March 31, 2005 (Thursday) I got a report yesterday that the dock were being put in at Catawba State Park

December 18, 2005 (Sunday)

I just received a holiday greeting and update from our friend Dean. Here is what he had to say:

"I would like to wish a Merry Christmas, good health and a happy new year to you good folks. Sue and I are at Alamo, Texas watching the oranges and grapefruit ripen. While life is good down here away from the cold, ice and snow back home I am sure come spring we will miss all our friends at the big lake especially when April rolls around and the big hogs start splashing on the reefs, keep warm and may God bless you each and every one.

dean"

The Vermilion buoy has been pulled for the year. The most recent (7 pm, Sun. 12/18) report from the South Bass weather station has wind gusts up to 21 knots out of the W-SW and the wind chill is 4.6 F.

Travis

December 11, 2005 (Sunday)

The weather over the last 10 days has basically ended the open water fishing season. I'm not saying that there won't be any more fish caught, but most of us are already thinking about the March and April fishing around the islands and reefs. With the early cool down there is the possibility of a good ice season. Nearshore ice is forming in certain areas and with continued cold weather it only looks to improve. I don't foresee safe ice very soon, but once it gets set up it could be good for months. I will not be posting ice fishing reports often, but if I hear of fish being caught I will pass it along.

I hope you all have a happy holiday season. I want to add to the helpful hints page when I get the chance. Watch for updates later this winter.

The Vermilion buoy has been pulled for the year. The most recent (4 pm, Sun. 12/11) report from the South Bass weather station has wind gusts up to 22 knots out of the W-NW and the wind chill is 16.7 F.

Travis

December 1, 2005 (Thursday)

Today was an extremely calm day. The wind died around 9:00 last night and is still fairly calm with what wind there was being out of the SW and W. Unfortunately there are gales in the forecast for tomorrow. It really has been a tough fall weather wise. For any of you that didn't have to work today I hope you made it out.

I just heard from Dean today. He has recently updated his page with information from some of his travels. You can check out his vacation reports at the prior Denied site:

http://www.cliftond.com/

He has also posted some pictures from Texas at:

http://www.cliftond.com/texas%2005.html

He mentioned that the 80 degree weather was a little warm for his liking. I'm guessing that he won't get a lot of sympathy. :)

I did get a fishing report today. Since there have been so few recently (and rightly so, there hasn't been much fishing going on...) I am going to post the report in full. It sounds like the perch fishing in Michigan and western Ohio waters was slow last weekend:

"Fished the extreme western erie sat and sun for a total of 46 perch @ 11 lbs. Saturday started out of Sterling at the River Rasin several buoys, couple moves around Sputnik, out in front of Stoney Point for a total of 13 fish. Sunday out of Bolles to the E-buoy, to McDonald (green and white channel marker), to out in front of the River Raisin again, back to E-buoy again; 33 fish 8lbs. Heard of a three man limit at McDonald where the bite subsided by 8:00 am. ( just what I heard)". Thanks Mike.

The most recent (8 pm, Thurs. 12/1) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 14 knots out of the W, wave height of less than 1 foot, water temperature of 39.9 F and the wind chill is 23.2 F.

Be carefull if you head out. It doesn't take long for water to freeze on anything from your equipment to the boat deck. Take all of the necessary precautions for the conditions.

Travis

November 27, 2005 (Sunday)

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I did not make it out over the weekend and I don't have any new reports to pass along.

Now that fewer people are fishing I will only be adding posts on days that I have new information. I expect that through early December I'll have a few reports, but the season is definitely winding down. This is the time of year that you can catch real trophies, but the conditions make it harder and harder to safely get to them as we get into December. I want to thank everyone for all of the reports and words of support in my first fall filling in for Dean. I've thoroughly enjoyed updating this page. Over the winter months I hope to make some improvements to the organization of the web site. There is a lot of great information beyond the reports and I hope to make it more easily accessible by next spring.

Check back for any reports that I do get, and I'll also post any time that I make changes or additions to the rest of the Denied site.

The most recent (7 pm, Sun. 11/27) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 12 knots out of the E, wave height of 1.0 foot, water temperature of 40.6 F and the wind chill is 42.1 F.

Travis

November 22, 2005 (Tuesday)

I received an update on recent shore fishing. It sounds like it has been slow from Catawba to Huron. A few fish here or there on certain nights, but nothing has been reliable. As the water temperature drops we are heading into the prime trophy season, but conditions have to allow it to happen. From here on out any bite could be well over 10 pounds, but the key is being in the right place on the right night (or day, for that matter). I personally don't care if it's cold out, we just need a break from this relentless wind. November hasn't given us much to work with, but maybe we'll catch a break for a few days in December.

With Thanksgiving coming up I'll probably take the rest of the week off from posting. If anything really good comes in I'll put it up, but otherwise I'll summarize whatever I have at some point over the weekend. Good luck if you get out. Remember to take extra precautions as the water gets colder.

The most recent (6 pm, Tues. 11/22) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 25 knots out of the N, wave height of 4.6 feet, water temperature of 45.5 F and the wind chill is 17.6 F.

Travis

November 21, 2005 (Monday)

A few walleye reports are filtering in from the weekend. A casting report from earlier in the weekend came from the north shore of Middle Bass Island. Fish up to 8.25 pounds were caught on black/silver Yozuri's and blue/orange Bomber A's. From Sunday it sounds like fishing was decent in front of Cranberry Creek. Walleye up to 27.25" and smallmouth over 18" were caught in 19-21' of water on Reef Runners, Deep Husky's and Deep Rogues. For smallmouth red head wonderbread was best. The lures were run from 45 to 110' feet back at 1.6 to 1.9 mph. A report from Ruggles Reef noted poor perch and walleye fishing, but the water is still very clear in that area.

The most recent (6 pm, Mon. 11/21) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 15 knots out of the W, wave height of 1.6 feet, water temperature of 46.0 F and the wind chill is 34.2 F.

Travis

November 20, 2005 (Sunday)

Yesterday my brother-in-law was in town with his bass boat, so I took the opportunity to target smallmouth on Ruggles. As usual I seem to be better at catching smallmouth when I troll for walleye than when I actually fish for them. I did catch two on tubes and one of them was just under 4 pounds. The bigger fish came from 20' of water straight north of the castle on a brown and purple tube fished on a 1/2 ounce tube jig head. The other fish came out in 28' of water north of the castle on a green tube fished on a carolina rig. I was surprised how clear the water was considering how windy it has been. With the wind switching to SW it is extremely clear on Ruggles and east towards Vermilion. We only fished out to 30', but it didn't look like the water was too bad farther out. There were a handful of walleye boats out trolling in the area. If I get any reports I'll let you know. If you get a chance check out the satellite picture from yesterday (and today should also produce a good one). It is extremely muddy all over Erie and St. Clair. It looks like Huron to Vermilion and Kelleys Island would be the only reasonable areas to fish.

I heard from Dean yesterday. They are getting ready to take a trip and he said that he would send pictures. He also suggested that I put the sonar picture from Thursday's post into the Helpful Hints page. I will do that in the near future and I also hope to add to the Hints page over the winter.

The most recent (12 pm, Sun. 11/20) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 15 knots out of the SW, wave height of 2.6 feet, water temperature of 46.2 F and the wind chill is 39.4 F.

Travis

November 17, 2005 (Thursday)

As you might imagine there isn't much to report after two days of gales. The water was very low with the strong SW and W winds. It's finally letting up a little and the water is coming back up slowly. The forecast isn't great, but it is improving.

I thought that I would use today to show you a recorded sonar screen from this past saturday. Although I have seen much better looking screens in past falls, this was decent. There are yellow, red and blue schools of baitfish up high. Those are most likely gizzard shad but also could be emerald shiners. This time of year in the Huron area I would bet on shad. There are some pretty good scattered hooks in the middle of the water column and towards the bottom. I would consider the fish in the bottom 5 to 10 feet to be mostly inactive, with the marks in the middle and towards the top under the bait being the ones that might actively feed and be easier to catch. Normally I wouldn't bother putting too many lures down that low for the marks on the bottom, but they warrant at least one lure to see if they'll hit. I was running one lure down deep, a few in the middle and one up high. I ended up catching one 26" walleye on a reef runner in the middle of the water column but that was it in this area (the 26.5/24.7 lines). You'll notice a lot of clutter on the screen up high. I do not use "noise reduction" or "surface clutter" settings because I like to see the raw returns and interpret it myself. To combat the clutter I turn up the colorline so that stronger returns show up in brighter yellows and reds. If you turn down the surface clutter it will sometimes eliminate high marks and they are the most important to see since they are active fish. If you can get past the annoyance of looking at clutter you will be surprised how many hooks will appear within the high clutter. With sensitivity turned down or with surface clutter reduction you would have never seen those marks. Anyway, here's the picture:

The most recent (9 pm, Thurs. 11/17) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 21 knots out of the W-NW, wave height of 3.0 feet, water temperature of 48.2 F and the wind chill is 19.2 F. Notice the water temp has dropped 3 degrees since Tuesday. If we can get the weather to stabilize and the water temp gets into the mid to lower 40's we will be in good shape. The real trophies might start cruising nearshore in the near future.

Travis

November 15, 2005 (Tuesday)

Severe thunderstorms are aproaching and we are under a tornado watch. After the storms get through gale winds are in the forecast into Thursday and temperatures are supposed to fall into the 30's for highs Thursday and Friday. The weather has been bad, and now it's getting much worse. After all of this gets through and the lake calms down we'll have to get back out and see what the damage is. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but we are still due a calm week to get a chance at trophy walleye before winter really shows up.

I recieved a perch report from 32' of water north of the Vermilion breakwall. Limits of 8 to 10" and better perch were caught in 2 hours.

The most recent (9 pm, Tues. 11/15) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 18 knots out of the S, wave height of 2.6 feet, water temperature of 51.1 F and the air temperature is 59.9 F. If you get a chance check out the readings from this evening (Tuesday). As warm as the air temp is for this time of year and as quickly as the barometer is falling we definitely have the potential for some bad weather tonight.....

