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.

Trout Fishing 2015

2015 Trout King

Headed up north with Joe and John on 4-23-2015 for our annual trout camp on the Boardman River. On the ride up north we ran into quite a few snow squalls but the snow was not sticking to the ground.The river was in excellent shape when we arrived to set up camp, the lowest we have ever seen it. Spent Friday looking for new spots to fish on the Boardman River not too far from our camp and we found a couple of spots. The game plan was to go to bed early on Friday night and get an early start for opening morning. I woke up around midnight and the furnace had gone out in the camper. I worked on that for a while and could not get it going so I went and got the back up heater. Haven't used the back up heater for a while and as I was putting it together there were some spot welds that broke so we could not use it. The game plan was to let the Coleman lantern run for as long as it could. The temp outside was 20 Degrees and inside it was in the lower 40's. We got dressed in a hurry and left camp wide awake and ready to fish. John fished his honey hole and Joe and I went down river to fish. We came back for breakfast to find out that John had a great morning while the two of us had no fish. The good news was we had a enough fish for a trout dinner on Saturday night and it was awesome!

Hockey Night at Camp

The catching was tough for the rest of the weekend but we had a lot of fun trying to catch some more trout. We caught most of the fish using minnows and only a couple off the night crawlers. John caught 1 fish using a #9 Panther Martin. We caught enough fish to have a trout dinner again on Monday and we brought some fish home with us. We kept 10 trout for the trip and I won Big Fish this year with a Brown Trout measuring 16.875. The weather was great for the whole trip, no rain and temps averaging around 50 Degrees during the day and in the low to upper 20's for the night. We burned a lot of wood, told a few fish tails and had a few adult beverages. We all came home Tuesday happy and tired.

Slow fishing day

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature when we started to fish was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was light and variable with hardly any waves. The water temp is 49 degrees. Just a beautiful day to be on the lake. Started out fishing just short of the dumping grounds trolling worms on one side of the boat and junior thunder sticks on the other side. Caught the first walleye off the thunder stick pretty quick so the game plan was to just work this area. We were not marking any fish and the debris on the water made it tough to fish. Wasted too much time here but we finally moved towards the S buoy and set up with the same program. The water was stained and we were marking some fish so things were looking better. Lost a hog right at the net (would have put it back any way) because it was to large for the net. Picked up two more walleye and then we called it a day. Kept 3 walleye for the trip. Most of the fish we caught were on the worms. There is a lot of large and small logs floating in the water.

Maiden Voyage 2015

 Fished with Daryl and Norm. Temperature when we started fishing was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots until 11:00 AM, when it was like someone flipped a switch and it started coming out of the east less than 10 knots, then the temperature started to drop. The waves were less than a foot and the water temp is 49 Degrees. Went to Turtle Island and Daryl and I started out with the blade baits while Norm used a jig tipped with a minnow. Daryl had the first fish on but we lost it at the boat. After that, everything went down hill. We caught one walleye and one perch drifting with the blade baits and had six other hits that we lost. Decided to give trolling a try, so we went to the dumping grounds and set up with junior thunder sticks set at 50 feet back and deep diving thunder sticks set at 45 feet back trolling at 1.2 to 1.4 MPH. Caught a small mouth bass that we put back and when we started to pull lines we had a nice walleye on that we lost behind the boat. The catching was not very good but a least the boat ran great. We saw one boat doing pretty good with the blade baits out by Turtle Island.

First Trip of the Year

Fished with Captain Norm. We went fishing after my doctor's appointment. Temperature when we started fishing was 42 Degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The wind was light out of the southwest and the lake was almost calm. The conditions were perfect for walleye fishing, overcast skies and a little chop on the water. The water temp was 39 Degrees. Started fishing in front of Toledo Beach Marina in 16 feet of water and trolling towards the swamp at a speed of 1.7 to 1.9 mph. We were running bombers set at 50 feet back with a 3/8 ounce rubber sinker 6 feet in front of the lures and junior thunder sticks set at 30 feet back. Made the pass into the swamp without any hits, so we pulled lines and headed to Turtle Island and started to jig with hair jigs tipped with a minnow. Made about 5 drifts here and we only had one hit so we called it a day. The fish are there but we just did not have the right combination today. Even though we did not catch any fish it felt great to be back on the Great Lakes again. Norm's boat ran great for the first trip out so I know he was happy.

