Pretty Good Bite Today

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the west northwest 7 to 15 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 57 Degrees. The wind chill was cold in the morning but around 10:00 am it started to warm up. Turned out to be a great day on the lake. We bought our bait at Anglers Landing and again they had emerald shiners from Wisconsin that were really nice. When we came out of the harbor the lake looked pretty clean so we headed for the swamp. We set up in the same spot that we fished the last time we were in the swamp in 10 feet of water. Had some nice marks on the graph so things were looking good. Started catching a few fish right out of the gate and the catching was just steady. We were keeping some nice fish so we just stayed put for the rest of the trip. We would have a flurry of bites and then it would quit for a few minutes. Finished the day with 110 perch with the largest one measuring just over 11 inches. Caught only three white perch and no small walleye today.

A little Better Than Yesterday

Fished With Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 70's when we quit fishing. The wind was switching from the northwest to the southwest less than 10 knots with a little chop on the lake. The water temp is 60 degrees. The water cleaned up a lot from yesterday. We picked up our bait from Anglers Landing and they had nice shiners again that were trucked in from Wisconsin. Started fishing in our old spot in front of Brest Bay and there was a pack of boats when we arrived. We hung around here for a little while and we only caught a couple of small perch. Decided to head to Sputnik and we set up just north of Sputnik in 28 feet of water. Started to catch some nice fish but the action was pretty slow. I did not feel like moving again so we just stayed put and picked away at the perch. By the time we quit fishing there was a pack of boats around us. Kept 50 perch and the largest one was 10 1/2 inches. We also caught seven small walleye between 6 and 8 inches. When we were coming back to the harbor there was a large pack of boats around the W Buoy.

Fishing After the Big Blow

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. The wind when we started fishing was out of the northeast 10 to 14 knots with waves around two feet. By the time we quit fishing the wind was switching and the waves were laying down, and we quit fishing fairly early. The water temp is 58 degrees. Made the ride into the swamp and the water is very dirty. We rode around and tried to mark some fish but we could not find any. Left there and headed out in front of TBM and setup and fished by Huey. Had no bites here so we moved again out to the E Buoy. Caught a hand full of white perch and a couple of small perch. Things were not looking very good in this part of the Lake Erie so we went and gassed up Daryl's boat and winterized it. We just had a major blow out of the east for the last 5 days and the lake is pretty torn up. We saw a 55 gallon drum floating and a few logs. Hopefully some calm weather will clear the lake up.

Fishing the Swamp

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. The cold front was just starting to come through when we quit fishing. The wind was very light out of the northwest and we had no waves. We had to fish in a little drizzle a couple of times and one time it rained for about 15 minutes but besides that the weather was pretty nice.The water temp is 71 degrees. Started fishing in the swamp in 10 feet of water about a quarter mile off Woodtick Peninsula ( 41 46 950 / 083 26 350) and we never moved. Had to sort through a lot of fish but we kept some nice perch. Kept 63 perch between 8 and 10 1/2 inches and we also caught 3 walleye from this years hatch that were almost 7 inches. Looks like the rest of the perch fishing will be in the swamp.

A Tough One Today

Fished with Catfish Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. Hard to believe for this time of year. The wind in the morning was out of the south around 12 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet and by the time we quit fishing it was not even blowing. The water temp is 71 degrees. Started fishing where we have been and we caught a whole lot of small perch, we call them smerch. Made a couple of moves around here and the catching never got better. Made the move out to Sputnik and we started to catch some perch but the catching was very slow. Made a move to the turn around buoy and we had the same results. Made a few more moves in this area and then we called it quits. Put a lot of miles on the boat for just a few fish. Kept 22 perch between 7 3/4 and 11 inches. Oh, did I mention that Joe caught 3 catfish today, his personal best.

The Perch are Still There

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the East 10 to 17 knots. The waves when we started fishing were about 2 feet and by the time we were done fishing they were 2 to 4 feet. The water temp is 68 Degrees. We picked up our bait at Anglers Landing because they had a truck load of emerald shiners shipped in from Wisconsin. Why we cannot get shiners from around here I don't know. We went back to the same place we fished yesterday and had the same results. We kept 71 perch and all but one of them were between 8 and 10 inches. The largest one was 11 inches. Joe also caught a 7 inch walleye. Speaking of walleye, the Ohio DNR finished their summer trawls on the western basin on Lake Erie and it's good news. This will be the best walleye hatch since 2003.

Perch in the Bay

Fished with Captain Daryl, Mark and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. Just great weather for this time of year. The wind was out of the northeast 8 to 12 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 68 Degrees. We bought our bait at Anglers Point and we got the last that they had. Started fishing out of Brest Bay (41 52 860 / 083 13 480 ) in 26 feet of water and we never had to move, which makes for a great perch trip. The bite was not steady but just good enough to keep us put. We caught mostly perch that we had to sort through and we caught just a few junk fish. Kept 109 perch between 8 and 10 inches. After we cleaned the fish Joe and I went to Trappers for a fresh perch dinner. That's the best way to end a fishing trip.

