OBSERVER Photo by Gene Pauszek Brain Deverell displays a two man limit of walleye that he caught out of Dunkirk Wednesday morning in deep water.

Walleye fishing offshore in Lake Erie is still pretty good, depending on where you go. I had the opportunity to fish on Wednesday with Brian Deverell out of Dunkirk.

We were on the water before 7:30 a.m. and had rods in the water at 65 feet, fishing straight out on a north heading. The day was overcast with a slight chop, coming out of the east.

The action didn’t start until we were in 85 feet of water, and it was a steady pick all the way out to 103 feet deep. Legal size walleye were taken on five, seven and ten colors of lead core line, presented off in-line planner boards.

We also took fish on wire line dipsey presentations set back about 130 feet, on a 3 1/2 setting. Downriggers also took fish. All the fish were taken on stick baits with fire tiger storm lures, bomber lures in coca crush and northern lights, colors and multi color renosky baits all being productive. We had a 12 walleye limit by 10:30 a.m. and threw back three walleye including a seven pounder.

Note that while in deep water, we observed large concentrations of suspected bait/perch in 81 and 86 feet of water hugging the bottom. This school was 10 to 20 feet deep at times and spread out over 100 yards. If that was yellow perch, I would have loved to had a bucket of live minnows.

Checking in with the Department of Environmental Conservation Fisheries station, biologist Jim Markham commented that prior to the strong prevailing easterly winds, the DEC had been netting lots of yellow perch samples off Sturgeon Point, Center Road, and Cattaraugus Creek. in 50 or more feet of water. Because of the eastern wind, the lake temperature dropped in that area and the fish have moved.

When we came into the boat launch area, we encountered two other fishermen who had just came from Sturgeon Point. They commented that several boaters had returned to port with no luck, reporting they did not find any fish there. Rick Miller in Irving reported that there was not a lot of fishing effort out of the “cat” prior to Wednesday because of the weather.

DEC Markham commented that with the rainfall and cooler temperatures there were reports of jack (male) steelhead entering Cattaraugus Creek, Chautauqua and Canadaway Creek. Those fish will most likely depart soon with warm weather/temperatures returning.

Skip Bianco from Hogan’s Hut/Stow reports that the bass bite improved over the weekend for a bass tournament, and walleye, yellow perch and musky fishing has been fair. On the plus side, a few calicos were reportedly taken out of the north end of Chautauqua lake by Mayville Magnolia and DeWittville. Archery season is right around the corner. Get it in some target practice, before the season starts to cut down on wounded deer.

Calendar: There will be a free trapping course at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. For information, call Gary Dudek at 366-3397.

The next meeting of the Southtowns Walleye Association will be Sept. 20. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. and will feature guest speakers Rich Davenport and Jeff Jondle on the topic of the Sturgeon Point Marina. The SWA is located at 5895 Southwestern Boulevard, Hamburg and meetings are open to the public. They feature kitchen facilities and a bar for refreshments.

Free Monday night fly tying instruction will resume on Monday at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club, located at Mullet Street in Dunkirk. Classes are for all levels of fly tying, but especially for beginners. No equipment is necessary. All participants get to keep their productions. Classes are from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The classes are open to the public. Sometimes they even have homemade cookies!

The Children of the Stream Youth Fly Fishing Program will be starting its 18th year of providing weekly free fly tying and fly fishing classes to both youths and adults in our area. Note that classes will switch from Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. to Tuesday evenings at the Costello Community Room (P84) in the new addition to the Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia. You do not need any prior experience to attend these classes, and the course is geared towards ages 10 and older. For more information contact Alberto Rey at 410-7003 or alberto@albertorey.com.

There will be a gun show at the Astabula County Fairgrounds located at the County Expo Center Building, 127 North Elm Street, Jefferson, OH, 44047. Show is on Oct. 27-28, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Next show is on Nov. 17 and 18 at the Hickory Post VFW located at 5550 East state Street. Us Route 62 East of PA. — West of Mercer on 62, Hermitage, PA, 16148. Same show times.

On Dec. 8 and 9, a gun show at Harbor Creek Fire Dept. Social Hall, located at 7275 Buffalo Road, US RT. 20 (located between North East, PA and Harbor Creek, PA. For details or information, contact Larry Spicer at 716-792-9972 or go to LRgunshows@gmail.com.

If your club or organization is holding a hunter safety training/trapping course or a turkey shoot or any other outdoors event, and would like to see it posted in the calendar, send information to the OBSERVER, 10 East Second Street, Dunkirk, NY 14048, or call the sports department at 366-3000 ext. 5 after 6 p.m.

Note: If you have a big game fishing or trapping success story you would like to share, call 366-1772, or 467-2079 and leave a name, phone number and a time you can be reached. You can also call 366-3000, ext. 5, after 6 p.m. or email sports@observertoday.com.