“All right, who here has never fished before?” the boat captain asked. I was the only one on the boat who raised their hand.
“Ha ha, very funny,” he said.
“No, I’m serious,” I said as he tried to continue with his speech. “Well, I’ve done some bobber fishing in a pond and some ice fishing, but nothing like this,” as I gestured around. We were on a boat in the middle of Lake Erie.
“Well, good. I like you the best, now, because you’ve not got any bad habits I need to break,” he said.
That captain of our boat was Don McGee, the owner of King and Eye Charters located outside of Toledo, Ohio. Born and raised in the area, McGee’s been fishing Lake Erie for walleye his whole life and he’s been doing it professionally for 44 years. To say he knows a thing or two about putting people on fish would be an understatement.
The Western Basin of Lake Erie, which is where we were wetting our lines, is known as the “Walleye Capital of the World,” and it was all entirely new to me. McGee told me April through August is the best window to fish for walleye on Erie, and I was there in the middle of June: just about perfect.
In the hunting community, there’s a term we apply to someone who didn’t start hunting until they were an adult; we call them “adult onset hunters.” As a 36-year-old who can count on less than two full hands the number of times he’s held a fishing pole, I consider myself to be an “adult onset angler.”
Starting From Scratch: Walleye Fishing 101
Capt. McGee got me all set up with a rod and spinning reel off the rear starboard side of the boat. As a complete newbie, I had a lot to learn, and fast. First, I learned that you want 6 to 8 inches of line below the sinker at the tip of the rod before attempting to cast so the weight and momentum of the line, sinker, and bait get you some good distance.
Next, McGee walked me through the manual of arms for a spinning reel: how to open the bail and hold the line with my finger until I cast, angling the rod for the best cast, and how to time the line release. As with everything, it seemed pretty simple when the guy with 40 years of experience was showing me how it’s done.
My first cast wasn’t great; I forgot to let go of the line with my index finger.
“OK, make sure you let go next time,” I said to myself. I did — far too early. My line plunked down in the water a mere 5 feet from the boat.
“Don’t worry,” McGee said after hearing my splash, “It’ll get easier. Just keep trying.”
He was absolutely right; in fewer than a dozen more casts, I had a fish on my line. As I reeled it in, Capt. McGee came over with the net and scooped up my catch. Fittingly, it was a walleye, and at a bit over 15 inches, it was a keeper, too. Not only was I on the board, I was the first person in the boat to catch anything. You can call it beginner’s luck, but I’ll take it.
The Tackle and a 10-Year Streak
I grabbed another worm from the bucket and got back in the game. There’s plenty of fancy lures that you can use to catch walleye, but all six of our setups were simple and straightforward: A 3/4-ounce sinker, a small spinner for some flashy attention, and a worm. That’s all it really takes to attract one of the 77 million walleye that are believed to be of legal size in Lake Erie. Add in the smaller ones and you’re looking at as many as 100 million walleye in the lake.
“The fishing has been pretty good,” Don chimed in.
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the hatch success for Walleye has been well above average for seven of the past 10 years, with three of them being the largest hatches ever surveyed.
It wasn’t long before I had another bite. This next one was also a walleye, but it came up short, literally. Back in the water it went to spend more time growing before someone else got to take it home.
Things were really picking up and the fish were biting for everyone now. Since we were in the Walleye Capital, it came as no surprise that the majority of the fish we were reeling in were walleye. We did, however, catch some other species. The most common was the sheephead, or freshwater drum. Captain Don despises these fish, as he doesn’t care for how they taste. As such, I watched him cringe as I posed for a photo with one that I caught.
“Just don’t tell anyone you got that on my boat!” Don’t worry Don, the secret is safe with me...
The daily limit is six walleye per person, and with six people fishing, our boat had a limit of 36. By the time our charter called it for the day, we had a total of 35 on ice. For every one we kept, we threw back at least as many - if not more. Again, this is all thanks to the hatch success and extremely large numbers of walleye in Lake Erie.
Back on dry land, I was all smiles. My first real fishing experience was a success; I hadn’t made a fool of myself (well, not too much anyway) and I had actually caught some fish.
Back home a few weeks later, I started looking around for a rod and reel of my own. As luck would have it, I saw that Ugly Stik had just come out with a new series specifically geared for — yep, you guessed it — walleye.
Ugly Stik Carbon Walleye Rod
At the core of each new Carbon Walleye rod is Ugly Stik’s Solid Graphite Tip, providing extreme sensitivity to detect finicky bites without sacrificing strength. This would have come in handy, as I know there were a handful of times where I thought I felt a bite but wasn’t sure, and so I undoubtedly missed out on a fish.
The Carbon Walleye rods are engineered with species-specific lengths and actions, tailored to the many different ways of walleye fishing: trolling, jigging, or casting. The high-density EVA rear-grip adds rugged durability, while the golf-style fore-grip provides enhanced control and comfort for all-day use. There’s even a rod and reel combo that pairs an Abu Garcia Black Max reel with one of the Carbon Walleye rods. This was a no-brainer option for someone like me.
Ugly Stik’s new Carbon Walleye rods have an MSRP of $99.95 each, and the rod and reel combo has an MSRP of $139.95 and, like everything Ugly Stik has, it’s backed by their 10-year rod warranty.
I’ve been invited on a lot of fishing trips over the past four years, and I’ve always turned them down. I can assure you that this won’t be the case in the future for this adult onset angler.
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