John Childs, a recent visitor from the state of Texas, visited Chautauqua County to fish Lake Erie for tasty summertime walleye.
Photo courtesy of Forrest Fisher
As the peak of summertime is achieved in Western New York each year, our waterways warm up to form the fastest-growing season for fish.
Fish eat the most at this time of year. Inland lakes grow shoreline weeds to regenerate their waters with oxygen and to provide shade and protection for young-of-the-year fish hatchlings.
Lake Erie, too, grows weeds in the shallow embayments and harbor waters where largemouth bass, rock bass, carp and crappie can often be found. Away from the shoreline, Lake Erie’s great resource protects the vast numbers of fish in our Eastern Basin by establishing thermal stratification gradients where fish species seek to find their level of comfort — nature at its best.
According to the National Weather Service, the water temperature transition layer between the deep water and surface water (or mixed layer) is called the thermocline. The definitions of the layers are based on their water temperature. The mixed layer is near the surface, where the temperature is roughly the same as that of surface water. In Lake Erie, in summertime, the mixed layer can be 50 or 60 feet thick or more. In the thermocline zone, the temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed layer to the much colder deep-water temperature zone.
The mixed layer and the deep-water layer are relatively uniform in their own separate temperature zones, while the thermocline represents the rapid temperature transition zone between the two.
Geri Begier, proprietor of Bill’s Hooks Tackle Shop in Dunkirk, is an expert on fishing gear options, lure choices, rods, reels, hot stick bait colors, with how-to, where-to and what-to-do info.
Photo courtesy of Forrest Fisher
Anglers’ summertime favorite walleye tend to live above and/or right along the top zone of the thermocline transition area, while lake trout and steelhead live below. The thermocline layer is usually only a few feet wide, so for anglers, finding the depth of that thermal edge is essential to catching walleye. To do that, anglers use a downrigger, a thin wire with a heavy weight with a temperature probe attached to it.
“We found the thermocline to be at about 70 to 74 feet,” Charlie Klaus of “Forever Fishin” said last weekend during the Innovative Outdoors Walleye Challenge held from a starting point in Dunkirk Harbor. “The surface water to 70 feet down was between 70 and 72 degrees. Then below 75 feet, it dropped rapidly to the chilly 50s.”
The task for savvy anglers is to find a way to reach those depths at the thermocline and about 20 feet above it, where schools of forage like to swim. Then attach a bait or lure that resembles the forage and troll along until they find hungry fish on the feed. Hence, stickbaits and spoons in their various colors and brand name forms (Bandits, Rapala’s, Thundersticks, Bomber’s, Yaleye’s, Reno’s, Moonshine, Dreamweaver and others) are among angler choices for that.
Some anglers fish more simply with a spinner blade and hook to which they attach a nightcrawler. The walleye’s keen sense of smell will usually find the worm source, and the vibration from the rotating spinner blade or the wobbling and weaving stickbait will attract fish, too.
When the lake is calm with light, steady winds from the usual prevailing west-southwest wind direction, all of the above work fine for locating and catching the fish. Everything changes when the wind changes direction and moves to the south or the east. Once the new wind direction increases velocity over the lake, causing wave action from a new angle, the warmer mixed layer at the surface mixes and mingles with the deep water.
The thermocline moves. In some cases, like two weeks ago near Dunkirk, the lake inverts, and the cold water can approach the surface in summer. When this happens, fish are surprised and can die from the sudden temperature change. Fishing where the fish are after such a wind direction change is challenging if you’re a fisherman. On those days, they call it fishing and not catching. The lake can take several days to re-stratify to a normal thermal gradient and allow relatively easy fishing again.
Anglers use lead-core lines, diving planes (Dipsy-Diver, Slide-Diver, etc.), downriggers and simple three-way rigs with a sinker and a spinner/worm rig or slightly positive floatation stickbait (F9 Rapala, etc.) to reach the area just above the thermocline to fool walleye into thinking they have an easy dinner plate with their presentation. That’s the long and short of it to catch summertime fish in the Lake Erie deep off Sunset Bay, Dunkirk and Barcelona where the deepest water of Lake Erie is located.
Gotta love the outdoors.
CALENDAR
Aug. 24: NYS Hunter Safety Course, Springville Field & Stream, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 8900 Chaise Road, Springville. Register online: https://dec.ny.gov.
Aug. 29: NYS Hunter Safety Course, Ripley Rod & Gun, 6-9:30 p.m., plus one additional half-day, 9820 Rod and Gun Club Road, Ripley. Register online: https://dec.ny.gov. Must attend both days.
Aug. 31: Labor Day Sporting Clay Shoot, NSCA registered event by choice, Hanover Fish & Game, 780 Overhiser Road, Forestville. Registration starts at 8 a.m., shooting begins at 9 a.m. Info: https://hanovercalys.com.
Sept. 1: Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club family picnic, members only. 1 N. Mullet St., Dunkirk.
Sept. 1: NYS Squirrel season opens in WNY (gray, black, fox).
Sept. 6-7: WNY Walleye Association Lake Erie Walleye Tournament, Contact Ron Kucinski: 716-545-5925, or email: kucinski1293@gmail.com.
Sept. 9-22: NYS Early Antlerless 2024 Deer Season, check specific Wildlife Management Units.