![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Lake-Erie-300x244.jpg\")
THE CREW with 28 Lake Erie walleye caught on a very windy day. Proudly displaying their catch are (from left) Barry Hart, Eric Hoskins, Pete Medved, Brandon Butler Kevin Orthman, Ranger Bob Sawtelle.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t 17
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
By BRANDON BUTLER
Driftwood Outdoors <\/p>\n
THE CREW with 28 Lake Erie walleye caught on a very windy day. Proudly displaying their catch are (from left) Barry Hart, Eric Hoskins, Pete Medved, Brandon Butler Kevin Orthman, Ranger Bob Sawtelle.<\/p>\n
Lake Erie is known for walleye. More than any other body of water, it\u2019s the destination anglers think of when they hear someone mention these delicious, highly sought after sport fish. Taking a trip to Lake Erie should be a requirement in the lifetime of any serious walleye angler. But what makes going to Erie so special extends beyond just the fishing. There\u2019s much more to experience.<\/p>\n
In 2009, I took my first walleye fishing trip on Lake Erie with Sea Breeze Charters. I met the owner, Captain Bob Witt, at the Indianapolis Boat, Sport & Travel Show. His booth was adorned with giant walleye mounts, and I wanted one for my wall. Captain Bob invited me on a trip, and to this day, it was one of the best fishing trips I\u2019ve ever taken. The fishing was fantastic, and the nine-pound walleye I caught has been on my wall for over 15 years now.<\/p>\n
Since that first trip, Lake Erie has become a favorite fishing destination of mine. I\u2019ve been back to chase smallmouth bass with fly rods around Buffalo, N.Y.; walleye out of Erie, Pa.; and mixed-bag trips below the falls on the Niagara River. But I had not been back to fish with Captain Bob in over 15 years when I received an email from him asking if I\u2019d like to come out for a trip this spring. I took him up on it and put a crew of five more guys together to fill the boat.<\/p>\n
THE CREW
Barry Hart is a retired energy industry executive who serves on the Board of Directors of Retrieving Freedom, the service dog organization I work for. Kevin Orthman is a longtime friend and former executive director of the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Pete Medved is my father\u2019s friend from the Army who is like an uncle to me. Ranger Bob Sawtelle is a retired Indiana DNR park ranger. Eric Hoskins is a lifelong family friend and fireman in Martinsville, Ind.<\/p>\n
Lake Erie is home to a fleet of charter boats. It\u2019s not hard to find someone to take you out for walleye on Erie. Just search Lake Erie charter boats and you\u2019ll find plenty of outfitters offering guided trips. I have only fished with Sea Breeze, but there\u2019s a reason why Captain Bob\u2019s outfit has grown to be the largest in the Western Basin with over 30 charter boats in operation.<\/p>\n
The six of us met up at our rental unit in Oak Harbor, Ohio on Wednesday evening. Sea Breeze, and a number of other outfitters, have multiple trailers in a park right next to the harbor. It\u2019s part of Wild Wings Marina, where you\u2019ll find a restaurant, gas station, convenience store, and fish cleaning services all on site.<\/p>\n
When visiting Lake Erie, I\u2019m going to eat lake perch. They are my favorite fried fish to eat, and Erie is known for them. We went to the Brick House in Port Clinton and had perch the first night. The food, service, and atmosphere were all great, so we went back the next night and ordered a few pizzas to share. The crab rangoon pizza was a surprise favorite.<\/p>\n
The weather wasn\u2019t great, so those two trips into Port Clinton were the extent of our tourism experience, but the region has more to offer. Both Port Clinton and Sandusky have excellent lodging and dining opportunities. Cedar Point is a top-tier amusement park, with an equally impressive waterpark. The Bass Islands are the Keys of the Great Lakes, with Put-In-Bay being the Key West of the north.<\/p>\n
THE FISHING
Our two days of fishing were challenging, but we all caught fish and brought home a few dinners worth of fillets. For both days, we fished with Captain Bryce Smith. He\u2019s a seasoned captain among those working for Sea Breeze. Captain Bob mostly oversees the operation these days. The Sea Breeze boats are large and comfortable. They look sort of like pickup trucks with long beds.\u00a0 Everyone fishes in the back.<\/p>\n
On day one, we worked for fish through high winds and muddy water. Waves were large enough to swallow smaller boats as they rolled into the troughs. We went one man down with Ranger Bob falling victim to seasickness. With a limit of six walleye per man, we could keep 36. After fishing all day, we kept 28. We lost more than enough to have pushed us to our limit, and we had to throw back some smaller ones. By all measurements, an average day at Lake Erie is still a phenomenal day anywhere else.<\/p>\n
The lake calmed the next morning, and with a perfect chop came great fishing. Ranger Bob sat it out, but the five of us collected 18 walleyes before the rain started around 10 a.m. With travel ahead and more than satisfied with the fish we caught, we called it a trip. The group got along great, and new friendships were forged. Lake Erie is big water, so even though some of the closer spots were blown out, our captain knew where to go to make sure we caught fish<\/p>\n
Fishing the Western Basin of Lake Erie for walleye in the Port Clinton and Sandusky area is one of the premier fishing trips in America. I really haven\u2019t found many comparable destinations for an all-around experience of excellent fishing, food, and entertainment in the Midwest. The service and accommodations at Sea Breeze were excellent. I hope to make it to Lake Erie more often.<\/p>\n
See you down the trail\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Marathon-Health-IUOE-513-Physcal-Therapy-2.26.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted on June 11, 2026 |
17
By BRANDON BUTLERDriftwood Outdoors THE CREW with 28 Lake Erie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,4188,260,94687,23033],"class_list":["post-216530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-fishing","tag-lake-erie","tag-outdoor-guide","tag-walleye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}