Wet, A Little Rough and A Few Fish

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the northeast around 10 knots with waves about 2 feet. The water temp is 69 Degrees. The rain started about 9:30 and it finally quit just before we quit fishing.Started fishing where we were on the last trip and we only caught a couple of fish. Made about 4 moves in this area without any luck so we headed to our hot spot from last year. Only caught one fish here, so we headed towards the Toledo Light House. Set up here and we caught a few dinks so we moved across the channel and fished with a small pack of boats. Caught nothing there, so we made one last move into the swamp and we started to catch some perch. Stayed here and just picked away at the fish until we ran out of time. Kept 45 perch and we put a whole lot of miles on the boat.

Nice Day on the Big Lake

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind in the morning was out of the southeast less than 10 knots and on the ride back to the harbor it was out of the southwest less than 10 knots. The waves were around a foot. The water temp is 66 Degrees because of all the cool temps we have been having at night. We set up 4 miles east of the E buoy and we never had to move, which makes for a good fishing trip. The catching was good but the only problem was it was a short bite. The perch would hit very hard and then it would be gone, you had to pay attention today to catch some fish. Only had about a dozen small perch that we put back and about a dozen white perch that we put back. Kept 88 perch for the trip.

Had Help Counting the Fish Today

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60's. Pretty cool for this time of year. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 68 Degrees. With the big northeast blow last weekend and the cool temps at night, the algae is starting to dissipate and the lake looked pretty good today. Started fishing about 4 miles east of the E-Buoy and Mark caught the first and only fish right out of the gate. Made a move another 1/2 mile to the east and set up and we were on some fish. We stayed put and enjoyed the day catching some perch. The bite slowed down a little and we decided to call it a day with a nice box of fish. We pulled lines and were heading back to port when we were pulled over by the Ohio DNR. They asked if we had an Ohio fishing license and we said yes. They then asked how many perch we had and Daryl said less than 90. One of the officers boarded the boat and checked our licenses and started counting the perch. When he was getting towards the bottom of the cooler we were starting to get a little worried that we were over the limit. He put the last fish in his bucket, looked at his hand held counter, and said we had 82 perch. Everyone was happy so we each went our own way.  

First Perch Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots with waves less than 6 inches. The water temp is 73 Degrees. When we left the house this morning the fog was terrible and on the ride to the marina it was pretty bad. We were thinking that we might not make it out fishing in the morning. Once we got to the River Raisin on I-75, the fog was gone. As we headed out of the harbor into the lake there was no fog, lucky us! Started fishing about 2 miles east of the E buoy and we caught 2 perch real quick and then nothing. We were marking some fish,so we pulled anchor and backed up about 100 feet and dropped anchor again. That's all it took and we started to catch some perch. We bought 2 scoops of minnows and we used them all. Kept 91 perch and we had to put back about 4 small perch. We only caught about 8 white perch. Just a nice day to be perch fishing. One of the few trips that I can recall that we did not have to measure any of the perch. The smallest perch we kept was 8 1/2 inches.

Salmon Fishing 2017- Manistee, MI

Fished with Joe and John in Manistee, Mi. from 8-12 to 8-16. The weather forecast was looking good except for the day of our arrival. We did not make it out fishing Saturday but we probably could have. The weather held until Thursday when the winds started to blow. We cancelled our morning trip but we were able to sneak out a trip around 11:00 am for a 1 hour fishing trip and that was our fishing for the week. We came home on Friday because the weather so bad. We tried to pull the boat out Friday morning at the harbor but the wind and waves made it impossible. We were fighting 2 to 3 foot waves at the boat launch. We met some people who told us to take the boat up to Manistee Lake and take the boat out there. That worked out perfect. On the way to Manistee Lake the handle fell off the trailer winch. Luckily a city worker saw it happen. He followed the trailer and gave it to us which made for one happy crew.

On Sunday morning we fished straight out of the harbor at the 13 line and went 3 for 4 with the bloody nose fly and the spin doctor the hottest lure. That evening we fished the same area and went 1 for 2 with the bloody nose fly working again and a black mamba meat rig. Monday morning the lake was flat and we headed north to the 17 line and went 1 for 1 with the bloody nose fly again. For the evening trip we headed out to the 15 line and went 3 for 4 with the meat rig catching a couple of fish. Tuesday we left the dock a little late to let the storm pass by and we fished the 16 line and went 1 for 2 with the gray ghost J plug catching the fish. For the evening trip we went to the 17 line and went 7 for 8 with a little bit bit of every thing working. Tuesday night we got a report that they were catching some fish down at Big Sable Point so I figured we would make the run down there in the morning. Wednesday morning we were heading down the river not knowing if we were going north or south to fish. I made up my mind at the last minute and headed north. As the saying goes, "Don't leave fish to find fish!." We went 6 for 6 with a blue dolphin spoon on the slider catching most of the fish. For the evening we went back to the same area and went 2 for 3. Thursday morning it was blowing pretty good and we thought the day would not be good for fishing, but we had a little window where the wind switched a little bit and the waves were about 3 foot, so out we went. Caught one fish on the 300 copper with a light green silver horde.

