Fishing 2012

Despite high fuel prices and a stagnant economy I am looking forward to a great year of fishing on Lake Erie. I have managed my workload to allow for more leisure time.

I will be scouring the fishing reports and forums to get the most up to date information that I can. I will also be checking out some fishing spots close to home. In the past (to some ancient past) we caught a lot of fish in or near Sandusky Bay.

Perch fishing around the foghorn was always good. Maybe not the biggest fish but they were plentiful. The channel entrance buoy was also a good place for perch. As the season progressed we would move east along the shoreline of Cedar Point to the Sheldons Folly area. We had a spot along the shoreline just east of Cedar Point that we called the Red Roof for a house with a Red Roof.

Neumans turning buoy was a good place for walleye as was the shoreline just west of Sheldons Folly. We also caught walleye around the bridge between the bay and the backwaters of the bay. We also trolled from the coal docks to the old Coast Guard Station at Cedar Point.

In those days it was all about money. We were young and raising families so our fishing budgets were very limited. I co-owned two different boats with a friend. They were old but they got us out there and back. If they broke down we fixed them ourselves.

As we got a little older we would occasionally venture out to the reefs around the islands. That was a big deal for us and we always had four or five guys to share expenses. Walleye fishing then wasn’t what it is now. If we caught six walleye between all of us we were happy campers.

I am setting here smiling to myself as I write this. Those were simple days but happy days. We didn’t have any of the special gear that most fishermen have now. No fish finders, no planer boards, no GPS, no special poles for each type of fishing and for the early years not even a radio.

I guess my point is we can rethink where we are going to fish. With gas prices in the $5.00 to $6.00 range I am going to be looking close to home to start the season. My gut tells me the fish are still in those spots we used to fish and with the gear we have now we should be able to catch them.