Perchin' in November

Fished with Captain Dan. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60's when we started fishing and it was in the middle 70's when we quit fishing. Never had a day of fishing in November with temps like this! The wind was out of the south west less than 5 knots and there was hardly a ripple on the lake. The water temp is 53 Degrees. We took our sweatshirts off pretty early and enjoyed the sunshine and perch fishing. Started fishing in front of the Edison stacks in 22 feet of water and we only caught one small perch. Made a move about 1/4 mile south east of the Raisin River buoys 1 and 2 and we found some fish. Stayed put here and we picked away at the perch. We had to do some sorting, but our game plan was to keep nothing under 9 inches. Kept 69 perch with the largest one's measuring 11 1/4 inches and we had a couple of perch that were 8 inches that swallowed the hooks. Just a beautiful fishing trip in November on Lake Erie!

Great Day Perchin'

Fished with Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. Again, the sun was out for the whole trip and it felt great on the water. We had our coats off by 9:30 am. There was no wind today so we had no waves, just a perfect day to be on Lake Erie. The water temp is 63 Degrees. It was a slow start this morning. The hi-lo driver showed up late and we had to buy some fuel before we went fishing. Finally, away we went. Headed back to the same spot we have been fishing the last week and there were 8 boats perch fishing in our area. We set up a little off our way point and only caught a few fish. After 20  minutes, we moved about 200 feet and started to catch some perch. Stayed put for the rest of the trip, sorting through the small fish and keeping nothing under 8 inches. Kept 100 perch. I decided to treat myself today and took the fish in to get cleaned. The 100 fish weighed 27 1/2 pounds. We both had a great day on the lake.

Little on the Bumpy Side

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 80's when we quit fishing. A little taste of summer during the fall. The wind was out of the south southwest 17 to 25 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. Every once in a while a 4 footer would come by and that would get your attention. The water temp is 60 degrees. Went back to our same spot and the boat ride out was not too bad. Set up and we started picking away at the perch. It was a steady bite but you had to pay attention with the rough water. At 11.00 am we called it quits for the day. Surprisingly the boat ride back to port was not too bad either. Kept 117 perch with the largest one measuring 12 inches and one bonus walleye. With the southerly wind maybe we should have fished in the swamp but we survived. All's well that ends well.

Bit Slower Today

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40's when we started fishing and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 50's. The sun was out the whole time we were fishing so it felt pretty warm. The wind was out of the southwest for most of the trip with rolling waves about a foot. The water temp is 62 degrees. Went back to the same location and the fish were there but the bite was just steady. We were picking away at the perch until about 10:45 AM and then the catching just shut down. Around 11:30 the bite picked up again but we were getting ready to call it a day. Daryl put his boat to rest for the winter while Joe and I cleaned most of the fish. Got done cleaning the fish and we went to Trappers for a great perch dinner. Kept 89 perch and the largest one was 11 inches.

Another Good Day

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60's. Even though it was warmer today it felt a lot colder. The winds were out of the south around 15 knots with two foot waves. When we were about done fishing the sun came out and the lake laid down to one foot waves and then it started to warm up. The water temp is 62 degrees. Started fishing where we left off yesterday and the catching was even better. We were on the fish pretty quick and we were catching bigger perch. Biggest perch today was 12 1/2 inches and we had a lot of fish over 10 inches. Kept 150 perch and this was one of our best perch fishing trips in a long time. Had all the fish cleaned with plenty of time for Daryl to make his dentist appointment.

Found Some Nice Perch

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. It actually felt pretty nice out because the sun was shining for the whole trip. The wind was mostly out of the east less than 12 knots with waves between 1 and 2 feet. The water temp is 62 degrees. When we left port we headed back to the swamp. The water was pretty dirty but we tried fishing anyways. We fished for about 15 minutes and then we pulled anchor and headed to a spot we fished about 4 weeks ago, about 1 mile east of the E-Buoy, We set up here and the catching was slow. The fish would come through in waves but at least we were on some perch in cleaner water. It did not take too long for the fish to turn on and once they did it was game on. Caught the nicest catch of the season as far as size. Kept 135 perch and we only caught one silver bass. The largest perch was 11 1/4 inches.

