8/25/26 Lake Erie Walleye Fishing Report — Central Basin out of Lorain
August 25, 2026
Wow — this report is going to read a lot different than the ones you all are used to getting from me. Fishing has taken an unexpected downturn in the Central Basin for now. A condition called hypoxia shows up in Lake Erie from time to time. Hypoxia is little to no oxygen in the water. It happens when algae in the lake start to die off: the algae turns a brown, slimy consistency, usually down near the bottom, and as it dies it robs almost all of the oxygen out of the water. This is temporary — but there’s no known timeframe for when it turns around. From what I’ve seen and read from NOAA, any day now we should be back on the upswing.
Despite all that depressing stuff up above, the water temperature is 78 degrees on the surface. Skies have been all over the place, with a few thunderstorms here and there — luckily nothing while we’ve been on the water. We’re still catching a few fish in spite of the hypoxia. We are not catching limits by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re still pulling some quality walleye.
I’ve switched things up big time — and when I say big time, I mean I’ve moved into shoreline fishing, from 9 to 23 feet of water. I know that sounds wild for the Central Basin of Lake Erie, but the data shows that shallow water has the highest oxygen levels right now. I put the wire rods back in the cabin and put the braid unassisted rods back out on the planer boards with Rapala Deep TDD9 Taildancers and Rattle Tots. As some of you folks already know, the Rattle Tots are my favorite go-to lure all the time, especially when the bite is tough — a little inside joke for you all to enjoy. And for Captain Brandon, a great friend of mine: make sure to comment on a few of my social media posts, “Hey Pookie, Tots are HOT.”
Rattle Tots have a very erratic action and love to be trolled fast, which is right up my alley. I’m running them at about 3.2 SOG. I’m not leaning on the Fish Hawk much right now, but on a downrigger rod I’m running a 2.5 Big Moe’s Custom Crankbait square bill — and in fact that square bill took the biggest walleye of the weekend at 26.25 inches. I’m trying to run all of my lures about 4 to 5 feet off the bottom, since that’s where I’m marking the fish.
I’m very thankful to our wonderful clients who have been so understanding during this little dry spell. They told me they came to fish with me and to have an enjoyable day on the water — and that’s exactly what we’ve done, and we’ve still been able to send everyone home with a bag of Lake Erie walleye fillets. We’ll keep everyone updated as this hypoxia passes. We are 100 percent transparent about all of it and will continue to be. We’re so blessed to have you all supporting us, even when the fishing is a little on the lean side.
Have you been thinking about fishing with us? Call (574) 253-8314 to book your Lake Erie walleye charter with Sir Walleye Charters.
Mustad Pro Tips:
- If the fish aren’t biting, find out why. It may not be anything you’re doing wrong — sometimes it’s just environmental factors that are out of anyone’s control.
- Switch it up. Sometimes big moves do big things.
- Fish your fish. Chasing that fire-drill bite all over the lake most of the time just runs you out of gas — literally out of gas. Grab quality Mustad hooks and boat tools at the Mustad Fishing website and use code SIRWALLEYE20 at checkout for 20% off the entire site.
Until Next Time,
Gotta Go, Fish ON 🎣 Get The Net‼️,
Captain Kris
Sir Walleye Charters