Dock Fishing

Fished with Daryl after we voted. Decided to head down to TBM and fish off the docks. The temperature was in the middle 60s and the wind was out of the Southwest 10 knots. Just a beautiful day to be fishing.

We tried to buy some minnows but the only store open did not have any so we had to use wax worms. After 10 minutes of fishing we were told by one of the workers that we could not fish because there is no fishing off the docks. Things were not going very well today. Daryl went and talked to Chuck (one of the bosses) and he gave us the OK to fish so we headed back out to the docks and went fishing. The only problem now was that we were catching a lot of small fish. For every five fish that was caught, only one was a keeper. We fished for 1 1/2 hours and decided to clean the fish and head up to Trappers and have fresh fish for lunch. We kept 21 bluegill. A nice way to end a good day of fishing off the docks.

Last Trip For The Bird's Nest

Fished with Daryl. The temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and by the time we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the Southeast 5 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 60 degrees.

We started fishing right in front of the harbor in 13 feet of water. We were marking fish but the water is still dirty. Moved out by the S Buoy but the water was still dirty. Saw a pack of boats North of the Toledo Light House and made a pass through them and they were not catching anything. Went out to the shipping channel and fished for a few minutes and still nothing so I said the hell with it so we went for a boat ride and headed out to our spot. The catching was pretty good today and the fish were a lot larger. We had a lot of fish over 10 inches. Kept 57 perch for the day.

River Fishing

Fished with Captain Joe and his friend Ron. Temperature this afternoon was in the upper 50s and the wind was out of the East 15 to 20 knots. The River had a light chop and at the mouth of the River the waves were about one foot. The water temp is 57 degrees. The water had a lot of weeds floating which made the fishing difficult.

Our first stop was at Stony Island where we caught a Gobie and a very small bass. From there we went to the South side of Hickory Island without any luck. Made a move to the channel of the Ford Yacht Club and again nothing. Moved again out in front of Lake Erie Metro Park and we caught a couple of small perch and Ron caught a nice walleye off his perch rig. Joe tried 3 times to knock it off Ron's pole but they finally landed the fish. The walleye was 27 inches long and 7.4 lbs. We made one more move and fished the North side of Grassy Island and then we called it a night. Kept two small perch and one nice walleye and had a beautiful boat ride up the Detroit River.

No More Being Late For Work.

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was 40 degrees with a Northeast wind 15 to 20 knots. The waves were 2 feet for the ride out and after an hour the wind quit blowing and the lake laid down. The water temp is 66 degrees.

We headed back out to our spot that we have been fishing all year. The fishing was slow and we moved a couple of times but it did not seem to help. For every four fish we caught we would keep one. Since the day turned out so nice we just stayed put and sorted through the small fish. The lake is starting to finally clean up but the season is coming to an end. Just one more week to fish. We kept 38 perch today.

Perchin' Joe, Happy Again.

Fished with Joe. The temperature was in the upper 50s when we started fishing and by the time we quit it was in the upper 60s. The wind was out of the Northeast at 15 knots when we headed out, which made for a bumpy boat ride, and about 10:00 AM the wind started to lay down. Waves were 3 footers on the ride out and on the ride back to port they were about 1 foot. The water temp is 71 degrees.

We made a pass through the second dumping grounds by McDonald's on the way out because I had a report that they were catching some perch in the area. We did not mark any fish so we headed out to the honey hole. The fishing was slow and we were catching a lot of small perch ( 6 to 7 inches ) so we moved a couple hundred feet and started to catch some bigger fish, but not a whole lot. We were about to move again, had the rods out of the water and getting ready to pull the anchor but the fish finder was full of fish, so we decided to stay put. Good choice. The fish started biting again. Kept 33 perch for the day and then we went to Trappers and had them fry up a couple of perch dinners.

Fishing After Ike.

