Last Trip for 2013

Fished Bolles Harbor with John. Temperature this morning was in the upper 20s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 30s and sunny. The wind was out of the west 10 to 15 knots but we were in the harbor so it did not affect us. The ice is 3 to 4 inches thick and the water was dirty from all the rain we had last week. We only had two bites and caught no fish. Talked to some other fisherman and the only one's that had any fish were fishing further up the harbor and they were catching bluegills. It was nice to be on the water again!!!

The End Has Arrived

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the west northwest 15 to 20 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet.
Around 11:00 am the wind and the waves laid down. On the boat ride back in the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 64 degrees. Started fishing at 41 48 200 / 083 08 150 which is between Sputnik and West Sister Island. We set up and only caught 1 perch so made some moves in this area. After 3 or 4 moves with only 4 perch in the cooler we moved out to another pack of boats just to the southeast of us and the water was a lot cleaner. Stayed there and only caught a couple of fish so we moved back to the mud line and started to catch some perch. Stayed here for the rest of the trip catching a lot of small perch and a few keeper perch. Finally we started to catch some nice perch to make the trip a success. Kept 76 perch, cleaned them up and went to Trappers for a perch dinner. Always a good way to end the season.

It Doesn't Get Any Better

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind was light out of the east with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 65 degrees. Headed back to where we have been fishing and the water was dirty so we kept going to the east. We set up at 41 49 800 / 083 11 650 which is just north of Sputnik and we never had to move. We were catching some nice perch so we decided that we would not keep anything under 8 1/2 inches. The catching was fast and furious and the majority of the fish were in the 10 inch range. Only caught a handful of white perch and 1 smallmouth bass. Kept 62 perch. We were fishing for about 20 minutes and it got so nice out that we had to take off our coats. Just a great day to be on the lake.

Just Another Nice One

Fished with Milan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. Just a perfect day to be on the water. The wind in the morning was out of the west southwest around 10 knots with waves about a foot and after a couple of hours the wind laid down and so did the lake. The water temp is 66 degrees. Headed back to where we have been fishing and the water was dirty and there were no fish. Started making some moves to the east and we finally found some clean water. Moved back to the dirty water and we started to catch some white perch. Made a few more moves in this area and we finally found some perch(41 49 950 / 083 13 750). Once we found the fish the catching was pretty steady and we caught some nice fish. Kept 65 perch and a lot of them were about 10 inches.

Just a Great Day to be on the Lake

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind was out of the west southwest less than 10 knots and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 66 degrees. Started fishing where we left off on the last trip and we caught nothing. Marked a lot of fish but the water was very dirty. Made a move to the east about 1/2 mile (41 49 650 / 083 14 950) and the lake was a little cleaner but still no fish. Made a couple of moves around here and we only had 1 perch. We pulled the anchor and were heading for Sputnik when Captain Bob called on the radio and said he was on some perch in the area we were leaving. Made the U turn and headed back to where he was fishing and dropped the anchor. Started to catch some perch and everything was going good until we caught a smallmouth bass and then the perch fishing quit. Made a move to the west about 300 feet and we were on the perch again. The fishing was good until we caught another smallmouth bass and then nothing. Hard to believe that this happened 2 times. We caught mostly perch today and a lot of them were just under 8 inches that we put back. Kept 45 perch between 8 and 10 1/2 inches.

The Fish are There

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 60s. The wind was out of the north northeast all morning around 10 knots. The waves were just over a foot. The water temp is 66 degrees. Started fishing about 2 miles east of the E buoy 41 49 325 / 083 18 100 (Michigan waters) and we were catching some perch but we also caught a lot of white perch. We made the decision to move further out and fish at 41 49 300 / 083 16 225 (Ohio waters). We ran into the same problem, to many white perch but the perch that we caught were nice size. We probably should have stayed at the first location because we caught most of our fish there. Kept 41 perch. One of the problems today was we had very small shiners.

Did the Impossible

Fished with Doug E. Temperature this morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind in the morning was out of the south less than 10 knots but the waves were still coming out of the east around 1 foot. As the day went on the wind and waves laid down. The water temp is 67 degrees. Headed back to where I have been fishing but we did not mark any fish. We still dropped the anchor and tried anyways. No bites so we moved around a couple of times and still nothing. Made a move to the #1 buoy off the River Raisin and again nothing. Went back out to the Michigan/Ohio boarder and tried again but the same results. Made one more move here but nothing again. Packed up and headed for the swamp to try a different area. Caught 1 catfish and that was it for the trip. One of the rare times that we did not catch a perch on Lake Erie. One of the boats came back from fishing and he had about a dozen perch fishing by the E buoy. Just after that another boat came back from fishing and they had a cooler full of perch. They were fishing between Sputnik and the #1 buoy off the River Raisin.