Still Struggling

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower lower 70's. The water temp is 68 Degrees. The wind was out of the northeast 5 to 10 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The lake was bumpy because of the east winds yesterday and last night. Started fishing on the west side of the W Buoy and we only caught a couple of small perch. Made one move here and we still had no luck. Started heading East hoping to find some clean water and we saw a pack of boats in front of Bolles Harbor. Stopped to fish here and we caught a couple of small perch. Made the long run to the turn around buoy and we started to catch some perch. The catching was slow and the fish were not very large but at least we were keeping some perch. After catching enough small perch we decided to try and find some larger fish knowing that you should never leave fish to find fish. We stopped by Sputnik and fished for a while with no luck so we headed towards a pack of boats by buoys 5 and 6. We were watching the boats around us and they were not catching any fish. We only caught a few small perch so we moved towards an old perch way point from 2013 and set up. Again we only caught throw back perch so we called it a day. Kept 38 perch and most of them were around 8 inches.

Perch Fishing

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. Stopped at Joe's Bait store and bought our minnows. They had shiners but they were very small ones, actually too small for perch fishing.  The wind was out of the south southwest 12 to 17 knots with waves 1 to 3 feet. Because of the lake conditions we decided to head south and fish Maumee Bay. We started fishing just the other side of buoys 23 and 24 in 14 feet of water. We were on the fish right our of the gate but they were all small fish. Made 4 moves in this area and we could not get away from the small perch. We would catch a few keepers but not enough to stay put. Made another move to the radar buoy and we caught a couple of keepers but again, a lot of small perch. Decided to run out to the gravel pit and we only caught small perch. Made a move into the swamp and again we caught small perch. Made 3 more moves in the swamp and then we called it quits for the day. Kept 16 perch and we had no large ones. Around 10:00 am the wind started to lay down and the waves were less than a foot.

The Start of Perch Season

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. When we got back to shore the temp was in the upper 80's. We had a nasty storm come out of the west and when it hit Lake Erie it went south and followed the shore line so we missed the storm but we had the wind effects. The wind was out of the southwest 5 to 15 knots with waves between 1 and 2 feet. The water temp is 75 degrees. Started fishing by the number 1 Buoy off the River Raisin Channel. We were catching some perch but not enough to keep us happy. Started moving towards Brest Bay and we had no luck. After 3 or 4 moves we went back to the River Raisin Buoys. The catching was slow but at least we were on some perch. We were fishing and watching the storm knowing it was going around us. Kept 47 perch and most of them were around 8 inches with the largest measuring 11 inches. We went to Lake Erie Party Store but they were not open so we bought our bait at Rose Harbor Marina and they had golden shiners. Not the best shiner but better than most of the other bait stores in the area.

The Return From Salmon Fishing

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature when we started fishing was in the middle 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the north 10 to 14 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The water temp is 75 Degrees. We were taking the boat back to Toledo Beach Marina after our return from salmon fishing in Manistee, Mi. The boat had been sitting in my driveway for 5 days while I did some minor work on it and it was time to take it back to the marina. I heard a report that they were catching some walleye by the E Buoy so I figured we would try walleye fishing one last time. We set up just short of the E Buoy trolling wiggle warts set at 90 feet back and junior thunder sticks set at 70 feet back. We were marking some fish close to the bottom but we had no takers. After trolling around for a little bit we noticed that there were some weeds on the lures. Started pulling lines and all the poles had weeds on them. It was still early so we made the move towards Sputnik. Set up trolling wiggle warts set at 120 feet back. Again, we were marking fish but now they were too deep for the wiggle warts. Fished here for just a little while and we called it quits. We did not catch a fish today. Packed up all the walleye gear and now we are set up for perch fishing.

Salmon Fishing in Manistee, Michigan 2015

Fished with Joe and John. We left Saturday morning and picked up the boat in Hart, MI,  where we left it after we were done fishing in Pentwater. This year will be remembered because of the very strong winds we had on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday morning. Of all the years of salmon fishing this was our worst for weather. We were able to fish 8 of the possible 13 trips and one of those was cut short and another was in four foot seas. We were never skunked on any trip but we never caught more than 3 fish on any trip. Our largest salmon was 18 lbs, and our smallest was 14 lbs. One day we would get all our bites on meat rigs and the next day all the bites would be on J plugs. Very hard to figure out. The last couple of years it seems that you have one good day to catch a lot of fish and this year it was Tuesday morning. Boats were netting fish all around us but we came back with only one salmon. We switched lures, changed the depth on the baits and changed the speed we were trolling, but nothing worked. We kept 12 salmon for the entire trip and caught one lake trout that we put back.

Fishing at Pentwater

Fished with Joe and Daryl out of the Port of Pentwater. We headed up Sunday morning and came home on Wednesday. We docked the boat at the Municipal Marina and we stayed at the Pine Motel (not recommended ).Tuesday was the only bad day we had for fishing. We quit fishing at 7:30 in the morning and we did not make it out for the evening fish because of the small craft warnings. We fished one evening in front of the harbor because of the wind and waves. The rest of the trip we were fishing south of the harbor in front of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes, about a 10 mile boat ride. The majority of the fishing was in waters 90 to 150 feet deep, fishing anywhere from 40 to 90 feet down with the bait. Cut bait rigs caught most of the fish and one fish came off the Scar Pace lure. We had a couple of nice fish on that we lost. One straightened the split ring that is on the snap swivel and the other one straightened the clip on the snap swivel. We kept 6 king salmon and 5 steelhead and put back two lake trout. The largest king was about 14 pounds and the largest steelhead was just over 13 pounds. It was nice fishing out of Pentwater but it's always hard fishing a new port for the first time.