Travis

November 14, 2005 (Monday)

I don't have much new to report today, but I wanted to make sure that everyone realized how the smallmouth bass were turning on, at least before Sunday's blow. From reports on the radio and also e-mailed reports it's pretty clear that the smallmouth were starting to really binge feed based on how many were caught by walleye anglers. The average size was also impressive with numbers of fish over 5 pounds. I wish that I could be telling you how the walleye were turning on, but until they decide to come in close at least the smallmouth were worth the trip. If you have any interested in catching some big smallmouth they should still be active as long as the water stays in the upper 40's and lower 50's. Look for the clearest water in 10' to as deep as 30' of water and troll reef runners from 30 to 80 feet back. I'm sure that you could catch them fishing tubes or other smallie baits, but they really seem to be all over the crankbaits. Color didn't seem to matter, as whites, silvers and purples all worked. The 3 to 4 pound fish were fun as they jumped, but you could tell when you had a 5-pound class fish on because they bulldog and dive instead of jumping (at least that's how it was Saturday). The best areas were in front of Cranberry Creek, on Ruggles Reef, and also in front of Sherod Park west of Vermilion.

I also received a new perch report that said fishing was slow Friday. A limit was caught around Kelleys Island shoal, but it took most of the day and others weren't as lucky.

The most recent (6 pm, Mon. 11/14) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 21 knots out of the E, wave height of 2.0 feet, water temperature of 51.1 F and the wind chill is 41.4 F.

Travis

November 13, 2005 (Sunday)

I made it back out yesterday (Saturday) and the results were more encouraging than Friday, but the day started a lot better than it ended. I made it out around 1:30 and in the first 30 minutes landed two big smallmouth bass and a 22" walleye. The bass came in 19' of water in front of Cranberry and the walleye came in 22' of water on the west side of Ruggles Reef. The walleye hit a wonderbread reef runner 45' back and the smallmouth both hit a purple prism reef runner 35' back. We trolled on east to check out the Sherod Park area (between Ruggles and Vermilion) for night fishing. Once we got near Sherod the water got very clear. It seems like that area always is the first to clear with a south wind. It was gin clear. We still had a few hours before dark so I turned north and fished deeper water during the daylight. From 20' out to 28' feet we caught 3 more smallmouth bass. All were on reef runners 60 to 80' back. Colors were purple prism and silver eriedescent. From 30' out to 40' there were some really nice marks. It finally looked like fall. There were large hooks in the bottom half of the water column and bait in the middle and up high. I saw a balled-up school of bait in the middle of the water column with a hook "diving" into it. Like clockwork a board jerked back just as the bait went off of the screen. It ended up being a 26" walleye that hit a purple prism reef runner 80' back. The unfortunate part is that it was the only hit from the area. We kept trolling through the marks until dark without any more hits. After dark we fished Sherod Park and Old Womans Creek in 12' of water and less. We pulled ripsticks, husky jerks and rogues and quit at 10:00 after having only 1 hit and not landing anything after dark. On the radio it sounded like Sherod and Ruggles both produced some fish, but it was a slow night.

Yesterday was the first time this fall that I really saw the marks from Huron to Vermilion that started to look like the typical fall big fish marks. I think that the fish are finally showing up in the places that they are usually caught this time of year. The problem right now is the relentless wind. Just as fishing started picking up a little gale force winds are back again tonight. The forecast for the next five days is very frustrating. I think the fish were a little later getting here this year since they migrated so far east and then it stayed warm for so long, but now if we can catch any kind of a break with the weather it might really break loose.

I received great perch reports from Geneva a week ago and from 45' of water north of Lorain. Big perch and lots of them. It sounds like perching was slow off of the Marblehead loading docks recently. I also got a report of an 11 pound walleye from this past Tuesday northeast of 32/20. It came on a scorpion spoon.

The most recent (5 pm, Sun. 11/13) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 23 knots out of the W-SW, wave height of 3.6 feet, water temperature of 51.8 F and the air temperature is 58.1 F.

Travis

November 11, 2005 (Friday)

I was able to fish today and took a big fat zero. I could come up with a lot of excuses, but the bottom line is that it was a very slow day in the Huron area. Others caught a few, but most of the talk on the radio was of one fish here or two fish there. I fished from about 8:45 to 4:00 and didn't have a single hit. The boards didn't even move once. I've had slow days before, but this one might take the cake. I marked some decent fish in a few places, and also some thick bait in other areas, but I never did find a good combination of high bait with marks under them. I fished quite a few spots from north of Sherod Park (west side of Vermilion) all the way to Sawmill Creek (west of the Huron River). The best big fish marks that I saw were between Ruggles Reef and Sherod Park in roughly 36 to 40' of water. There weren't fish "stacked up", but there were some big marks scattered throughout the area. Unfortunately they were all in the bottom half of the water column and obviously weren't very active. The most bait that I marked was in 19 to 21 feet of water both at Old Woman Creek and at Sawmill Creek. The problem with the bait was that I really didn't see many hooks around them. In the fall when fishing is at its best you will usually see a thick line of bait towards the surface or bait "balls" scattered near the surface on your depth finder. When you have walleye hooks below the bait or even diving into it you're going to catch fish. The surface temperature was around 52 degrees east of the Huron River and between 50 and 52 west of the Huron River. I think that it just ended up being a bad day today since we were coming off of a blow the last few days and on top of that it was a crystal clear blue sky day. The water was stained, but really wasn't that bad considering the last few days. I think the fish will turn on tonight or saturday/saturday night before we get another weather system with strong wind coming through Sunday. I'll be back out tomorrow if the forecast is right.

The most recent (7 pm, Fri. 11/11) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 15 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 1.6 feet, water temperature of 51.6 F and the wind chill is 46.8 F.

Travis

November 10, 2005 (Thursday)

No new fishing reports came in today. The wind has been bad, but is finally shifting around towards west and calming down. Friday through Sunday looks like it could be fishable. I think that the key will be to find the most fish in the clearest water. You might not be able to fish the prime areas nearshore because they will most likely be muddy. If tomorrow is clear the satellite should give us a good idea of where the best weekend spots will be.

The most recent (8 pm, Thurs. 11/10) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 19 knots out of the W-NW, wave height of 2.0 feet, water temperature of 52.3 F and the wind chill is 42.6 F.

Travis

November 9, 2005 (Wednesday)

Today the reports coming in are all from perch trips. From the weekend limits of 7 to 11" perch were caught near the red can east of North Bass. Yesterday limits of 8 to 10" perch were caught in 30' of water 400 yards out from the bell buoys (I assume the Sandusky Bay-Cedar Point bell buoys). Limits were also reported yesterday from the Marblehead lighthouse.

The winds are building to gale force tonight, but at least it looks like this will be a short lived gale (unlike the blows the last few weeks). By Friday the winds are supposed to be SW through Monday. Three straight days of stable S winds usually fires things up.

The most recent (7 pm, Wed. 11/9) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 31 knots out of the W-NW, wave height of 5.2 feet, water temperature of 53.8 F and the wind chill is 46.8 F.

Travis

November 8, 2005 (Tuesday)

This afternoon I took advantage of the relatively calm weather and fished from 2:30 to 7:00 or so with a friend from the WBSA. We trolled Kelleys Island shoal and ended up catching 8 walleye from 18 to around 23". Fish came on ripsticks from 20 to 50' back and also on deep little rippers. Color didn't seem to matter with wonderbread, rebel queen and blueberry muffin catching fish. Most of the fish were caught in less than 12' of water on the east half of the shoal. We also caught a fat smallmouth on a purple demon reef runner. On the way back in we stopped at the SW corner of Kelleys Island. We had incredible marks there with lots of big hooks up and down the water column, but we didn't get a single hit. The surface temp was around 50 and there was a northeast breeze that picked up as it got later. It was calm early with 2 and 3's that were building by the time we quit. There were a few other boats in the area but only one other boat on the shoal.

Walleye reports from over the weekend included good fishing west of Gull Island shoal in 33-35' of water and also good shore fishing off of Middle Bass Island. The Gull Island shoal fish were caught by trolling harnesses or husky jerks 18 to 28' down for 22 to 25" fish. The fish caught casting off of the north shore of Middle Bass were up to 8.5 pounds and were primarily caught on thundersticks.

I got a good perch report today from Avon. A 3-man limit was caught with all fish kept over 8" including 3 fish Ohio's and lots of jumbos.

The most recent (3 pm, Tues. 11/8) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 14 knots out of the E-NE, wave height less than 1 foot, water temperature of 54.0 F and the air temperature is 53.8 F.

Travis

November 7, 2005 (Monday)

Although it was blurred by thin clouds today's satellite photo showed that the western basin is very muddy from Sunday's winds. Fortunately from Kelleys Island east to Vermilion it doesn't look bad at all. The forecast isn't great for most of this week, but hopefully it won't get rough enough to make the Huron area muddy.

Only two reports came in today. One was from pier walleye fishing over the weekend. Saturday the Mazuric pier was slow, and even though the Catawba State Park pier was full it was also slow. The other report was a good perch report. 4 man limits of perch were caught last week off the beach at Cedar Point out from the space needle. Earlier in the week 17' of water was the best depth with 25' of water being better over the weekend. The perch were 8 to 10" and limits were filled in 2 to 3 hours.

The most recent (7 pm, Mon. 11/7) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 21 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 2.3 feet, water temperature of 54.5 F and the air temperature is 55.2 F.

Travis

November 6, 2005 (Sunday)

Today the wind is really howling. One of the readings from South Bass this morning was 46 knots. I doubt that anyone is out there today.

I made it out yesterday afternoon and into the night. I fished west of the Huron River and caught two walleye trolling before dark. The first one was in 26' of water north of Sawmill Creek. It was around 22" and hit a purple and red rapala tail dancer 60' back. Just before dark we caught another 22" fish on the hump that is about half way from the Huron pier to Sawmill. It hit a gold clown reef runner that was 35' behind the board. After dark we stayed west of the river but couldn't buy a hit. To finish the night up we went to the Old Woman's Creek area. We trolled in less than 10' of water and caught two more walleye. The biggest was 24" and came on a blue/silver shallow little ripper 25' behind the board. The other was another 22" fish that hit a size 14 black/silver husky jerk that was 40' back. All in all it was a slow evening, but it was nice to have every hit be a decent walleye. The spring and fall are great. You can count on every hit on a crankbait being a good one. Three of the 4 fish that we caught were during the WBSA saturday night shootout tournament. The three weighed just under 15 pounds. A 5 fish limit that weighed 27 pounds from Kelleys Island shoal won the tournament. The water surface temperature nearshore around Huron was around 53 degrees.

I received a walleye report from the Castle between Huron and Vermilion. A limit was caught Friday in 30 to 32' of water with the biggest fish over 28". They were caught on reef runners 100' back, bottom bouncers with copper willow leaf harnesses and casting weight forwards.

Perch reports from the weekend were opposite of how things had been. Kelleys Island, Marblehead and west of Catawba all seemed to be very slow. The lone good report came from Vermilion in 35' of water east of the river in front of the new condos.

The most recent (4 pm, Sun. 11/6) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 37 knots out of the W, wave height of 6.2 feet, water temperature of 55.0 F and the wind chill is 44.8 F.

