Outdoors: Angler uses 'the hop' to fill a limit of Lake Erie walleye
Apr. 14—OAK HARBOR, Ohio — If you talk to 10 Lake Erie fishermen, you will probably get 12 different approaches for pursuing walleye during the often intense spring spawning period.
Some will sing the praises of jig fishing, a vertical approach utilized while many of the walleye are clustered on and around the reefs. Others swear by blade baits, which create an intense vibration that walleye react to in stained water. Still more anglers belong to the church of trolling and will not stray from the faith, even in spring.
For veteran charter captain Mike McCroskey, who operates his Hawg Hanger charter service out of Wild Wings Marina north of here, decades of experimentation has led to his preferred approach, which goes by the formally baptized name of "The Hawg Hanger Hop."
The tools are essential, according to McCroskey, who first insists on equipping his boat with high-quality graphite rods that deliver the sensitivity necessary to pick up the often subtle walleye bite. He spools the reels with 14-pound test Berkley FireLine, a super sensitive and exceptionally strong hybrid fishing line that is neither a conventional braid nor a monofilament.
The only lure he uses for the spring fishery is a purple hair jig, but he always attaches a treble stinger hook to them. If a walleye takes a swipe at the bait, it might miss the larger jig hook, but the smaller treble stinger usually nails them. McCroskey said about 80 percent of the fish his boat brings in during the spring bite will come via the stinger hook. He uses about a three-foot leader attached with a stainless steel barrel swivel to keep the twist out of the line.
With that rig in hand, McCroskey instructs his clients on the finer nuances of the "hop." He tells them to cast it out, let it fall, and snap it back two or three feet, letting it tick the bottom before snapping it again, just four inches or so, and then pulling the excess line toward the boat. Then take up the slack with the reel handle, and snap the rod tip up again.
That's the hop McCroskey said is the key to filling your limit during the spring.
"It's that snap that triggers an instinctive strike by the walleye," said McCroskey, a DeVilbiss graduate who grew up on Corduroy Road in Oregon. He has been fishing Lake Erie since he was a kid.
It was trial-and-error that brought him to the hop, and the first time he employed the technique, McCroskey said he caught five trophy-class walleye in the same day. "Jig fishing is all technique — you get the technique down and you will get your limit most days," he said. "This technique has been perfected over the past 40 years, and now I feel like I'm a teacher, sharing it with everyone I fish with."
McCroskey's showcase outing this spring saw him land a six-fish limit in about an hour. He is also an advocate for getting out on the lake at dark-thirty, so you greet the fish as the sun comes up.
"A lot of people make the mistake of leaving the dock too late," he said. "I like to get out there before the sun is up and a lot of times we start hitting them right away."
Besides patenting the "hop," McCroskey likes to label his clients, too. There's Father Time, who looks like he could be a roadie for the band ZZ Top, The Cincinnati Kid, John the Pig Sticker, The Toussaint Terror, The Rookie, Commodore Perry, and The Crane Creek Lip Ripper.
McCroskey is an unabashed evangelist for Lake Erie walleye fishing and said he is puzzled over why the city of Toledo does not do more to tout the world-class fishery just off its front porch.
"We have the mother lode of pirates' gold out there right now," he said, alluding to the estimated 150 million adult walleye that now swim in the lake following several huge hatch classes in recent years. "I tell people I have 150 million in my retirement account. Money, they ask? No, 150 million walleye."
McCroskey, who has signed one of the celebrity buns hanging on the wall at Tony Packo's, said not enough people in the region appreciate the incredible opportunity they have living so close to the greatest walleye fishing in the world.
"With all of those fish right here, right in our backyard, we are the envy of every walleye fisherman in the country," he said.
First Published April 13, 2021, 11:10am
