Greenhouse Bash

Fished with Captain Eddie aboard Hollywood. We had a crew from one of the greenhouses that Joe Barson knows. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and by the time we quit fishing in was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the northwest at 5 knots which made for no waves. The water temp is 76 degrees. Started fishing just the other side of the dumping grounds (41 48 600 / 083 18 900) trolling wiggle warts 90 feet behind the boards. The action was pretty slow so we put dipsy's set at 90 feet back with spoons on one side of the boat. Started to catch a few fish off this setup so we put dipsy's on both sides of the boat. The fishing was slow but we would catch enough fish to keep us in the area. Caught a lot of junk fish and quite a few weeds so we always had to tend the lines. Kept 20 walleye between 16 and 21 inches and 2 perch. Everyone had a great time fishing and then we went to Trappers for a walleye dinner. Joe and Debbie Barson host this party for the fifth year now and again they did a great job. I had the privilege of fishing with a great bunch of people which made for a nice day on the water.

The Cooler Smells Like Skunk

Fished with Captain Daryl and Doug. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the southwest 20 knots and the water temp is 75 degrees. We started fishing in the swamp trolling dipsy's set at 30 feet back and wiggle warts set at 30 feet back. Marked a lot of fish and the water is clean, good conditions for the swamp. The waves were about a foot, which was not to bad. We caught only junk fish so we decided to fish by the dumping grounds. When we arrived at the dumps the waves were 2 to 3 feet, which made the fishing difficult. We trolled here for half an hour and called it a day. No keeper fish today!!

Mixed Catch

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the west southwest 15 to 18 knots and the waves were 2 to 3 feet. The water temp is 75 degrees. Started fishing the other side of the dumping grounds and we stayed in this general area (41 48 100 / 083 18 700). We had wiggle warts set at 80 feet back on one side of the boat and dipsy's set at 80 feet back on the other. Started catching more fish off the dipsy's so we put them on both sides of the boat. Best spoon color was anything with pink on it. Had a few weeds in the area but it was not too much of a problem, the wind was the major problem. Kept 10 walleye, 1 small perch and 1 small muskie.

Perch Mouth

Fished with Daryl and Mike. When we arrived at the marina this morning there was a large mayfly hatch from last night. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. It rained for a couple of hours in the morning and then it was overcast for the rest of the day. The wind was out of the northwest 10 to 14 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 75 degrees. Started fishing just the other side of the dumping grounds where we have been fishing the last two weeks and did not catch anything. Made a move into the swamp and trolled there for an hour and caught nothing. Made another move and we went 2 miles northeast of the E buoy where we caught a couple of walleye off the jet 20s set at 55 feet behind the boards. Made a couple of passes there and then we started heading towards the dumping grounds again, with out any luck. Finished the day with 2 walleye and 1 perch.

The Motley Crew

Fished with John, Joe and Kevin. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the west northwest 5 to 8 knots and the waves were less than a foot, just another nice day on the lake. The water temp is 76 degrees. We fished the same area as the last couple of trips. Started off using jet 20s set at 43 feet back and wiggle warts set at 70 feet back. Started to catch some fish off the jets so we took off the wiggle warts and put jet 20s on both sides of the boat. The fishing was slow for us today, we caught a lot of garbage fish and the walleye catching was not what I hoped for. We had to work hard for the fish that we caught. There were a few weeds in the area but it did not affect the fishing too much. We kept 17 walleye between 15 1/2 inches and 17 inches and 1 perch that was 11 inches and had 8 under size walleye that we put back.

Daryl Can't Count

Fished with Captain Daryl. When we arrived at the marina it was raining pretty hard and the wind was blowing so we figured we would not make it out fishing. After a half hour the rain slowed up and the wind laid down so away we went. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was only in the upper 60s, and it's July!! The wind was out of the west and northwest 10 to 14 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 75 degrees. The algae bloom is starting to dissipate and I'm not sure why, maybe the temperature being so low. Started fishing where we left off on the last trip and we stayed in that general area (41 48 010 / 083 19 650). We ran jet 20s set at 43 feet back and dipsy's set at 60 feet back. Caught some fish off the jets so we raised the dipsy's to 50 feet back and that did not seem to work. We pulled off the dipsy's and put on wiggle warts and set them at 80 feet back, only caught a few fish off this set up so we put jet 20s on both sides of the boat. We caught 11 walleye pretty fast and it took us another hour to catch the last fish, or so I thought. Ended up keeping 13 walleye between 15 1/5 inches and 21 inches and 3 small perch.

Fishing the Dumping Grounds

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the north and switching to the south, less than 5 knots all day. The water temp is 76 degrees and the waves were less than a foot. The algae bloom is starting to get thick, which is normal for this time of year. We started fishing just the other side of the dumping grounds trolling towards the Ohio border. Picked up a couple of walleye so we kept trolling towards the shipping channel. After an hour with no fish we headed back towards the dumping grounds and started to catch some more fish (41 48 600 / 083 18 550). We ran dipsy's set at 90 to 100 feet back and jet 20s set at 55 feet back. Tried running wiggle warts set at 80 feet back but they only caught a few fish and were more trouble than they were worth. Caught a lot of silver bass and sheep head and Norm caught a 10 lb catfish. Kept 9 walleye and only had 2 walleye that were under size that we put back.

Back in Michigan Waters

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s, kind of cold for July. The wind was out of the West Northwest 15 to 20 knots. The waves were 2 to 3 feet and the water temp is 75 degrees. We started fishing just the other side of the dumping grounds in Michigan waters trolling with the waves to our backs. Made one pass and we caught a couple of small walleye and lost a nice one behind the boat so we pulled lines and headed into the waves to make another pass, but this time we went another 3 miles past our starting spot. Bad choice, we only caught one more walleye and did not start catching fish until we got by the dumping grounds (41 48 700 / 083 19 900). We trolled jet 20s 50 feet back and dipsy's at 80 feet back. Most of the charter boats were using wiggle warts 80 feet back and maybe that is what we should have done. Had a few weeds in the area but they were not too bad. Kept 10 walleye for the day. Talked to Dave in the cleaning station and they had 90 perch that they caught 1 mile out in front of the marina.