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Wollitz: Fishing on Lake Erie a special experience

We all know that feeling, that special optimism that seeps into our soul as we see the sun rise with yet another promise of good things and happy times.

Sunrises not only help define the human experience, they provide the glow to fuel anglers setting out for another day on their favorite lakes.

With the first rays reflecting off the smooth surface of Lake Erie, fishing buddy Ted Suffolk and I pushed away from the dock in Ashtabula recently and set off for a day away from the hubbub of all that makes life complicated.

Our goal was pretty basic: Have fun. If along the way we caught a few fish, all the better.

Fishing trips have a way of bringing perspective, regardless of the day’s score. Make no mistake, I do keep count. I can tell you how many fish I caught during each of my 30 fishing trips this season. But looking back across the past four months, I also can tell you that every one of my days on the water was successful, whether the score was four or 40.

With the optimism of sunrise lighting the way, Ted and I settled back in our seats and enjoyed the short ride to our first stop of the morning. We knew our day would not disappoint — and it did not.

Readers know my love of fishing is magnified times two when I’m fishing Lake Erie. It’s a special place. It’s big water with big rewards for those who think big (with respect, of course, for the big danger Erie can throw our way). When Erie is right, anglers can expect thrills. Even when she’s not perfect, Erie nevertheless delivers.

Ted scored first.

We had been chatting with steelhead guru John Breedlove as he trolled past us dragging spoons on long lines. His accomplishments with the lake-run rainbow trout stocked by the Ohio Division of Wildlife are truly remarkable. Ted and I were rigged up for smallmouth bass, with steelies not exactly front and center in our tactical plans.

But with John in earshot, it came as no surprise that Ted was hooked up with a steelhead — though he battled the fish all the way to the Bass Cat before we identified the species. Exhibiting no aerial acrobatics, the fish was judged forlornly first as a sheepshead.

It was a steelhead indeed, tricked by a two-inch chartreuse stickworm threaded on a lightweight Ned jig. It was a harbinger of the Triple Crown achievement that was taking shape.

After releasing Ted’s trout, we continued another couple hundred yards, both missing connections on bites from fish we did not identify. As we passed Ashtabula’s iconic lighthouse and reached the end of the west breakwall, I felt a tap on my Ned rig, jerked and was rewarded by a cartwheeling smallmouth bass.

I jacked a couple more bass as we worked the walls, pausing often to retie our leaders crazed by the zebra mussel colonies rooted to the rocks.

Erie is renowned for its steelies and smallies, but it is after all the Walleye Capital of the World.

Not long after boating and releasing my biggest bass of the day, I detected another bite and set the hook into the jaw of a fish I immediately knew was not a smallie. It stayed deep and bulldogged toward the bottom 22 feet under the boat.

The fish started to tire, but I still needed the pump-and-reel to bring it to the net. I spied color about 10 feet down and recognized my catch as a walleye. I brought it to the top, scooped it into the net and looked in astonishment at its size.

At better than six pounds, the walleye was the big fish of the day, the third jewel in our Lake Erie Triple Crown and proof positive that the promise of the sunrise was once again fulfilled.

Jack Wollitz has been covering anglers’ passion for fishing for 45 years. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.

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