Fished with Captain Daryl. The winds were less than 10 knots out of the Northwest. Waves were less than a foot and the water temp is 70 degrees. The lake is in good shape after the storms we had this last weekend from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

We started fishing in our hot spot without much luck so we made a move to the South about 1/2 mile and caught a couple of perch, not enough to keep us there so we started heading back to the original area. Found a spot with a few fish and that was where we stayed the rest of the morning. The average size of the fish were in the 8 inch range but at least we caught some fish before I headed to work. Kept 33 perch for the day. After we got done cleaning the fish I left all my cleaning supplies in the cleaning station. Thanks to Mike, the Hi Lo driver, he retrieved it and placed it back in the boat. Thanks Mike.

Late For Work!!!

Fished with Daryl and Dale. Temperature was in the lower 60s when we started fishing and by the time we quit it was in the middle 70s. The wind was light out of the Northeast with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 73 degrees.

Started fishing in our hot spot without any luck so we headed towards a pack of boats about 3/4 mile to the west. Did not mark any fish and did not catch any fish so we headed back to the original spot. It took a while but we started to catch a few fish. The catching was slow and the talk on the radio was that people were just not catching any fish today. When I got home I checked the weather report and the barometer was on a steady decline during the time we were fishing. Our game plan was to catch some perch and go to Trappers and have them fry the perch for dinner. Well, we had to stay out fishing a little longer than we should have to catch enough for dinner so that made me a little late for work. We kept 28 perch for dinner.

Labor Day Weekend

Fished with Captain Dan. Temperature this morning was 58 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s. The wind was light out of the Northeast with waves less than a foot. Just a great day to be fishing.
Started fishing where we left off on Friday and the fish are still there. The size of the fish were a little smaller but they are plentiful. After 1 1/2 hours of fishing Captain Dan wanted to try by the pack of boats by the Turnaround Buoy so we headed there. We drove through the pack of boats and did not see a whole lot of action but we anchored anyways. Fished for about 20 minutes and caught 1 keeper and a couple of dinks so we headed back to our honey hole and finished out the morning there. We kept 42 perch between 8 and 11 inches with most of them in the 9 inch range. After we cleaned the fish we went to Trappers and had them fry up a nice mess of perch. A good way to end a great fishing trip.

Perch Season Again.

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature was in the lower 60s with a little sprinkle when we started and the rest of the day was overcast with temps in the middle 70s. The wind was light out of the South with waves less than a foot.
We were going to start at the E-Buoy but the water was dirty so we went 1 mile east of the E-Buoy and fished for 20 minutes with out any bites. Decided to go back to our hot spot from last year 41 51 900 / 083 11 070 and we started to catch some fish. The only problem was that we caught Sheephead ( a couple close to 10 lbs ), white perch, silver bass and smallmouth bass. The perch that we caught were nice size so we just stayed at this location. Another problem is the weather is making it hard to get shiners so the ones that we had were pretty large for perch jerking, but at least we had shiners. Kept 44 perch between 8 and 11 inches for the day.

Salmon Fever !!!

Fished Manistee from 8-16 through 8-23 with Joe and John H. We also had Captain Daryl's boat, the Lucky Strike with Dwayne and Mark, Captain John's boat, the Laura Cristina with Gale, Pete, Pat and Little John. The weather cooperated for most of the week except for Friday night and Saturday morning which had high winds and thunderstorms.
We fished the whole area, from the skinny water of 10 feet to the shelf and beyond out to 175 feet. Most of the fish were caught in water of 20 feet or less running J-Plugs off the in line boards and off the downriggers from 2 to 4 feet down. This year the best J-plugs were the Superman and the Gray Ghost. The fishing was tough for the first couple of days because the lake was changing over but once we had the East wind, fishing started to pick up. Our biggest fish was 18 pounds with the average around 14 pounds. The best trip only produced 4 fish, not very good for this time of year. Every one had a great time even though we did not get very much sleep. The plan was to update the blog every day but the motels WiFi did not work, maybe next year. We kept 24 salmon for the week.

