What tackle will we need on eire ?

[John_Boy]

Hey Guys gonna start this thread for advice on  poles , line  and lures we will need for a day on the ice out on lake Erie for eyes any and all help will be greatly appreciated  . 
                                                                                            Thanks  , John

[tmike]

basic setup for me is medium action ice rod with 10 pound fireline or spyder wire stealth with a section of 10 pound carbon leader. lures i keep basic with size 5 pimples and size 3 or 5 rapalas. buckshots were good last year too. keep minnows on the hooks and they will eat it. favorite colors are gold with green tape or white on the pimples. perch or blue silver on rapalas and chartuse or orange on buckshots. thats the short easy list.

[rustyhook36]

swedish pimples in hammered silver or silver and green.  The most important  tool to have on Erie is a vexilar. I have caught 3 times as many fish as someone without a vex. that was fishing right beside me. Without a vex. you are just fishing blind. It does not matter what bait you are using if a fish comes in 15 feet above that bait  and you dont even know it is there.

[Gator-Bait]

Big 10-4 on the vex don't leave home without it!!!! Pimples, buckshots, and jigging rapplas with a bucket of minnows. is all you  need and maybe a few honeybrowns too

[wojo]

Big 10-4 on the vex don't leave home without it!!!! Pimples, buckshots, and jigging rapplas with a bucket of minnows. is all you  need and maybe a few honeybrowns too

Hey No Drinking On the Ice !!!!  Only Joking there Gator-Bait--  Think I may go try for a few perch in the Marina this weekend ?  Got to drill a few holes some where !!

[swantucky]

Big 10-4 on the vex don't leave home without it!!!! Pimples, buckshots, and jigging rapplas with a bucket of minnows. is all you  need and maybe a few honeybrowns too

Got you hooked on them Honeybrowns don't I??

[Fishin2]

ICE CREEPERS ARE A MUST, I HAVE BUSTED MY *** TOO MANY TIMES. SPEND THE BUCKS AND GET A GOOD PAIR AND YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID. ALSO, I SECOND THE VEX, DON'T LEAVE HOME WITH OUT IT !!!!PS, AN EXTRA 5 GAL BUCKET WITH TALL TRASH CAN BAGS CAN COME IN VERY HELPFULL ALSO !! lONG WAY TO SHORE.  tAKE CARE OUT THERE AND PRAY FOR ICE SOOOON.  mIKE

[doogie494]

By the looks of it you may need a boat. J/K i hope you guys get good ice, i have some friends that live in Fremont that i want to get out there with.

[MIduckguy]

nah this forcast for the at least the next ten days looks fantastic! we did awesome on erie last winter....standard walleye stuff all works, and works well since the lake recieves very little pressure during the winter normally.

[doogie494]

thats good to hear

[bladebait]

I use a 28in medium action rod with 6lb fluorocarbon line. You want a little flex in the rod so that you can keep a tight line after you set the hook. Too stiff of a pole can cause some slack line as you "roll" the fish after a strike allowing it to "spit" the hook. Erie tends to be a fairly clear lake so I use the fluorocarbon line to help combat that problem. I like a reel with a good drag and instant anti-reverse(Pinnacle "Tiny Deadbolt" is an excellent choice) The instant anti-reverse will help you set the hook much better with a strike. Any lure tipped with lake shiners will work well when the bite is on. However, I am partial to the jigging rapala in either a size 3 or 5 depending on the current. The rapala's tend to show up better on the Vex compared to the jigging spoons. I replace the small middle treble hook on the rapala's with a size 8 Laser Sharp treble hook. This larger treble hook will allow you to tip the lake shiners much easier and it will help hook the fish. You don't want anything much larger then the size 8 treble because you will tangle your line more frequently! All colors work well for me as long as their tipped with the lake shiners.

[captain54]

ICE

[swantucky]

ICE

Good one!!

[falbinki]

last year out there our hottest baits were jigging rapalas #5 in gold and black color, and gold vib-ee's. we were tipping the rapalas with just minnow heads and not tipping the vib-ee at all. we caught fish on other colors but gold seemed to be the hot color for the guys  i fish with. the vex is a must. we also replace the middle treble hook on the rapalas like blade said it makes a huge differance.

[Cold-Foot]

Everything everyone above said was true and very good info - Now, what do you use when nothing mentioned works ?? Make sure you bring something with you that's really different from the mentioned. I've been up there when it seems nothing will provoke a bite. That's when you need some off the wall rig to try like a plastic worm harnes with blades, big twisters tipped with minnows, sinking crank bait, something different. Last year when we were using the hotest lures and not catching nothing a man not far from us was hauling them in using some weird looking stuff I think he tie together just experimenting with tackle parts.

It never hurts to throw a twist in your fishing if nothing else works. I got some weird stuff to try if needed.

[bladebait]

Cold-Foot, funny you should mention something different. Last year on another thread I heard mention of a new "fish call" called the Cagi Fish Call. It's just an inline type call you primarily use for trolling. It's suppose to  attract fish by emitting ultrasonic sound waves as water passes through the propeller. They say it can be used to vertical jig just so that water can turn the propeller. I have used it while trolling Erie with dipsy's and can say it seemed to work. Problem was that I could not keep the white bass off of my spoons! Back to the ice fishing. I used it on Mosquito just with a weighted sinker on another pole to test it out(fished another hole with my lure) It vibrates very sharply like using a Vibe. What I can say is that about 30 seconds after using it my Vex would always show fish. I could catch some of those fish also!(catching crappies and bluegills) I did not get a chance to use it on Erie because the ice conditions were bad at that time. But what I am thinking is that if you can attract those walleyes to your holes(because of the vast size of Erie) you can catch them. We will see. It only cost about $10 for the call so if it doesn't  work I'm not out much. Check it out on the web. Search "Cagi Fish Call"

[John_Boy]

Thanks for the tips guys ,we're still holding out hope that she'll lock up soon . From what i can see
the western third of it's frozen over .
                                                        John

[bladebait]

A good hypothermia suit(Stearns or Mustang) is also a good piece of equipment

[wojo]

Thanks for the tips guys ,we're still holding out hope that she'll lock up soon . From what i can see
the western third of it's frozen over .
                                                        John

AFter Todays wind we will need a Boat !!! This is not GODD 

I sure hope I am wrong ?