 The Tally for the Week

We hooked 32 fish and landed 25 of them, which gave us a catch rate of 78 percent, which is pretty good. One fish broke the leader line on the copper, 3 were just short strikes and the rest just got off. We trolled for 33 hours and landed 25 fish which gave us a catch rate of .76 fish per hour. We would like to average one fish per hour. Of the 13 sessions we could of gone fishing, we made it out 9 times and we came home a day early. The 25 fish weighed 333.5 lbs. for an average weight of 13.34 lbs per fish. The largest fish weighed 23.5 lbs. and the smallest was 4.5 lbs. Six fish weighed over 20 lbs.

Below is a List of Lures That Had Hits

Black Mamba Meat.............................7
Blue Dolphin Spoon............................7
Bloody Nose Fly..................................6
John J Blue Meat.................................4
Gray Ghost Spoon...............................3
Silver Horde Ace High........................2
Gray Ghost J Plug...............................1
Mt Dew Spoon John J.........................1
Silver Horde Light Green....................1

It Was a Windy One Today

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The heat wave is done for a while. The wind was out of the northwest 15 to 25 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. The water temp is 76 Degrees. Our game plan was to troll with the waves, run the back side of the Michigan dump, pull lines and do it all over again. We set up 2 miles east of the E buoy trolling with bandits set at 90 feet back. We were marking a lot of fish but we were also catching a lot of weeds. Once we got close to the E buoy the weeds were gone. The windward side of the boat started catching fish and on the first pass we kept 6 walleye. On the next pass we put the leeward side to 125 feet back and we only picked up 3 more keeper walleye. On the third pass we ran the same set up and we finally got our 12 walleye. Caught around 15 short walleye and we only had a couple of junk fish. A pretty bad storm blew through the area yesterday and a lot of trees were down in the subdivision by the marina. Thought the lake might be full of debris but it was in good shape.

It Was a HOT One Today !!

Fished with Captain Daryl and Duane. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. The wind was out of the southwest less than 8 knots with waves less than 6 inches.The last couple hours of fishing it was pretty warm. The water temp is 78 Degrees. Started fishing halfway between Sputnik and West Sister Island trolling storm deep diving thunder sticks set at 110 feet back and 120 feet back. We had a slow and steady pick of the fish but the good news is they were all nice size walleye. We just stayed in this area but the bite started to slow down. The last four walleye we had on we lost and then the catching just shut right down. Kept 13 walleye and we had some pretty nice fish. Only had a handful of short walleye and a few junk fish to contend with. The water is very clean and there were no weeds.

Beautiful Day on the Lake

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the northeast less than 10 knots. The waves were less than 2 feet when we started fishing and after a couple of hours they were less than a foot. We started a little late this morning because the wind was out of the northeast last night up to 20 knots with waves 3 to 4 feet. The water temp is 75 Degrees and the algae bloom is starting. We set up 1 mile east of the E buoy trolling with the waves and we caught a nice walleye right out of the gate. Fished this area for another half hour and caught 1 more walleye but the weeds were too bad for fishing. We moved out to McDonald's and fished the Michigan side of the channel and started to catch a few fish running bandits 110 and 140 feet back. If we got too close to the dumping grounds we were back into the weeds. Kept 11 walleye and had the usual amount of short walleye.

Not Sure Which is Better!!

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was mostly out of the west less than 10 knots. Waves were about a foot when we started fishing and then the lake laid down to less than a foot. The water temp is 76 Degrees. We headed towards Little Cedar Point. The water was clean in Michigan waters and then when we got close to the Toledo Light House the water was very dirty. Once we were by the Light House about 1 1/2 miles the water cleaned up so we set up lines. Started trolling bandits 110 and 125 feet behind the boards and we never switched the program. I think the 110 foot side caught more keeper fish but not sure. Caught our share of short walleye but it was not as bad as the last trip. Did have a triple header of large sheep head on that cost us some fishing time. Kept 12 walleye and 1 perch. It was just one of those great days to be on Lake Erie. Just a side note, catfish Joe did not catch a catfish fish today. One more thing, not sure which is better, fresh walleye or a tomato from our garden today!!

Catfish Joe Strikes Again

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 80's. It was even muggy out on the water. The wind was less than 10 knots out of the southwest with just a light chop on the water. The water temp is 76 degrees. Started fishing the other side of the Ohio dump trolling bandits 130 feet behind the boards. Once we got out of the dump area we did not mark any fish. We were catching a few fish so we put spoons and mini disk at 120 feet back on one side. Started catching walleye right away but they were all shorts. We pulled lines and headed back to Michigan waters. Set up at the S buoy trolling towards Turtle Island with wiggle warts set at 70 and 90 feet back. Started to catch fish right out of the gate but again we were catching a lot of short walleye. We just stayed put and sorted through all the small walleye to get our 12 fish. Caught some large sheep head and a few white perch and yes Joe caught another catfish.

