Erie Walleye Charter Recommendations

[its an addiction]

Hey Guys!

One of my best buddies is getting hitched this October and we're having a bachelor party a couple weeks before in mid-late September. He is my biggest fishing partner and loves to fish so I was thinking we'd take a charter out.

So, I'm looking for recommendations.

1) The bigger the boat the better. I'd like to take six guys out.

2) It's is a bachelor party, so I'm sure there will be some alcohol consumption, so It would be nice to have a captain that has no issue with that.

3) We'll be staying in Toledo, so anything within an hours drive from there would be fine.

4) Cost, not worried about it. Seems $540-$600 is standard.

5) And most importantly, somebody that can lay the smack down on the walleye. I'd definitely like it to be a trolling trip.

It would also be nice to have a captain that is a personable and friendly person.

Thanks for your time guys, and I appreciate any and all recommendations!

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

I'd check with the charterboat association nearest Toledo on Lk. Erie first, they should have a list of captains you can browse thru and call and talk to the captain of your choice. Sorry, not in that area and don't know anyone over there. Have fun.

[cliftp]

I have fished with Ron Levitan a couple times. He is great. His web site is:

http://www.passintime.com/

Not sure on the alcohol on the boat though. However, GREAT FISHERMAN if you could forgo the beverages. Maybe not a problem though. He will find you fish and does do the trolling bite. I think that time of year he may be at Huron, OH, but may still be at Toledo Beach. (I think).

Great boat too!

Paul C.

[Line Dancin]

You may want to look at huron or sandusky OH for charters. Not sure of the boats over there like stated above look up there charter boat association. i would also put your question on here:

http://www.walleye.com

theres a lot of captains on there from that area.

[its an addiction]

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it.

[its an addiction]

Guys, more opinions needed. My good friend's brother assumed the duties of finding a charter, and he has very little fishing experience. He called me last night informing me he wanted to go with Seabreeze charters. I see Seabreeze is out of Oak Harbor.

I think this could be a bad choice because we are scheduled for Sept. 15th, and at this time of the year shouldn't we be further East for the walleye bite!?

I suppose I need to get on the phone with Seabreeze.

What do you all think?

[melsell]

I have not fished that area since April but, I believe they are still catching them around there. Not the big pigs. Best to call them and hopefully they will be honest with you.The big concentration of fish is WAY east ! I have talked with guys catching them west of the Islands though. Hope this helps some

[its an addiction]

Thank you.

I called and spoke to them, and they said they're set up to troll, and have recently been producing limits/near limits. He said what type of fishing and what species we target is entirely up to us, but he also said the conditions the day of could determine what we do or what he suggests. understandable.

I guess we'll give it a try. I think all of the guys going on the boat besides me will just be happy to be on the water and reel in a few fish.

[sherman51]

one thing you might try if you do this again. i cant remember the name of the charter, but it seems like its d&b charters out of geneva. but im sure you can just call the geneva state park marina and ask about the charter that has there sign up on the back side of the marina. but i have been there alot of times when there around back taking pictures. and i have always seen large catches of fish. these guys seem to know what they are doing when it comes to fishing. i dont know there policy on drinking, you would just have to contact them.

yep i just looked them up on line. you can find there web site by doing a search for db charters. or you can call them at 1-800-769-1750. they even have a no fish no pay policy. so everybody gets atleast 1 fish,LOL. but they are good. dbsportfishing.com i thought i would go ahead and get there wed site for you. gooood luck.

sherman

[fishsniffer]

I have fished with Ron Levitan a couple times. He is great. His web site is:

http://www.passintime.com/

Not sure on the alcohol on the boat though. However, GREAT FISHERMAN if you could forgo the beverages. Maybe not a problem though. He will find you fish and does do the trolling bite. I think that time of year he may be at Huron, OH, but may still be at Toledo Beach. (I think).

Great boat too!

Paul C.

cant go wrong with a silver streak guy:thumb:

[BlueCollarOutdoors]

I went 3 days there 2 years ago. Seabreeze was a bust as the "captain" was very disinterested, didnt help us wiht technique at all while casting weapon rigs and generally seemed like he was just counting minutes until he could drop us off and move on with day.

Move to days 2 and 3 with Covanna charters and he was on us right away. This is how you rig your crawler, this is how long you let the bait drop, reel around this speed and so on. Days 2 and 3 we limited out. Day one we caught about 8 walleyes for 6 people.

I spent a full day using the complete wrong technique becuase I didnt know any better and our guide didnt care to expand on what we should have been doing.

30 seconds of coaching from Covanna and I myself had 12 walleyes the next day. We had his son take us the next day on his first solo charter and limited with around 50 eyes as well.

I have heard seabreeze has a good rep and alot of boats so im sure there on the bite. I think we got a new guy or a caught a guy on a bad day.

Just my feedback on what I saw while I was up there.

Fyi, most boats dont seem to troll off the bat on erie. There are plenty of fish and if the weather and waves are right they will start you off casting crawlers and drifting. Most of them only move to trolling when the casting bite is dead or the lake is flat calm os you dont get a decent drift for the harness rigs.

[its an addiction]

Thanks for all the input guys. I imagined most would start off casting if the conditions allow because it's less gas those huge boats would use, therefore increasing their profit for the day. That is why I requested we troll.

I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to casting/drifting, but I think it would be more enjoyable for the others on board to troll since a few of them have very limited fishing experience.

Blue Collar - I hope we don't have the same experience as you did with SeaBreeze, but I imagine with a fleet of 20 boats there is bound to be a rotten egg or two in the fleet.

I appreciate everyone's input, and I'll be sure to let you all know how my experience goes with them.

[SeaCatMich]

For that time of year I would look to head over to Huron or Vermillion area. Lots of the charters over there are setup for trolling as the fishery is usually out in 40' FOW +.

Here is one I have heard good things about that runs a top notch boat: http://www.walleyecentral.com/Just-Lookn/

Here is a link to the Huron Ohio city marina site that lists others: http://www.cityofhuron.org/huron/parks-and-recreation-marina.html

Here are a couple based in Vermilion Ohio:

http://www.luckydcharters.com/captain.html

http://eriecaptain.com/

As for drinking, most captains will allow it in moderation but being drunk out on the Great Lakes -- even on a charter -- isn't a great idea. I would save that for the after party on land.

[sherman51]

thats one good thing about db charters, they do nothing but troll as far as i know. i dont know of any charters that offer drift fishing in the central basin. but i dont know what there policy is on drinking. alot of them will allow beer but no hard stuff.

and i dont know how far east you are willing to go. but you can check out there web site just in case you think you might want to do this again. dbsportfishing.com

sherman