Travis

November 4, 2005 (Friday)

I'm finally starting to get some information on the night pier fishing. I don't have many details about size of fish or lures used, but it sounds like fish are showing up at the Huron pier and Lorain breakwall after dark. It also sounds like fishing has not been good on the piers at Catawba, Lakeside and Mazuric.

The lone perch report that I got today was a good one. Near limits of perch, all over 10", were caught in the north bay of Kelleys Island in 28 to 30' of water near the state park ramp.

This weekend could be a good one, depending on the storms. It looks like we will get some rain for sure, but they are now saying that there is a good chance of thunderstorms. The wind looks decent for Saturday with it most likely picking up Sunday. If we don't get the thunderstorms saturday it should be great. I will be out Saturday afternoon and into the night as long as I don't get chased off by lightning.

The most recent (6 pm, Fri. 11/4) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 14 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 1.3 feet, water temperature of 55.0 F and the air temperature is 58.8 F.

Travis

November 3, 2005 (Thursday)

Today I received a few perch reports. Over the weekend fishing was slow east of Lorain, but a move to the 35/17 lines in 46' of water produced a few better fish. The size was decent, but less than limits. Other reports came from the last few days. Fishing has been slower than earlier, but fish are still being caught. The red boundary can NE of North Bass was good yesterday, along with just north of West Sister Island and SE of Kelleys Island in 24' of water. The Kelleys spot was found after fishing was slow E of Kelleys Island shoal and E of the Kelleys airport.

The most recent (7 pm, Thurs. 11/3) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 12 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 1 foot, water temperature of 54.7 F and the air temperature is 59.5 F.

Travis

November 2, 2005 (Wednesday)

I am still getting some information from this past weekend. It sounds like West Reef (west of North Bass Island) was another good perch spot with limits of fish over 8" including fish up to 14 inches. Along with good perch fishing a few walleye were caught drifting across West Reef with one being over 26 inches. I also received more information that Kelleys Island shoal has been producing some night walleye.

A perch report from today said that the SE corner of Kelleys Island was slow, but a move to Carpenter's point (SW corner of Kelleys Island) produced fish. Perch were caught in 23' of water at N 41 35.92 / W 82 44.26.

The most recent (9 pm, Wed. 11/2) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 19 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 0.7 feet, water temperature of 55.0 F and the air temperature is 55.0 F. Saturday looks like it might be decent other than a little rain based on the most recent forecast. The next few days might be rough, but the good news is that the wind is predicted to be SW and W. At least it shouldn't be north or northeast like the last few weeks.

Travis

November 1, 2005 (Tuesday)

I received a few decent walleye reports from the weekend. We still aren't in "normal" fall mode with lots of big fish being caught, but for the first time in a long time the reports are consistently including larger fish. It looks like the migrators are making their way back towards Huron. One report was from 40' of water north of the Huron River. Fish have been caught by drifting crawler harnesses on bottom bouncers or with egg sinkers. The biggest fish was around 26" and the best blade colors on the harnesses were gold, copper and firetiger. Farther east some fish were caught at the 27/27 lines by trolling crankbaits or dipsys and spoons. The biggest fish at 27/27 was around 25".

I got further confirmation that the SE corner of Kelleys Island has been a good perch spot. More limit reports from over the weekend with 8 to 12" perch.

The most recent (10 pm, Tues. 11/1) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 17 knots out of the W, wave height of 1.3 feet, water temperature of 55.0 F and the wind chill is 46.6 F.

Travis

October 31, 2005 (Monday)

Reports continue to come in from the weekend and today. The perch reports are mostly great, and the walleye reports have been mostly slow going.

For walleye the best results have been around the 32/20-21 lines (west of the south end of the sandbar, between Lorain and Vermilion, about 7 miles or so offshore). Small fish were caught on stinger spoons (gold perch, silver raspberry dolphin), with a few larger fish coming on crankbaits (thundersticks and little rippers) trolled on wire line. I have also heard of fish coming off of the shoals (Kelleys and Gull), but nothing consistent. A michigan angler tried trolling 14' to 20' of water from Sterling Park to Stony Point without any success.

The best perch reports have come from the 29.3/9.4 lines (east of Lorain, included perch up to 14.5"!), 3 miles out of the portage river (120 perch mostly over 10"), just E of the Kelleys Island shoal green can, and SE of Kelleys. The perch fishing is very good right now.

The most recent (10 pm, Mon. 10/31) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 8 knots out of the S, wave height less than 1 foot, water temperature of 55.9 F and the air temperature is 57.4 F.

Travis

October 30, 2005 (Sunday)

Reports from the last 3 days are coming in and most of them are from perch trips. The only information that I have on walleye is that 2 small fish were caught at the 33/21 lines. The WBSA had their first Saturday night tournament yesterday and 5 fish that weighed 24 pounds won it. I don't have many details. If I hear more I will report.

From all of the perch reports it seemed like the boats that found clean water caught fish. Most reports have included fish up to 12 and 13". The average size has probably been the best since April these last few weeks. Some of the better spots included: Lucy's Point of Middle Bass Island, NE of West Sister Island, 27' of water E of the Kelleys Island airport, SE of Kelleys Island, and 2 miles W of Sputnik (the turnaround buoy of the Toledo Shipping channel). I also received a perch report that said fishing was very bad E of the Vermilion River off of the new condos in 22 to 40' of water and N of the Vermilion River in 34 and 39' of water. The report was from Friday. I didn't hear anything about perch from the Vermilion area over the weekend.

The most recent (7 pm, Sun. 10/30) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 13 knots out of the S-SW, wave height of 1.3 feet, water temperature of 56.5 F and the air temperature is 57.4 F.

Travis

October 27, 2005 (Thursday)

I was looking over this month's reports and I feel like I need to apologize for not fishing very often. I would much rather add in more of my first-hand reports, but this hasn't been a good month for me to get out. Between weather, work and other commitments I haven't been able to get out. With any luck we will have an extended fall this year. You can usually count on being able to fish through November. December is a little tougher to predict. With a hard, early winter you can have ice before Christmas. If winter shows up late it can be possible to sneak in a few trips into January. Anyway, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to give more first hand reports, but I plan to make up for it starting the first weekend of November.

This weekend doesn't look bad, but the specifics of the forecast keep changing. Earlier they had southwest winds from Saturday on, but the most recent forecast says NW saturday becoming west, and then eventually southwest for later sunday and through monday. The 10 to 20 knot west forecast for sunday isn't great, but it won't be bad if it swings southwest early in the day.

The most recent (8 pm, Thurs. 10/27) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 11 knots out of the W-NW, wave height of less than 1 foot, water temperature of 57.4 F and the wind chill is 43.2 F.

It looks like I will be able to post the next report later Sunday evening. If you get out in the next few days be sure to send a report.

Travis

October 25, 2005 (Tuesday)

Nothing new to report today. It has been blowing hard for around 30 hours now. The bad news is that the best forecast through Sunday is Thursday's forecast for NW 5 to 15 knot winds with 1 to 3 feet waves. All the other days through Sunday have wind with a north component and waves 2 to 4' or higher. Let's hope the forecast improves as the weekend approaches. We are going to need some calm weather to settle everything down.

The most recent (8 pm, Tues. 10/25) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 35 knots out of the N, wave height of 7.2 feet, water temperature of 58.8 F and the wind chill is 39.9 F. Not much different than Monday, but somehow the water temperature warmed up about 1 degree.

I will not post again until I get some more fishing information. It might be hard to come by in the near future. I'm already looking forward to the week or so of relatively calm weather that usually shows up early in November.

Travis

October 24, 2005 (Monday)

It's Monday evening and the wind is howling. Our friend Gale is in town and it looks like the next 24 hours or aren't going to be pretty. The waves went from "little" 3's and 4's at the buoy this morning to miserable 7's and 8's this afternoon. If the buoy was reading over 8 there were most likely 10's or better out there.

I received two good reports from Sunday, one walleye and one perch. The walleye report came from about 10 miles offshore between Huron and Vermilion. 39 fish from 16 to 29" were caught on spoons. Most were 16 to 20" but some nice ones were mixed in. The perch report came from Niagara Reef. A 3 man limit was caught in 4 hours with a third of the fish being from 11 to 12".

The most recent (7 pm, Mon. 10/24) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 36.9 knots out of the N-NE, wave height of 7.5 feet, water temperature of 57.9 F and the wind chill is 39.4 F. Ughhh. Notice that the water temp dropped an entire degree since just 24 hours ago. The only good news out of all of this is that as far behind as we were a few months ago with high temperatures, we are quickly headed right back to "normal" fall conditions. Granted it's going to take a while for everything to recover and settle down from this blow, but once it does we will be in good shape. For those of you wondering that 36.9 knot windspeed translates to 42.5 miles per hour.

Travis

October 23, 2005 (Sunday)

Mother nature threw in an unexpected calm day today. I would guess that I will receive some reports over the next few days.

The only new information since the last report is that some walleye were caught around South Bass Island at night towards the end of last week. The biggest fish were in the mid-20 inch range and they were primarily caught casting the shoreline with thundersticks and rogues.

The most recent (8 pm, Sun. 10/23) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 11.7 knots out of the east, wave height of 0.7 feet, water temperature of 58.8 F and the wind chill is 46.9 F.

Travis

October 22, 2005 (Saturday)

Last night I went to the Walleye Central get-together in Vermilion. Although attendance was pretty good I think that it would have been even better with a good weather weekend. Unfortunately they had to cancel their bragging rights tournament that was scheduled for today with the rough conditions. A lot of great prizes were raffled off at the get-together last night.

A few more reports have filtered in from Wednesday and Thursday. Walleye fishing was slow at the 32/20-24 lines. The best set-up was a dipsy on a 3.5 setting 140' back with a gold chicken wing stinger spoon. Of the 5 keepers caught the biggest was 23". I did get another good night fishing report from the Kelleys Island area as limits were caught again. It's too bad that we're having all of this N and NE wind because it sounds like there are some good fish out there.

The lone perch report that came in was from 0.5 miles S of the West Reef buoy (N of Rattlesnake Island, W of North Bass). The catching was good, but most fish were in the 7 to 8 inch range with a few bigger. The report mentioned that chunks of white perch meat seemed to work just as well as shiners for bait.

The most recent (5 pm, Sat. 10/22) report from the Vermilion weather buoy has wind gusts up to 15.5 knots out of the North, wave height of 3.6 feet, water temperature of 59.4 F and the wind chill is 46.4 F.