Had to Work For Them Today

Fished with Joe and John. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was light and variable, less than 7 knots with waves about a foot. The water temp is 72 Degrees. The small bugs started to show up but thankfully the wind picked up a little bit and they were gone.  We made a pass through the swamp hoping to fish here but we did not mark enough fish to stay so we headed towards the Toledo Water Intake.We had to dodge a lot of large logs floating in the water which made it difficult to stay on course. We set up around Little Cedar Point and started running wiggle warts set at 80 feet back and bandits set at 65 feet back.  For the first 45 minutes we had no fish, then I got a report that they were catching some fish around the turnaround  buoy. We finally caught a keeper walleye so we just stayed put. Started to catch some walleye off the Warts set at 100 feet back, so we put Warts on both sides. We were catching a lot of short walleye so we just sorted through the short fish hoping to catch our limit. We tried spoons and dipsy's without much luck so we went back to the Wiggle Warts. Our best Warts were anything with orange on them. Kept 15 walleye and 2 perch. Also caught a lot of junk fish today. Garbage man came through again today! He caught a another large cat fish that would almost put him into the hall of shame.

It Was a Short Day

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was mostly out of the south southwest with waves around a foot. The water temp is 71 Degrees. Started fishing at the S- Buoy trolling towards the northeast side of the dumping grounds with bandits set at 55 and 65 feet behind the boards. We were catching a lot of short walleye and we only had 1 keeper. Joe decided to put the mini disk on with spoons set at 90 feet back and we started to catch a few more keeper walleye. We were fishing on the back side of the dumping grounds on the Michigan side of the border. Both the mini disk and the bandits were catching fish but we were catching way too many short walleye. We just stayed in this area and sorted through all the small walleye to try and get our limit. Our biggest problem was, as soon as you put a pole out, there was probably a short walleye on it. Not complaining because that is a good problem to have. We kept our 12 walleye and put back a countless amount of short walleye. Oh, forgot to mention, Joe caught another catfish again today. Starting to call him the garbage man now!

Tough Day Fishing For Us

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was light and variable with waves less than a foot.The water temp is 72 Degrees. Got a report that they were catching some fish by the dumping grounds. We drove by there and looked for fish on the fish finder but it did not look very promising, so we headed to our hot spot. We set up there and we did not even get a hit. Started trolling towards Sputnik with bandits set at 130 feet back and Daryl suggested we put jet 40's with spoons on one side. We put the jets on and the fishing was on fire, too bad most of the fish were under size walleye. At this point, we were about a mile east of Sputnik. We were catching a few keeper walleye so we put both sides to the jet 40's. We worked this area for a while and then we headed for Sputnik where we started to catch a few more keeper walleye. Spent the rest of the trip trolling between Sputnik and the first set of buoys west of Sputnik and then we called it a day. Kept 16 walleye and 2 perch.  We also caught 2 catfish (one weighed around 8 lbs.) and 1 sheep head that went back to the lake.We lost track of how many short walleye we caught, but we were guessing around 35. Today was the perfect day to be fishing on Lake Erie, a light breeze and no bugs.

The Fishing is Still Hot!

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The cooler air felt good for a change. The wind was out of the southwest 10 to 15 knots with waves 2 feet or less. The water temp is 71 Degrees. Set up fishing where we have been the last couple of trips. We were marking some fish and it did not take too long before we had our first walleye running bandits 130 feet behind the boards. We ran one straight troll with the wind to our backs just picking away at the fish. Caught a lot of short walleye and the net man missed a few walleye, but we managed. Kept 12 walleye and we were done around 9:00 am.

Another Good Day!

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was mostly out of the west southwest around 10 knots with waves about a foot. The water temp is 73 Degrees. Started fishing where we left off on Tuesday running the same program, bandits set at 130 feet back. We were marking some fish and it did not take too long for the action to begin. We were hoping to catch our fish on one pass but we had to turn around to catch the last couple of fish. Just like Tuesday, we were pulling lines and we had to put some nice fish back. Even though the hi lo driver showed up late to put the boat in the water we were done fishing by 9:30 am. Kept 12 walleye. Only caught 2 sheephead and about 8 short walleye that we put back. The mayfly hatch was bad on shore but on the water we did not see too many carcasses floating on the water.