Back at it Again

Fished Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 70's when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the southeast for most of the trip less than 10 knots. The waves were between 1 and 2 feet when we started and after a hour they were less than a foot. The water temp is 65 degrees. Headed back to the same spot as yesterday and the catching was pretty slow. Made a couple of moves in this area with out much luck. Made a move towards the middle of the swamp and we found some perch. Spent the rest of the morning here picking away at the perch. Caught a few larger perch today but over all the size was about the same as yesterday. Kept 78 perch with the largest one about 11 inches. The water was a tad bit dirtier than yesterday after the east winds last night.

Fishing after the Big Rain Storm

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50's when we started fishing and when we were done fishing it was in the lower 60's. The wind was mostly out of the west less than 6 knots without any waves. The water temp is 66 degrees. Just last week the water temp was 75 degrees. The fog was very thick which made for a long and slow boat ride into the swamp. The water was pretty clean after all the rain we had for the last 4 days. Started to catch a few fish right out of the gate and then it slowed down. The perch would be there for a little while and then gone. Made a small move of about 200 feet to the south and we were back on some active fish again. Caught all perch today but the size was not very good. Biggest fish was just under 10 inches. Kept 93 perch.

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.

Trappers for Lunch

Fished with Joe and Dan C. 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 78 degrees. Our game plan to was to catch some perch and go to Trapper's for lunch. Started off fishing where we left off on Sunday. The catching was not very good so we made a small move here with out any luck. Moved over to the Raisin River buoys 1 and 2 and we were just picking away at the perch. I was beginning to think that we were going to have hamburgers for lunch.  Once we had enough perch for lunch we pulled the anchor and started heading for the E-Buoy to finish out the day but I stopped at an old way point on the way to try out. We finally found some perch so we spent the rest of the trip here picking away at them. Kept 48 perch and the size was almost like last Sunday's catch. Got those fished cleaned up and we headed to Trapper's for some Turtle soup and all you can eat perch dinner.

First Perch Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. Pretty hot for this time of year. The water is a little dirty from all the storms the last couple of weeks. The wind was light out of the southwest less than 10 knots, with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 76 Degrees. Started fishing just past the Michigan dumping grounds in 21 feet of water and we never moved. The catching was just steady and we were not catching very large fish, but I did not feel like chasing perch today. We kept 81 perch and had a lot of throw backs. Most of the perch were just over eight inches and we only had a few over 10 inches. You know the catching is tough when you have to measure most of the fish before they go into the cooler. After we were done cleaning the fish the alarms went off and there was a tornado warning for Monroe County. Luckily we missed all of that. I actually fished today and it felt good. When we pulled the anchor we caught another anchor that had been in the lake for a while. Daryl was not too happy bringing in two anchors at once but he survived.

Salmon Fishing 2016 - Manistee, Mi.

Fished with Joe and John in Manistee, Mi. We fished from 8-13 to 8-19. The reports we received just two weeks prior to us leaving were not very encouraging. Most of the boats out fishing were targeting Lake Trout and we do not fish for them. The week before we left a large pod of salmon arrived on the east coast of Lake Michigan and the boats started to go after salmon again. There was a large pod of fish off Big Sable Point. We had a temperature break the whole week we fished, anywhere between 50 and 70 feet down.

 Our first day of fishing was cancelled because of the waves. Sunday the lake was in great shape so we headed south and fished around the 9 and 10 line. We were 2 for 3 in the morning and 1 for 1 in the afternoon. We caught our largest fish of the week on the afternoon trip, a 22 lb King. Monday we stayed south and we picked up 2 fish in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Tuesday the lake was pretty flat so we made the ride down to Big Sable Point, about 14 miles one way. We had our best trip where we landed 6 fish. In the afternoon we fished a little south and only caught 1 fish. Wednesday morning was a blow session so I worked on the boat. In the evening we fished south again at the 10 line and went 2 for 5. Not good. Thursday morning the lake was calm again so we made the ride down to Big Sable Point and we picked up 5 fish. In the afternoon we fished at the 9 line and caught 1 fish. Friday morning we fished at the 9 line again and we caught 1 fish. We were watching a large storm coming across the lake and when it got to the Michigan border we pulled lines and headed for port. Friday evening was cancelled because of the waves. We saw some large salmon at the cleaning station with the largest one weighing 28 lb.

