Gone fishin’ on Lake Erie

The lure of the great outdoors is always calling Gene Joseph’s name.
The Hampton businessman finds himself often thinking of or planning the next hunting or fishing excursion and has a lifetime of stories to share. Asked to dig into that bag of stories for ANR’s second annual hunting edition, Joseph took the bait took time to reflect on what has become an annual venture to the south side of Lake Erie, where he and several friends have discovered a whole new level of fishing.
“It’s not for everyone,” Joseph advised of a week-long fishing trip that involves cold weather and winds that can stir waves up to six feet high. “But the fishing is incredible. Catching an 8-pound fish in Nebraska is like a once-in-a-lifetime fish, but out there you catch them every day. The size of the fish there is just crazy.”
Joseph’s adventures to one of the Great Lakes began 15 years ago, when friend Dan Troester asked if he wanted to go with him to Lake Erie. Troester had lined up a house on Kelley’s Island, located four miles from the shoreline near Port Clinton, Ohio, and Joseph said yes, beginning what has since become an annual tradition.
“Wind is everything on Erie,” Joseph described of a body of water measuring 30 miles wide, 200 miles long and 40-50 feet deep. “It’s a lot different than anything we fish around here. Anything above 15 mph brings 4 to 6-foot waves, depending on direction, so most trips we will spend one or two days at the house just because the water is rough.”
Asked if he hesitated at all the first time he put his 21-foot fishing boat in the water, Joseph admitted that he paused, but only slightly.
“I don’t know about this,” he recalled thinking to himself while Troester put his boat in the choppy waters. “They say that if you take water over the boat the life jacket isn’t to save you, but only to help the rescue workers find you. You have to be very weather conscious because lots of the time you might not be able to see land. It’s a big body of water.”
Weather band radios are part of the gear for a day on Lake Erie. If the winds are calm, or at least mild enough to allow the diehards to venture out, Joseph said the fishing is unbelievable.
“Our best year was six years ago,” he recalled, noting that the limit for walleye is six per person, per day, with no limit on possession. “I took Denny Anderson from Polk, Tom Beck from Clarks and my son Aaron Joseph drove over from New York to join us. We brought home 80 walleye that averaged 8 pounds each. It was an incredible trip. Up to that point Tom Beck’s biggest walleye in his life was 4 pounds. He brought home seven fish to have mounted. The biggest that trip was 13 pounds.”
Over the years Joseph has taken several different people to Lake Erie. The fishing is always good, but even so the host concludes that this trip is not for everyone.
“I had four people throw up on the boat,” he said. “It can get rough and the water temperature in April is 38 to 40 degrees, so it’s cold. But if the weather is good, you can catch fish. It’s just that the rougher the waves are it’s a matter of how much water your boat can take in. If I look around and don’t see any other boats that’s a sign that maybe I shouldn’t be out here.”
For the last few years, Joseph has made the 12-hour trip north and east with friends Dane Schafer of Hampton and Kevin Jorgensen of Grand Island.
“They are good fishermen,” he said, “and aren’t afraid of the elements. If it is safe to be on the water, we will fish, rain or snow. It doesn’t matter.”
Joseph shared that the Erie trip is timed in the early spring, just after the ice melts, when the female walleye are done spawning.
“That certain time of year they’re done spawning and they all go out to feed and you mostly catch the bigger fish,” he said. “We’re trolling the whole time with lures that are about five or six inches long about 18 to 20 feet deep. They’re bigger baits to target bigger fish.”
Over the years Joseph said he has determined that five people can fish out of his boat, but three is the perfect number, especially if the water is rough.
“You need one guy driving all the time because you can’t let go of the wheel if it’s rough out,” he said. “I just enjoy being the captain. I’ve caught a lot of fish in my life and I like watching other people catch fish, especially new people who have never caught a fish that size.”
This time of year, once harvest is over, Joseph said he and Schafer like to fish every chance they get, heading further south as needed to find open water.
“Last year we finished Glen Elder in Kansas on New Year’s Day,” he recalled. “We had to break a little ice to get the boat in, but like Dane says: ‘You can’t fish all year if you don’t go on the 1st.”
Joseph said he is extremely thankful Troester invited him to Lake Erie 15 years ago and still asks him back every year, lining up the house and details of the trip. 
“You can’t fathom it if you’ve never been there,” he exclaimed. “Around here you just don’t catch fish like that, and then if you do you release them. But there, they want you to keep them. Two years ago I saw a report that said there are around 56 million walleye in that lake. It’s just an astronomical number.”

Safari hunt planned
Though Joseph is looking forward to some more fishing trips this fall, he is also getting ready for hunting season, like so many other avid hunters.
“I take my granddaughters and I like to have them shoot something,” he said. “I don’t care if I don’t shoot anything or not, but I do hunt deer every year.”
Next up on the Joseph calendar of big adventures is a hunting safari to South Africa next March. He will be joined by friends Dean and Kyle Klute, as well as his wife, Karen, who will be making her maiden hunting voyage.
“My wife has never hunted before in her life and she’s going to pull the trigger on some animals in South Africa,” he said. “We’ll be about three hours north of Johannesburg, South Africa, and we’ll be hunting about 15 different species.”
Sounds like another epic adventure to experience, and a fantastic tale to be told …