The weather was typical for April this past week, but the fishing was great. The Mark 1 Sportfishing crew along with The Midwest Outdoors television crew were out trolling using our new Dead Eye lures, which will be available soon, and caught a bonus 15-pound king salmon. Many anglers were generally trolling, and had great success using Bandit diving plugs.

Trollers set lures back 25 to 40 feet and used the average speeds of 1.4 to 1.6 miles per hour. The best areas to fish were in 15 to 23 feet of water over the structure off Catawba and C and H cans. The Starve Island Reef was also a hot spot.

Jiggers and casters did excellent for the week as well. Again this week, the Fishermans Wharf reported limit catches from their party fishing boats while anchoring and jigging off the reefs.

Last week ended with the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament being held for the first time at Bay’s Edge Bait & Tackle. Capt. Steve Ashley and the crew of Hawg’n Charters were the winners with a tournament limit of five walleye weighing 30.73 pounds and an 8.27-pound big walleye.

Ashley started the day off jigging Kelleys Island Shoal and ended the day with drifting using worm harnesses off the edge of the reefs. Congratulations to the winning crews and to everyone participating this year.

The weekly fishing reports will become more consistent as the weather starts to warm. So until next week, get out there and fish and, as always, keep a tight line!