The bite is right for a Lake Erie delight. Fall, when most of us are planning our hunting adventures or getting ready for the holidays, is the best time for trophy Lake Erie eyes.

Some may say that this isn’t the time for fishing but being a licensed Capt., fall walleye fishing is getting heated up, and just not at night. Especially this season, which has been very unpredictable for Lake Erie. Generally, I would give two thumbs up to night time fishing but as the lake is named Erie, it has been just that.

With fall dealing us some unpredictable weather, the elusive walleye has been doing some unpredictable things. The last few years of running charters out of Huron, Ohio has always been a night-time bite, whether its because I’ve been working at night mostly and not thought of giving day light some time or just really overlooking the possibilities of whacking trophies before night fall.

This year we dedicated some time to working walleyes in day light. I figured that we do fairly well in spring so why not fall. I was well aware of the possi- bilities of fall trophies during the day from my spring-time experiences, but always played the percentages for my customers; plus the night-time experience is some- thing that my customers pay for. Well, we’re still doing well during the day and have been since about the end of September.

What’s great about this is we are still fishing somewhat close to shore as we do at night(10 to 20 ft. of water) working the same patterns. Simple patterns but effective trolling Reef Runner Rip Sticks, Rattlin Rogues and Rapalas. When I say simple, I’m talking about running flat lines and planer boards, using a precision trolling book to let the proper amount of line out to achieve the correct depths and running my Mercury 9.9 4 stroke 90% of the time due to rough weather. A majority of the time I love to use my Pinpoint bow mount for stealth fishing at night, programming it for a certain depth or contour, but I’ve only used it when it was calm and felt that it was necessary to be quiet, not spooking the hogs feeding in less than 10 ft. of water.

Fishing in 10 to 20 ft. of water, you’ll want to keep your boat in the 20 ft. range to minimize spooking. You won’t pick up the active fish on your electronics because they’re in the top of the water column and when I say top I mean from 2 to 10 ft.. Your trolling spread should consist of a majority of shallow runners with different line lenghts until you find the one that will produce the best. Spread your lines out with Off-Shore planer boards, changing the flags to their glow-flag for the night bight works great. Your spread, depending on boat traffic, should start with your outside lines running anywhere from 50 to 150 feet from the boat and then run one line flat out the back and the other on an inside board. Adjust your spread letting the fish determine what they want.

Boat speed is unpredictable but a good rule is to start out slow. Idle speed on a kicker motor is about right. My Starcraft Tournament Pro 180 is set up with a Nautamatic TR-1 auto pilot hooked up to my Mercury 9.9 kicker motor which is an awesome piece of equipment to have when trolling open water. Its definately hands-free trolling letting you set lines, net fish or poor coffee if you have time.

Speaking of equipment, rods are an important thing. Your rods should be of good quality do to the fact that you’re going to be wrestling with 10 and 12 pounders. I like to use Lamiglas rods and they have a wide selection to chose from. Pick a rod that has a fast action tip; medium heavy will get the job done properly. Line counter reels are great for repeating line length, but if you know your reel and how many passes it takes to get a certain line length out, you’ll do fine.

One more item you’ll need; head lamps so you can see when it gets dark and it will when the bite is going good. I know you’re thinking that I’m talking about daylight fishing and I am. The hottest times recently have been from three in the afternoon ‘till six or seven in the evening and you definately want to see when you net your last fish of the day.

Capt. Rocco Papandrea, Trophy Hunter Guide Service, (219)262-3370, is a full time touring PWT Walleye Pro and Lake Erie Charter Captain. Now booking for spring...