Nice Day on the Lake

Temperature this morning was in the middle 40s and when I quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind in the morning was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves around a foot and by 10:00 am the wind started to come out of the east less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 68 degrees. Headed towards the #1 buoy off the River Raisin until I saw a small pack of boats just south of the buoys. Made a pass through the pack off boats and did not see very much activity so I kept heading south until I came to an old perch waypoint about 1 1/4 mile south of the #1 buoy (41 50 900 / 083 14 925). Dropped the anchor and spent the whole trip right here. Had to sort threw a lot of fish but at least some of the perch were pretty nice size. Kept 25 perch between 8 and 11 inches.

Unexpected Call from Daryl

Got a call from Captain Daryl and he had the weekend off so we went fishing. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the south 15 to 18 knots with waves around 2 feet. When we quit fishing the wind was out of the southwest less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot, which made for a nice boat ride back to port. The water temp is 73 degrees. The fish finder and GPS did not work so we fished like the old days. Started fishing about 1 mile south of buoy #1 off the River Raisin. Caught nothing but junk fish. Made a move further out and we caught a lot of junk fish and 1 perch. With the wind blowing we did not want to pull anchor too many times. Once the anchor grabs its hard to break loose. Made another  move to the pack of boats fishing east of the # 1 buoy and we caught a few perch. Made one last move about 200 feet and that was it for moving. Kept 18 perch with the largest one 10 inches long. Tough day of fishing for us.

First Perch Trip of the Year

Woke up this morning and the winds were light out of the east but the waves were around 2 feet so I did not go fishing. Checked the computer again around 8:00 AM and the winds were still light but the waves were starting to lay down so I packed up and went fishing. The temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when I quit fishing it was in the upper 60s. The wind was light and variable and the waves were less than 1 foot. The water temp is 74 degrees. Called Huey on the radio and they were fishing by the Toledo Light House and not doing very well, so I headed towards the #1 Buoy off the Raisin River. Started to mark some fish on the graph so I dropped anchor .8 miles due south of the #1 Buoy. First fish was a catfish, then I caught about 6 white perch, then 2 small perch and I thought about moving. Finally caught a perch just over 8 inches. The catching was slow and the large pack of boats by the #1 Buoy were starting to break up so I just stayed put and pecked away at the fish. Had to do a lot of sorting and threw back a lot of sheep head and white perch but I was catching some keeper perch. Pulled lines around 12:30 and headed for port. Kept 22 perch and most of them were between 8 to 9 inches, the largest was 11 inches.

Manistee - The Final Tally

This years trip will be remembered as the year of very few fish but large fish. We put in a lot of hours fishing for the few fish that we caught. We hooked 33 fish and landed 28 of them which gave us a catch rate of 85%, which is very good. We lost one fish at the net and 2 broke the line and the rest just got off the lure. We caught 25 king salmon and 3 coho. We caught 14 fish in the morning and 14 fish in the evening. Of the 13 sessions we could have made it out fishing we made it out 11 times, some of which were in 2 to 4 foot seas. Wednesday was a blow day. We totaled 51 hours of fishing and landed 28 fish for an average of .54 fish per hour, which is slow fishing. The 28 fish weighed 452.25 lbs. for an average of 16.15 lbs. per fish, which is very good. The largest fish weighed just over 26 lbs. and the smallest fish weighed 6 lbs. We had 11 fish that weighed over 20 lbs. Below is a list of lures that caught the fish.

Silver Horde - Green Splatter Back..............................................6 hits
John J Meat Rig............................................................................5 hits
Black Mamba Meat Rig with a Red Head....................................4 hits
J Plug - Grey Ghost.......................................................................4 hits
Scare Pace Meat Plug....................................................................4 hits
J Plug - Light Pink and Green(lost)...............................................1 hit
Silver Streak Spoon - Light Purple(slider)....................................1 hit
Mountain Dew Meat Rig with Green Head...................................1 hit
J Plug - Glow Wonder Bread.........................................................1 hit
J Plug - Bloody Nose Glow...........................................................1 hit

End of the Trip

Well, the week went by too quickly. Daryl showed up on Wednesday and was able to fish on Thursday and Friday. After the blow on Wednesday the fishing was very tough on Thursday morning. We only caught 1 king in the morning. We were hoping the lake would stabilize for the afternoon fish. We headed back out and the first 2 fish we lost and then we finally caught some nice fish. We only caught 3 fish but they weighed 71 lbs. Friday morning the harbor water temp was 68 degrees so we headed south and the catching was pretty good. We kept 6 fish and 4 of them were over 20 lbs. On the way back to port the big motor quit about 4 miles from port, it sounded like the same problem that I had last year. We got it running and made it back safely. We made an adjustment to the gas line and were hoping that would solve the problem. Went out fishing for the afternoon fish and we headed right back to the location we fished in the morning. There were very few boats around and things were not looking good so we started to troll north towards the harbor. Well as my luck goes the kicker motor quit running and we could not get it started again (figured out it was a broken gas line) so we trolled with the main motor. Right before dark we started to catch some fish and we ended up with 3 nice kings for the trip. Over all the catching was bad but the fish were large. I should have a final tally in a few days.

