I arrived at the boat and witnessed one of the loudest midge hatches I had ever heard. All around I saw massive clouds of the bugs.. This usually means a long day of fishing and little catching. As the swarms of bugs are hatching on the bottom of the lake, the fish are gorging on them. This year is different. There is a lake wide class of fish that seem to rather attack a small spoon than feast on the bugs. I’m sure the larger fish are laying on the bottom feasting on the bugs. We can’t get down to them with 4 or 5 rods going off with the great eating 16 to 20 inch fish.
Today I had Chris, his dad up visiting from Florida, and two local friends. Chris’s dad is a avid fisherman and has sold big yachts for many years. On the way out to fish he was showing all kinds of pictures of giant wahoo, red snapper, grouper etc. that he constantly catches back home in the Gulf. I’m thinking to myself that he is probably not going to be impressed with Lake Erie walleye fishing after all his experience with the huge Florida fish. Wow, was I wrong! They all were having a blast. Chris’s dad said in all his years fishing he never experienced such a feeding frenzy walleye bite. In less than 2 hours & before the rain started they had a boat limit of 36 walley in the cooler. We sat on the boat at the marina sharing stories and enjoying a beer or two while they waited for the fish cleaning places to open. Better to be lucky than good.