On Our Merry Way

The boat is ready and the fishermen are ready! John and I are leaving on 08-16-08 and Joe will meet us on 08-17-08. We will be fishing Manistee again this year, staying at the same location as last year. We will be coming home on 08-23-08.

Almost Time For Salmon!

No trips planned on Lake Erie this week. I'll be bringing the boat home from Toledo Beach Marina on Saturday, August 9, to get it ready for salmon fishing on Lake Michigan.

Plan on leaving for Manistee on August 16, 2008.

ONE HAPPY CREW.

Fished with Captain Eddie and first mate Ryan aboard the Fish On II. Our crew consisted of Jake, Chad, Neil, Sydney and Deb Barson. Temperature was in the lower 70s when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s. The wind was out of the Southwest about 7 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 79 degrees.

Started fishing where we left off Tuesday 41 49 400 / 083 18 250. We ran jet 40s 60 feet back on one side of the boat and 70 feet back on the other side, I don't think it made much of a difference because both sides caught fish. The pod of fish in this area is not very large so the fish would come in spurts. We worked the general area all morning and kept 24 walleye between 17 and 22 inches. Lure color did not seem to matter. Every one had a great time fishing and then we went to Trappers and had them cook the fish up for us. This is an annual trip put on by Joe Barson and MDFA (Metro Detroit Flower Growers Association) that had 8 charter boats for the day that caught 176 walleye. Joe, you did a great job organizing everything and I appreciate being invited! Thanks Again!

Should Have, Could Have.

Fished with Daryl. The temperature was in the lower 70s in the morning and by the time we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s. The wind was light out of the southeast and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp was 80 degrees.

We started fishing at 41 48 980 / 083 18 190 which is 5 miles from port on the Michigan/Ohio boarder using crawlers and bottom bouncers set 75 to 80 feet back. Within 5 minutes we had the first fish on and Daryl was bringing it in and right behind the boat the fish spit the hook. The hook ended up in my right temple about one inch from my eye. We tried to push the hook through but we could not get it far enough past the barb to get a good grip on the tip of the it with the pliers so we pulled lines and headed for the hospital. It took a couple of hours and I felt OK so we went back out fishing, just a little hook shy.

We trolled with crawlers for 45 minutes and picked up a couple of walleye and then we switched over to Jet Divers set at 55 feet back and Dipsy's set at 75 feet back. The dipsy's were the most productive so we switched over to all dipsy's. Now we were fishing in the heat of the day and the fishing started to slow down. We kept 7 walleye between 18 and 20 inches, 1 perch and one cut hook from the doctor. We should have caught our limit and we could have caught our limit, but we had to take a time out.

Perch/Walleye Combo

Fished with Joe and John H. Temperature was in the upper 70s to the lower 80s. The wind was out of the West / Southwest 10 to 15 knots. The waves were 1 to 3 feet on the ride out and by the time we quit fishing the lake laid down to less than 2 foot waves.

Our game plan was to perch jerk for awhile until we caught enough perch and then start fishing for walleye. Well, the plan worked today. We perch fished about 1/2 mile East of Sputnik and we caught 62 perch between 7 3/4 and 11 inches with most of the fish in the 8 inch range. While we were perch jerking we noticed that the boats fishing for walleye were just about 1/2 mile South of us (41 49 000 / 083 08 500). After we were done perch jerking we started to troll with crawlers towards the pack of boats. We long lined 4 poles with 2 ounce weights from 80 to 140 back. We picked up a couple walleye running this program so we fished for about another 30 minutes and caught 2 more walleye. Had we used the planer boards we would have caught more fish. The total tally for the day is 62 perch and 4 walleye.

Next Planned Trip: Sometime this week with Daryl

Good Day Finally

Fished with Captain Daryl. The temperature was in the middle 80s a light wind less than 5 knots out of the Southwest. The waves were less than a foot and the water temp is 76 degrees.

