Background
Lake Erie is the 11th largest lake in the world by surface area. It is the fourth largest and the shallowest of the five Great Lakes. Lake Erie is 241 miles long, 57 miles wide at its widest point, has a surface area of 9,910 square miles, and has 871 miles of shoreline. It is fed primarily by the Detroit River at its western end, and drains out into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River and the Welland Canal.

The lake is divided into three "basins" - eastern, central and western. The western basin extends from the west end of the lake to about around Cedar Point, Ohio. The central basin extends to the edge of the trenches in Erie. The eastern basin extends from Erie to the eastern edge of the lake in Buffalo, New York. The western basin is generally shallow. The central basin is deeper, with depths averaging about 60 feet, and the bottom is generally flat. The eastern basin is much deeper than the central basin.

Information above from FishUSA.com web site