Short Trip

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The wind was out of the south southeast around 10 knots when we started and when we quit fishing the wind was out of the southeast at 25 knots. The waves went from 1 foot to about 4 foot in less than 5 minutes. The water temp is 68 degrees. Headed back to the swamp and set up where we have been fishing. We put our rain gear on before we left port knowing it was going to rain, we had no idea about the wind. Had a nice boat ride into the swamp and set the anchor to start fishing. We got to fish for a couple of minutes and then the waves were too large to be out perch fishing. The fish were snapping at the baits but we had to pull the anchor and come back to port. It was a tough boat ride back to the harbor even though the waves were off the starboard stern. Kept 6 perch and threw back about 5 perch. Since we were back at port so early we changed the out drive oil and the engine oil. Had to borrow a screw driver from Huey to change the out drive oil and we put it back in his boat when we were done. The fishing season is coming to an end real soon.

Back in the Swamp Again

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 mostly out of the southwest less than 10 knots with just a little ripple on the lake. The water temp is 75 degrees. We headed back to where we left off on the last trip and we were on the fish right out of the gate. Had to do a little more sorting today but the fish were about the same size as the last trip. Every so often on the starboard side of the boat the bite would just flat out quit but the port side stayed busy.  Tried the shiners that we froze from the last trip and they worked out just great. We just might have a new way to preserve our bait. It was a good thing that we had them today otherwise we would have ran out of bait. Kept 99 perch today.

Perfect Day on Lake Erie

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70's. The water temp is 74 degrees. The wind was light and variable with no waves. The only problem we had was that we were drifting around the anchor. We would be on the fish and then off the fish. Just a perfect day on Lake Erie. Made our first trip into the swamp this year and it did not disappoint. Set up on our first spot and Joe caught a double right out of the gate and then it slowed down. Moved about 100 feet and we started catching fish again. It was not fast and furious but enough steady action to keep us put. If we had a little breeze we would have stayed on the fish better. Had to do a little sorting but it was not too bad. Kept 106 perch and the largest was 11 inches. The size of the perch are starting to get a little larger. Learned a new way to preserve shiners, will see how it works out.

Pretty Good Day Perch'in

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the southeast less than 10 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 72 degrees. We planned on fishing by the Turn Around buoy but on the way out there Joe saw a pack of boats by the shipping channel around buoys 5 and 6. We headed out there and set up and we never had to move. We had to do a lot of sorting but we were able to catch our limit of perch. The minnow situation is not getting any better. We had nice shiners today but the count was not very good. From here on out we are going to salt our left over minnows for the next trip. Kept 64 perch and the largest was 10 1/2 inches.

Trout Fishing- A Little Late

Fished with Joe and John on the Boardman River. Left on Sunday and came home on Wednesday. We could not make it for the opening day of trout fishing because of my shoulder so we went now. It rained all day Saturday up north so the rivers were pretty high for this time of year. We fished all of our usual spots and the catching was tough. This is only our third year fishing the Boardman River and we only caught Brown Trout the previous two years. This trip we caught a lot of little Brook Trout and had two keeper Brookies. We used shiners, worms and spinner blades and they all caught fish but the worms caught most of the fish. Joe caught big fish on Monday and big fish on Tuesday so that made him the Trout King for 2016. We kept six fish for the trip and the biggest was a 10 3/4 inch Brown Trout.

Tough Day Perchin

Fished With Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 90's. And it's September, holy crap. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 77 degrees. Had a tough time buying minnows today and we wound up with mud minnows and we were lucky to get those. Not our favorite choice. When we arrived at the marina there were already 3 boats waiting to get launched before us and no hi lo driver. To make matters worse there were 3 boats in the slips that had to be put away. And the icing on the cake was the hilo would not start once the driver showed up. After we got through that mess we were getting ready to leave the dock when one of the guys from the marina came up to us and said he had the perfect hot spot from a couple of days ago. Could not pass that up so we waited for him to follow him out to that spot. We fished there for about a half hour with a couple of moves and we only caught one perch. Made a move towards Sputnik and we stopped short about 4 miles and set up. Started to catch some perch but the catching was slow and the size was not very good. We stayed put and just picked away at the perch. Kept 48 perch.

Nice Steady Bite

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was light out of the south for most of the trip with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 75 degrees. We set up where we fished last Tuesday, which is just past the dumping grounds on the Michigan/Ohio border and we never had to move. The bite was good right out of the gate and it only slowed down the last 1/2 hour of fishing. Kept 110 perch about the same size we have been catching all week. Not too much to report. We had good bait, nice lake conditions and the fish were active today.