Daryl Found the Fish Today

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 90's. The heat wave is continuing. When we started fishing the wind was out of the southwest around 10 knots with waves about a foot and after a couple of hours the wind switched and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 72 Degrees. Started fishing in Brest Bay trolling towards Fermi with jet 40's and spoons set at 70 feet back and bandits set at 130 feet back. Trolled this way for about a hour without a bite and things were not looking good. Got a call from Daryl and he was on some walleye about 3 miles north of Sputnik so pulled lines and headed out that way. We set up with the same program and nothing was happening,so we put our jet 40's back to 90 feet. Caught a couple of walleye off the bandits and one walleye off the jets, so we put both sides to bandits at 130 feet. It was game on and we had our fish pretty quick. We actually caught too many keeper walleye when we were done fishing and had to put some back. The mayfly hatch is starting. On the ride back to port we were driving through batches of mayfly carcasses. Our best setup was the bandits set at 130 feet back. When we got back to port most of the boats were using the jet 40's set at 70 feet back and catching their limits. Kept 12 walleye and we only had 4 short walleye that we put back. Did not catch any junk fish today.

After the Catch, Dinner at Trappers

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was light and variable with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 68 Degrees. Started fishing the southeast corner of the dump running bandits set at 100 feet back and spoons and dipsy's set at 95 feet back. Started to catch a few fish and then it just shut right down. We were catching a lot of short walleye, but no keeper walleye. We pulled lines and headed out to the east side of the Ohio dump and set up there with bandits set at 130 feet back and 140 feet back. Started to catch some fish off the 130 setup so we switched both sides to the 130 feet back. We still caught a lot of short walleye but we were catching some nice keepers. Once we moved out to the deeper water we did not catch any junk fish. Kept 12 walleye and put back a whole lot of short walleye. Captain Daryl fished with his friends so we cleaned all the fish together and went to Trappers for a fresh walleye dinner. It doesn't get any better than that!

Cold and Windy Trip

Fished with Captain Daryl and Tom. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. The wind was out of the north northeast less than 10 knots when we started fishing with waves around a foot and when we quit fishing it was just under 20 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. The water temp is 67 degrees. Started trolling east of the Ohio dumping grounds with wiggle warts set at 75 and 85 feet behind the boards. We started catching fish with both setups until the wind started to pick up. Once the wind started blowing we turned and trolled with the wind and waves to our backs. Only caught one keeper walleye on this troll and it was getting hard to stand up so we called it a day. Kept 4 walleye and had the usual short walleye that we put back.

A Nice But Crowded Day on the Lake

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was mostly out of the east less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 67 Degrees. Started fishing where we left off the last trip running the same program. The catching was pretty slow for the first half hour, then we were on some active fish. We were sorting through the walleye and enjoying the day until we got to 10 walleye in the cooler and the catching just shut right off. We were trying different lures and different depths with no results. After a couple of hours we finally caught our last 2 keepers. We had to put the dipsy's and spoons back to 95 feet instead of the 75 feet back. Kept 12 walleye and only caught 3 junk fish. We lost track of how many under size walleye that we put back.

Finally!

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was light out of the north with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 67 Degrees. Started fishing just east of the E-Buoy trolling east with bandits set at 55 and 65 feet back. We were catching a few fish but there were just too many weeds floating on the surface. Started trolling to the south east of the E-Buoy and we switched over to spoons and dipsy's set at 75 feet back and we started to catch some more fish. We only had to make one pass through this area and we had our limit. Kept 18 walleye and we probably put back that many short walleye. Only caught 3 silver bass.

Nice Day on the Lake

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the southwest when we started fishing and started switching around 10:00 am to the southeast less than 10 knots. Waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 61 degrees. Started fishing the south side of the dump with junior thunder sticks set at 80 feet back and deep diving thunder sticks set at 55 feet back. We also ran a couple of dipsy's set at 30 to 40 feet back with bombers. We were marking a lot of fish so we just stayed and worked this area. The catching was slow but a least we were catching some walleye. The blue and green thunder sticks seemed to be the best colors. Kept 10 walleye and put back about 10 short walleye and we only caught 2 silver bass.

Nice Day, Bad Results

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60's. The wind was very light and variable with no waves, just a little chop on the lake. The water temp is 58 Degrees. Started fishing around the S-Buoy trolling with junior thunder sticks set at 75 feet back, deep diving bandits set at 50 feet back and dipsy's and bombers set at 28 feet back. We were marking a lot of fish but we had no takers, so after a half hour we took off the thunder sticks and put on crawlers set at 45 feet back. The water was dirty, but clean enough to catch fish. Finally we caught our first walleye and it was a short walleye. Stayed in this area for a while and we landed only one keeper walleye so we started heading to the East. About 15 minutes heading into this direction I started playing with the auto pilot and I put the boat into a 360 Degree spin, not a good thing. I shut down the motor and we were into a major mess. Thanks to all the good work of my crew we did not lose anything, hard to believe. Since all the lines were out of the water we headed for walleye alley. Set up here with the same program and we only caught one keeper walleye. We pulled lines and headed back to the dumping grounds running the same program. When we fished the stained water we started to catch walleye, some keepers and some shorts, but our time was running out. When we got into the dirty water we were catching logs and paper. Kept 7 walleye and put back 8 short walleye. Only caught a few junk fish.

First Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe on the first walleye trip of the year. The weather report was for light northwest winds with waves less than a foot. The day started out with the winds out of the northeast around 10 knots and by 10:00 am the wind was blowing at 15 knots with waves 1 to 3 feet. Not a good start to the year. When we started fishing the temp was in the lower 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The water temp is 52 Degrees. Started trolling at the S buoy heading towards the E buoy with crawler harnesses with 2 ounce weights. One side of the boat was set at 40 feet back and the other side of the boat was set at 50 feet back. We were about half way in the dumping grounds when we caught the first walleye, 14 1/2 inches. We started picking away at the fish until we got to the E buoy and the water started clearing up so we made a pass back where we came from. About this time the wind started blowing and it was tough to control the boat. We fought the wind and waves for about a hour and called it a day. Kept 1 perch and 10 walleye. We put back 14 walleye that were under size.

Trout Fishing 2017

Headed up north with Joe and John on Thursday morning to set up camp on the Boardman River. When we were in Grayling, fueling up, the temps were in the lower 70's and by the time we arrived at camp the temps were in the middle 50's. The river looked to be in good shape for the opener on Saturday, April 29.

Saturday morning the temp was 38 Degrees with a slight breeze and  clear skies, just a beautiful opening morning. We all headed to our favorite spots with high hopes. When we all met back at camp we had the same reports, the fish were biting and we all caught fish. Opening morning produced 12 brown trout from 8 1/2 inches to 14 1/4 inches. What a great start to the trout season! Minnows and worms both caught fish, but the bigger fish came off the minnows. We now had enough fish to have trout dinners for a couple of nights.

Now Mother Nature decided to step in and change the trip. The rain that started Saturday night chased us away from the camp fire and continued into Sunday morning. We had a small window to eat some breakfast and do a little fishing before the next rain storm arrived. We got a couple of hours of fishing in before the rain started. We caught some nice fish, but that was it for fishing on Sunday. The rain quit just in time to have a camp fire but, again, we were chased away from the fire around midnight because of the rain. The forecast was for more rain on Monday morning with a small window of no rain then more rain for the rest of the day and rain on Tuesday. We made the decision to cut our trip short and break camp on Monday morning when the rain quit and head for home, which turned out to be the right choice. We kept 20 brown trout for the weekend with the largest fish measuring 16 inches, that I caught on Sunday, which makes me the Trout King for this year!

First Ice Fishing Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe on Lake St. Clair. Temperature this morning was in the upper teens and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 20's. We fished out of the Metro Park and we walked out from the Day Sail ramp. The ice is a good 6 inches thick and it's good hard ice. Visibility is only about a foot. The water is not dirty it's just cloudy and that should clear up pretty soon. We used wax worms tipped on small jigs and Slab Grabber spoons and Ken spoons. Started fishing in 8 feet of water without much luck. Made a move in closer to 6 1/2 feet of water and we were just set up and all four poles went down. We only landed one of those fish. After that the fishing was pretty slow. Only kept 2 perch for the trip that we gave away to some other fisherman on the ice. It felt good to be back on the ice again, I missed all of last year. Could not have made this trip without Joe, he did all the dirty work.

Perchin' in November

Fished with Captain Dan. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's when we started fishing and it was in the middle 70's when we quit fishing. Never had a day of fishing in November with temps like this! The wind was out of the south west less than 5 knots and there was hardly a ripple on the lake. The water temp is 53 Degrees. We took our sweatshirts off pretty early and enjoyed the sunshine and perch fishing. Started fishing in front of the Edison stacks in 22 feet of water and we only caught one small perch. Made a move about 1/4 mile south east of the Raisin River buoys 1 and 2 and we found some fish. Stayed put here and we picked away at the perch. We had to do some sorting, but our game plan was to keep nothing under 9 inches. Kept 69 perch with the largest one's measuring 11 1/4 inches and we had a couple of perch that were 8 inches that swallowed the hooks. Just a beautiful fishing trip in November on Lake Erie!

Great Day Perchin'

Fished with Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. Again, the sun was out for the whole trip and it felt great on the water. We had our coats off by 9:30 am. There was no wind today so we had no waves, just a perfect day to be on Lake Erie. The water temp is 63 Degrees. It was a slow start this morning. The hi-lo driver showed up late and we had to buy some fuel before we went fishing. Finally, away we went. Headed back to the same spot we have been fishing the last week and there were 8 boats perch fishing in our area. We set up a little off our way point and only caught a few fish. After 20  minutes, we moved about 200 feet and started to catch some perch. Stayed put for the rest of the trip, sorting through the small fish and keeping nothing under 8 inches. Kept 100 perch. I decided to treat myself today and took the fish in to get cleaned. The 100 fish weighed 27 1/2 pounds. We both had a great day on the lake.

