishing 411 TV series that broadcasts nationally on the Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network and Sportsman Canada. Episodes can also be found streaming on MyOutdoorTV.com, Game & Fish TV and at the Fishing 411 TV YouTube Channel.
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