Salmon Fishing, Part 2

Fishing with Joe and John. The temp was in the upper 40s Monday morning but the winds were light. The surface temp at the harbor is 65 degrees so we decided to fish in front of the harbor long lining silver hordes and J plugs. The fishing was pretty good until the sun came up and then it shut right down. Caught 4 kings and 2 of them were pretty nice size. The wind was starting to pick up out of the southwest and the water is starting to warm up. For the afternoon trip we decided to run south and make one long troll back towards the harbor with the waves at our back. It makes for easy fishing and an easy ride back to the harbor in 2 to 4 foot waves. The dipsy's were hot with the meat rigs on them set at 150 feet back. We caught 5 kings and 4 of them were pretty nice. We had 82 lbs. of fish in the cooler which made for a good evening.

Tuesday Morning the wind was still blowing but fishable and the water temp at the harbor is 69 degrees. We headed to the shelf and dropped the probe down and got water temp at 70 feet so we thought we were in for a great morning. We only caught 2 kings but they were nice sized again. For the afternoon fish the lake was still bumpy and we were on some fish, but we also had some bad luck. On the first fish the line broke right in front of the second treble hook so we lost that fish and another fish broke the line. We caught 1 coho and one small king around 12 lbs.

Wednesday the waves were 4 to 5 feet, so we had a blow day. We went up to Manistee Lake and tried jigging for salmon but we had no luck.

Salmon Fishing Manistee

Fishing out of the Port of Manistee for salmon with Joe and John for the first four days and then Daryl is going to show up on Wednesday. When we arrived at the harbor the lake was calm and we were eager to go fishing. As we were getting the boat ready we talked to the DNR person taking surveys of the boats coming back from fishing and he said most boats are catching 1 to 2 fish and a lot of boats are coming back with no fish. Not what we wanted to hear. Got the boat ready and checked into the motel and away we went fishing. We headed south to start fishing because that is where we had our best luck in the past. We caught 1 king Saturday night. Monday morning we went straight out and fished the shelf with no hits so we pulled lines and headed for the shallow water. Caught 1 nice king (25.5 lb.) and that was it for the morning fish. This afternoon we went back out to the shelf and fished until dark and caught only 1 king. Things are not looking good. At our marina the boats are coming back with 0 to 2 fish. Hopefully the lake will started to stabilize as the week goes on. So far we have in 3 trips and 3 fish.

Weather Person did it Again Today

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the northeast 10 to 14 knots with waves 1 to 3 feet. The forecast was for winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 knots with waves less than a foot. That makes back to back trips with bad weather reports. The water temp is 73 degrees. We made the run to the other side of the Toledo Light House (41 43 125 / 083 16 600) and started trolling with wiggle warts set at 90 to 100 feet back. We started to catch some walleye at the 90 foot setting so we put all the poles to 90 feet. We caught the first 9 fish pretty fast and then the catching slowed down. We started to switch some of the poles back to the  100 feet setting and we caught the rest of our fish. Kept 12 walleye and had 1 walleye that was undersize that we put back. We caught nothing but walleye and most of them were pretty nice fish.

The Weather Person Got it Wrong Today

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the north northeast 16 to 22 knots with waves over 3 feet. The weather report for today was light winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 73 degrees. Our game plan was to walleye fish for about 2 hours and then perch fish for a couple of hours. When we arrived at the bait store this morning to buy some minnows the wind was blowing pretty good so we decided to go just walleye fishing. We made it out to the E Buoy and trolled with the waves running wiggle warts set at 75 feet back. We had a tough time setting lines with the wind and the waves so after one short pass we called it a day. One of the few trips on Lake Erie that we caught no fish.

Flat as a Pancake

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. There was no wind today so we had no waves and surprisingly there were no bugs. The water temp is 75 degrees. Started fishing north of the E Buoy trolling towards the Toledo Light House running wiggle warts 70 and 80 feet behind the boards. When we got to the E Buoy the weeds were very bad. Once we were past the E Buoy by about 1/4 mile there were not very many weeds so we cleaned the lures and kept on fishing. We found a small school of fish and we tried to stay on them but the boat traffic was getting bad. We would try and make some passes to our waypoint, but we could never get back to where we wanted to fish. The boat traffic started to clear out a little so we were able to get back on our spot and pick away at the walleye. Kept 12 walleye on a flat lake fishing on the dumping grounds.