The Wind Was Blowing Pretty Good

 Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. The wind was out of the west northwest 15 to 20 knots when we started fishing.  About 9:00 am it laid down to 8 to 12 knots. Around 10:30 am it started to blow again 14 to 18 knots. The waves were anywhere from 2 feet to about a foot but the wind made for tough fishing. The water temp is 76 Degrees. Started fishing just short of the S-Buoy trolling wiggle warts set at 75 feet back and large dipsy's and spoons set at 30 feet back. We were on the fish right out of the gate but the crew was not ready. We lost 3 of the first 4 walleye we had on. Not a good start for a windy day. We trolled mostly between the S-Buoy and the C-Buoy. We caught more junk fish today than we have in the last two weeks and we even caught some white perch. The catching was good up until 10:30 am, after that, we could not catch a keeper walleye. We spent at least 1 1/2 hours trying to catch the last couple of walleye but it was not going to happen. Kept 16 walleye and 2 perch.

Had to Work for Them

Fished with Captain Daryl, Mark and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the northeast 7 to 13 knots with waves less than 2 feet. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing right in front of the harbor in 14 feet of water trolling wiggle warts set at 35 feet behind the boards. Caught a couple of walleye but we also caught a lot of junk fish so we started trolling towards deeper water. Ended up by the S-Buoy trolling with wiggle warts set at 65 feet back on one side of the boat and 75 feet back on the other side of the boat. Eventually both sides were set to 75 feet back. We also ran a couple of large dipsy's set at 30 and 35 feet back and they caught a few walleye. Had a lot of tangles today, don't know if it was the wind or the waves or something else. Kept 24 walleye and we lost quite a few walleye behind the boat.

Quick Trip Today

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 8 knots with a little chop on the lake. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing in the same location with the same program and the walleye are still there. We were on and off the lake very quick today. Kept 12 walleye on an easy day of fishing.

Tried For a Combo Today

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was light and variable with no waves. The water temp is 74 degrees. Don't know why but we had no flies and no gnats today. Started perch fishing by the W-Buoy and we picked up a couple of small ones so after 45 minutes of perch fishing we went walleye fishing. We set up by the S Buoy trolling towards the C-Buoy (41 48 250 / 083 21 500) in 16 feet of water with wiggle warts set at 75 feet behind the boards. We were on the fish right out of the gate and the catching never slowed down. We decided to put back the small keeper fish (15 to 16 inches) and only keep the good size eaters. It did not take long and we were back to perch fishing. Tried perch fishing by the C-Buoy and we only caught one small perch. Moved to an old way point from two years ago in the dumping grounds and we only caught small perch. Made one more move back to the W-Buoy and we only caught a couple of small perch so we called it a day. We cleaned up the fish and went to Trapper's for a walleye/perch lunch and it was awesome. Kept 12 walleye and 7 small perch. Decided that doing a perch/walleye combo is just too much, so it might not happen again.

Still Good Walleye Fishing

Fished with Joe. Temperature when we started fishing was in the middle 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the north 5 to 10 knots with waves about a foot.The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing 1 1/2 miles northeast of the E-Buoy trolling towards the E-Buoy in 18 feet of water with wiggle warts set at 75 feet back on both sides of the boat. The catching started out slow but then it picked up. We made one long pass and we caught our 12 walleye. Caught only a couple of junk fish. This was one of the quickest walleye trips that we have had in a long time.

Walleye Fishing at It's Best

Fished with Joe, Rick and Walleye Willy. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was switching between north and north east any where between 7 and 15 knots. Waves were between 1 and 2 feet. The water temp is 73 degrees. Started fishing 1 1/2 miles northeast of the E-Buoy in 18 feet of water trolling towards the E-Buoy with wiggle warts set at 75 feet back on both sides of the boat and large dipsy's and spoons set at 24 feet back. Started catching walleye right out of the gate and it never slowed down. Made 3 passes and we were done fishing for the day. It did not matter what color lure we used because every lure caught fish. Kept 24 walleye and we had some happy fishermen on the boat. Only bad thing was we lost 3 wiggle warts.

Weather Was Perfect

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the southwest around 7 knots. Just enough breeze to keep the bugs away and make for a nice walleye chop. The water temp is 72 degrees. Started fishing in the same location as the last couple of trips trolling with wiggle warts set at 80 and 85 feet behind the boards. We found a small pod of fish(41 49 820 / 083 18 125) that we kept working. We caught most of the fish on a south troll. The majority of the walleye were between 15 and 16 inches, easy to clean and nice eaters. Had the usual small walleye and we also had a couple of walleye that were just under 15 inches that we put back. Kept 18 walleye and again we caught very few junk fish.

