Short on Bait!!!!!

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature was in the middle 50s for most of the day. The wind was out of the West/Southwest with waves less than a foot. The water was a little stained and the water temp is 61 degrees.

Started fishing the other side of the dumping grounds trolling to the south with spoons and dipsy's set at 40 and 60 feet behind the boards. Caught two walleye but we were marking a lot of fish so we put on some crawlers with bottom bouncers and put them back 70 feet. Started catching some more fish but we ran out of worms. I grabbed two containers this morning from the fridge with out checking them and one of them was empty. Not a good thing when your out 5 miles on the lake. We decided to call it a day. Kept 7 walleye between 18 and 20 inches. We caught the fish at 41 49 250 / 083 17 610.

Nice 3 Days of Fishing.

Fished with Captain Dan Black. We trailered his boat to Toledo Beach Marina and launched from there. The temperature was in the upper 50s to the lower 60s. The wind was out of the South/Southwest about 5 knots with waves less than a foot. Don't have a water temp because the Captain forgot his graph.

Started fishing where we left off yesterday trolling with crawlers/bottom bouncers and we caught 3 walleye in the first 1/2 hour and from there it went all down hill. Switched to wiggle warts for a while and then spoons behind jet divers without any luck so we went back to the crawlers. We ended up fishing 1 mile Southeast of where we started. Boats were catching fish around us so we were fishing the right area but we just did not run the right program today. We kept 5 walleye between 17 and 22 inches and one perch. All of our walleye were caught trolling with crawlers.

Good Catch

Fished with Joe and John H. Temperature was in the lower 50s in the morning and by the time we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s, kind of cold for this time of year. The wind was out of the North 10 to 15 knots in the morning with waves around 2 feet and then it calmed down to 5 knots out of the North and started switching towards the East. The water is not as clear and the water temp is still 60 degrees.

Started fishing where we left off yesterday trolling with crawlers and the wind made it very difficult to control the planer boards so after an hour we started casting and drifting. We caught two fish this way and then we went back to trolling with spoons and dipsys for the rest of the day. We stopped using crawlers because we caught too many white perch.The dipsys were set at 60 feet back on one side and 70 on the other side and the 60 feet back caught the most fish. The hottest spoons were the Monica Lewinsky and the red with a copper back. Kept 11 walleye between 15 and 23 inches and one perch. We caught most of the fish 1/2 mile Southwest of where we started.

Next Planned Trip: Sunday, May 25 with Captain Dan

Start of a Good Weekend

Fished with Captain Doug Sowa. Temperature was in the middle 50s for the day and the wind was out of the East 5 to 8 knots. Waves were less than a foot. Water temp is 61 degrees and is still clear.

Started fishing the dumping grounds trolling crawlers. We caught a couple of walleye and a lot of junk fish so we pulled lines and headed back to where we were fishing last Tuesday and started catching mostly walleye. Kept 8 walleye between 18 and 22 inches.

Next planned trip: 05-24-08. Fishing with Joe and John H.

Nice Catch

Fished with Daryl and Doug S. Temperature was from 50 degrees to the middle 50s. The wind was out of the Northwest and switching to the South with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 60 degrees and the lake is very clean, probably from all the west winds the last 3 days.

Started fishing where we left off last week (41 49 125 / 083 18 680 ) which is 5 miles out and 130 degrees from the harbor. We ran spoons 65 feet back on one side and crawlers 60 feet back with 2 oz. weights on the other side. Caught one walleye off a spoon and two off the crawlers so we put worms on both sides of the boat. Just stayed in the general area trolling about 1.5 mph. We caught 15 walleye between 17 1/2 and 22 inches, 3 perch between 8 and 10 inches and one silver bass. I think the spoons would have worked but we were trolling too slow and on the turn the spoons would drop down deeper and pick up zebra mussels. Most of the fish we marked were on the bottom. It's hard to believe that we only caught one garbage fish and that came off the spoon!

Next planned trip: 05-23-08 with Doug S. and Louie.

Still Tough Fishing!!!

Fished with Doug S. and Ken W. Temperature was in the lower 50s in the morning and it made it up to 60 degrees by the time we quit fishing. The wind was out of the NW 12 knots and was switching to the South less than 5 knots. Waves were less than a foot and as the wind started switching the lake laid down. Water temp is 59 degrees and is still a little dirty in front of the harbor.

Started jigging with minnows in front of the harbor on the Southwest corner of the dumping grounds and we caught a lot of sheep head and white perch. Doug caught one walleye using a green jig and minnow. Made a move to the East about 2 miles and started trolling with body baits with out much luck so we changed over to all spoons. We were running the mini divers 60 feet back using mostly green and orange spoons. Caught a lot of silver bass and white perch and an occasional walleye. Kept 5 walleye between 20 and 21 inches. The further east we went the cleaner the water was.

One Is The Lonliest Number

05-13-08. Fished with Captain Daryl, Dale was a no show today. Temp was in the middle 50s for the day with clear skies and an ESE wind around 10 knots. The waves were 1 to 2 feet and the water temp is 55 degrees.

We decided to drift today so Daryl left the trolling poles in the truck. Started fishing in the dumping grounds by the E-Buoy without any luck so we moved further out to 23 feet of water and started drifting with crawlers and we only caught white perch. Made a move to a small pack of boats in front of TBM (2.5 miles from the harbor) and started drifting there. We started catching only white perch again until we put on some shiners and Daryl finally caught a walleye. We had a few other good hits but no hook-ups so we only caught one walleye 22 inches long for the morning.

From the reports on the radio the fishing was pretty slow on Lake Erie today. I talked to the first mate Matt when we got back to the harbor and they only had two fish for the day. When I got home Louie called and said they limited out on the Detroit River this morning fishing the Canadian side of the River. I think it's time to bring out the trolling gear.

Nexted planned trip: 05-16-08. With big Doug and Ken(Starfish).

Tagged Fish

Fished with Captain Daryl and Tim, Tony Bell's grandson. Temps were in the mid 40s to the lower 50s. The wind was west/southwest 5 to 10 knots with hardly any waves and the water is still dirty.

Started fishing in the dumping grounds by the S Buoy jigging and blading without any luck so we made the move towards Turtle Island and fished in 10 feet of water (41 46 020 / 083 21 510). It took us a while to get the first fish but once we figured everything out we did OK. We tried jigging with minnows, drifting with crawlers and blade baits and the jigs caught 90% of the fish with the blue jig being the most productive. We also caught a lot of sheephead and white perch today, first time this year. Kept 12 walleye between 19 and 21 inches and one perch that was 11 1/2 inches. We caught one walleye with a tag in the upper jaw that was released in Michigan. When I get the information back from the DNR I will post the details.

Next Planned trip: 05-06-08 with Daryl before work. Daryl cancelled todays trip.