planning a spring trip.... any suggestions?

[MrStarnes1]

my dad and myself have been talking about a spring (may-ish?) trip. the idea of Put-In-Bay was brought up and sounded like a good time.
we were gearing more towards wall hanger fish (has to be over 8lbs and over 28 in length) but of course all eyes are welcome in our boats
now i know everyone is going to say go to the great lakes and fish here or there, but what i am looking for mostly is tried and true places that put out big spring eyes. not just "fish erie" i would like names of towns or camps. common methods that are being used etc etc
we are 99.9 percent of the time pulling bouncers behind live bait and would like to stick to that. we will be coming out of the sioux falls, SD area, so keeping it within a days drive would be nice otherwise everything else i am open to suggestions
thanks in advance guys and gals!
-Josh

[Hombre Robusto]

Trolling cranks between the cans just beyond the reef complex on Lake Erie is a good bet. Oak Harbor is the closest town. Your best bet for this is mid April, but many large fish are caught around the islands in May. Cranks rule in April, but spinners behind weights and bouncers start pulling fish in May.


Here's a sample of some of last years beauties (and there were many), ranging from 11 pounds to a 13.6 pound behemoth. All fish in the pictures, and all other tanks were released.

[K Gonefishin]

No better place for big fish than Erie in the spring. Late April and May, May is better because number of fish is up, both cranks and spinners are going and weather and water conditions are usually better. 8 pound 28 inch fish are very common, they don't even raise eyebrows.