Little on the Bumpy Side

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 80's when we quit fishing. A little taste of summer during the fall. The wind was out of the south southwest 17 to 25 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. Every once in a while a 4 footer would come by and that would get your attention. The water temp is 60 degrees. Went back to our same spot and the boat ride out was not too bad. Set up and we started picking away at the perch. It was a steady bite but you had to pay attention with the rough water. At 11.00 am we called it quits for the day. Surprisingly the boat ride back to port was not too bad either. Kept 117 perch with the largest one measuring 12 inches and one bonus walleye. With the southerly wind maybe we should have fished in the swamp but we survived. All's well that ends well.

Bit Slower Today

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40's when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The sun was out the whole time we were fishing so it felt pretty warm. The wind was out of the southwest for most of the trip with rolling waves about a foot. The water temp is 62 degrees. Went back to the same location and the fish were there but the bite was just steady. We were picking away at the perch until about 10:45 AM and then the catching just shut down. Around 11:30 the bite picked up again but we were getting ready to call it a day. Daryl put his boat to rest for the winter while Joe and I cleaned most of the fish. Got done cleaning the fish and we went to Trappers for a great perch dinner. Kept 89 perch and the largest one was 11 inches.

Another Good Day

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60's. Even though it was warmer today it felt a lot colder. The winds were out of the south around 15 knots with two foot waves. When we were about done fishing the sun came out and the lake laid down to one foot waves and then it started to warm up. The water temp is 62 degrees. Started fishing where we left off yesterday and the catching was even better. We were on the fish pretty quick and we were catching bigger perch. Biggest perch today was 12 1/2 inches and we had a lot of fish over 10 inches. Kept 150 perch and this was one of our best perch fishing trips in a long time. Had all the fish cleaned with plenty of time for Daryl to make his dentist appointment.

Found Some Nice Perch

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. It actually felt pretty nice out because the sun was shining for the whole trip. The wind was mostly out of the east less than 12 knots with waves between 1 and 2 feet. The water temp is 62 degrees. When we left port we headed back to the swamp. The water was pretty dirty but we tried fishing anyways. We fished for about 15 minutes and then we pulled anchor and headed to a spot we fished about 4 weeks ago, about 1 mile east of the E-Buoy, We set up here and the catching was slow. The fish would come through in waves but at least we were on some perch in cleaner water. It did not take too long for the fish to turn on and once they did it was game on. Caught the nicest catch of the season as far as size. Kept 135 perch and we only caught one silver bass. The largest perch was 11 1/4 inches.

Back at it Again

Fished Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 70's when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the southeast for most of the trip less than 10 knots. The waves were between 1 and 2 feet when we started and after a hour they were less than a foot. The water temp is 65 degrees. Headed back to the same spot as yesterday and the catching was pretty slow. Made a couple of moves in this area with out much luck. Made a move towards the middle of the swamp and we found some perch. Spent the rest of the morning here picking away at the perch. Caught a few larger perch today but over all the size was about the same as yesterday. Kept 78 perch with the largest one about 11 inches. The water was a tad bit dirtier than yesterday after the east winds last night.

Fishing after the Big Rain Storm

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's when we started fishing and when we were done fishing it was in the lower 60's. The wind was mostly out of the west less than 6 knots without any waves. The water temp is 66 degrees. Just last week the water temp was 75 degrees. The fog was very thick which made for a long and slow boat ride into the swamp. The water was pretty clean after all the rain we had for the last 4 days. Started to catch a few fish right out of the gate and then it slowed down. The perch would be there for a little while and then gone. Made a small move of about 200 feet to the south and we were back on some active fish again. Caught all perch today but the size was not very good. Biggest fish was just under 10 inches. Kept 93 perch.

Short Trip

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The wind was out of the south southeast around 10 knots when we started and when we quit fishing the wind was out of the southeast at 25 knots. The waves went from 1 foot to about 4 foot in less than 5 minutes. The water temp is 68 degrees. Headed back to the swamp and set up where we have been fishing. We put our rain gear on before we left port knowing it was going to rain, we had no idea about the wind. Had a nice boat ride into the swamp and set the anchor to start fishing. We got to fish for a couple of minutes and then the waves were too large to be out perch fishing. The fish were snapping at the baits but we had to pull the anchor and come back to port. It was a tough boat ride back to the harbor even though the waves were off the starboard stern. Kept 6 perch and threw back about 5 perch. Since we were back at port so early we changed the out drive oil and the engine oil. Had to borrow a screw driver from Huey to change the out drive oil and we put it back in his boat when we were done. The fishing season is coming to an end real soon.

