Erieau, Canada Steelhead Fishing

7/18/2007

Fishing on Lake Erie

50 miles East of Windsor With

Captain Henry Nabors

The Alternative – 22’ Fourwinns 225 7/18/2008

7/17/2007 7/23/2005 7/16/2004 7/17/2004 7/31/2003 8/28/2003

Steelhead

Fishing

Erieau, Canada On

Lake Erie

A Family Affair

2009 - 2011 Memories

Where

is

Erieau? Point Pelee

It is not far at all!

Canadian Border Crossing • Personal: Passport or other approved documents

• Boat & Trailer:

- First Trip Each Year:

Boat Registration & Trailer Registration

Get Blue Document at Canadian Customs

- Other Crossings:

Show Personal Id & Blue Boat Document

• Duty Free Gas: When Crossing at the Bridge, don’t forget to fill up the vehicle AND the boat!

It is EASY!

Town of Erieau

Launch and Marina Area

Marina Info

• Launch – Two Ramps

• Transient Slips

• Nice Rest Rooms and Showers

• Covered Picnic Area

• Swimming Pool

• Beach Near by

• Lots of Parking for Trailers and Cars

Where are the Fish?

ASK!!!!

Ask “Jim” or other staff at Barney’s.

They will tell you the direction in degrees and the number of miles from port. They get there information from the Charter Captains at the marina.

Example: “210 degrees for four miles”

^ Here is where we fish! ^

Techniques • Speed

• GPS Tracking

• Depth

• Surface Temp &

Scum Lines

• Lure Color & Size

• Presentation – Downriggers

– Leadcore

– Dipsy Divers

– Copper

– Planner Boards

• Keeping Records

Speed

3.6MPH

When in doubt – GO FASTER!!!

Speed:

Steelhead like it fast

3.2 to 3.8

Walleye will bite if you slow

down below 3.2 –

Just Ask Pat, Ron or Dan

11 Steelhead on Left - Speed 3.6 MPH; 13 Walleye on Right – 3.0 Speed

Surface Temperature

• Surface Temps Change a good bit

because the water is not very deep and

wind shifts

• Look for temperature breaks on the

surface; they cause Scum Lines.

• Steelhead love scum lines!!

Depths to Fish

• June – 10’ – 15’ down in 30’ to 45’ of water

• July – 15’ – 35’ down in 30’ to 55’ of water

• Aug – 25’ – 50’ down in 50’ to 70’ of water

Time to Fish for Steelhead

Steelhead are a very civilized fish!!

Most days we fish from 9 am to about 4 pm.

We frequently drive from the Detroit Area and arrive about 8 am and are on the water by 9 am. We pull lines about 4 pm and on our way home

by 6 pm.

It is a great ONE DAY OUTING!!

GPS Tracking Use the GPS to mark every fish caught

and for every release where you know

there was a fish on the line.

Trolling Pattern:

Go through the GPS away-points marking

the fish/releases; repeat the pattern until

you stop catching fish.

Our 14 fish + 3 releases were in a 1.5 mile

long by a ¼ mile wide area.

Lure Color & Size

Orange, yellow, copper,

red and one steelhead on

a blue/green mag dolphin

Presentation I usually run eight rods:

4 on Downriggers (2

rods per ball stacked

10’ a part)

2 Dipsy Divers

2 Copper or Leadcore

(no planner boards)

Downriggers

Downriggers

Presentations –

Leadcore:

3 color

5 color

7 color

10 color Use your old rods and

broken leadcore line to

make up Rods with selected

lengths. I use a lot of 3 and

5 color rods at Erieau.

Other Presentations:

Copper, Dipsy Divers and wire-

line Dipsy

Presentation:

Planner Boards

- In Line

- Big Boards

Steelhead Walleye

Type Day

July

Crew Red = Rookie Caught Lbs Lost Hooked Caught Lbs

Family/MWS Mon 14 HN, NN, DZ 8 41.8 3 11 2 5.8

Family Tue 15 HN, NN 4 26.9 3 7

Family Wed 16 HN, NN, SC, KC 7 41.3 5 12

MWS Tournament Thur 17 HN, NN, CN, DK 9 54.6 4 13 1 1.9

Family/MWS Fri 18 HN, NN, DK 15 82.5 3 18

Fam/Friends Sat 19 HN, NN, KO, GO 15 89.4 3 18

Gift Trip - CRWC Sun 20 HN, JC, LC, GC, SG 10 51.8 5 15 3 11.4

Total 68 388.3 26 94 6 19.1

Ratio 72% 28% 100%

Avg Weight 5.7 3.2

One Week of Steelhead Fishing at Erieau

“The Alternative”