We got a late start because Daryl had a dentist appointment but the weather was nice all day so it did not matter. We started fishing at 41 48 350 / 083 07 520 and started catching fish right away. We ran 20 jets 105 feet back on one side and 40 jets 75 feet back on the other side. The best color spoon was the blueberry muffin and anything with purple or pink. The 20 jets started catching most of the fish so we put 20 jets on both sides. The only problem was that we caught 14 walleye that were less than 10 inches, if you want to call that a problem. We kept 12 walleye between 17 and 21 inches and 2 perch that were 9 inches. Now that the Mayfly hatch is over the fish are a little more aggressive.

Next Planned Trip: Wednesday 7/16-Friday 7/18 At Bev's in Carp Lake

Walleye,Perch Trip.

Fished with Daryl. Temperature was in the lower 70s when we started and the upper 70s when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the North/Northwest 10 to 15 knots. Waves were 2 to 3 feet and the water temp is 74 degrees.

Our game plan was to troll for walleye for a while and then switch over and start perch jerking. Started fishing at McDonald's and trolled towards Sputnik with divers and spoons, all we caught were sheephead. When we got close to Sputnik we went about 3/4 mile east of it and started perch jerking. Had to move 3 or 4 times and we caught some fish but nothing very large. Made a move to our hot spot from last year and we caught only one keeper so we called it a day. Kept 18 perch between 7 3/4 and 9 inches.

Next Planned Trip: Tuesday July 15, Late trip with Daryl

Another Tough One.

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and by the time we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s. The wind was out of the North/Northeast about 15 knots. The waves were 2 to 4 feet which made for a very long boat ride out. It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to Sputnik. On the ride out the antenna mount broke when we hit a large wave so we had no communication. The water temp is 73 degrees.

We started fishing at the Turnaround Buoy drifting with crawlers because it was too rough to troll with spoons. We made 4 or 5 passes and caught a couple of walleye and a few perch so we decided to perch jerk for a while. Picked up 26 perch between 7 1/2 and 9 inches but most of them were around 8 inches. We trolled towards the harbor the last 45 minutes and caught one more walleye. It makes for a tough day of fishing when the conditions are that bad. At least the lake started to lay down for the ride back to port. Kept 3 walleye and 26 perch for the day.

Skunked!!

Fished with Sherrill, Kevin and John H. Temperature was in the upper 60s with the wind out of the South/Southwest around 15 knots. The waves were 1 to 2 feet and the water temp is 78 degrees.

Because of the wind and the crew we had today we decided to just stay in the swamp and try our luck. Trolled with warts and crayfish for 45 minutes and then we switched over to crawlers and trolled with them for another 45 minutes without even a hit. Tried drifting with the crawlers and Sherrill caught 2 sheephead. Decided to try some perch jerking and after moving 3 times without any fish we called it a day. Not a very good day in the swamp. I heard some reports that the fish are being caught by Sputnik and the Water Intake.

Another Slow One

Fished with Daryl and Dale. Temperature was in the upper 60s with a slight breeze out of the South. The waves were less than a foot and the water temp is 72 degrees in the lake and 75 degrees in the swamp. The weather made for beautiful boat ride on the way out and a nice and laid back boat ride on the way back in.

Started fishing by a pack of boats just North of Sputnik. Trolled around for about a half hour without any fish so we pulled lines and headed to where we fished last week. 41 47 700 / 083 09 000. Set lines and we had a double in the first 5 minutes (lost one of them) and it just went down hill from there. We tried trolling with crawlers, then switched to jet diver's but nothing seemed to work. Picked up three more walleye and a few garbage fish. Made a move into the swamp and tried fishing there for a half hour and all we caught were two 8 inch walleye. Saw the storm coming so we pulled lines and headed to port. Just got to the gas dock and it started to storm. We waited that storm out, put some fuel in the boat ($54.00) and headed to the rack and launch. The wind was starting to blow pretty good and another storm was approaching but we timed everything just right and missed that storm also. The mayfly hatch is going pretty good right now and that could account for some of the slow fishing.

Next planned trip: 6-29-08 With John, Sherrill and both Kevin's.