Bluegill Fishing

Fished a small lake in Bridge Water with Doug E. and his friend Jack. We went out for the evening fish and fished until a little after dark. Temperature when we started to fish was 45 Degrees and when we quit fishing it was 35 Degrees. The wind was out of the southwest about 10 knots and the sun was out, which made for a beautiful evening of fishing. The ice is about 20 inches thick and there is very little snow on it, which makes for easy walking. We fished anywhere from 10 feet of water to 16 feet of water. The fishing started out very slow. After the first 2 hours we only had 6 perch on the ice that were caught in the shallow water. Both Doug and Jack had their fish finders with them and they were marking very few fish. Right around 7:00 PM, the fish finders started to light up and the fishing got hot. For the next 1 1/2 hours the catching was almost non stop. When it was all said and done we kept 76 fish. All but the perch were caught in 16 feet of water. 61 Bluegill, 9 Crappie and 6 Perch. We used mostly wax worms on small jigs until after dark, when Doug and Jack went with plastic on jigs. It was ice fishing at it's finest!

Thames River

The end of ice fishing is almost here so I decided to try the Thames River one more time. I went further up river towards Chatham, Ontario and fished by the monument. When I arrived there were about a dozen guys fishing so that was a little encouraging. Temperature when I started fishing was 15 Degrees and when I quit fishing it was 9 Degrees. There was just a little breeze and the sun was out so it felt pretty good on the ice. Once on the river I headed down stream about 1/4 mile and set up in 12 ft. of water.. The river looks just like the land, it has a frozen sheen of ice on top of the snow, pretty cool looking. Anyway, the ice is about 18 inches thick and the current is very light. I spent the evening jigging a #5 Rapala tipped with a minnow and a purple hair jig tipped a minnow on the dead stick. Watching the fish finder I never marked a fish and I never had a bite. This makes the third time fishing the Thames River and not having a bite. Heard of one walleye caught down river from me and that was it for all the guys fishing in this area. I had a couple of guys inquire about my ice auger laying on the ice, so I gave them a demonstration on how easy it works. Let one of the guys try it and he was amazed at how fast it can drill a hole through that much ice. If I had some of the Ice Master Drill Adapters with me I could have sold them all!

Thames River, Canada

The sun was out and the wind was not blowing too hard, so I decided to go walleye fishing for the evening bite on the Thames River in Canada. Temperature when I started fishing was 13 Degrees and when I quit fishing it was 8 Degrees. Once the sun went down it started to get pretty cold. The wind was less than 10 knots out of the east so there was a little wind chill factor. Went by the church and there was no one fishing so I went to the government drain and fished. When I got there no one else was fishing but around 4:30 pm, 4 other guys showed up. There is about two inches of snow on the ice which made for easy walking. It is a very short walk from the car to the river. The ice is about 18 inches thick and the current was slow. Set up fishing a number 5 rapala tipped with a minnow and a Williams spoon tipped with a minnow. Fished for 2 1/2 hours and I never had a bite. The guys fishing around me never had a bite. Tough and cold day fishing but I'm glad I went. The extended forecast is for temps in the upper 20's and lower 30's for another week so the ice is not going any where.

Thames River

Heard some reports that they were catching walleye on the Thames River in Canada, so I gave it a try. I went for the evening fish to do some scouting of the old areas that we used to fish. I found most of the old spots but the place has changed a lot since the late 80's. After talking to a few fisherman coming off the ice, the game plan was to fish by the church for the last 3 hours of the day. When I started fishing the temp was in the upper teens and when I quit fishing it was still in the upper teens. The wind was out of the north about 10 knots. The ice is 8 inches thick and there was very little current in the river. There is about 2 inches of snow covering the ice which made walking very easy. I tried fishing a little East of the church in 15 feet of water jigging a Rapala tipped with a minnow and a Williams spoon tipped with a minnow on a dead rod. I never had a bite and I fished until dark. Some fishermen that were fishing in front of me stopped by to talk and they said the fishing was pretty good about 2 weeks ago but that it has slowed down since then. Most of the people left about 5:30 PM so I started hole hopping the last 1/2 hour. There were no fish caught by the church on Tuesday evening but I know of 1 fish caught that morning. I plan on going back in a week or so to give it one more try. Just to give some perspective, that bank is approximately 10-12 feet high.