Spur of the Moment Trip

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Sitting at my Mom's house around 10:30 AM and decided to go fishing. Made a few phone calls and had a crew together. The temp when we started fishing was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the East 8 to 14 knots with waves less than 2 feet. Started fishing at the northeast side of the dumping grounds trolling with wiggle warts set at 83 feet on one side of the boat and 75 feet on the other side of the boat. Started catching some walleye off the 83 foot set up so we switched the other side to 90 feet back. Caught most of our fish on a 140 degree troll. When we turned around and headed back over our fishing spot we would not catch a fish. Ended up catching most of the fish on the east side of the dumping grounds on a south east troll. Kept 18 walleye and again, we had a lot of the small nine inch walleye that we put back. The trip did not start out too well. Went to put the trolling motor in gear and it would not go. Figured out the shift cable broke. Put the trolling motor in gear manually and away we went. Lost two of the first three walleye right behind the boat but things only got better from there.

The Algae Bloom Has Started

Fished with Daryl. We thought we would go out for a quick trip. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the southeast 8 to 14 knots with waves about 1 1/2 feet before the storm. Started fishing in the same location as the last trip trolling with mini disks and spoons set at 60 feet back on one side of the boat and wiggle warts set at 70 feet back on the other side of the boat.Started picking away at the walleye fishing by the mud line but once we got too far away from the mud line the bite shut down. By the time we got turned around and back on the fish, the sky was looking pretty ugly off shore. The wind switched to the southwest 20 to 25 knots and the sky was dark so we pulled lines and headed for port. We missed all the rain and made it back to shore nice and dry. The dark clouds blew over and the rain never did show up but the winds were blowing pretty strong. Kept 10 walleye and put back a lot of little walleye. Not sure what is going on, but we have been catching very few white perch and very few silver bass the last couple of weeks. One thought is that there are so many small walleye that they might have pushed the garbage fish out of the area.

Day Two

Fished with Joe and Dan. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was very light out of the south with no waves. We had the gnats again today but the wind picked up just enough around 9:00 AM to blow them away. Started fishing in the same spot as yesterday with jet 40's and spoons set at 55 feet behind the boards and mini disk and spoons set at 75 feet back. Before we had the lines set we had two walleye in the boat, everyone thought it was going to be a banner day. Well, the catching just quit and we would catch a walleye every once in a while. Started changing lead lengths and putting on wiggle warts set at 85 feet back but nothing seemed to help. We shortened up the lead length on the mini dipsy to 60 feet and that seemed to help so we switched both sides to mini disk. Started to get a slow and steady pick of walleye but at least we were catching some. Kept 18 walleye and had at least a dozen walleye at nine inches that we put back. Also caught some monster sheep head.

Fishing In Close Again

Fished with Captain Daryl and Chris. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. There was no wind this morning and we had lot's of gnats. Around 10:30 the wind started to blow very light out of the east, just enough to blow the gnats away. The water temp is 69 Degrees. Started trolling by the E-Buoy and going through the dumping grounds with jet 40's set at 50 and 60 feet behind the boards. Started to catch a few fish off the 50 foot set up, so we put that on both sides of the boat.When things slowed down we put a couple of wiggle warts out set at 85 feet back and that caught one walleye. There were some weeds in the area but we only had to clean the lines a couple of times. Ended up fishing the Northeast side of the dumping grounds (41 48 125 / 083 19 850) where the water was stained. Kept 15 walleye and we lost a couple right behind the boat. Caught 7 nine-inch walleye that we put back.

Fishing After the Big Storm

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the west 10 to 15 knots with waves about a foot. The water temp is 67 Degrees. After the storms we knew the water was going to be dirty so we took some night crawlers with us. Started fishing just past the E-Buoy trolling with the crawlers set anywhere between 40 and 60 feet behind the boards. There were a few weeds floating and the water was stained, but clean enough to fish in. Trolled on an east pass and we only caught one silver bass and had another fish on that we lost. Pulled lines and headed toward McDonald's but the closer we got to McDonald's the worse the water conditions were. A lot of debris floating and also some large logs. Made the turn and headed to Brest Bay. The water was pretty clean and there were not very many weeds floating so we set up with jet 40's and spoons set at 60 to 70 feet back and mini dipsy's and spoons set at 80 feet back. We were marking fish but not hooking up so we started to change the lead lengths. Finally caught a walleye off the dipsy set up and then nothing again. Started trolling towards shore (41 54 670 / 083 17 540) and we started marking more fish. Caught a lot of sheep head and a few silver bass and one more walleye. Only kept two walleye. We had to dodge a few large logs floating in the water which made for an interesting ride. The storm really tore up the lake.

Deja Vu

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. In the morning the wind was out of the east northeast around 10 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet and by the time we quit fishing the wind was out of the east northeast 15 to 20 knots with waves 3 to 5 feet. The water temp is 62 Degrees. Started fishing in front of Brest Bay (41 54 250 / 083 13 500) trolling jet 40's and spoons set at 60 and 65 feet behind the boards. Had the first walleye on pretty quick but we lost it behind the boat and everything went down hill from there. Started trolling with the waves and then we found the floating weeds. Messed around this area for a little while and then we pulled lines and headed towards Sputnik. Well, the lake was too rough to travel that far so we stopped short and started trolling towards McDonald's. We were out of the weeds, but with the waves we were not going to make McDonald's so we headed towards the Michigan/Ohio border. Once we got to walleye alley we started to mark some fish. We picked up a couple of walleye and had two 14 inch walleye throw backs and two nine inch walleye that we put back. By this time we were close to the harbor so we pulled lines and called it a day. Kept two walleye for another long day of fishing.

