The first week of September is the beginning of the end for the Great Lakes salmon season, and that is a good thing — the kings are staging off the river mouths, the pier anglers are out at dawn, and the trollers are working the harbor mouths in the low light. Lake Erie walleye are deep and steady, and the smallmouth on every lake are feeding hard before the water cools. It is one of the busiest weeks of the year on the Great Lakes.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: king salmon staging off the river mouths on Lake Michigan from Manistee down to St. Joseph and on Lake Ontario from the Salmon River to the Niagara, with the pier and harbor bite improving every cooler morning. Coho are mixed in and the first fish are starting into the rivers. Lake Erie walleye are in 50 to 70 feet off the central basin ports and deep in the western basin, and the perch bite is picking up. Smallmouth are on the rock piles and drop-offs on Erie, Ontario, and the northern lakes. Steelhead are starting to show on the Lake Michigan piers and off the Lake Ontario river mouths.
Where to Find Them
Kings off the mouths of the Manistee, the Pere Marquette, the St. Joseph, and the Grand rivers on Lake Michigan, and off the Salmon River and Oswego on Lake Ontario. Erie walleye off Ashtabula, Geneva, and Erie, PA, in the deeper water, and on the Ohio reefs early. Smallmouth on the Bass Islands, the Erie shoreline rock piles, and the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. Perch off Cleveland and Lorain.
Tides & Conditions
Surface temps are in the upper 60s to low 70s and starting to fall, which is what pulls the kings toward the rivers. The harbor and pier bite is best at first light and again at dusk, and the trollers are working the mud lines and thermoclines in 30 to 80 feet. Erie walleye are best on the calm days when the boats can hold in deep water. Any strong north wind will stack fish on the south shores.
Tackle & Tactics
Pier anglers throw glow spoons and crankbaits at dawn and soak spawn sacs and skein under a float. Trollers run J-plugs, flasher-fly combos, and glow spoons on downriggers and dipsy divers in the low light off the river mouths. Erie walleye take crawler harnesses and deep-diving crankbaits on planer boards in the deeper water. Smallmouth take tubes, drop-shots, and jerkbaits on the rock piles. Steelhead on the piers want a spoon or a spawn sac.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Manistee First Street ramp and the St. Joseph ramp on Lake Michigan, the Ashtabula and Geneva State Park ramps on Lake Erie, and the Salmon River Marina ramp in Pulaski and the Oswego ramps on Lake Ontario. Fish are concentrating off the river mouths for kings and deep in the basins for walleye. Salmon and trout rules differ by state, and Lake Erie walleye limits vary by state and season — check current Michigan DNR, Ohio DNR, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat, and NYS DEC regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Staging kings in the harbor mouths get lockjaw as the sun comes up. Be on the pier before first light with a glow spoon, charged with a flashlight, and fish the first 45 minutes hard — that is when most of the pier fish are landed all season.
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