Tough One Today

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was 51 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s, and yes, it is the end of July. We all wore long pants and coats. The wind was out of the southwest 17 to 24 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. The water temp is 74 degrees. We decided to go fishing because the wind was off shore and the waves would not be too bad. We ran towards the Toledo Light House and made a pass to the E Buoy. We ran wiggle warts 75 and 85 feet behind the boards and 2 large dipsy's set on number 3 - 25 feet back with spoons. The dipsy's caught the first 2 walleye and that was all that they caught. On the first pass we caught 2 walleye and on the second pass we caught 5 walleye. We went and made a 3rd pass and the wind was picking up. It was hard to control the boat with the wind and waves and we only caught 1 walleye so we decided to call it a day. Kept 8 walleye and 1 nice perch. We caught most of the fish by the E Buoy.

Turned Out to be a Nice Day

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the northwest 12 to 15 knots with waves around 2 feet and about 10:00 AM the wind laid down and so did the waves. The water temp is 78 degrees and the algae bloom is getting worse. Started fishing by the E Buoy trolling with the waves with wiggle warts set at 75 feet back and 80 feet back. The first fish we caught was a muskie 18 inches long. It jumped out of the water as soon as it was hooked and then it jumped about 3 more times. With the 2 foot waves we would troll with the waves through the dump, pull the lines and run back into the waves and make that same pass again. On the second pass we changed all the leads to 80 feet back. The plan worked good until the lake calmed down and all the boats came out, then we had to dodge all the boats. Kept 12 walleye and only caught a few junk fish. The weed problem is starting to get a little worse but it is still fishable. Just need to check the lines frequently.

Still Having Boat Problems!!!

Fished with Willie, Mike and Rick. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the south 10 to 18 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The water temp is 78 degrees. I started the kicker motor and was doing other things to get ready for the trip and the kicker motor quit running. When I would prime the bulb the motor would run for a couple of minutes and then quit. Tried to work on it for a while with no luck so I figured we would use the main motor for trolling today. Well, the main motor would not start. I went a got a can of starting fluid and gave it a squirt and it started right up, so away we went. Started fishing in the dumping grounds trolling wiggle warts 75 feet back and we were on fish pretty fast. Around 9:00 AM a huge storm was on shore heading to the north. The wind picked up and we got a little rain and then it finally moved on. The walleye were in small schools so we would just ride around and pick away at them. Kept 15 walleye and we lost about 5 other walleye. When we got back to port I worked on the kicker motor and found a split gas line where it was connected to the fuel filter. Hopefully this will solve all my problems.

Fishing in Close Yet

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. The wind was light and variable with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 82 Degrees and an algae bloom is beginning. The last hour of the fishing trip it began to get pretty warm. Started fishing just this side of the E Buoy trolling wiggle warts 75 feet behind the boards. We stayed in this area for the whole trip. After a couple of passes we switched one side of the boat to mini disks with spoons set at 65 feet back. Both sides were catching walleye but we also caught a lot of junk fish. We stayed busy the whole trip. As we were pulling lines Daryl caught this 20 inch small mouth bass. Kept 12 walleye and only had 1 walleye that was under size that we put back.

Still Good Fishing

Fished with Daryl and Chris. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the southwest 13 to 18 knots with waves around 2 feet. The water temp is 73 degrees. Started fishing where we left off yesterday and we had the same results. Ran wiggle warts with any kind of orange on it back 75 feet. Only caught a few junk fish and we only lost a few walleye behind the boat. The water was a lot cleaner than yesterday and there were very few weeds. With the southwest winds predicted for the next couple of days the fish should stay here for a while. Kept 18 walleye and only had 1 throwback walleye.

Still Having Boat Problems

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 72 degrees. We were trying to figure out where to fish, make the long run to the 04s or just stay out in front of the marina. As we pulled away from the dock the motor quit. Got it running again, adjusted the throttle screw and away we went. When we made it to the lake we decided to fish in close because of the motor problems. We only went about 3 miles and the motor acted up 4 times. Started fishing the south end of the dumping grounds trolling crawlers set at 50 feet back and wiggle warts set at 75 feet back. Picked up the first walleye off the night crawler and the next fish came off the wiggle wart. Made the change to all wiggle warts, bumped up the speed to 2.8 MPH and that seemed to help. We were fishing by ourselves at (41 47 800 / 083 20 100) which is right on the Michigan/Ohio border. We made about 3 passes trolling with the wind then we would pull lines and head back to our starting spot. Every time we would run back using the big motor it ran great. We got done fishing and ran back to port and it ran great, so I do not have a clue as to what is wrong with the motor. Maybe I will figure out something tomorrow. Kept 12 walleye, lost 7 behind the boat and had 2 under size walleye that we put back. Only caught a few junk fish. The best color wiggle warts were anything with orange.