Weeds, Mayfly Casings and Biting Flies

Fished with Joe and Norm. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 68 Degrees. On the way out to the fishing spot we stopped short and set a few lines just this side of McDonald's. Marked a few fish but we only caught 1 silver bass so we pulled lines and headed further out into the lake. We set up at 41 47 450 / 083 12 100 with jet 40's and spoons set at 75 feet back on one side of the boat and large mini disks and spoons set at 85 feet back. We had three types of water that we were fishing in. Very clean water (with a lot of weeds), stained water (with a few weeds and a lot of mayfly casings), and very dirty water. We marked a lot of fish in the dirty water but could not catch them. The objective was to fish on the mud line but that was hard to do. The lake went from clean water to dirty water in a very short area. Once you got into the weeds, you had to pull all the lines and clean the weeds off them. A major pain in the butt because we had to do this about four times. Once the wind laid down, the biting flies came out, another pain in the butt. This area is holding fish but it is just too hard to fish for them. Kept nine walleye and we put back two that were 14 1/2 inches and about 7 little walleye that were about nine inches.

Oh What a Day!

Fished with Captain Daryl, Jake and Jim. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. Kind of cool for this time of year. The wind was out of the east northeast 10 to 15 knots with waves 2 to 4 feet with the occasional 5 footer. Plus, we had rain for the first couple of hours. The water temp is 65 Degrees. Started fishing the other side of McDonald's (41 47 300 / 083 13 600) trolling into the waves. We ran jet 40's and spoons 65 feet back on one side of the boat and 75 feet back on the other side of the boat. Picked up a couple of walleye off the 75 feet setup so we switched both sides to 75 feet back. We also ran two large dipsy's set at 40 feet back off the stern and they caught a couple of walleye.  It was tough fishing and very tough just trying to stand up in the boat. We had our fair share of tangles and that will always happen when the lake is that bumpy. Kept 13 walleye and both Jake and Jim were troopers today. No complaining and they said they had fun. There is still a lot of debris floating in the water which makes for an interesting ride to the fishing grounds.

Major Mess Today

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots with waves a foot or less. The water temp is 69 Degrees. The mayfly hatch is in full bloom and the casings are floating all over the lake. Started fishing in Brest Bay at 41 53 280 / 083 15 150 trolling jet 40's and spoons set at 70 feet behind the boards and large mini disks and spoons set at 60 feet behind the boards. Caught the first couple of walleye pretty quick, we only had four lines in the water. Kept on trolling with this set up and I went down to the cuddy to get my shorts and the next thing I know there is a boat trolling right in front of us. We tangled planer board lines so I stopped the motor and the next thing I know all the fishing lines were in front of the boat and the planer board line was wrapped around the prop. The line was wrapped around the prop so bad the motor stopped running. We spent a lot of time just trying to straighten everything out and then we had to retie all the fishing lines and one planer board line. Lost a good 1 1/2 hours of fishing time. The good news is no equipment was lost, hard to believe. Once we got everything in order we just stayed put and picked away at the walleye. Kept 10 walleye and only had one walleye that was under size. Caught a few sheep head and about a dozen silver bass that we put back.

Fishing With the Family

Fished with Dan, Sherrill and John. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the southwest between 10 and 15 knots when we started fishing and around 11:00 am it started to lay down. The waves were about 2 feet in the morning and when the wind laid down so did the waves. The water temp is 67 Degrees. When I woke up it was raining and on the ride down to the boat it was just hogging dow rain. About 20 miles before we arrived at the marina the rain quit. We had a little sprinkle early in the morning when we were fishing and then a very light sprinkle on the boat ride back to the marina. On the car ride back home it just started to hog down again. The trip was perfect as far as the weather went. When we got back home most of the roads were flooded. How we squeezed this trip in, I don't know. The mayfly hatch is in full bloom and the casings are starting to build up on the fishing line when we were trolling. Started fishing just the other side of McDonald's trolling with mini disk set at 100 feet back and large mini disk set at 80 feet back. Started to catch some fish off the large dipsy's so we took off the small mini dipsy's and put out jet 40's and spoons set at 70 feet. We were catching fish, but not enough keeper walleye. We stayed in this area and picked through the junk fish hoping to get our limit, which did not happen. Kept 15 walleye and put back 4 walleye that were 14 inches and about a dozen walleye that were nine inches. We also caught about three dozen silver bass that we put back!

A Little on the Bumpy Side

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's when we started fishing and it was in the middle 70's when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the west at 18 knots when we started with waves 2 to 3 feet. Around 11:00 am the wind started to lay down and so did the waves. The water temp is 61 Degrees. Made the ride back out to Ohio waters because the water is still dirty on the Michigan side of Lake Erie. Started fishing at 41 49 200 / 083 11 400 trolling spoons behind jet 40 divers. We ran the port side set at 50 feet behind the boards and the starboard side set at 60 feet behind the boards. Caught the first walleye pretty quick and then the catching was few and far between. We ended up fishing at 41 49 300 / 083 07 250 trolling with the jets set at 70 feet behind the boards. We did not mark very many fish and most of the fish we were marking were on the bottom of the lake. It was just a slow pick today and we only had one little walleye that we put back. All the large logs and dock poles that we had to dodge on the way out last trip are now in Ohio waters where we were fishing. Kept 13 walleye and lost one behind the boat.

