The Fish Are There

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temps were in the lower to mid 40s with a southeast wind 10 to 15 knots. Waves were less than 2 feet. The water is still on the dirty side but it always seems to be this time of year.

We fished just south of the Radar Buoy in 6 feet of water. We tried jigging with minnows, drifting with crawlers and blading. Four of the fish were caught jigging and one was caught drifting with a crawler harness. We kept 5 walleye between 19 and 20 inches and we lost 5 other fish. Need to start using stinger hooks on all the jigs. The only other thing we should have done was put out the drift sock when the wind started blowing a little harder.

Next planned trip: 05-04-08. Fishing with Daryl and Tim.

Opening Day Trout in Grayling, MI

This is Doug's Big Fish so far, 17.5. We left Friday morning for Grayling. The fire they had in Grayling Thursday has been put out. The fire affected over 1000 acres, but was East of town. We are about 15 minutes West of town.

The weather is absolutely crummy! It was 55 Degrees when we got up for the morning fishing but by 10:00 am, it was already down to 42 Degrees. It is cold with gusting winds - very tough weather for fishing. We only caught three fish today.

Weekend over view: We have been fishing on opening day now for 30 years and this was by far the worst we have ever had. We were able to have our traditional Opening Day trout dinner but we had to go into town on Sunday to get dinner, the first time ever. The fishing was so bad we decided to cut our trip short by one day and come home. The last night night there (Sunday) the temp was 24 degrees and they were calling for temps in the upper teens for Monday night, just too cold to fish when the fish are not biting. We kept four Brown Trout between 12 and 17.5 inches for the weekend. I won big fish for the two days and big fish for the weekend.

Slow Morning

Fished with Daryl before he went to work, I'm still on a layoff. Temp was in the middle 50s with an east wind 10 to 15 knots. The waves were about a foot and the water temp is 55 degrees.

We fished the same area as Sunday but we were not having any luck. Thought of moving to the Radar Buoy where their was a small pack of boats but we just stayed in the general area. It was a good choice that we stayed because the pack of boats by the Radar Buoy all left. Saw one boat catching fish by us and the only thing different was they had no drift sock. We pulled in the drift sock and we started catching some fish, the only problem was we were running out of time. Kept 5 walleye between 18 and 24 inches. All the fish came off hair jigs tipped with a minnow.

Next planned trip: Opening day of trout fishing in Grayling for 5 days with Joe and John

First Limit This Year

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temp was in the lower 50s all morning and the wind was out of the Southwest less than 10 knots. Waves were less than a foot, just a nice day to be on the Lake Erie. The water is starting to clear up finally and the water temp is 54 degrees.

Started fishing by Turtle Island (41 46 104/083 21 605) in 10 feet of water. Joe and Daryl started off using blade baits and I was using a purple jig tipped with a minnow. I hooked a fish and we lost it at the net and I started thinking of the last trip where the same thing happened and the fishing went down hill after that. Daryl then switched to a blue hair jig and minnow and he started to catch some fish. Finally Joe put on a jig and he started catching some fish. We kept working that same area and we caught or limit of walleye. Kept 12 males between 19 and 22 inches. The fish are starting to stack up pretty good in this area now so the fishing should be good for the next couple of weeks. On the way back to the marina there was a pack of boats in front of Otter Creek, so they must be catching some fish there too.

Next planned trip: Tuesday with Daryl and Dale

Tried, But No Luck!

Fished with Louie. Temp in the morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit it was in the mid 50s. The wind was out of the SSW 10 to 15 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The water is still very dirty and the water temp is 51 degrees.

Started fishing the same location as Tuesday, between Turtle Island and the Toledo Light House. After 15 minutes of jigging I had a fish on and we lost it right at the net, so we thought the fishing was looking pretty good for the day. That would be the last fish on for the day. Louie had a couple of quick hits but no fish. I jigged with the blades all morning and he used the blades and a purple jig tipped with a green plastic worm, which he had the two hits on. Saw a few boats netting fish and as we were getting ready to leave the boat behind us hooked 3 fish real fast. I have reports of people catching fish but we just cannot get them to go yet.

Next planned trip: Sunday with Joe and Daryl.

First trip on the Birds Nest for 2008

Fished with Daryl and Dale. Temperature for the day was between the lower and mid 40s. The wind was out of the southwest 5 to 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp was in the upper 40s and the lake is very dirty.

Started fishing by Turtle Island and we did not catch anything so we made a move towards a pack of boats by the Radar Buoy. Fished here for an hour with out a hit so we moved back towards Turtle Island and spent the rest of the morning there. Dale caught his first walleye using a blade bait and now he is a believer.

The catching was slow for us all day and we only saw a few boats net fish. We were 3 for 6 and Dale caught 2 of the fish. The walleye were males between 19 and 22 inches. All the fish were caught using the blue blade baits. I tried a purple jig with a minnow for a while and never had a hit.

Next palnned trips: Thursday with Louie and Sunday with Joe.

Last of Dock Fishing

Fished with Doug Sowa on Grosse Ile and the Detroit River at Belanger Park. Temps were in the middle 30s with a ENE wind 15 to 20 knots. Kind of cold for this time of year.

We stopped and dipped for minnows at Smitty's on Grosse Ile before we went perch fishing. Started fishing on the Trenton Channel and Doug began catching fish right away. Fished here for a hour and Doug had 3 nice perch and I only had 1 so we headed to Belanger Park.

When we got to the park the wind was blowing right in our faces and it was brutal. With the wind and the cold temps we only lasted a hour and we called it quits for the day. Kept 6 perch between 7 1/2 and 12 1/2 inches. That will be all the dock fishing for this spring, we can get to our boats this Tuesday and will start fishing Lake Erie for walleye.

First Trip of 2008 on Lake Erie

Fished with Captain Booth and his friend Tim. Temperature at 9:00 AM when we started fishing was in the middle 30s and the warmest it got was the upper 40s. The wind was out of the SW in the morning and rotating to the SE. Waves were less than a foot all day. Surface water temperature was 41 Degrees.

Started fishing at the S buoy and headed towards the dumping grounds trolling smithwicks, bombers and deep diving thunder stick juniors. Stayed in this area for a couple of hours without any luck so we decided to head towards the Light House. On the way to the Light House the water started getting dirty and the further we traveled the dirtier the water was getting.

Made it to the Light House and the water looked like chocolate milk so we turned and headed towards the swamp. The water was still dirty there so we made our way back in front of TBM and started trolling in 12 feet of water heading towards Otter Creek. Fished this area for an hour and then we headed back to where we started. Stayed out there until 4:00 PM and then we decided to call it a day. All this fishing and we had only one hit. The first trip was not very successful but everyone had a great time and it was a beautiful day on the lake.

We did not mark very many fish today and the radio talk was a few boats had a couple of fish that were jigging. We only saw one fish caught.

Welcome Spring!!

It's finally beginning to feel like Spring! This is one of our frogs trying to fatten up. He caught the bird and held it under the water, then must have decided it was too large for him to eat! He certainly looks proud of his trophy catch. Karen heard the bird flapping around in the pond and went to get a net to fish it out, assuming it just fell in the water. She saw the frog holding it under the water and grabbed the camera. After the bird stopped moving the frog hopped up onto the stones surrounding the pond.

Planning on fishing Lake Erie out of Toledo Beach Marina tomorrow. Booth is bring his boat in from Flint. Got a report they are marking a lot of fish, but the water is dirty and they are not easy to catch. Thanks Stan, for this info.