2008 Steelhead Season @ Erieau Days Fished - 15

• Steelhead Hooked 155

• Steelhead Caught 117

• Success Ratio 75%

• Weight Caught 660 lbs

• Average Steelhead 5.6 lbs

• Largest Steelhead 9.9 lbs

Steelhead Walleye

Type Day

Dates Crew Caught Lbs Lost Hooked Caught Lbs

Family Sat -

Mon 7/9 - 11 HN, NN 5 39 3 8 3 15

Family/MWS Wed

&Thu 7/13- 14 HN, NN, RE 10 70 3 13 6 30

Family/MWS Fri -

Sun

7/15 -

17 HN, NN, DK, GT 8 50 2 10 10 40

MWS Sat &

Sun 8/6 & 7 HN, GT, JF, DK 7 43 0 7 2 4

71 Hours on

9 Days Total 30 202 8 38 21 89

Ratio 79% 28% 95%

Avg Weight 6.7 4.2

2011 Steelhead Fishing at Erieau

How Do I Know?

I Keep RECORDS!

Just Ask Anyone that Crews on

“The Alternative”

The Things I Track Who

GPS

Time

Speed

DirSurf Temp

Fish TypeLost/Rls/#

LbsRod/ Type

Back/ Down

Depth

Lure

Why Fish Erieau?

• Outstanding Steelhead Fishery

• It is close to home

• Easy one day fishing trip

• Very Nice Welcoming Town

• Very Nice Welcoming People

• Not a Bad Walleye Fishery – if you care!

DID I MENTION?

• Outstanding Steelhead Fishery

Wheatley

• 25 Miles Closer to Windsor

• Smaller Launch (free)

• Little or no Marina facilities

• Good Fishing

Talk to Nick or the other guys that like Wheatley!

^

Licenses – Non Residents ($ Can)

Type Regular Conservation • Full Year $68.00 $48.26

• Eight Day $50.15 $28.84

• One Calendar Day $21.31

• Exchange Rate: May ‘12: 1.00 CAD = 0.97 USD

Limits

• - Steelhead 5 2

- Walleye 6 2

• New Outdoors Card - $9.68 for 3 Yrs

• Buy On Line - www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/LetsFish/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_165336.html

Experienced Captains Captain Boat 14-Jul 16-Jul Total

Christoph Chris Real Affair 16 12 28

Ringer Ted Fish Eye 7 17 24

Drum Marty Drum Beat 8 6 14

Nabors Henry The Alternative 10 4 14

Zawacki Dave Salty Dog 3 10 13

Schoen Clyde Fishin' Machine 3 10 13

Robertson Jim Picture This 13 13

Skrobot Dave Toucan 3 4 7

Makowski Scott Copy Cat 6 6

Zantop Duane Sea Tiger 3 3

Roman Dave Sea Hawk 3 3

Bustos Phil Web Burrito 3 3

Leciejewski Larry Net Minder 2 2

76 Steelhead Caught in the two tournaments

2011

Experienced

Crew

Crew Boat 7/14 7/16 Total

Ringer Hunter Ringer, Ted 7 17 24

Davis Mark Robertson, Jim 13 8 21

Nabors Nancy Nabors, Henry 10 4 14

Calvert Russ Brandon Too!

8 6 14

Drum Phil Drum, Marty 8 6 14

Lewallen Mark Drum, Marty 8 6 14

Taylor Tom Robertson, Jim 13 13

Zirles Carman Robertson, Jim 13 13

Janiszewski Mike Zawacki, Dave 3 10 13

Schoen Darryl Schoen, Clyde 3 10 13

Stoddard Bill Schoen, Clyde 3 10 13

Edgington Judi Nabors, Henry 10 10

Edgington Roger Nabors, Henry 10 10

Ruggles Greg Schoen’ Clyde 10 10

Zawacki Mike Zawacki, Dave 10 10

Post Michelle Skrobot, Dave 3 4 7

Makowski Brendon Makowski, Scott 6 6

Makowski Justin Makowski, Scott 6 6

Makowski Mike Makowski, Scott 6 6

Makowski Tyler Makowski, Scott 6 6

Harbarcuk Kirk Skrobot, Dave 4 4

Keifer Dan Nabors, Henry 4 4

Sgromolo Dave Skrobot, Dave 4 4

Smith Kenny Kruszewski, Jeff 4 4

Towns Gary L Nabors/Robertson 4 4

Bustos Jeff Bustos/Blankstom 3 3

Bustos Karen Bustos, Phil 3 3

Curbey Mitch 3 3

King Bill Skrobot 3 3

Witte Ron Skrobot, Dave 3 3

Maddux Jim Robertson/Zantop 3 3

McGhee Lincoln Dodge/Zantop 3 3

Thum Kevin Roman, Dave 3 3

Kankola Steve Leciejewski, Larry 2 2

Others with Experience

• Captain Comments

Dave Skrobot, Jim Robertson, Marty Drum, Clyde Schoen, Ted Ringer, Scott Makowski,

Ron Bellemore, Others

• Crew Comments

Mark Davis, Jeff Bustos, Greg Ruggles, Ron Witte, Dave Sgromolo, Mark Lewallen

Others

Questions?