I have been fishing ever since I can remember. One of my first memories is of me bluegill fishing with my father at a local pond. We crushed the fish that day and since then it has been hard to pry a rod from my hand. I have fished for just about everything locally in just about every manner that I can think of. I have trolled and drifted for walleye, fly fished steelhead in rivers, fished for perch on the lake and bass fished anywhere a bass could be found. I even have traveled the continent fishing fresh and salt water from pike in Quebec to tarpon in Florida. This winter it was brought to my attention that I have never ice fished on Lake Erie.
My father, who is my favorite angling partner, was the one that had this great idea. It was on his bucket list and the ice is good this year so he asked me if I wanted to go. I could not resist helping my father check something off his bucket list. One of our friends, Joel Byer, is Captain of Nacho Fish Charters on Kelleys Island so we called him, set a date and booked a flight.
Flying to Kelleys Island in the dead of winter is an adventure in itself. We flew out of the Erie Ottawa International Airport in a six passenger airplane. The sky was overcast and the wind was picking up as we took off. The plane ride was only about ten minutes long but was scenic. I could see all of the ice that now covered the lake. As we circled the south side of Kelleys I saw the airport runway we were about to land on and instantly I was nervous. The runway was coated with packed snow. As we approached to land, the plane was swaying back and forth, twisting left to right. Just as the wheels were about to touch down the plane straightened out and we landed perfectly. Luckily our pilot was well seasoned and had no problems landing us safely on the island.
After landing, Joel picked us up at the airport in his Kawasaki Mule and we headed directly to the ice. The small shanty town was located roughly one mile north of the island. Joel pulled right up to the door of his three person shanty and we piled in. The first order of business was to start the heater. Then we busted open the four holes in the floor that had frozen over in the middle of the night.
Now the fun started. We fished with Swedish Pimples and Rapala jigging raps tipped with three minnows. The technique was simple, drop the lure to the bottom and jig roughly 18 inches making sure the lure fluttered to the bottom with no tension.
By the time we started fishing it was 12:30 pm. Within the first 10 minutes we all had a hit but no fish to show for it. Then, I got a hit and firmly set the hook! The water was so clear I could see the fish about ten feet below the ice. I brought the head of the fish through the hole and Joel swiftly gaffed the 28 inch walleye. First fish of the day. Now I had some bragging rights on my father and I could take a deep breath.
Within the next hour and a half we managed to land another four walleye. Then the fish shut off. I was thinking maybe we got on the ice too late and only hit the end of the bite. Joel went and prepped his other two shanties for the next day. As my father and I sat there fishing we enjoyed a cigar and realized it gets cold when you are not catching fish.
Our cold spell lasted roughly two hours. In the meantime Joel brought back a Vexilar flasher. For all of you who have never seen or used one of these contraptions, it might be the best “video game” I have ever played. It looks like an old school Atari game. The flasher has a round face with LED lights that go in a circle. Red lights are illuminated at the top and bottom indicating the ice and the lake bottom. As you jig the lure, you see a green light come off the bottom and go up and down. I found out very quickly that fish are indicated by a green light as well, when two green lights come off the bottom and only one drops back down. When this happens we would reel up slowly and if the fish followed the lure up we reeled faster and faster. Sixty percent of the time we immediately got a hit.
We all paid attention to the flasher and played this game with the fish. At times it became a bit chaotic in the little shanty when we had a couple of triple headers. Rods, arms and gaffes were flailing everywhere. Within an hour we had our limit of walleye laying on the ice which all were big hawgs. After catching the last fish I realized I was no longer cold.
My father and I had a great first ice fishing trip with Captain Joel Byer of Nacho Fish. I would recommend planning an adventure to Kelley’s Island, you might even come home with a limit of fish.
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