I went with Champion Charters with my family, Myself Wife and 4 teenage age kids from 18-14.  We all caught fish and some real nice ones.  We had a bunch of keepers ranging from 18 to 25 inches and had around 20 shorts that just missed being legal.  Capt Shawn and First Mate Randy worked their butts off to make sure our experience was awesome.  We all took Bonine “motion sickness medicine” and no one got sick, so that was great as well.  Capt Jim, was available for texting and talking in the lead up to our day.  He provided information about what we needed and also other accommodations.

My fishing expectations were completely met with Captain Luke and very affable First Mate Zach. The both worked hard and were quite patient teaching us a new technique to catch walleye. Things I learned that are relevant:

1. Captain Jim is an EXCELLENT communicator and manager for Champion Charters. You may sail with him or any of several others on the team.

2. By Ohio law, ONLY the Captain is allowed to give clients his fish limit. IF this happens, a note conferring same should be provided to avoid DNR issues. The First Mate may NOT give his fish to clients. I recommend clarifying what happens with the fish at the time you book.

From driving right op to the boat, the boat itself, the Captain and the equipment, this was a first class trip.  My three brothers and I have been doing fishing charters for years. This was about the best we’ve done at about half the price of others. We chose the executive trip that included lunch and fish cleaning. Our captain did everthing he could to make every minute on the boat comfortable and fish producing. The weather could not have been worse, yet all four all agreed it was a great trip. Caught a lot of fish, ate a great lunch and snacks every day, and left feeling great. Highly recommended if Champion Charters if your coming to fish walleye on Lake Erie.

Everything was fantastic except for the fish cleaning and that was not in their control.  They use an outside service that picks the fish up and has it ready in about two hours (however, it was at least an hour before they even picked our fish up).  Having people come from as far away as I do, that doesn’t work for me.  I need the fish cleaned as soon as I get off the boat and within an hour of docking.  I thought for sure that is what these guys did but must have misunderstood.  They get five stars for their part for sure, but I need to find a charter that will do what I described above.  If there isn’t one to be found I probably won’t do this again even though we all had a blast and loved our time on the water.