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.