Lake Erie Fishing Report 04-23-23
I made a quick trip to Lake Erie yesterday morning. The hope was for some quick walleye and maybe dabble with the bass afterwards. The walleye didn't cooperate, so I went bass fishing with the time I had remaining. I found one area holding some decent smallmouth. I quickly had a passing boat stop as it saw me catch one. That turned into them pretty much sitting right in my lap of my front seat of the boat. I decided to leave as I don't like that kind of fishing and thought it would be nice if they would have asked if I wanted to share the spot. I certainly would have shared it if they had asked nicely.
The other spots I tried had mostly junk fish on them. Drum and white bass were plentiful. Lake surface temperature was running 48 degrees. Air temperature was running 45 degrees with a wind coming out of the west to southwest. Be sure to check us out on Locals if you haven't joined yet. We're planning on putting on lots of bonus content on there as well as fishing reports and tournament results and news.
Lures that caught smallmouth were a fat free shad in the white color. 6 to 8 foot diver. 3/4 ounce green skirted jig with a 3.3 swimbait trailer.
This was our first fishing trip of 2023. Strong winds and storms the day prior led into our bluebird fishing day. Come along to see how we stringed some bites together on a tough fishing condition day. Thanks for being part of our community and stayed tuned for more exclusive content from R & J Bass Fishing. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below and we'll answer them.
Lake Erie Walleye hanging around a piece of structure. I took this footage last summer in about 15 feet of water.
I was able to get my buddy Jim out on the ice for the first time in about 10 years. We fished East Harbor of Lake Erie. What makes this area unique is that you are fishing 3 to 4 feet of water and you can look down the ice fishing hole and see the fish hit. For us guys up north it doesn't get much better during the winter. The only bad part is drilling through about 15 inches of ice. I let Jim use the underwater camera which gives a little extra excitement when the fish roll in. I'll leave a link if you would like to watch any of the underwater footage.