Back in the Swamp Again

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was mostly out of the southwest less than 10 knots with just a little ripple on the lake. The water temp is 75 degrees. We headed back to where we left off on the last trip and we were on the fish right out of the gate. Had to do a little more sorting today but the fish were about the same size as the last trip. Every so often on the starboard side of the boat the bite would just flat out quit but the port side stayed busy.  Tried the shiners that we froze from the last trip and they worked out just great. We just might have a new way to preserve our bait. It was a good thing that we had them today otherwise we would have ran out of bait. Kept 99 perch today.

Perfect Day on Lake Erie

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The water temp is 74 degrees. The wind was light and variable with no waves. The only problem we had was that we were drifting around the anchor. We would be on the fish and then off the fish. Just a perfect day on Lake Erie. Made our first trip into the swamp this year and it did not disappoint. Set up on our first spot and Joe caught a double right out of the gate and then it slowed down. Moved about 100 feet and we started catching fish again. It was not fast and furious but enough steady action to keep us put. If we had a little breeze we would have stayed on the fish better. Had to do a little sorting but it was not too bad. Kept 106 perch and the largest was 11 inches. The size of the perch are starting to get a little larger. Learned a new way to preserve shiners, will see how it works out.

Pretty Good Day Perch'in

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the southeast less than 10 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 72 degrees. We planned on fishing by the Turn Around buoy but on the way out there Joe saw a pack of boats by the shipping channel around buoys 5 and 6. We headed out there and set up and we never had to move. We had to do a lot of sorting but we were able to catch our limit of perch. The minnow situation is not getting any better. We had nice shiners today but the count was not very good. From here on out we are going to salt our left over minnows for the next trip. Kept 64 perch and the largest was 10 1/2 inches.

Trout Fishing- A Little Late

Fished with Joe and John on the Boardman River. Left on Sunday and came home on Wednesday. We could not make it for the opening day of trout fishing because of my shoulder so we went now. It rained all day Saturday up north so the rivers were pretty high for this time of year. We fished all of our usual spots and the catching was tough. This is only our third year fishing the Boardman River and we only caught Brown Trout the previous two years. This trip we caught a lot of little Brook Trout and had two keeper Brookies. We used shiners, worms and spinner blades and they all caught fish but the worms caught most of the fish. Joe caught big fish on Monday and big fish on Tuesday so that made him the Trout King for 2016. We kept six fish for the trip and the biggest was a 10 3/4 inch Brown Trout.

Tough Day Perchin

Fished With Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 90's. And it's September, holy crap. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 77 degrees. Had a tough time buying minnows today and we wound up with mud minnows and we were lucky to get those. Not our favorite choice. When we arrived at the marina there were already 3 boats waiting to get launched before us and no hi lo driver. To make matters worse there were 3 boats in the slips that had to be put away. And the icing on the cake was the hilo would not start once the driver showed up. After we got through that mess we were getting ready to leave the dock when one of the guys from the marina came up to us and said he had the perfect hot spot from a couple of days ago. Could not pass that up so we waited for him to follow him out to that spot. We fished there for about a half hour with a couple of moves and we only caught one perch. Made a move towards Sputnik and we stopped short about 4 miles and set up. Started to catch some perch but the catching was slow and the size was not very good. We stayed put and just picked away at the perch. Kept 48 perch.

Nice Steady Bite

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was light out of the south for most of the trip with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 75 degrees. We set up where we fished last Tuesday, which is just past the dumping grounds on the Michigan/Ohio border and we never had to move. The bite was good right out of the gate and it only slowed down the last 1/2 hour of fishing. Kept 110 perch about the same size we have been catching all week. Not too much to report. We had good bait, nice lake conditions and the fish were active today.

Trappers for Lunch

Fished with Joe and Dan C. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 78 degrees. Our game plan to was to catch some perch and go to Trapper's for lunch. Started off fishing where we left off on Sunday. The catching was not very good so we made a small move here with out any luck. Moved over to the Raisin River buoys 1 and 2 and we were just picking away at the perch. I was beginning to think that we were going to have hamburgers for lunch.  Once we had enough perch for lunch we pulled the anchor and started heading for the E-Buoy to finish out the day but I stopped at an old way point on the way to try out. We finally found some perch so we spent the rest of the trip here picking away at them. Kept 48 perch and the size was almost like last Sunday's catch. Got those fished cleaned up and we headed to Trapper's for some Turtle soup and all you can eat perch dinner.

First Perch Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. Pretty hot for this time of year. The water is a little dirty from all the storms the last couple of weeks. The wind was light out of the southwest less than 10 knots, with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 76 Degrees. Started fishing just past the Michigan dumping grounds in 21 feet of water and we never moved. The catching was just steady and we were not catching very large fish, but I did not feel like chasing perch today. We kept 81 perch and had a lot of throw backs. Most of the perch were just over eight inches and we only had a few over 10 inches. You know the catching is tough when you have to measure most of the fish before they go into the cooler. After we were done cleaning the fish the alarms went off and there was a tornado warning for Monroe County. Luckily we missed all of that. I actually fished today and it felt good. When we pulled the anchor we caught another anchor that had been in the lake for a while. Daryl was not too happy bringing in two anchors at once but he survived.

