Walleye Fishing on Lake Erie...

As I mentioned in one of my recent posts, we all took a road trip to Michigan to visit some of Shannon's family and go to a couple graduation parties. I was very excited about the trip for a few reasons, I hadn't met some of the family living out there, I wanted to see how the Altima did on the highway, and I was going to get to go fishing on Lake Erie!

We did A TON of driving, we put on 1700 miles in about 5 days. The trip itself was 700 miles one way (1400 total) then everyone we visited seemed to live about 40 or 50 miles away from where we were staying at. The Altima did great on the highway. The ride was very comfortable, no wind noise, and it got GREAT gas mileage. On the way out there (driving the speed limit and no A/C) we got 35 MPG! On the way back (doing about 7 mph over the speed limit and with the A/C on) we got 31 MPG! I don't think I have ever owned a car that has got better than 20 mpg, so this was a treat!

This was a Thursday night to Monday night trip, so on Saturday morning, we (my Father-In-Law, Tim, Shannon's Uncle, Tom, and myself) got up at about 0700 and headed to the marina to do some fishing. I don't even remember the last time I have been fishing. Honestly, out of all the outdoor activities that I participate in, fishing is the one I know the least about and almost never go out and do. So, having the opportunity to walleye fish on one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie, was exciting for me.

The marina that Tom keeps is boat at was also something I had never seen before. Instead of keeping the boat in the water (which is what I expected) the boat is kept in a warehouse and a giant (I mean huge) forklift plucks it out of some racking and drops it in the water. All you have to do is get on and go!

After the boat was in the water, we fired it up and headed out. Tom is very good friends with a lot of the professional fishing guides that work the lake and had some information on some good fishing spots, so we headed out. Being on a boat on one of the Great Lakes was fun, you can't really go full throttle anywhere, but you pretty much just set a speed and go. The waves weren't too bad and overall the ride was quite pleasant! We were actually fishing in Ohio waters on Lake Erie, so I have officially purchased an Ohio fishing license (which is ironic considering I have never purchased a Minnesota one!). Once we got to our destination (which is a secret, not that I could ever tell where we were!), Tom went to work. I was expecting him to hand us all a rod and tell us to start fishing, but it wasn't anything like that. He set planer boards out to each side of the boat, hooked up 6 rods using snap releases to the planer board line and let the line out. We pretty much just trolled along and when one of the lines would get a bite, we would take turns reeling the fish in! This was very fun!

I think after about 3 hours of fishing, we ended up with 10 walleyes that were keepers. We did catch other fish (Silver Bass and Sheepheads) but I learned they are considered "junk fish" and were all thrown back. Tom said it was a so-so day, he was expecting to catch more, but I still had a blast!

I am very glad that I had the chance to go fishing when I was out in Michigan/Ohio. I would like to thank both Tom and Tim for giving me this experience. Overall, the trip to Michigan was a great one and I can't wait to FLY out there and see everyone again!