January 2008 - Editor’s Journal
By: James Chamberlin

The beginning of January normally marks a transition period for me from steelhead fishing to ice fishing but, the lack of cold weather did not make that possible this season. This month my primary group of friends and I went out to the Detroit River for perch, Lake Erie for walleye and to a few select streams in Ohio for steelhead.

The Detroit River was getting rave reviews from many “good sources” for its perch fishing in the canals and in many backwater cuts from the River Rouge to Gibraltar. We went out three times and did not manage to catch over 25 keepers and were even skunked once. I was completely shocked to find out that other anglers at the boat launch had the same luck as we did. I would really have to question the reports, it seems as though there is a little stretching of the truth going on here.

Lake Erie is a mess, all the wind and rain has completely turned it over. Normally we fish for walleye from the shores at night from Stoney Point in Michigan all the way to the pier heads at Vermilion until first ice. The wind has been nasty and made this fishery almost non-existent. Each time we tried to go it seems as though the water was too muddy or the water was gone.

This month has not been a total drag as the steelhead have finally moved into the Ohio streams in numbers! The massive rain and snow that we had at the beginning of the month pushed many fish up to their normal wintering grounds. The fishing has been decent, 7 – 10 hook-ups per guy on the Vermilion, Chagrin and Rocky Rivers. The fish have been hitting a variety of baits, jigs and wax worms, spawn in chartreuse and pink and single eggs all under floats.

Next month, weather permitting we will try to get out Ice Fishing on Lake St Clair for perch, Lake Erie for walleye and some secret Lake Erie canals for night crappie.