Fast and Furious

Fished with Norm. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was light out of the west and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing by the E Buoy trolling southwest with wiggle warts set at 70 and 75 feet behind the boards. We were on the fish in a hurry and were done fishing in a hurry. All that we caught were walleye. Kept 12 walleye and lost 5 walleye behind the boat.  

The Boy Had a Ball

Fished with Captain Daryl, Randy and Spencer. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind was light out of the south with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing at (41 49 300 / 083 20 120) trolling to the southwest. We ran wiggle warts set at 70 and 75 feet back. There are a few weeds in the area but they were not too bad. Started catching fish right out of the gate and Randy and Spencer were non stop catching fish. Made a couple of passes in this area but the catching started to slow down. We figured we would fish for one more hour and call it a day. About that time the coast guard pulled up along side of us and wanted to check everything out. We had to pull all the fishing lines and the planer boards in so they could board the boat. They took our driver license's to run checks on them and proceeded to check for all the required equipment on the boat. The Captain had everything that was needed so they gave us back our license's and they were on their way. Since we had all the lines pulled we decided to call it a day and head back to port. Spencer drove the boat all the way back to port without a problem. I'm not sure if we should call him Captain Spencer or Walleye Spencer since he caught most of the walleye. Kept 15 walleye and we put back 2 under size walleye.

It Was a Hot One

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s and it was hot. The morning started with a brief rain shower that actually felt pretty good. The wind was out of the south southwest 12 to 17 knots in the morning and about 10:30 AM it laid down to less than 10 knots. The waves in the morning were 1 to 2 feet and then the lake laid down to waves less than a foot. The water temp is 72 degrees. Started fishing at the south end of the Ohio dumping grounds ( 41 47 250 / 083 18 100) trolling towards the Toledo Light House. We ran jet 40s set at 35 feet back and mini disk set at 45 feet back. Started to catch some walleye off the mini disk so we put them on both sides of the boat. We messed around trying to figure the correct depth and we finally figured out that 45 to 60 feet back was the best setup. We started to catch some fish at 41 46 300 / 083 19 220 so we just stayed in this area. We caught some junk fish but it was not too bad. Kept 18 walleye and we put back 8 walleye that were under size.

Different Day Same Results

Fished with Dwayne and Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the southwest 10 to 15 knots with waves around 2 feet and by 11:00 AM the wind started to come out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 69 degrees and the mayfly hatch is starting. Started fishing at 41 45 125 / 083 12 450 trolling with jet 40s set at 30 and 35 feet back. After a while we put the small dipsy's on one side of the boat set at 80 feet back and that caught 1 walleye. The water was pretty bumpy and the mayfly larva floating on the surface of the water made setting the lines difficult. We fished around here until 10:30 AM and only had 3 walleye so we pulled lines and ran out to 41 49 100 / 083 07 300. Set up here with jet 40s set at 80 and 85 feet back and the catching was still pretty slow so we put out the small dipsy's on one side of the boat set at 110 feet back. That started to catch some walleye but now it was getting late in the fishing trip so we pulled lines and came home. Kept 7 walleye for the trip. On the way back to the harbor the boat quit running 2 miles from shore and it would not start again. We started the kicker motor and started to come in with that until we got the main motor to run again. We made it back to the harbor and I was heading to the fuel dock to fill up and the motor quit running again when we were about 25 feet from the dock. Made a crash landing at the fuel dock and put some nice scratches in the boat. Put some gas in the boat and got the main motor to start again and we made it back to the rack and launch without another accident. Now I need to figure out what the problem is.

Still Tough Fishing For Us

Fished with captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the northwest 15 to 20 knots in the morning and around 10:30 AM the wind died down to less than 10 knots. The waves in the morning were 2 to 3 feet and when the wind laid down the waves were less than a foot. We caught most of our fish in the rough water. The water temp is 68 degrees. We started fishing at 41 48 750 / 083 09 125 trolling with jet 20s set at 70 feet back and jet 40s set at 75 feet back. Most of the fish came off the jet 40s and we were fishing at 41 49 600 / 083 07 500 trolling into the waves. The best spoon was the cat dog on the 40 jets. Most of the fish we caught were pretty nice size and we had 3 throwbacks that were under 15 inches. Kept 7 walleye and caught very few junk fish for the trip.

The Weather Was Great

Fished with John, Sherrill and Dan. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper60s. The wind was light and variable and the lake was pretty flat. The water temp is 64 degrees. Was not sure where to start fishing so we headed out across the lake. We set up at (41 09 250 / 083 09 800) trolling with jet 40s set at 65 feet back on one side of the boat and 75 feet back on the other side. The catching was very slow so we moved the shorter side back to 80 feet back. Nothing seemed to work and most of the reports we had were not very good. We caught most of our fish on the 07 line and even then it was slow pickings. We kept 7 walleye and everyone seemed to have a good trip.  Again the best report was around the McDonald's area.

