“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” – Tony Robbins
It’s good to be back. March was a month of changes in weather and changes in our own life. We are back to guiding full-time once again on Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay, with some added wrinkles. We’ve been guiding bass for the past ten years (with the scattered perch or laker trip), but are adding some early and late season perch fishing (largely with artificials) to give our customers some additional options.
Also, for those wanting a more technical experience of walleye fishing and lake trout fishing, we’ll also be mixing in some FFS trips for walleye in the later spring through summer (potentially some fall) and FFS trips for lake trout in the fall/late fall, both casting and jigging. There also may be a rebrand around the corner as well (hmm…I wonder what that could be).
This week we’ll be fishing the Doc’s Tackle King of Spring (perch tournament) at Cayuga Lake, which I am very excited for. I recruited a couple other bass heads and New York fishing legends, Jeff Hippert and Brad Brodnicki, to join and make a formidable 3-man perching team. This will be all of our first perch tournament experience, so it should be fun on Saturday. I’ll bring the glide baits (chuckles)!”
We also were recruited to fish the 2025 LEWT (Lake Erie Walleye Trail) Bay’s Edge Cast & Jig Open in Port Clinton, Ohio, with our sponsor David (Doc’s Tackle) in late April. This will be an awesome, eye opening experience, getting to be around the walleye tournament scene, as when I was growing up, I always wanted to jump in a bigger event as a rider to see what it was all about. The potential to catch some big “slugs” (I’m told this is a positive vernacular for a big walleye) is definitely there at the walleye capital of the world, Lake Erie.
Recently, we’ve been dialing back into our perchy friends on Presque Isle Bay/Lake Erie, as well as checking on our bassy pals, too. I used to fish for perch a lot when I was in college here, often being a “poor college kid”, it was an easy and fun way to catch dinner and stock up on some cheap meals doing something I loved. Now, my focus is finding and catching the biggest yellow perch I can, catching them with artificial primarily. The style of fishing largely parallels what I’ve dedicated a large portion of my adult life to in the professional “bass world” which really helps. Lake Erie jumbo perch are not only delicious, but they mean so much to this area and the communities around this lake. I’m very much enjoying the hunt for these, while putting my clients on trophy caliber perch.
The bass bite is still about a week or two off from being excellent. After last season, fishing nearly all through the winter on open water, I learned a lot more about the fish that I still love. With that being said, our ice hung on much later this year and I feel like the real meat of the smallmouth population has still not made their mass influx into Presque Isle Bay…yet. On our last trip on March 30th with Daniel and Jen, we ended up mixing it up with both smallmouth bass and some jumbo perch. What I can tell you is, we are close, but the best is definitely yet to come, when it comes to the bass bite. In the meantime, the perch bite is on fire and the window is shrinking to take advantage of it. For water temperatures in the Bay, I had anywhere from 43-45 degrees and main lake temperatures were anywhere in the high 30s to low 40s.
Come join us for the chance to tangle with some truly trophy perch in the next couple weeks, before our bass season is in full tilt. For bass trips, we only have April 23rd and 30th still available, so if you want a prime time date, make sure to contact us. For May, we have some weekdays if you are waiting until it warms up a bit. We’d love to fish with you this season.
Tightlines! – Captain Destin
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