The Mayfly Hatch is Starting

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the east less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 66 degrees. We knew the lake was going to be dirty from all the storms we had last weekend so we went out past the shipping channel and fished at 41 48 400 / 083 09 299. On the ride out the lake was full of large logs and debris. It made for an interesting ride there and back. We set up with mini dipsy's and spoons set at 110 feet back on one side of the boat and wiggle warts set at 80 feet back on the other side. Started to catch some walleye off the spoons so we switched the other side to spoons and dipsy's set at 100 feet back. The catching was pretty good and we caught very few silver bass. We made 3 or 4 passes in this area and we were done fishing. Kept 18 walleye and we put back 3 walleye that were 14 inches. Where we fished the water was very clean. The mayfly hatch is just starting so the fishing will be interesting for the next couple of weeks.

The Silver Bass Won Today

Fished with Joe and Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots when we started fishing and then it switched to the east about 10 knots with waves about a foot. The water temp is 65 Degrees. Started fishing by the S Buoy trolling towards Turtle Island with Junior Thundersticks set at 70 feet back. Right out of the gate we were catching silver bass. After catching a lot of silver bass we finally caught a walleye. We just kept going between the island and the S Buoy. Got a report that they were catching some walleye by the water intake in Ohio so we pulled lines and headed there. When we arrived at the intake there was only one boat fishing so we set up with Junior Thundersticks set at 90 feet back and Wiggle Warts set at 70 feet back. We were marking a lot of fish but we only caught two walleye and two silver bass. We did a lot of changing lure depths and color changes and were not catching very many fish so we pulled lines and headed back to where we were fishing, the silver bass honey hole. We finally got tired of catching silver bass so we decided to call it a day. Kept eight small walleye and put back 5 walleye that were nine inches long and three walleye that were fourteen inches long.

A Lot of Silvers Today

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind in the morning was out of the southwest around 10 knots with hardly any waves. About 10:30 am, the wind died down and the bugs came out. They were pretty bad for a couple of hours until the wind started to blow out of the east. Started fishing by the S Buoy trolling towards Turtle Island with Junior Thundersticks set at 60 feet back on one side of the boat and 70 feet on the other side of the boat. The catching was very slow. Caught a couple of walleye off the 60 foot side so we switched up so both sides were around 60 feet back. We started catching a lot of silver bass but every once in a while we would catch a walleye. We put on Wiggle Warts set at 50 feet back for awhile and they caught a few fish. We sure had to work hard to catch a walleye. On our last pass we went through the dumping grounds and then trolled towards the marina. Once we were out of the dumping grounds we started to catch a few more walleye with the Junior Thundersticks set at 68 feet back. Kept 16 walleye and put back a lot of silver bass.

Rainy Day of Fishing

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. The wind was out of the southwest less than 10 knots and there were no waves. The water temp is 60 Degrees. When I woke up it was starting to rain and on the ride to the boat it was raining. We fished the first two hours in a light rain but at least it was warm out. Started fishing in front of the Toledo Beach Marina in 16 feet of water trolling Junior Thunder sticks set at 30 feet behind the boards on one side of the boat and 40 feet on the other side of the boat. We were trolling about 2 mph. We were catching a lot of silver bass so we started to pull lines and head towards Little Cedar Point when we caught the first walleye. Decided to stay put and just troll in this area. Started to catch some walleye off the 40 foot setup so we switched the other side of the boat to 40 feet back. Caught a few walleye and lost a couple but then the catching just stopped. Switched one side of the boat to 50 feet back and that did not help so we put some wiggle warts on set at 40 feet back and we caught a few more fish. Blue and silver and metallic green were the best colors today. Kept 7 walleye for the trip.

Another Tough Day

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature when we started fishing was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 60's. The wind was out of the northeast less than 10 knots and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 54 Degrees. Started fishing by the S Buoy where we found a little stained water and were marking a few fish so we set up with crawlers on one side of the boat and deep diving thunder sticks on the other side of the boat. Made a few passes in this area and we only caught a nice perch so we started trolling through the dumping grounds heading towards the E Buoy. Did not catch any fish so we pulled lines and headed to walleye alley. We just cruised through here and did not mark any fish so we went back to the south side of the S Buoy and made a pass through there. Marked some fish but we only caught a few silver bass so we pulled lines and went to Little Stony Point and set lines again. Caught the first walleye off a night crawler set at 30 feet back so we switched all the baits to crawler harnesses. It was slow catching but we managed to catch 2 more walleye before we called it a day. When we got off the lake the temp was 64 Degrees because of the northeast wind blowing across the lake. When we got home it was 85 Degrees outside!