Rough and Long Ride

Fished with Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 60s. The wind was out of the north 10 to 15 knots and the waves were 2 to 4 feet. Around 10:00 AM the lake laid down to 2 foot waves. The water temp is 63 degrees. The water is dirty in Michigan so we had to cross the channel to fish. We set up at 41 47 100 / 083 10 250 and trolled with the waves using jet 40s set at 75 feet back. We caught 1 fish right out of the gate but then it slowed down. We ended up fishing at 41 46 200 / 083 06 500 which is too far to go for walleye. We could not troll into the waves so we would pull lines and run back into the waves and set up with another downwind troll. Kept 6 walleye and we only caught a few silver bass. Hopefully the lake will clear up by tomorrow so we can fish closer to port. We added a new buoy report on the blog which is located just this side of McDonald's, called it the Bolles Harbor Weather Buoy. It has some very useful info.

Cold and Chilly Start

Fished with Captain Daryl and Captain Ron. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind was out of the northwest 10 to 15 knots this morning with waves 1 to 2 feet and after a couple of hours of fishing the wind started to lay down and so did the waves. It was a pretty cold start this morning with the wind chill factor. Started fishing just the other side of the dumping grounds in 19 to 20 feet of water trolling jet 40s set at 50 feet back and jet 20s set at 60 feet back. We only caught a couple of walleye and a lot of silver bass so we pulled lines and went back to the location we have been fishing the last 2 trips. We set the jet 40s at 65 feet back and the jet 20s at 80 to 90 feet back and we started to catch some walleye and less silver bass. Kept 9 walleye and 3 perch and we put back 5 under size walleye. It turned out to be a nice day on the water.

Lots of Silver Bass

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s. The wind was out of the south around 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 63 degrees. About 10:00 AM it started to get pretty warm. Started fishing 1 mile west of where we left off on Sunday trolling jet 40s set at 60 feet back. We were on fish right out of the gate and had three in the box within the first 15 minutes. Don' t know what happened but the walleye catching just slowed down. We worked the same area the whole morning just pecking away at the walleye and catching a lot of silver bass. The fuzzies from the cotton wood trees were a little bit of a problem today. We kept 9 walleye and returned 5 small ones, one which was only 8 inches.

Working Hard to Catch Fish

Fished with Joe and Uncle Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s. The wind was light and variable and the lake was pretty flat. The water temp is 60 degrees. Started fishing by Stony Point (41 54 600 / 083 15 500) with jet 40s set at 40 feet back on one side of the boat and 50 feet back on the other side. We were consistently catching fish but most of them were silver bass. We stayed here for 1 1/2 hours and we only had 2 walleye in the cooler so we moved towards the River Raisin (41 52 580 / 083 14 150) and started to catch some walleye. We set the jet 40s at 60 feet back with spoons that had copper on the back and that seemed to do the trick. We were still catching some silver bass but at least we were putting some walleye in the cooler. Kept 16 walleye, 1 jumbo perch and we put back 4 walleye that were under size. When we were in the fish cleaning station we heard a report that they caught some walleye off the dumping grounds with body baits.

The Detroit River Again

Fished with Captain Dwayne on the Detroit River. We launched out of Belanger Park and fished the Canadian side of the river in front of the power plant. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was light and the river was flat, another nice day on the river. The Silver Bass are starting to show up in the river so that means we caught quite a few Silver Bass for every Walleye that we caught. We used the Wyandotte worm with 5/8 ounce and and 3/4 ounce jigs fishing in 35 feet of water. Kept 7 walleye for the trip.

It Was a Bumpy One

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind was out of the southwest 15 to 20 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. The water temp is 59 degrees. Started fishing at the S Buoy (41 48 000 / 083 21 850) trolling towards the E Buoy. We ran crawlers on 2 oz. bottom bouncers set at 60 feet back. Our first pass through the dumping grounds we caught 5 walleye. Pulled lines and ran the same pass again and we only caught 1 walleye along with a few junk fish. The 3rd pass we ran jet 40s set at 32 feet back and jet 20s set at 55 feet back. All that we caught were junk fish. By this time it was hard to control the boat and we called it a day. Kept 6 walleye for the trip.