Salmon Fishing 2016 - Manistee, Mi.

Fished with Joe and John in Manistee, Mi. We fished from 8-13 to 8-19. The reports we received just two weeks prior to us leaving were not very encouraging. Most of the boats out fishing were targeting Lake Trout and we do not fish for them. The week before we left a large pod of salmon arrived on the east coast of Lake Michigan and the boats started to go after salmon again. There was a large pod of fish off Big Sable Point. We had a temperature break the whole week we fished, anywhere between 50 and 70 feet down.

 Our first day of fishing was cancelled because of the waves. Sunday the lake was in great shape so we headed south and fished around the 9 and 10 line. We were 2 for 3 in the morning and 1 for 1 in the afternoon. We caught our largest fish of the week on the afternoon trip, a 22 lb King. Monday we stayed south and we picked up 2 fish in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Tuesday the lake was pretty flat so we made the ride down to Big Sable Point, about 14 miles one way. We had our best trip where we landed 6 fish. In the afternoon we fished a little south and only caught 1 fish. Wednesday morning was a blow session so I worked on the boat. In the evening we fished south again at the 10 line and went 2 for 5. Not good. Thursday morning the lake was calm again so we made the ride down to Big Sable Point and we picked up 5 fish. In the afternoon we fished at the 9 line and caught 1 fish. Friday morning we fished at the 9 line again and we caught 1 fish. We were watching a large storm coming across the lake and when it got to the Michigan border we pulled lines and headed for port. Friday evening was cancelled because of the waves. We saw some large salmon at the cleaning station with the largest one weighing 28 lb.

We lost the auto pilot for the boat before our first trip. Called Garmin on Monday morning and after about 10 phone calls they over nighted a new ECU. That arrived on Tuesday around lunch time. Installed the new ECU for the afternoon trip and we tried to use it but the unit would not work. Called Garmin again on Wednesday morning and they said to try and hot wire the pump and see what happens. Nothing happened so I called them back and they said the pump was bad also, so we spent the week with no auto pilot. Also had a malfunction with the raw water wash down that was leaking at the pump. Tried to fix that but was not able to. And now the bilge pump. I installed a new pump before we left for salmon fishing and tried it at home and everything worked. We get up north and the pump would stick in the "on" position. Spent 2 days fighting with that and finally had to remove the bracket from the bilge and just let the pump lay in the bilge for the rest of the trip. As for me, I did not catch any fish, still recovering from surgery. Could not have made this trip without the help of the guys and I would like to thank them.

The Tally for the Week

We hooked 30 fish and landed 24 of them which gave us a catch rate of  80 %, which is pretty good. We lost one fish at the net, one broke the teaser on the meat rig, one broke the line and the rest just got off. We trolled for 29.75 hours and landed 24 fish which gave us a catch rate of .80 fish per hour. We would like to average one fish per hour. Of the 13 sessions we could have gone fishing we made it out 10 times. A couple of those times the waves were 2 to 4 feet and we could have gone out but we decided against it. The 24 fish weighed 307 lb. for an average weight of 12.8 lb. per fish. The largest fish was 22 lb. and the smallest was 4.5 lb. We had 3 fish over 20 lb. 

Below is a List of Lures That Had Hits

• Moonshine Bloody Nose fly......................................5
• Silver Horde-Green...................................................5
• John King-John Jay meat rig....................................5
• Silver Streak-Blue Dolphin........................................4
• John King-Ghostbuster spoon...................................3
• Silver Horde-Gray Ghost............................................3
• John King-Black Mamba with Moo Moo head.............3
• Green meat rig............................................................1
• Blue meat rig..............................................................1

That's it for 2016 Salmon Fishing!

Tough Day Walleye Fishing

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 80's when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the west switching to the southwest less than 8 knots with just a light chop on the water. The water temp is 79 degrees. Started fishing by the Water Intake (41 43 350 / 083 14 250) and trolling east with wiggle warts set at 70 and 90 feet behind the boards. We were catching a lot of short walleye and then we finally caught a keeper off the 80 foot set up. Switched the longer leads to 75 feet but we were still catching a lot of junk fish. Daryl put out a couple of large dipsy's with bomber As set at 25 feet back and they started to catch some walleye. We were just picking away at the walleye until the sun started getting above us and then the catching just shut down. The last two hours of the trip we did not box any walleye. Caught a lot of walleye between 13 1/2 and 14 inches. Have not seen this size walleye for a couple of months. Kept 6 walleye and two of those were just 15 inches. It might be time to start perch fishing unless the walleye decide to move back to Michigan waters.