Worm Trolling

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was light out of the north and there were no waves, just a light chop on the water. The water temp is 49 Degrees and the water is very clean. Just another nice day to be on Lake Erie. Started fishing by the S Buoy trolling up the south side of the dumping grounds with crawlers set anywhere between 30 and 50 feet behind the boards. Caught the first walleye pretty quick and then nothing for about 45 minutes. Went on a search mission heading towards the E Buoy and we kept on heading that direction until we were on the south side of Brest Bay. Every so often we would slow down and look for marks on the graph, but we didn't see any. Headed back towards the E Buoy and stopped short about 1 mile and set lines again. Caught another walleye but that was it. Pulled lines again and headed towards Turtle Island looking for some dirty water. Finally found some dirty water so we set up again with the crawlers. Started to mark a lot of fish and they sure looked like walleye marks but all that we caught were silver bass. Stayed here for about 45 minutes catching silver bass and then we called it a day. Kept 2 walleye for the trip.

Trout Fishing 2015

2015 Trout King

Headed up north with Joe and John on 4-23-2015 for our annual trout camp on the Boardman River. On the ride up north we ran into quite a few snow squalls but the snow was not sticking to the ground.The river was in excellent shape when we arrived to set up camp, the lowest we have ever seen it. Spent Friday looking for new spots to fish on the Boardman River not too far from our camp and we found a couple of spots. The game plan was to go to bed early on Friday night and get an early start for opening morning. I woke up around midnight and the furnace had gone out in the camper. I worked on that for a while and could not get it going so I went and got the back up heater. Haven't used the back up heater for a while and as I was putting it together there were some spot welds that broke so we could not use it. The game plan was to let the Coleman lantern run for as long as it could. The temp outside was 20 Degrees and inside it was in the lower 40's. We got dressed in a hurry and left camp wide awake and ready to fish. John fished his honey hole and Joe and I went down river to fish. We came back for breakfast to find out that John had a great morning while the two of us had no fish. The good news was we had a enough fish for a trout dinner on Saturday night and it was awesome!

Hockey Night at Camp

The catching was tough for the rest of the weekend but we had a lot of fun trying to catch some more trout. We caught most of the fish using minnows and only a couple off the night crawlers. John caught 1 fish using a #9 Panther Martin. We caught enough fish to have a trout dinner again on Monday and we brought some fish home with us. We kept 10 trout for the trip and I won Big Fish this year with a Brown Trout measuring 16.875. The weather was great for the whole trip, no rain and temps averaging around 50 Degrees during the day and in the low to upper 20's for the night. We burned a lot of wood, told a few fish tails and had a few adult beverages. We all came home Tuesday happy and tired.

Slow fishing day

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature when we started to fish was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was light and variable with hardly any waves. The water temp is 49 degrees. Just a beautiful day to be on the lake. Started out fishing just short of the dumping grounds trolling worms on one side of the boat and junior thunder sticks on the other side. Caught the first walleye off the thunder stick pretty quick so the game plan was to just work this area. We were not marking any fish and the debris on the water made it tough to fish. Wasted too much time here but we finally moved towards the S buoy and set up with the same program. The water was stained and we were marking some fish so things were looking better. Lost a hog right at the net (would have put it back any way) because it was to large for the net. Picked up two more walleye and then we called it a day. Kept 3 walleye for the trip. Most of the fish we caught were on the worms. There is a lot of large and small logs floating in the water.

Maiden Voyage 2015

 Fished with Daryl and Norm. Temperature when we started fishing was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots until 11:00 AM, when it was like someone flipped a switch and it started coming out of the east less than 10 knots, then the temperature started to drop. The waves were less than a foot and the water temp is 49 Degrees. Went to Turtle Island and Daryl and I started out with the blade baits while Norm used a jig tipped with a minnow. Daryl had the first fish on but we lost it at the boat. After that, everything went down hill. We caught one walleye and one perch drifting with the blade baits and had six other hits that we lost. Decided to give trolling a try, so we went to the dumping grounds and set up with junior thunder sticks set at 50 feet back and deep diving thunder sticks set at 45 feet back trolling at 1.2 to 1.4 MPH. Caught a small mouth bass that we put back and when we started to pull lines we had a nice walleye on that we lost behind the boat. The catching was not very good but a least the boat ran great. We saw one boat doing pretty good with the blade baits out by Turtle Island.

First Trip of the Year

Fished with Captain Norm. We went fishing after my doctor's appointment. Temperature when we started fishing was 42 Degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The wind was light out of the southwest and the lake was almost calm. The conditions were perfect for walleye fishing, overcast skies and a little chop on the water. The water temp was 39 Degrees. Started fishing in front of Toledo Beach Marina in 16 feet of water and trolling towards the swamp at a speed of 1.7 to 1.9 mph. We were running bombers set at 50 feet back with a 3/8 ounce rubber sinker 6 feet in front of the lures and junior thunder sticks set at 30 feet back. Made the pass into the swamp without any hits, so we pulled lines and headed to Turtle Island and started to jig with hair jigs tipped with a minnow. Made about 5 drifts here and we only had one hit so we called it a day. The fish are there but we just did not have the right combination today. Even though we did not catch any fish it felt great to be back on the Great Lakes again. Norm's boat ran great for the first trip out so I know he was happy.

