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.