Lake Erie is the 11th largest lake in the world by surface area. It is the fourth largest and the shallowest of the five Great Lakes. Lake Erie is 241 miles long, 57 miles wide at its widest point, has a surface area of 9,910 square miles, and has 871 miles of shoreline. It is fed primarily by the Detroit River at its western end, and drains out into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River and the Welland Canal.
The lake is divided into three “basins” – eastern, central and western. The western basin extends from the west end of the lake to about around Cedar Point, Ohio. The central basin extends to the edge of the trenches in Erie. The eastern basin extends from Erie to the eastern edge of the lake in Buffalo, New York. The central basin, where Noah’s Ark Lake Erie Fishing Charters fishes is deeper than the western basin but not as deep as the eastern basin, with depths averaging about 60 feet, and the bottom is generally flat.
Lake Erie can be beautiful. Its sunsets are considered some of the best in the world, with the sun setting over the lake in the western sky. Trolling for walleye on a calm July evening as the sun sets over the lake is a breathtaking and memorable experience.