Bluegill Fishing

Fished a small lake in Bridge Water with Doug E. and his friend Jack. We went out for the evening fish and fished until a little after dark. Temperature when we started to fish was 45 Degrees and when we quit fishing it was 35 Degrees. The wind was out of the southwest about 10 knots and the sun was out, which made for a beautiful evening of fishing. The ice is about 20 inches thick and there is very little snow on it, which makes for easy walking. We fished anywhere from 10 feet of water to 16 feet of water. The fishing started out very slow. After the first 2 hours we only had 6 perch on the ice that were caught in the shallow water. Both Doug and Jack had their fish finders with them and they were marking very few fish. Right around 7:00 PM, the fish finders started to light up and the fishing got hot. For the next 1 1/2 hours the catching was almost non stop. When it was all said and done we kept 76 fish. All but the perch were caught in 16 feet of water. 61 Bluegill, 9 Crappie and 6 Perch. We used mostly wax worms on small jigs until after dark, when Doug and Jack went with plastic on jigs. It was ice fishing at it's finest!

Thames River

The end of ice fishing is almost here so I decided to try the Thames River one more time. I went further up river towards Chatham, Ontario and fished by the monument. When I arrived there were about a dozen guys fishing so that was a little encouraging. Temperature when I started fishing was 15 Degrees and when I quit fishing it was 9 Degrees. There was just a little breeze and the sun was out so it felt pretty good on the ice. Once on the river I headed down stream about 1/4 mile and set up in 12 ft. of water.. The river looks just like the land, it has a frozen sheen of ice on top of the snow, pretty cool looking. Anyway, the ice is about 18 inches thick and the current is very light. I spent the evening jigging a #5 Rapala tipped with a minnow and a purple hair jig tipped a minnow on the dead stick. Watching the fish finder I never marked a fish and I never had a bite. This makes the third time fishing the Thames River and not having a bite. Heard of one walleye caught down river from me and that was it for all the guys fishing in this area. I had a couple of guys inquire about my ice auger laying on the ice, so I gave them a demonstration on how easy it works. Let one of the guys try it and he was amazed at how fast it can drill a hole through that much ice. If I had some of the Ice Master Drill Adapters with me I could have sold them all!

Thames River, Canada

The sun was out and the wind was not blowing too hard, so I decided to go walleye fishing for the evening bite on the Thames River in Canada. Temperature when I started fishing was 13 Degrees and when I quit fishing it was 8 Degrees. Once the sun went down it started to get pretty cold. The wind was less than 10 knots out of the east so there was a little wind chill factor. Went by the church and there was no one fishing so I went to the government drain and fished. When I got there no one else was fishing but around 4:30 pm, 4 other guys showed up. There is about two inches of snow on the ice which made for easy walking. It is a very short walk from the car to the river. The ice is about 18 inches thick and the current was slow. Set up fishing a number 5 rapala tipped with a minnow and a Williams spoon tipped with a minnow. Fished for 2 1/2 hours and I never had a bite. The guys fishing around me never had a bite. Tough and cold day fishing but I'm glad I went. The extended forecast is for temps in the upper 20's and lower 30's for another week so the ice is not going any where.

Thames River

Heard some reports that they were catching walleye on the Thames River in Canada, so I gave it a try. I went for the evening fish to do some scouting of the old areas that we used to fish. I found most of the old spots but the place has changed a lot since the late 80's. After talking to a few fisherman coming off the ice, the game plan was to fish by the church for the last 3 hours of the day. When I started fishing the temp was in the upper teens and when I quit fishing it was still in the upper teens. The wind was out of the north about 10 knots. The ice is 8 inches thick and there was very little current in the river. There is about 2 inches of snow covering the ice which made walking very easy. I tried fishing a little East of the church in 15 feet of water jigging a Rapala tipped with a minnow and a Williams spoon tipped with a minnow on a dead rod. I never had a bite and I fished until dark. Some fishermen that were fishing in front of me stopped by to talk and they said the fishing was pretty good about 2 weeks ago but that it has slowed down since then. Most of the people left about 5:30 PM so I started hole hopping the last 1/2 hour. There were no fish caught by the church on Tuesday evening but I know of 1 fish caught that morning. I plan on going back in a week or so to give it one more try. Just to give some perspective, that bank is approximately 10-12 feet high.

Lake Simcoe, Day 2

Day 2 of fishing Lake Simcoe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 30's and it was raining. It rained most of the day and the temperature stayed in the mid 30's all day. The rain and warm temps was making water puddles on the lake but the lake is still in great shape, the cars and trucks are still driving on the ice.Today we fished the huts closer to shore in about 10 feet of water. The water is still very clear so we were still able to sight fish. Being a little closer to shore there was a lot more traffic around the huts. Every time a machine or vehicle went by the fish would scatter. We used the same set up as yesterday and that seemed to work again. The only problem was we saw a lot less fish today. I tried banging the perch call off the bottom a few more times today without much success. The fishing was OK for the first couple of hours and then it just died off. Right before dark we had a little flurry but overall it was a slow day of fishing. The fish were not as large as yesterday and we caught fewer of them. We kept 34 perch between the two huts and the largest perch was just over 12 inches. Canadian law requires that a portion of the skin remains on the fish for identification so once we get home we can remove the skins and vacuum pack them. Over all we had a good trip, met a lot of great people and brought home a few fish for the fryer.