Travis

October 20, 2005 (Thursday)

The water surface temperature at the Vermilion buoy is 60 degrees, and according to NOAA it's slightly cooler towards Toledo and warmer towards Cleveland. The wind forecast looks pretty bad through Sunday with strong winds out of the NE, and rain is predicted every day through next Wednesday. The forecast is not good to say the least.

I received a walleye report today from the 32/26 lines. It was a relatively slow day, but they still managed to catch 18 walleye from 18 to 20". Dipsys were run back 50, 60 and 75' (no mention of setting). The best spoon colors were again Pooh Bear purple and Kevorkian. Apparently the fish were hitting at about 32' down (lure depth). They mentioned that floating weeds were a problem.

I should mention to everyone what I mean when I say "32/26 lines". I know a lot of you use this abbreviation, but some of you might not be familiar with it. The notation simply refers to GPS coordinates. If you have your GPS set to Degrees, minutes, seconds (in the "units" setting) the numbers that I am referring to are the minutes. In the 32/26 example 32 would be the N minutes and 26 would be the W minutes (the respective "middle" numbers). It makes it easier to simply refer to the middle numbers than to spout off the entire coordinate. Remember, as you head north the north minutes will increase, and similarly the west minutes increase as you head west. If you are fishing the 30 N line and someone is catching at the 33 N line, you need to head farther north, assuming that you are on the same west line.

I also received a perch report from Tuesday. Some decent perch were caught 5 miles due west of the West Sister Island lighthouse and also SE of the Toledo water intake about 1 mile offshore. The water was muddier over towards the shipping channel and actually cleared up a little closer to shore.

It looks like I will be able to make the Walleye Central get-together Friday evening in Vermilion. This will be the first time that I've attended a Walleye Central get-together. I'm looking forward to putting faces to some of the names from the message board.

Travis

October 19, 2005 (Wednesday)

The walleye reports continue get better despite the rough weather. Today the Vermilion buoy registered wave heights up to 3.6 feet. That usually means that there are at least solid 5 feet waves in the open water. Even though it was rough I got a good report from the 30/24 lines (about 5.5 miles slightly NW of Vermilion). A two man limit was caught on Dipsy divers set on #2 75' back and #3 90 to 95' back. All fish were caught on Stinger spoons in Perch, Pooh Bear purple and Kevorkian. The keepers ranged from as small as 18" to as large as 28" with a few throw backs. The report also mentioned that they started at the 27/27 lines but didn't have many marks there.

For all of you fall night owls (I happen to be one) I have heard that some nice fish are starting to show up in some of the traditional night spots around Huron and Kelleys Island. Quality fish have been caught on husky jerks trolled behind planer boards. Let's hope for some calm weather and clear water to have a great fall of night fishing.

Travis

October 18, 2005 (Tuesday)

I don't have any new reports to put up today, but I did want to pass along a Walleye Central link. I know many of you probably already follow the Walleye Central fishing reports, but if you missed this one you should check it out:

http://www.walleyecentral.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=3&topic_id=305969&mesg_id=308208&page=

Den from the Sportsman's Outpost in Vermilion has been getting reports of some bigger walleye off of Vermilion. The linked post above has specific numbers for some of the best areas. This weekend is the Walleye Central get together in Vermilion. There is information in the thread about the Friday evening dinner and the saturday bragging rights tournament.

Travis

October 17, 2005 (Monday)

With the wind picking back up today there is very little to report. I did get one perch report from east of the Kelleys Island airport. 32 perch were kept between 3 anglers for a little less than 3 hours of fishing. The fish ranged from 7 to 10" long.

Obviously extended forecasts are risky business at best, but the most recent forecast is not good for the next few days with 5 to 7 feet waves predicted for both Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully they are wrong, but I'm not very optimistic about much fishing taking place until later in the week. I will report whenever I get enough information to put something up, but don't be surprised if there isn't much new the next few days.

Travis

October 16, 2005 (Sunday)

After a windy Saturday and Sunday it is starting to calm down. The forecast isn't especially calm, though, with almost every direction listed at some point over the next five days. We'll see what comes out of it.

Most of the reports that are coming in are still from the great weather that we had Thursday and Friday. Walleye continued to be caught around the sandbar and from Vermilion to Huron. One reporter caught 17 to 23" walleye at the 33/20 lines and also farther south on the sandbar. For him the most productive set-up was downriggers down 30 to 40' and also jet 40's back 120'. The fish were caught on spoons with green color schemes on silver. Other areas that have produced walleye were the 29/33 lines and 32-33/33 lines. At the 33 north line purple worm harnesses fished deep were productive. At the 29 north line spoons or crankbaits fished higher in the water column were best.

At some point the best fishing will shift to the upper half of the water column. Usually that occurs starting in late October as the walleye come up to feed on the high schools of shad and shiners. This year it might not happen until later in November. It seems like the fish are still in a migratory mode and most of the good catches are coming deep in the water column. That's just my opinion, but the reports back it up. One other area to try is straight north of Huron in 42' of water and deeper. I haven't received many official reports from the area, but there seem to be fish there from what I've heard.

I received a great perch report from 16' of water 1 mile south of Catawba (I assume 1 mile south of the state park ramp). On Friday 40 nice perch all over 9" were caught, with 20 of them being over 11", and 5 were Fish Ohio. The 40 kept fish weighed 19 pounds. The key was sorting through the small ones. 50 fish were thrown back to get to the 40 that were kept. I also heard of perch packs working 24 to 26' of water on Ruggles Reef and 18 to 20' off of Old Woman's Creek near Huron.

Travis

October 15, 2005 (Saturday)

Friday was a beautiful, calm day on the lake. Based on the number of reports many of you got out and took advantage of it.

The two walleye reports that I received came from the Huron/Vermilion area. At the 35/24 lines 7 walleye around 17" were caught on dipsys and spoons with the dipsys on a #1 setting 75 to 80 back and a #3 setting 110 back. Farther south at the 31/24 lines 8 walleye were caught with 2 over 25" and the rest around 18". These fish were also caught on dipsys and spoons.

From all of the perch reports is pretty clear that the most activity is between Rattlesnake and Green Islands. The most specific location that I received from that area was 30' of water SW of Rattlesnake. The reports are saying mostly 8-9" perch, but all-in-all they are some of the best perch from that area this season. Some good perch reports also came in from farther west. The reports mentioned dirty water, but good catching. The best spots were 2 miles east of the Toledo water intake in 16' of water and 22.5' of water SE of the gravepit at 41 44.43, 83 12.0. The size near the gravel pit was good, with 8" fish, some 9's and 10's, and a 12 incher. The water intake report mentioned that he made his own spreaders using blue blades based on our earlier reports and he seemed to outfish other boats in the area. From Thursday I received a report that perch fishing was slow all around Kelleys Island. I also heard that on Friday there were large perch packs north of the Vermilion River and also east of the river, but I did not receive any reports from the area.

Travis

October 13, 2005 (Thursday)

Today the wind was very calm as the forecast promised, and by this afternoon the lake had completely laid down. A few reports have already come in from today. The walleye report that I received was very encouraging. Active walleye were found at the 34/24 lines. 12 were caught with 8 being keepers. The biggest of the 8 keepers was a real Lake Erie trophy at 32.5" and 11.2 pounds. Those are the fish that make the fall season worth waiting for. The walleye were caught on Dipsy divers and stinger spoons. The two best spoon colors were Confusion and Perch.

I also received a perch fishing report from east of the Vermilion River. Perch were caught, but overall the fishing was very slow.

Travis

October 12, 2005 (Wednesday)

The wind finally quit today and by this evening there wasn't even a breeze. The main lake still has some rollers left over from the blow, but by Thursday it should be calm. The latest wind forecast is calling for light and variable winds both Thursday and Friday.

Some perch reports have come in from the past few days with the best spots being SE of Kelleys Island and S of Green Island.

Thursday and Friday should both be good fishing days. Let me know if you make it out.

Travis

October 11, 2005 (Tuesday)

It remained windy today with stiff NE winds keeping the lake rough. The forecast is for improving weather each day through Friday with windy weather around the corner again for the weekend. It's a little early to make any plans based on the extended forecast. Let's hope that it's wrong and we'll get a decent weekend.

No new reports for today with the rough weather that we're having. I'll put another report up when new information is available.

Travis

October 10, 2005 (Monday)

Today continued our windy/rainy pattern from the last few days. Even though today wasn't and ideal weather day it was a vacation day for me. I didn't feel like fighting the wind and waves where I would normally want to fish this time of year (Huron/Vermilion), so I went out to the Bass Islands to hide from the winds and try to find a few walleye. I spent most of my time fishing between North and Middle Bass Islands. The water was much clearer there than anywhere else in the area, and the marks were suprisingly good. I tried both worm harnesses and crankbaits as shallow as 18' and as deep as 35'. I ended up having two hits, and landed one with it being a 2003 walleye. Both hits came on an Eriedescent Reef Runner 40' back in about 24' of water. It was a slow day of fishing, but I couldn't have expected much with the weather limitations. There is a lot of muddy water in the western basin right now, and I feel like I gave myself the best chance that I had to catch fish by finding the reasonably clear water that was between the two islands. The fishing will definitely pick up around the islands, it's just still too early the way the weather has been. The good news is that the surface temperature was only 63 degrees where I was fishing. It's probably still a little warmer than usual, but much better than the 71 degrees from just over a week ago.

I did get one more perch report from last week. Fishing was very good just north of Mouse Island in 25' of water on Thursday just before the front came through.

Travis

October 7, 2005 (Friday)

At 8 pm the winds were approaching 30 knots from the north and the lake is rough. The forecast is for slight improvement each day, but I don't think that fishing will be very good until well into next week. It takes a while to recover from blows like this. Hopefully this is a front that kicks us into fall and not a pattern of weekly blows like we had at times last fall.

As you can imagine there aren't any reports from today. I'll post again when there is enough information to put something up. This looks like a good few days to work on tackle and get everything ready for the fishing ahead in the next few months.

Travis

October 6, 2005 (Thursday)

The wind arrived this evening from the NW and the forecast through at least Sunday looks bleak right now. Although the next few days don't look good there is good news. If you're waiting for the walleye to come back west like I am the temperatures are finally in our favor. The most recent 10 day forecast for Port Clinton has the highest predicted air temperature at 67 degrees. That is a very welcome break from the recent 80's and might be exactly what we need to bring the large walleye back.

A few perch reports have come in from today with limits being caught on Niagara Reef and also north of Ballast Island in 28 to 30 feet of water. The average size was fairly good compared to the norm for the last month.

The Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) championship tournament fished out of Vermilion today. They are scheduled to also fish Friday and Saturday, but we'll see what the weather does. All but three of the 5 fish limits weighed in were less than 20 pounds and were very similar to the tournaments the last few weeks. The three teams in the lead, however, had great days considering how fishing has been recently. Two of them are sitting at just slightly over 20 pounds and the leader is way ahead at well over 30 pounds. It will be very interesting to eventually hear where the leading teams had success during such a tough bite.

Travis

October 5, 2005 (Wednesday)

Today was another calm, unseasonably warm day on Lake Erie. It looks like this stretch of stable weather is starting to improve fishing. Normally stretches of stable weather improve fishing, and then you get a great day right ahead of an incoming weather front. The current forecast has Thursday's predicted high at 74 and Friday's at 57. If the wind holds off long enough tomorrow could be great for whatever you are after.

The good perch reports are getting even better. The most recent spots that have produced include: Kelleys Island- E of the airport in 35', E of the shoal in 43', and south of the "C" can on the border in 39'; off of the Cedar Point space needle in 25', the Sandusky Bay bell buoys at the entrance to the Mosely channel, 29' of water NE of Ballast Island, and off Marblehead in 18 and 30' of water.

I don't know if many of you fish Michigan waters of Lake Erie for walleye, but I got the best western basin report that I've seen in a while. Here is the entire report:

"Fished Brest Bay yesterday 10/4. 2 man limit in 4 hrs. 20ft of water. trolled cranks and harnesses, purple crawler harnesses worked the best. Used bottom bouncers, 90 ft. back seemed to be the ticket. Caught no fish under 15 in. Culled through 15 fish, kept the best ones from 18 in. to 26 in."

Travis

October 4, 2005 (Tuesday)

Not much new to report today. It was another unseasonably hot October day with light south winds. The forecast keeps changing, but the most recent open water forecast now says that it should be decent through Thursday afternoon. Earlier they thought that it would get worse by Wednesday evening. Either way it looks like Friday through Sunday aren't going to be very good.

Keep in mind if you are thinking about coming up this Thursday through Saturday that the Grand National Walleye Cup championship will be launching out of the Vermilion city ramp (over 100 boats). You might want to think about alternate ramps such as Lorain, Cranberry Creek, Walski's in Huron, or the Sandusky City ramp.

Travis

October 3, 2005 (Monday)

It sounds like the walleye bite is picking up, but the fish are still less than 20". The 38 north line around the north end of the sandbar has been the best bite. The best set-up has been dipsys on 2 and 3 settings 75' and 95' back, or jet 40's 130' back. Spoons have caught fish along with harnesses. Gull Island and Kelleys Island shoals have produced a few fish, but nothing consistent.

Good perch spots continue to be east of the Gull Island shoal buoy, south of C can on the Ontario border, and south of Kelleys Island shoal. Farther west some productive spots have been C can on the Camp Perry firing range (small fish), north of little pickerel and flat rock reefs (bigger fish, but fewer), and just SW of the Toledo water intake.

Travis

October 2, 2005 (Sunday)

I was busy during the day Saturday, so I decided to take my first night trip of the season last night. We went out to Kelleys Island shoal and fished from after 6 pm until around 10 pm. There was a light east/southeast wind and it was a crystal clear night. The water clarity was very good proving the satellite photo was right. The surface temp was 68. Before dark we caught one drum, one 19" smallmouth and one 2003 walleye. Shortly after dark there was about an hour that we caught 3 walleye. The largest was just over 21" and the other two were 16/17 inches. All four walleye that we caught were extremely fat for their length. They are definitely well fed. All of the fish that we caught came on reef runner ripsticks. The best set-up was with the ripstick 35' back with an inline board 60 to 100' out from the boat in 12 to 15' of water. We mostly trolled the areas right around the two shallowest bumps of the shoal. Color didn't really matter with the walleye coming on purple demon, cat-dog, and pink back/glow belly. The surprising part of the evening was how frustrating the weeds were. Almost every time the we pulled lines in to check them there were weeds on the planer boards and also on the lures. We probably would have caught more if the lures would have run clean. Our GPS speed was from 1.7 to 2.0 mph. We marked an absolute ton of what looked to be walleye marks just off of both ends (SW and NE ends) of the shoal. The water depth was 20 to 30'. Those fish didn't bite, but there were plenty of them. They were probably the best marks that I've seen in a long time.

I saw perch packs just east of the Kelleys Island airport and just south of Kelleys Island shoal. Some decent perch reports from yesterday came from 1 mile south of C can on the Ontario border in 42' of water, off of Marblehead, and between Kelleys and Cedar Point in 42' of water. Reports from farther west, including the Toledo water intake, little Cedar Point, and the Gravel pit, were slower with less than limits being taken.

A Friday perch report from 41 36.2/ 82 39.3 reported good action early that slowed down later in the morning.

Travis

September 30, 2005 (Friday)

The winds were light out of the SW today and it was a very clear blue day. If you didn't look at the satellite photo from today you should. You can really see how muddy the western basin is after the NW gale. I personally don't care to fish muddy water and I would use the photo to rule out locations. For me it wouldn't be worth fishing anywhere west of Kelleys Island, but that doesn't mean that fish won't be caught over the weekend. I'm surprised how clear it appears to be east of Kelleys. Some nearshore areas are muddy, but the open water doesn't look too bad. Thursday's wind did break up the thermocline and also dropped surface temperatures into the 60's. Maybe this will finally get us into a fall mode.

I did get a good western basin perch report from today, in spite of the muddy waters. A four man limit was taken in 4 hours on the gravel pit.

With the forecast through next Wednesday fishing will improve each day. I know that I've mentioned it the past few days, and I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but this time of year stretches of stable weather are crucial. Light south winds and pleasant weather is in the forecast all the way through next Wednesday. If that holds true there could be some really great fishing early next week. In my experience if you get 3 days of stable weather the fishing really turns on. With the light winds you should be able to run wherever you want to fish and the fish should turn on soon.

Travis

September 29, 2005 (Thursday)

The wind really blew today with gusts up to 43 knots near Toledo early in the morning. It is already calming down and the weather should get better each day through the weekend.

I doubt that many were out today, but I got the best perch report of the month from Wednesday. It was so good that I'll post it word for word:

"Went out of Lorain due North to 48' of water. Started Perch fiishing at 8:30, was LIMITED-OUT at 10:30. We kept our limit of 90 fish by keeping only fish over 8 inches. Lots of Jumbos, several 12 + , it was just up and down!!"

That's very encouraging. Hopefully it won't take too long for the lake to recover from today's blow.

Travis

September 28, 2005 (Wednesday)

Today was relatively calm with south winds, but we are currently under a gale warning until Thursday morning with wind speeds up to 35 knots on the way. There is a good line of storms headed east and plenty of wind behind it. The good news is that the forecast for Saturday through mid next week still looks great.

I got a few walleye reports today from areas that have not been fished much lately. Around the islands a few walleye have been caught casting weight forward spinners on top of underwater points near islands. Specific spots weren't mentioned, but Lucy's Point off of Middle Bass and the west tip of Sugar Island both come to mind as spots to try. From further west walleye were caught trolling spoons behind mini disc divers 75' back off of big boards near the Toledo shipping channel. The area that produced was about 1 mile west of the second pair of buoys past the Toledo harbor light.

A few perch reports also came in. On Tuesday there was a pack of perch boats fishing west of Rattlesnake Island (one of the better areas recently). It sounds like most of the perch being caught have come in the morning and the mid-day with the fish shutting down in the evening. Another good report came from the Kelleys Island airport reef with limits of 8-10" perch being caught. The Kelleys Island perch were caught on spreaders with blue and red blades along with blue beads. This is starting to sound like a trend to me. If I make it out perch fishing this fall I'll make sure to have some metallic blue blades on board.

Travis

September 27, 2005 (Tuesday)

After a rough Monday the wind really calmed down today. This evening was clear, cool and very comfortable. Wednesday looks fishable with S and SW winds, but by Thursday they are supposed to be NW at 30 knots. The weekend looks great, except that Thursday's blow might keep the lake stirred up for a few days. If the forecast is even close to being right early next week will be a great time to be out on the lake.

I didn't have any reports come in today as I assume many of you are back to work. I appreciate all of the reports lately, it makes this job very easy. I'm going to be busy on Wednesday so I might not get another report up until Thursday. Let me know if you make it out.

Travis

September 26, 2005 (Monday)

The rain from Rita has passed through and the wind is currently over 20 knots from the NNW. It is supposed to diminish with the waves subsiding at some point tomorrow.

Perch reports continue to filter in from the past few days. Limits have been reported from the following areas: C-can of the Camp Perry firing range, Catawba point, south of Kelleys Island shoal in 32' of water, between Green and Rattlesnake Islands in 30' of water, and 1.5 miles NW of Niagara Reef. The report from Kelleys Island shoal also mentioned catching walleye while perch fishing and then while trolling later. It is an under-utilized fall walleye spot and definitely worth a try.

I also got some good advice for improving your perch catch. As easy as it can be on some days, the perch don't always co-operate. Contributor "Joe" offers the following advice:

"I use a 5' ultra lite with 6lb Vanish Transition (or a no stretch line) I firmly believe that you catch more perch with that setup than you will if you're using your 7' walleye pole with 12lb test to perch fish. Also, one thing I've stumbled on by accident, is blue blades on spreaders. My wife saw one and wanted it because it was pretty. She fished it and took me to school. Now we pretty much only use blue. Metallic, shiny blue. If you can't find one, go to a store that has make-your-own tackle stuff, just get some shiny blue blades."

Thanks for the advice Joe.

Travis

September 25, 2005 (Sunday)

It's Sunday, the rain has started, and it looks like the next 24 hours aren't going to be very good. Tomorrow's forecast is for more rain and winds up to 30 knots.

Yesterday the Hawg Fest tourament was another learning experience. The lake was rough and the fishing was extremely tough. The tournament was delayed an hour, and even though the wind subsided there were still some 5 to 6 feet rollers left from Friday's NE wind. Around 58 boats left the Huron River at 8:30, and they fished from near Kelleys Island to the Sandbar and everywhere in between. By far the most popular area was the area around the 37-40/17-20 lines, NE of the Sandbar. I ran about 12 to 14 miles an hour for a full hour and started trolling NE of the Vermilion dumping grounds, just W of the middle of the Sandbar. I planned to troll west with the waves and hopefully find some active fish. The farther west we went the more bait we found. By the time we hit 34/30 there were so many shiners and/or shad that I was getting a false bottom from around 15 to 20' down in around 45' of water. There were walleye marks below and at times up in the bait, but not what I was hoping for. If that much bait is still there in a few weeks there should be big walleye moving through to take advantage of them. It was the classic bait that I look for in the fall, just a little too early with 71 degree surface temperatures.

