“Summer Fishing in the Northern United States with Ernie Calandrelli”

Part 2: Fishing for Walleye with the Phenom Worm

Editor’s Note: Ernie Calandrelli of Orchard Park, New York, the public-relations director for Quaker Boy Calls, has fished below Niagara Falls on the Niagara River for more than 50 years and guided on the Niagara River, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for 21 years. This week, Calandrelli will tell us where to fish and how he catches, fillets and cooks his catch.

Question: Ernie, where do you fish late in the summer in your section of the country?

Calandrelli: I fish Lake Erie until the end of July, and then I stay on the lower section of the Niagara River until the following May. I walleye fish and bass fish in both places. When I’m strictly walleye fishing, I use the Mister Twister Phenom Worm. In the past, I’ve exclusively used real night crawlers to fish for walleye.

But one day, one of my charter-boat captain friends out of Ashtabula, Ohio, which is on Lake Erie south of where I normally fish and myself decided to go on a meat run on his 40-foot boat. Although I don’t like to kill and eat bass, walleye, perch and crappie are some of the finest-eating fish you can catch. I love to eat them. So, that morning in Ashtabula, the Walleye Capital of the World, we decided to catch fish to eat. There were six in our fishing party, and we put out 12 rods.

On one side of the boat, we baited with real night crawlers. On the other side of the boat, we fished purple Mister Twister Phenom Worms. In 3-1/2 hours, we boated 36 walleyes with half of the fish being caught on real worms and the other half being caught on Phenom Worms. Where I fish on the lower Niagara River and on Lake Erie around Buffalo, there’s a tremendous population of gobies, a baitfish in Lake Erie.

When I fish with real night crawlers, the gobies eat-up those worms. As soon as I feel that machine-gun-type bite, I know a goby has eaten my night crawler. So, I’ll bring up my bait from the bottom and rig up another night crawler. I’ll let it back down again to repeat the same process. I’ll often spend more time re-baiting than reeling in fish.

I started using the Mister Twister Phenom Worm instead of live night crawlers and saved a lot of money on bait. Too, even if the gobies attack the Phenom Worms, they won’t eat them or tear them. Using the Mister Twister Phenom Worm, I can keep my bait in the water longer and can catch more fish. Live night crawlers are very-effective baits for catching walleyes, but if the gobies are eating the bait before the walleyes have a chance to see it, catching walleyes becomes extremely difficult. However, the Mister Twister Phenom Worms aren’t eaten-up by the gobies and are available to be eaten by the walleyes when they see those worms.

Question: What size worm do you use and what color?

Calandrelli: In the lower Niagara River, I’ll use a 6-inch worm. In Lake Erie, I’ll generally fish an 11-inch worm. My favorite colors are black, purple, natural and motor oil.

Question: How do you rig the worms, Ernie?

Calandrelli: The same way I rig for smallmouths – using a three-way swivel, a dropper weight and a 6- to 7-foot fluorocarbon leader. I put a barrel swivel in the middle of my leader and use either a copper or a gold No. 5 blade with orange beads. I put a bead above the clevis to keep the weeds out of the clevis, and then I put five or six beads down below and in the hook.

Question: What kind of blades do you use?

Calandrelli: I use Colorado and willowleaf blades. I’ve got a stinger hook that I attach to the shank of the hook in the worm. There’s about 2 to 3 inches of leader coming off the first hook going to the second hook. I don’t put the stinger hook in the worm, but rather let it swing free. I’ve found this to be a very-effective way to catch walleyes instead of spending most of the day re-baiting with live night crawlers.

To fish with Ernie Calandrelli, call Ernie’s Guide Service at (716) 609-3064, or email ernieqv@yahoo.com.