A Very Bad Day of Perching

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was very light so we had no waves. We headed out towards the Toledo Light House but we did not mark any fish. Started to move up the channel stopping at every buoy looking for fish and the fish finder showed no marks. When we arrived at McDonald's we marked a few fish on the Michigan side of the channel. Dropped the hook and we started to fish. Only caught some white perch so we moved to the other side of McDonald's. Started to mark some fish so we dropped the hook again and we started to catch some small perch. The action was very slow and the perch were not very large but at least we were on some perch. We caught some of the largest sheep head that I have ever seen. Stayed here for about 45 minutes and then we decided to head toward the gravel pits where we saw some boats fishing. It was a waste of time fishing here so we pulled lines and headed home. We only caught 17 perch for the day.

Final Tally for 2011

This year the report is not as accurate because when we got into fish it was fast and furious so we were not sure what set up some of the fish came off.  We hooked 63 fish and landed 44 of them which gave us a 70% catch rate. We caught a mix of Steelhead, Lake Trout, Coho and King Salmon. We caught 28 fish in the morning and 16 fish in the evening. Of the 13 sessions we could have made it out fishing we made it out 10 times, which is very good. We totaled 40.5 hours of fishing and landed 44 fish for an average of 1.1 fish per hour. The 44 fished weighed 547.1 lbs. for an average of 12.4 lbs per fish. The largest fish was 23.5 lbs and the smallest that we kept weighed 3.5 lbs. We put back 2 Lake Trout and 3 small Salmon, so we kep 39 fish for the trip. The best setup was the Black Mamba Meat rig with a red head off the dipsy divers. We caught fish from 20 feet of water all the way out to 450 feet of water. Below is a list of lures that caught fish and the set ups used to catch them.

Black Mamba Meat Rig with a Red Head.................14 hits
J Plug Meat Rig.........................................................11 hits
Green Splatter Back Silver Horde...............................5 hits
White Spin Doctor with a Red Meat Head...................4 hits
SUV Meat Rig.............................................................4 hits
Blue Dolphin Spoon....................................................4 hits
Green Ladder Back J Plug...........................................3 hits
Moonshine Happy Meal...............................................2 hits
White Spin Doctor and Blue Sparkle Fly......................1 hit
Green Spin Doctor with Blue Glow Fly.........................1 hit
Green Spin Doctor with Glow Frog Squid....................1 hit
White Spin Doctor with Blue Meat ..............................1 hit
Water Melon Spoon.....................................................1 hit


The Dipsy's had 27 hits.
The lead core had 14 hits.
The planner boards had 8 hits.
The copper line had 1 hit.

Down Rigger # 1 had 2 hits.
Down Rigger # 2 had 6 hits.
Down Rigger # 3 had 2 hits.
Down Rigger #4 had 3 hits.

Double,Double

Fished with Joe and John. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was light out of the south with waves less than a foot. The action last night was fantastic so we thought the fishing would be great today. Well, the water temp is now at 70 feet and when we started this week it was at 20 feet. We ran south to the 08 line and set lines in 80 feet of water. Caught a few fish early and then it shut down. We moved out to deeper water and raised our bait up to the 40 foot area and we started to hit some fish. Again our best bait was the meat rigs. We ended up 6 for 11 and threw 1 lake trout back. Todays Blog Title is due to landing two double hits. When I get home I will tally up the results for this years trip.

Another Good Weather Day for Fishing

Fished with Joe and John, Daryl had to go home. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the southwest 10 knots or less. The waves were 1 to 3 feet but most were left over from last night. We ran down to the 9 line and set lines. Our plan was like last night to troll north with the waves to our back. Started fishing in 100 feet of water with a temp break at 40 feet down. Hit fish pretty quick but we could not hook them up. Our catch rate was pretty poor. We finally started to net some fish with the best set up being the dipsy's set at 100 to 125 feet back with meat rigs. The hottest was the black mamba with a red head. Went 5 for 10 this morning with the largest fish at 21 pounds.

Another Flat Day

Fished with Joe, John and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. There was no wind again today so we had no waves. Started fishing in close where we left off last night and we had only one hit. Made a move to the south, back to the 11 line and trolled around here for a while without a hit. Things were not looking good. Started trolling out to deep water and we hit a fish at 25 feet down off a rigger in 450 feet of water. We went through a little flurry of hits and went 5 for 6 with 2 throw backs. All the fish came in the top 20 foot of water except one that came off a meat rig with the dipsy set at 3 1/2 at 90 feet back.

Flat as a Pancake

Fished with Joe and John. Temperature this morning was in  the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. There was no wind this morning so the lake was flat. Started fishing south of the harbor in 40 to70 feet of water. Had a few releases, but no fish. Made a move out to deeper water (100 to140) and we started to catch some fish. The water temp is in the top 15 feet of the water, so everything we are catching is in the top of the water column. We went 3 for 5 this morning. This afternoon Daryl showed up and fished with us. Started fishing north of the harbor in shallow. Had no hits so we moved out to the deeper water. After a hour of fishing we moved back into the shallows. Started to catch some fish long lining silver hordes 100 feet behind the boards. Went 4 for 5 with the largest king of the day weighing 23.5 lbs.

Rough and Tough

Made it out fishing this afternoon. The temperature was in the lower 70s and the wind was out of the northeast 10 to 20 knots. The waves were 2 to 4 feet when we started and after a half hour of fishing the waves were building 3 to 5 feet. We set up south of the harbor in 150 feet of water fishing at the 11 line.The water temp was 52 degrees at 48 feet down. Caught 1 king off the downrigger 42 feet down using a hoochi and a blue fly. The waves got to be to tough so after 45 minutes of fishing we had enough. We pulled lines and had a hour ride back to port in very rough seas. Went 1 for 1 last night. There will be no fishing today because of the weather.

Manistee Salmon Day 1

Left home at 7:30 a.m. with John and Joe for our annual Salmon Fishing Trip in Manistee, MI. It doesn't sound like the weather will be very good this weekend. Hoping to get in an afternoon/evening trip on the lake today. Will keep you posted.

Half of What We Wanted

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind was out of the east 10 to 15 knots with waves around 2 feet. The water temp is 81 degrees. Our game plan was to perch fish but after we arrived at the marina Daryl changed his mind and we started off walleye fishing. Started fishing at 41 48 300 /083 17 500. We trolled with wiggle warts set at 100 feet on one side of the boat and headed into the waves. After 45 minutes of fishing and not marking any fish we pulled lines and headed east to the turn around bouy. We slowed down to try and mark some fish and we marked a large school of perch. It was too weedy to walleye fish so we tried to perch fish. Only caught a few small perch so we pulled the hook and headed to the Toledo Light House. We fished east of the light house at the first set of buoys. Started to catch some fish right out of the gate so we just stayed put. We had to sort through the fish but at least we had some keepers. Kept 58 perch with the largest at 10 1/2 inches but most of the fish were around 8 inches. When we got back to the harbor we heard that the walleye turned on at the location we were at.