We trolled spoons, harnesses and crankbaits above, through and below the bait. We ended up catching 3 walleye from 15.5 to 17.5", all around noon. We continued to troll through the area without success. The fish that we caught came on a jet 30 (90' back) with a silver chicken wing stinger, a silver monkey puke stinger behind a large dipsy 45' back on a 1 setting, and a single blade willow leaf harness behind a large dipsy 50' back on a 1 setting. We headed back with 3 small fish and not much hope of finishing very high. To our surprise it was a very tough day for everyone. In a tournament like this with so many boats someone always manages to find them. Even a tough day usually takes 5 fish over 20 pounds to win, or on good days you can count on 30 or 40+ pounds winning. That was not the case Saturday. Believe it or not 8 pounds won the tourney. I don't know the exact weight, but it was a team that caught one nice 7 pounder and another small fish. Our 3 fish were 4.35 pounds and put us in 12th. That is the second time this year that I realized that every single tournament day is different. Never assume what you will "need" to win. Catch every ounce that you are able to and see how it stacks up. Some days you'll do worse than you expected, and days like yesterday you'll be surprised.

I got a few good perch reports from the last few days. One came from a half mile south of the Toledo water intake and the other from W of Rattlesnake Island. I also recieved a good walleye report from the 37/21 lines, the area that many of the tournament boats fished. We'll have to see what this weather moving through does to the fishing later this week when things calm down.

Travis

September 23, 2005 (Friday)

The blow from the NE came as expected after the storms went through last night. Gusts topped out at nearly 30 knots today with waves at the buoy hitting nearly 5 feet. That probably means that there were some 5 to 7's rolling around within the 3 to 5's.

For the first time since I started updating this page walleye reports are starting to out-number perch reports. By far the best area of the Sandbar has been the 38-39/17-20 lines. Most fish have been in the 16 to 22" range, but fish up to 29" are starting to show up. The best report came on downriggers set at 40' down with copper watermellon stinger spoons. The water temperature is still over 70 at the buoy, but with the length of day decreasing and the temperature dropping the fishing will continue to pick up throughout the next month if we can keep some reasonably clear water.

The only recent perch report came from the Gull Island Shoal buoy. The report was a limit of mostly 7 to 7.5" fish with some other larger ones mixed in. There are still a lot of small perch being caught, but in general the average size is slowly improving. The report mentioned that spreaders with green and white flashers out-produced firetiger flashers nearly 3:1.

I might not get a report up on Saturday since I'm fishing the Huron Hawg Fest walleye tourney, but I'll let you know how that went by Sunday evening for sure.

Travis

September 22, 2005 (Thursday)

Perch reports from the last few days continue to come in. Of the recent reports the only poor fishing mentioned was around the Catawba green can. The rest of the reports have been very positive. Good areas have included the Kelleys Island airport in 39' of water around the 36.2/39.3 lines, the area between Green and Rattlesnake Islands and slightly west, around Niagara Reef of the Camp Perry firing range, and in 35' of water north of the Vermilion River. The report from the Green Island area mentioned that most of the perch stomachs were full of shiners.

I'll have a walleye report for you after the Hawg Fest tournament out of Huron this Saturday. Hopefully I'll catch them, but if I don't I'll see what I'm able to find out from the teams that did well. At this point I'm just going to go fishing and rely on some of my favorite spots to produce fish. I haven't had a chance to do any pre-fishing other than a short trip last weekend.

Travis

September 21, 2005 (Wednesday)

After a rough Tuesday the lake calmed back down today with clear blue skies and a lot of sun to go with minimal wind.

I got a report from yesterday evening of a few walleye being caught from Mazurik to the Marblehead lighthouse in as shallow as 18' of water. That is an area that is probably overlooked in the fall compared to the Huron area. The Lakeside pier can at times be good after dark for anyone that wants to give shore casting a try.

I also got a little clarification on the reef walleye bite that Marc mentioned a few days ago. As many as 5 or 6 of the Camp Perry reefs have produced fish. No one has been better than the others, but it has been important to move around and find the hot reef if the one that you're fishing on slows down. Move around as the day progresses to improve your odds.

It sounds like perch fishing was tough off of the Marblehead lighthouse this morning. Unfortunately the calm, clear days after a front goes through tend to be poor fishing days.

Thanks for all of the reports. Keep them coming.

Travis

September 20, 2005 (Tuesday)

Well, I'm back from my two weeks of muskie fishing. As tough as it is to end your vacation it is always nice to be home. The muskie fishing went well with my biggest fish landed being 45 inches. I caught it on a bucktail along with two 40" fish and three mid 30" fish on jerkbaits. It's hard to beat catching muskie casting. You can't really imagine having a big fish hit at boatside with one foot of line out until you actually have it happen.

We got a good number of reports over the weekend, but they are slow coming in today as could be expected with the rough morning that we had. The good news is that October is fast approaching and the bigger walleye are bound to be headed back towards the western basin. I had plenty of time to think about this year and the Lake Erie walleye fishing while I was fishing for muskie. Hind sight is always 20/20, but for what it's worth here's what I think. It is easy to look back and see that it was an abnormally hot, calm summer, at least by recent standards, especially compared to last year. We also know that Pennsylvania and New York Lake Erie anglers had a great summer, better than any recent summer. Along with that, on vacation I talked to a St. Clair River walleye fisherman that also said it was his best summer in a long time. Walleye, especially the larger fish, prefer cooler water than they could find in the western basin, or most other Ohio waters of Lake Erie for that matter. Unfortunately for us the Lake Erie walleye are even more than just Lake Erie fish, they are Great Lake fish. When conditions were not favorable they headed not only to Pennsylvania and New York, but also north to the St. Clair River and Lake Huron (Saginaw Bay). Sure there were smaller 2003 walleye left here, along with scattered stragglers that decided not to migrate, but based on the success in other states many of the walleye got out of Dodge this summer. Maybe this explains the slow July/August/September that we've had, or maybe it's just an easy excuse, but there is growing evidence to support it.

I am truly hoping for a great fall season. As we head into October all of the traditional fall hot spots should start filling up with fish. East of the Lorain sandbar should heat up first, and some reports already suggest that it's improving. From there they will move west of the sandbar towards Huron, Vermilion, Sandusky and the Islands. If we can string some relatively calm weather together and keep the water somewhat clear (unlike last fall) the slow summer will soon be forgotten. I personally prefer to troll crankbaits, and fall is prime time. As we get into late October and early November some of the best bites can be in the top 10 feet of water in as deep as 40 to 45 feet of water. The key is to look for high baitfish on your depthfinder and put your crankbaits just below the baitfish. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

I made my first scouting trip of the fall this past Sunday. I fished nearshore around Huron and Ruggles reef, along with offshore on the Huron dumping grounds and around the 30/30 lines. I found bait in a few spots, but did not find any active walleye in the few hours that I was out. I did catch two five pound smallmouth bass in 14' of water near Huron while trolling crankbaits. On the radio it sounded like action east of the sandbar was picking up after lunch.

I'll be fishing around Huron and Vermilion as often as my schedule allows up until the lake becomes unfishable later in December. My radio name is "Reel Science". If you hear me on the radio feel free to give me a call.

Travis

September 19, 2005 (Monday)

You guys will have to put up with me for one more day. Travis has broadband problems and won't be able to start up again until tomorrow.

Walleye reports were a little better this weekend with keeper walleyes being caught by casters off the reefs (No GPS numbers). Sunday was better than Saturday and that is certainly refreshing news. Some fish were caught at the sandbar but it was a spotty bite and continues to be an almost exclusive spoon/dipsy or spoon and jet action, again not everyone is successful but a few who put the right program together in the right spot are getting some decent if not big fish. Deep is the only real pattern with silver backs being mentioned often! We have more storms moving though tonight so that may delay the good bite for a couple of more days.

Perch action was hot for some on the sandbar this weekend and not so hot for others near them but remained good in between and west of Rattlesnake and Green Island. Elsewhere it remained the same with lots of small fish intermingled with near limits or limits of 7-8" fish with ocassional 10's and 11's. Bigger perch are still being caught in deeper water north of the cans and moving several times during the day seems to be the way to find them. You can't just anchor and wait for them to come to you.

(Walleye) Theres been no change in the sandbar reports and nothing new from the West end of the lake but we are getting encouraging reports from the area off Cranberry Creek from Ruggles Reef to Old Woman Creek. Some 4-6 pound fish mixed in with all the smaller ones are starting to show up out of near shore areas. No precise details except for harnesses and in line weights trolled. The 27/27 area still looks to be devoid of keeper walleye for the most part.

The perch action remains consistent with the past couple weeks also. Lots of shorts and a few jumbo's mixed in with 7-8" fish.

(Walleye) The eyes around the Sandbar are acting like they have been the last week or so. Moving around a little but still there and a bit on the picky and small side but bigger ones coming now and then. Same pattern of dipsys and jets with spoons deep and bigger fish on the occasional crank bait deep.

We had a report of walleyes in the west end (Michigan waters) coming on trolled harnesses early in the day. These have been fish in the 15-22" sizes and are coming out of 20-24 FOW off Brest bay. Lots of weeds north of the cans and by the islands are making it tough to troll there and we've had no drift and cast reports.

(Perch) Pretty much the same results. Lots of small fish to be had in the reef and can areas with less action but better sizes in deeper water. Mixed reports are still coming from Cedar point and east to Lorain.

Seems that Dean already had a link for fish cleaners on the north coast. I knew that but had a brain fade, however a couple have popped up from your responses that weren't there before and some don't have phone numbers etc. We also need more info for the Cleveland and eastern Erie guys. If you folks can fill in the info for us, we'll just add it to Dean's already good work. Thanks for all the responses and if you have anything to add let us know. Link for fishing cleaning places is here. There is a lot of other info available on the Denied links list. Check it out if you haven't already and if any of you are like me it would be good to recheck it once in a while.

(Walleye) reports are still mixed about the sandbar. Several limit catches were reported for Saturday afternoon and Sunday at the 38-18 & 37-17area of the sandbar. There were also not so good reports from the same areas earlier in the day. It appears hat the fish are still moving around and picky about what and when they are going to bite, but that they are there. The best working programs are still spoons with jets or dipsys at 100 to 130 back for jets, and 60 to 110 for dipsys at 0 & 3 settings.

Great walleye reports and perch reports are coming from the Geneva-Ashtabula area for those of you inclined for a drive east.

