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.