We lost the auto pilot for the boat before our first trip. Called Garmin on Monday morning and after about 10 phone calls they over nighted a new ECU. That arrived on Tuesday around lunch time. Installed the new ECU for the afternoon trip and we tried to use it but the unit would not work. Called Garmin again on Wednesday morning and they said to try and hot wire the pump and see what happens. Nothing happened so I called them back and they said the pump was bad also, so we spent the week with no auto pilot. Also had a malfunction with the raw water wash down that was leaking at the pump. Tried to fix that but was not able to. And now the bilge pump. I installed a new pump before we left for salmon fishing and tried it at home and everything worked. We get up north and the pump would stick in the "on" position. Spent 2 days fighting with that and finally had to remove the bracket from the bilge and just let the pump lay in the bilge for the rest of the trip. As for me, I did not catch any fish, still recovering from surgery. Could not have made this trip without the help of the guys and I would like to thank them.

The Tally for the Week

We hooked 30 fish and landed 24 of them which gave us a catch rate of  80 %, which is pretty good. We lost one fish at the net, one broke the teaser on the meat rig, one broke the line and the rest just got off. We trolled for 29.75 hours and landed 24 fish which gave us a catch rate of .80 fish per hour. We would like to average one fish per hour. Of the 13 sessions we could have gone fishing we made it out 10 times. A couple of those times the waves were 2 to 4 feet and we could have gone out but we decided against it. The 24 fish weighed 307 lb. for an average weight of 12.8 lb. per fish. The largest fish was 22 lb. and the smallest was 4.5 lb. We had 3 fish over 20 lb. 

Below is a List of Lures That Had Hits

• Moonshine Bloody Nose fly......................................5
• Silver Horde-Green...................................................5
• John King-John Jay meat rig....................................5
• Silver Streak-Blue Dolphin........................................4
• John King-Ghostbuster spoon...................................3
• Silver Horde-Gray Ghost............................................3
• John King-Black Mamba with Moo Moo head.............3
• Green meat rig............................................................1
• Blue meat rig..............................................................1

That's it for 2016 Salmon Fishing!

Tough Day Walleye Fishing

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70's when we started fishing and it was in the lower 80's when we quit fishing. The wind was out of the west switching to the southwest less than 8 knots with just a light chop on the water. The water temp is 79 degrees. Started fishing by the Water Intake (41 43 350 / 083 14 250) and trolling east with wiggle warts set at 70 and 90 feet behind the boards. We were catching a lot of short walleye and then we finally caught a keeper off the 80 foot set up. Switched the longer leads to 75 feet but we were still catching a lot of junk fish. Daryl put out a couple of large dipsy's with bomber As set at 25 feet back and they started to catch some walleye. We were just picking away at the walleye until the sun started getting above us and then the catching just shut down. The last two hours of the trip we did not box any walleye. Caught a lot of walleye between 13 1/2 and 14 inches. Have not seen this size walleye for a couple of months. Kept 6 walleye and two of those were just 15 inches. It might be time to start perch fishing unless the walleye decide to move back to Michigan waters.

Still Fishing in Close

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. 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 west any where between 15 to 24 knots. When we were fishing in tight the waves were less than six inches and the one time we got out to 15 feet of water the waves were just over a foot. The water temp is 77 degrees. Started fishing right in front of the marina trolling with wiggle warts set at 40 feet behind the boards heading towards the swamp. We did not catch our first walleye until we were in the swamp. Stayed around the 11 foot range and we picked up one ticket of fish. Made a move out to 14 feet of water and we would pick up an occasional walleye. Set one side of the boat to 50 feet back and that helped a little bit. Made one more move to 55 feet behind the boards and that was the ticket. Kept 14 walleye and only had about 10 short walleye that we put back. Caught about a half dozen sheep head, half dozen silver bass and one little muskie.