(Perch) in the area west of Marblehead are still biting almost everywhere but sizes are still running small for the most part with just an occasional jumbo. East of Marblehead has been sporadic at Cedar Point, Huron-Lorain but with a little better quality. Pockets of bigger perch are being caught east of Lorain but those too are hard to keep track of in this very slowly cooling water. 86 today and 88 degrees on Tuesday won't help us any either.

Help us out please! We've had a couple requests now for fish cleaning facilities and pricing. Any of you that have used fish cleaning services anywhere along Lake erie and have prices please let us have the details and we will add it to the information pages.

(Walleye) Good reports backed off again after some steady gains last week. There were no good reports from west of Huron and the sandbar bite was off on Saturday after being better on Thursday and Friday. The winning weight of a Big Brother/Big sister event Saturday, put on by Outreach Walleye and Cranberry Creek Marina, was just over 7 pounds for 3 fish with a big fish of 4.4 pounds. These kids were all fishing with either professional tournament anglers or charter captains, so that should tell you how tough the bite was. Most fish were caught at the 37-17 and 35-14 lines with spoons deep being the best program. The big fish came on leadcore and a small deep diving crankbait. Fishing was very slow all morning but picked up somewhat in the afternoon. It appears that the sandbar fish are moving around quite a bit and the feeders are hard to track from day to day. I did a straight line troll and only got 2 keepers in 5-6 hours of fishing. Some of the charters did get there limits Saturday but it was slow overall and the sizes were on the small side.

(Perch) reports are still good for numbers of fish but still they are on the small side. Better sizes are being caught in deeper water north of the reefs but the reports are sporadic and not consistent in one area. these fish appear to be moving in closer to shore and should start showing up in the historic perch spots soon. Fishermen on the sandbar were catching a lot of perch as well on Saturday and also some reports came in north of Huron and west of Vermilion in 30' plus of water.

We will get a lot of reports from the weekenders in the next couple of days and hopefully we'll hear something better on the eyes and bigger perch.

May 31, 2005 (Tuesday) We left the dock about 3pm yesterday afternoon, ran out close to D-can on the range and started marking some fish. Trolled from near D-can to Niagara Reef taking 19 walleye, went on past Niagara about mid way to C-can then turned around and went back towards D-can taking the rest of our limit. We were done by 8pm, trolled dipsy’s and jet 30s, dipsy’s was back 30 and 40 feet on 1 and 3 settings, jet 30s were back 50 feet. I tried several different plugs but it was a pure spoon bite with PA’s dolphin, Blue Marlin and Bull Shark being the hot colors. We did have on a Michigan Stinger “shrimp” which is a reddish color with black dots, which also took fish. Lots of white bass and white perch as well as undersized walleye were thrown back. It was a great evening on the lake, waves were no more than a small chop, temperature was warm, the rest of the week is supposed to be more of the same and we are going to try and make the most of it by going back out again this afternoon. Well I got fish to clean this morning, don’t work too hard J.

May 30, 2005 (Monday)

Memorial Day, dedicated to all those who served their country in so many ways, let us never forget that freedom is not free.

Several reports received so far say that walleye fishing was good off Niagara, C and D range cans, good to limit catches with lots of throw back mixed in. Dipsy’s and jets pulling spoons were again the bait of choice with hot pink and reds being the best colors. Some were using worm harnesses and bottom bouncers with good results. West Sister is also reporting good catches of walleye about 4 miles north of the island. I look for the coming weeks to be some of the best fishing this spring. The weather look like it is going to be decent, the water temperature is on the rise and lots of walleye are still in the western basin.

We plan to go out this afternoon around the time everyone else is coming in.

May 29, 2005 (Sunday) The madding crowd is here, it is hard to get down to wal-mart or Kroger without getting in a traffic jam. I heard this morning that Niagara reef area looked like the Wal-mart parking lot.

Some walleye are being caught north of Niagara and D-can on the range, also west of Rattlesnake. Best baits seem to be spoons and harnesses. Perch fishermen were thick off Middle Harbor Reef, which is right in front of West Harbor entrance.

May 27, 2005 (Friday) The 8am temperature is 57 degrees, wind is WNW at 7 to 12 knots, waves are 2 foot or less and the water temperature is 55 degrees. The charter fleet is northwest of Green Island a mile or two and is taking walleye; other good spots this morning are about 5 miles west of Rattlesnake, off Niagara Reef and north of West Reef where we were yesterday. We may try and get out this evening but that will do it for us until after the weekend, I can’t handle crowds.

For the weekend perch fisherman I would try east of Starve Island, off the stone docks west of Kelley’s Island, east of the airport opening on the east side of Kelley’s, between the nw corner of Kelley’s and Gull Shoals (38/43 middle numbers) and north of Cedar Point amusement park channel.

May 26, 2005 (Thursday) We got on the lake about 7am this morning, checked off the south tip of South Bass, near Green Island, Rattle Snake and south of West Reef. We did not start seeing marks until we got just north of West Reef. While the marks were good they were also scattered. Between 8:30 and 2pm we kept 18 really nice walleye. Only two were under 20 inches, we would have not kept then but they were deep hooked and would not have survived if put back, the remaining 16 fish were from 24 to 29 inches, all good healthy looking walleye. It is my opinion that we are catching bigger fish this year than at this time last year.

The program was dipsy’s back 30 and 40 feet set on 1 and 3, jet 30s back 50 to 65 feet off small boards, all were pulling PA’s spoons, once again this year the hot color is pink. The hottest spoons were Dolphin, Reefshark, Bullshark and Bluemarlin (all PA’s). Speed had to be below 2 knots for us, I did see several boats running bottom bouncers with worn harnesses and they too were taking fish.

May 25, 2005 (Wednesday) The 9am temperature is 51 degrees, wind is out of the NNE at 11 to 14 knots, waves are 2 to 4 feet and the water temperature is 53 degrees.

Most good reports indicate the walleye are in the area bounded by Niagara, Green Island and North Bass. They are in small pockets where the active fish are up off the bottom. Finding these pockets and working them is the key. Worm harnesses ran at the suspended depth of the walleye as well as spoons are the bait of choice by most successful fisherman right now. Even though the fishing has been somewhat slow we have taken larger fish this year, which is fine with me. I would much sooner catch a few big fish than a limit of 17 to 20 inch ones.

The western end fisherman are starting to take good catches west of West Sister in the area of the gravel pit and north along the Toledo shipping channel.

We plan on going out this afternoon but the weather will have the final say.

May 24, 2005 (Tuesday) The 8am temperature is 50 degrees, wind is out of the north at 16 to 18 knots and waves are 3 to 5 feet.

Weekend reports are coming in and it looks like walleye were scattered. Some folks did not do well while others had a great time. Again the key to success was finding that first fish or two and then being able to work that spot.

Better spots were;

Range B-can and south into 27 feet of water, using A-bomber, chartreuse/black w/orange belly.
West of North Bass on the Canadian Border using night crawler harnesses both on the bottom and up high. See your May map, work between North Bass and F-can (border) using the red X hot spots.
Northwest of Niagara and south of C-can (range). See hot spots on May maps. Jigs, harnesses and trolling spoons all seemed to have worked.
Between West Sister Island and the Turn Around Buoy in Toledo channel.

It appears the walleye are working east toward the Bass Islands both north and south. These will be the male fish that will likely stay in the western basin. Look for them to circle north and then west along to Canadian Border toward Middle Sister Island. This migration pattern is what has happened on the past years as shown in your maps pages for May and June. The females will migrate east around and between the Bass Island and on toward Kelley’s Island. IF baitfish area abundant around the islands, the walleye will stay around there a while.

May 23, 2005 (Monday) From the weekend; limits and near limits were taken;

¾ to 1-½ miles east of Niagara Reef on crawler harnesses off jets, blue chrome thunder stick juniors back 80 feet and on ¼ oz hot-n-tots back 80 feet.
Northeast of Kelley’s Island off Long Point trolling spoons, confusion and blueberry muffin were best colors.
Northwest of North Bass near the Canadian border, Northwest of Rattlesnake and west of the opening between Middle and South Bass, all trolling spoons best colors were confusion and raspberry dolphin.

May 22, 2005 (Sunday) While reports have been few it has been said that good catches are coming from north of North Bass, north of Rattlesnake Island and northeast of Kelley’s Island.

Mary Braun, wife of Den who runs the Sportsmen’s Outpost in Vermilion passed away this past week. She was a very gracious lady who greeted everyone as a friend. She will be missed; our sympathy goes to Den and the family.

May 20, 2005 (Friday) I have not heard much since we left Thursday morning. My best guess would be for walleye try around D-can (range) and/or north of Rattlesnake Island toward the opening between Middle and North Bass.

For perch try right north on Niagara Marker, off the Marblehead condos and east of Kelley’s Island out from the airport opening. We plan on being back to the lake sometime Monday.

May 19, 2005 (Thursday) Most charters were again in route to the east end of the Reefs off Camp Perry, around Niagara, D and E can’s this morning. The large school of walleye that has been in this area for the last few days seems to be moving east at least for now. These walleye are larger than I expected with several in the 23 to 26 inch range. These fish have been suspended (up off the bottom) around 10 to 20 feet.

When fishing suspended fish you want to spot your baits somewhere above then so we have been running jet30s back around 50 feet or so and big dispy’s set on 1 and 3 back 30 and 40 feet. There will usually be walleye on the bottom as well but the easier fish to catch are the suspended ones, they are off the bottom for a reason, usually they are feeding or looking for warmer water and in either case they are active which is what I am looking for.

We are going to take a few days off, go home and get something done since we have been gone over a month now. IF you get out please give me an update and I will pass it on to the rest of us.

May 18, 2005 (Wednesday) Just got the fish cleaned and grabbed a bite to eat. We went out to D-can on the range this morning, trolled past Niagara Reef and back to D-can several times, the morning bite was good but after lunch it slowed. We kept 14 nice size walleye and had a few throwbacks. The ones we kept were up to 26 inches. Jet 30s backs 50 feet pulling spoons; size 1 dipsy’s back 30 and 40 feet also pulling spoons (set on 1 and 3). Best spoon colors were; blueberry muffin, perch and raspberry dolphin. Speed was from 1.5 to 2 mph.

May 17, 2005 (Tuesday) We went out yesterday afternoon, ran down off Niagara Reef and trolled around the area for a couple of hours. All we picked up were 13 and 14-inch throwbacks, the marks were thick but I think they were mostly the small fish. We then went up off West Reef where we did catch two bigger walleye but the marks went away on us, then on to north of North Bass where we took one more walleye but by that time it was getting late and cold so we came in. Three walleye after about 40 miles of travel, all fish came on spoons (Shrimp and Blueberry Muffin) back 65 feet behind 30 jets.