Trolling with Crawlers

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 30s (we had a frost) and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50s. The wind in the morning was out of the northwest 15 to 20 knots and after a couple of ours of fishing the wind was blowing less than 10 knots. Waves were less than 2 feet and the water temp is 59 degrees. Started fishing 1/2 mile northwest of the E Buoy (41 49 800 / 083 21 450) in 16 feet of water trolling with the wind. Daryl setup with crawlers set at 55 back on 2 ounce weights and I set up with  junior thundersticks set at 75 feet back. Daryl started catching some walleye with his setup so I switched over to the same program. We would troll just past the E Buoy, pull lines and head back to our starting spot and make the same troll again. That worked fine until the lake laid down and then we started to catch a lot of junk fish. We were running low on crawlers so we went to gulp worms and they caught some fish. Kept 11 walleye and 3 perch and released 3 walleye that were undersize.

Detroit River

Fished with Captain Dwayne on the Detroit River. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. There was hardly any wind and there where no waves. Just a great day to be on the water. We started fishing on the Canadian side of the river in front of the power plant. We caught most of the walleye there and then we moved up the river about 1/4 of a mile and caught the rest of the fish. We caught about half a dozen small mouth bass, only a couple of silver bass and 9 walleye. Two of the walleye were small so we put them back. All we used today was a Wyandotte Worm on a jig with a stinger hook. Dwayne had to work today so when we got to the dock we gave the fish away. That's the lucky fisherman holding his new catch in the picture. It sure made his day. Dwayne made some improvements to his boat this spring and it made for a better fishing machine.

Tough Day at the Turtle

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 50s. It was much colder by the water today because of the northeast winds. The winds were out of the northeast 10 to 15 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet with the occasional 3 footer. Oh, did I mention, the weather man called for light and variable winds today!!. The water temp is 59 degrees and from the picture you can see it is very dirty, from all the east winds this past week. Started fishing by Turtle Island in a pack of 2 boats. We made 3 drifts in this area and decided it was too dirty and we had no bites so we moved to the dumping grounds by the E Buoy. The water was just as dirty here so we made one drift and called it a day. Had no hits for the whole trip. We cancelled the trip for tomorrow.

Turtle Island

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the east southeast 10 to 15 knots with waves around a foot. The water is a little dirty (visibility is 12 to 16 inches) and the water temp is 55 Degrees. Started fishing by the Toledo Light House in a large pack of boats and caught nothing. Once we got halfway between the Light House and Turtle Island in 12 feet of water we started to catch some fish. All the fish came off the blade baits with the white one the hottest. We caught walleye, perch and quite a few white perch. It was hard to believe a small white perch could get hooked by a blade bait. Kept 2 perch, 4 walleye and had 3 other walleye on that got off.

Sunday Morning Catch



On Sunday the temp in the morning was in the lower 40s and by mid day it was in the upper 70s. Very hot for this time of year but there was still snow on the ground! We tried fishing new parts on the river today and our luck did not improve. With the water still very high we did most of our fishing from shore or the very edge of the river. Kept 3 fish today so we had enough brown trout for a fish dinner, which was very good. We talked to some locals and they agreed the fishing was very tough on Boardman River this year. We fished hard and we all found some very nice fishing holes so we made up our minds to come back here next year. We fished all day on Monday and no one caught a keeper. We caught 7 fish and kept 6 of them and I caught big fish for the year, a 14 1/2 inch brown trout.

2013 Trout Opener

Fished opening day of Trout Season with Joe and John. Temperature in the morning was in the middle 40s and by mid day it was in the middle 70s. Our plan was to fish the Pine River but we had a problem there so we headed up to the Boardman River. The river was very high and flowing over the banks for opening morning which made for difficult fishing. We caught 3 fish on opening day so we did not have a trout dinner on opening day. All the fish were caught using minnows. It was a disappointing day but we were fishing a new river and we had to learn how to fish it. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Too Muddy to Fish

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50s. The wind was out of the southeast 10 to 15 knots in the morning and by 9:00 AM it was 5 to 10 knots. The waves were 1 to 2 feet and the water temp is 45 degrees. The lake was very dirty from all the rain and high winds this past week which made for very difficult fishing conditions. We started fishing by the Toledo Light House because there was a small pack of 5 boats and they were the only boats in the area. Made a drift in this area and had no hits so we went back to where we fished last week, about half way between Turtle Island and the Toledo Light House. I was using a white blade bait and Daryl had a fire tiger blade bait. We were marking some fish but the water was very dirty, visibility was about two inches. After a couple of drifts Daryl switched to a hair jig with a minnow. We fished from 9:00 to 11:00 AM and caught no fish so we called it a day. There were only 11 boats fishing in this area, which is not very many for this time of year.

2013 Maiden Voyage

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60s. The wind was out of the southeast this morning about 10 knots and after an hour of fishing it switched to the south and started to blow around 15 to 20 knots with waves around 2 feet. The water is a little dirty which is good for blade baiting and the water temp is 42 degrees. We arrived at the marina this morning and they had to move 2 boats to get to my boat so that wasted about 45 minutes and then the engine would not start (it helps to open the gas line to the engine). Got the motor running but it was making a hell of a racket which turned out to be a baffle in the heat riser. After about 15 minutes the baffle loosened up and away we went. Started fishing by Turtle Island in 12 feet of water. I was using a white blade bait and Daryl had a hair jig tipped with a minnow. I caught a couple of fish so Daryl also switched over to a blade bait. The fishing was pretty steady until the wind started to blow and then it was hard to keep the bait vertical. After a couple of drifts fighting the wind we called it a day. Kept 6 walleye and did not lose any.

Lake St. Clair Perching

 

Had some free time today so I went fishing out of Gino's on Lake St. Clair. Temperature this morning was in the upper 20s and when I quit fishing it was in the lower 30s. There was hardly any wind. The ice is about 8 inches thick. Started in front of Gino's in 5 feet of water and only caught dink perch. Kept popping holes and moving out to deeper water until I was in 7 to 8 feet of water and was still only catching small perch. Started moving towards Metro Beach popping holes and fishing and finally caught one keeper. Fished for about another hour and only caught dink fish so I called it a day. I used the slab grabber with a red bead for most of the trip. On the way back in I gave the perch to some other fisherman, which gave them a total of 1 perch.

Lake Simcoe, Day Two

Fished with Fred and Dwayne off Virginia Beach, Ontario Canada.  Temperature this morning was in the lower single digits and when we quit fishing it was in the middle teens. It snowed 4 to 5 inches last night and the wind was blowing 10 to 15 knots. We fished with the same ice fishing outfitter but we fished in different huts today. I don't think that made any difference because the fishing huts are in the same general area. The water was still cloudy which made it difficult to sight fish again. Fred and I just pecked away at the perch today but Dwayne had a pretty good day. He used a large rapala (orange) as a decoy to bring the fish off the bottom of the lake to where he could see them and then would catch the jumbo perch with his small jig. I lost mt slab grabber midday so I went to a jig and minnow setup fishing the way Dwayne was. We kept around 60 perch today which gave us a total of around 130 perch for the trip. We cleaned all the perch on the bathroom counter top at the Holiday Inn where we stayed, if only they knew!!! Mike, the ice fishing outfitter did a great job of taking good care of us. He made sure we had heat, minnows and that we were catching fish. Great time had by all fishing Lake Simcoe.

Lake Simcoe Perching

Fished the Virginia Beach area on Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada with Dwayne and Fred. The ice was 5 to 6 inches thick. Temperature this morning was in the lower 30s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle teens. The wind was howling out of the northwest around 50 MPH. It rained, sleeted, hailed and snowed so it was a good thing that we had a rented fishing hut. I poked my head outside the fishing hut one time and could only see about 20 feet. We fished in 7 to 8 feet of water to the right of Virginia Beach. The water was very clean in the morning and then it started to cloud up around lunch time. We figured the high winds and all the open water caused the water to get dirty. We constantly had fish in the holes so we had to pick out the jumbos that we wanted to catch. Once the water got dirty we would try and bring a pod of fish up off the bottom to where we could see them and hope there would be a jumbo perch in the group that we could catch. My best set up was a large slab grabber and Fred used mostly minnows on a red hook. Dwayne was using a small jig with a red plastic tail tipped with a spike. It sure makes it a lot of fun to sight fish for jumbo perch. We kept around 70 perch today.

Beautiful Day for Ice Fishing

Fished with Dale and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 20s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 30s. The wind was light and variable and the sun was shining which made for a great day of ice fishing. We fished Mud Bay off Big Portage Lake. The ice is about 5 inches thick. We started to catch fish right out of the gate but they were all very small gills. Started to move around a little and we caught some bigger fish but we still had to sort through them. Only fished for about 3 hours and we gave Dale a nice pile of fish to take home.Used spikes and wax worms on small jigs fishing just off the bottom and we kept bluegill, crappie and sunfish. As we drove by Portage Lake a lot of it was open water. The forecast is for rain and temps in the lower 50's this weekend so that is going to put a damper on the ice fishing for a while.

First Ice Fishing Trip of the Year

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 30s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 30s. The wind was out of the west 10 to 15 knots. We fished a small lake in Stockbridge and the ice is 3 to 4 inches thick, plenty thick to fish on. The catching was slow but the fish that we caught were very nice. We caught sunfish, bluegill, large mouth bass and crappie. We had spikes and wax worms for bait and most of the fish came about 1 foot off the bottom. I decided to do some exploring and as I was walking up a small creek that fed the lake I fell through up to my knee with my left foot. I did not get very wet but it sure was mucky. When I got out of the water there was black muck all over everything. Daryl caught this nice 13.5 inch crappie.