The charter fleet is down off the reefs this morning (Cone, Crib, Niagara) and are taking mostly 14 and under fish.

May 15, 2005 (Sunday) It has been another slow fishing day. Charters north of Kelley’s Island and off West Reef reported far less than limits today. The waves were rough at 3 to 4 feet and the west wind was very cold with temperatures in the upper 40s. Combine the temperature with water temperature in the low 50s and the wind chill really gets you. The only good catches I heard about today were from inside Niagara Reef toward Cone Reef. Drifters were running bottom bouncers and worm harnesses while trollers were also running bottom bouncers and harnesses.

May 14, 2005 (Saturday) The good news is the lake did lay down today and it has been pleasant between showers, the bad news is the fishing has been very slow with most folks reporting no more than 6 fish per boat. Hopefully fishing will pick up soon but my best guess it maybe tomorrow afternoon or Monday. The water has cleared up north of the islands so if you plan on going out tomorrow that would be were I would try.

May 13, 2005 (Friday) The cold front and high winds of Wednesday afternoon and Thursday really muddied up the water. The 8AM temperature is 49 degrees, wind is east at 17 to 20 knots and the waves are 4.6 feet. The wind is predicted to lay today and IF that happens there is a good chance of clean water up around the Canadian Border by the weekend.

Perch fishing is still good off Marblehead and east of Stave Island.

May 12, 2005 (Thursday) The cold front that came through yesterday afternoon did a number on us. The morning temperature was in the low 40s, wind has been “gusty” all day and at 1:30pm is ENE at 21 to 25 knots and the waves are 5.6 feet. Some charters went out this morning and mostly tucked in off the SW corner of South Bass. Reports of walleye caught were few with most reporting one ticket (6) or less. Tomorrow is supposed to get better with highs in the low 50s and waves of 2 to 4 feet predicted. Hopefully the weekend will be fishable.

May 11, 2005 (Wednesday) We went out this morning west of North Bass, the weather was too good, no wind or waves and the temperature was in the mid 60s. Good for people but bad for fishing, we did take some nice walleye and the marks were stacked. When these fish turn on it’s going to be a circus. Speed was still down around 1.5 mph or less, we tried faster and slower but nothing much helped. Best baits were purple spoons behind jet divers. The fish were down 20 feet to the bottom, which was 37 feet.

Perch fishermen were again west of Starve Island Reef, they must be doing well, they have been there all week.

On your May map there is a hot spot (red X) west of North Bass and another west of Rattlesnake, nearly one over the other. These two spots were about both ends of this large school.

The weather guessers are predicting wind and waves for tomorrow and Friday. Personally after reading the weather prediction I go out side and look J. Seriously when trying to decide what the weather is I look at the Vermilion weather buoy, the South Bass weather station and the Toledo Light #2 weather station, then decide for myself what is going on with the weather. There are links for all three of these sites on my front page.

May 10, 2005 (Tuesday) The 1pm temperature is 56 degrees, wind is out of the south at 8 knots, waves are 1 foot or less and the water temperature is 50 degrees. Charters are between Rattlesnake and Niagara Reef today and are taking walleye. Size is reported as “so-so” but the numbers are good. Perch fisherman are again off Starve Island and Marblehead, no reports on how they are doing.

On your May map there are two “X” marks between Rattlesnake and Niagara, which are right on the mark.

May 9, 2005 (Monday) We went back out north of Kelley’s Island today, it was a slow day for us but that’s all right. We only took five walleye, two 26 inches, two 29 inches and one 30 inches. Once we found we were into the hogs, I could not leave to look for numbers of fish. Several charters were west of Rattlesnake about 1.5 to 2 miles and on the radio it sounded like they were doing all right. Our program today ended up all spoons. Dipsy’s were back 40 and 60 feet on 1 and 3 settings, jet 30s were back 70 to 90 feet off small boards. Best spoons was PA’s Dolphin which was a good bait last fall, our speed was again down around 1.3 to 1.6 mph, which is as slow as I can go even with two trolling bags out.

Speaking of speed remember we have been working in 40 foot of water with most fish marks within 10 feet of the bottom so the water must be very cold at that depth. If you are in shallower water it is going to be warmer so you may be able to get away with higher speed but where we have been I can’t seem to buy a bite much above 1.5 mph.

There was a small pack of perch fishing boats just east of Starve Island Reef, to me as we went by it looked like they were catching fish.

May 8, 2005 (Sunday) The 8AM temperature is 50 degrees; wind is out of the SSW at 2 to 4 knots, waves are flat. While the fishing seems to have shut down yesterday for most folks a few walleye were caught off of West Reef and Northwest Reef, north of Niagara and SW of B range can. This morning I hear the B range can area is still working.

I think I have said this before but just in case; if you can’t get below 1.5 mph don’t even bother going out, with the water as cold as it is the walleye are very sluggish and won’t chase a bait. I keep hearing of one person not being able to trigger strikes while a boat right next to them getting all kinds of hits, this is speed related. My guess is that the ideal speed would be between 0.8 and 1.3 mph.

The walleye seem to be in the waters between muddy and clear, we call this “stained” water. This stands to reason since in the muddy water the fish can’t see the bait to chase it and in the very clear water there is no alga for the baitfish so the stained water is what to look for.

May 7, 2005 (Saturday) At noon the temperature is 52 degrees, wind is NW at 6 knots and the wave are 1 foot or less. It’s a great day but the fishing is slow. Some walleye are being taken off the reef in less than limit numbers. It sounds to me like the jig bite is about over or at least slowing a lot. Trollers are doing a little better out north of Niagara, west of West Reef and North of North Bass. Baits that are working are Reef Runners back 80 to 120 feet. Spoons are starting to come on with the raspberry colors being best.

May 6, 2005 (Friday) The 8:30am temperature is 45 degrees, wind is out of the NNE at 4 to 6 knots, waves are 1 foot or less. The sun is shining and it looks like a great day.

Lots of boats down off the reefs from K-can all the way to Niagara, they are taking some walleye and I expect the reefs to hold fish through this weekend at least. Trollers are working in the area of Northwest Reef and up along to Canadian border.

Perch fishermen are east of Luci’s Point (NE corner of Middle Bass), north of Marblehead and off the Kelley’s Island stone docks.

Note; the Vermilion/Huron weather buoy 45005 is now in operation.

May 5, 2005 (Thursday) The 7am temperature was 45 degrees, wind is out of the SE at 5 knots, waves are 2 feet or less. Fishing was slow yesterday with some walleye taken around Niagara Reef and West Reef.

We finally got out today, started off the SW corner of Kelley’s and worked north, nothing caught and few marks by the time we got up to the NW corner. We than ran across north of North Bass to the area of West Reef where the marks were much better. The bite was slow; we ended up with four walleye all big fish with two going 28 inches. Three came of spoons and the fourth on a husky jerk, Tennessee Shad. Water temperature was 49 degrees.

NOTE: on your May map, there are two hot spots (red X) between North Bass and Northwest Reef that could be very good this weekend if the walleye turn on.

May 4, 2005 (Wednesday) The noon temperature is 48 degrees, wind is calm and wave are 2 feet or less. The cold temperatures of the last days seems to have shut down the walleye bite for now, jig fisherman and trollers using worm harnesses are catching some walleye around Niagara Reef and Round reef. Others are trolling off West Reef with less than limits reported. They are using worm harnesses, reef runners and spoons. Reef Runners are doing well 90 feet back off the boards, which would be around 20 feet down. Worm harnesses with snap weights should work with a 4 oz weight around 100 feet back.

Make sure you are now using the May map. Try the hot spots; those marked with the red X, near the outer range markers first before moving out further. Also there are two hot spots between West Reef and North West Reef that should be productive by this weekend as well as the one off Rattlesnake.

Anyone looking for a copy of my maps, Rickard’s across from McDonalds on SR-53 has the paper version.

May 2, 2005 (Monday) The morning temperature is 42 degrees, wind is 15 to 17 knots out of the west and the waves are 3 to 4 feet. Water clarity is good to clear around the islands, some muddy water inshore. Walleye fishing is heating up off the reefs where jigs and minnows or blade baits are working for the inshore folks. Between Toledo harbor light and Turtle Island on the humps jig fisherman and trollers are both taking walleye. The Port Clinton head boat fleet is out in front of Camp Perry on or near Round Reef, G and H cans on the east side of the range. The worm harness bite and spoons are starting to work as well. Perch fishermen are off Marblehead, Luci’s Point (NE corner of Middle Bass) and off the stone docks on the west side of Kelley’s Island.

May 1, 2005 (Sunday) This morning the head boats are working in close to shore from Lake Front Marina toward Camp Perry and off Round Reef, others are between Kelley’s and the Bass Island where fishing is a little slow so far. From the Toledo area fishing has been good for walleye NW of Toledo light and toward Turtle Island.

Perch fishing is getting good off Marblehead condos, stone dock at Kelley’s and Luci’s Point.

The morning temperature is 42 degrees, wind is 18 knots out of the WSW, and waves are 2 to 3 feet.

April 30, 2005 (Saturday) The server that this site resides on has been down all day, hopefully they will get it up soon.

We attended the final weight in of the FLW – Wal-mart tournament. The big fish of the day was 9 lbs while most of the fish weighed in were 4 to 6 lbs. The spots mentioned were the reefs off Wild Wings, K and L cans, C can (range), West Reef, north of Kelley’s Island and Middle Island. Baits most mentioned were reef runners, rip sticks and spinner / worm harnesses. Trolling speed was anywhere from a low of 0.8 mph to 1.6 mph.

Tomorrow the Ohio limit goes to six fish per person, we plan on getting out early next week, weather permitting.

April 29, 2005 (Friday) The tournament boats got out this morning and it sounds like lots of them are down off the reefs, scattered from the inner range markers to K and L cans, round and Locust Point.

The morning temperature is 47 degrees, wind is 5 to 6 knots and waves are 2 feet or less.

Lots of charters and some of the tournament boats are north of Kelley’s Island toward Gull Shoals. Hot baits of late seem to be Rapala tail dancer deeps which can get down to around 30 feet or so with around 120 feet of line out. Worm harnesses are taking fish pulled behind bottom bouncers or in line weights. I expect spoons to turn on soon and when we finally get out around the 1^st of May we will give the spoons a try.

Tomorrow’s weather is not looking good, with rain and high waves predicted. I expect the tournament to be canceled tomorrow making it a two-day event.

April 28, 2005 (Thursday)

Update; just heard that one of the tournament boats swamped (filled with water), the two-man crew went to another boat. Waves were reported at 8 feet in the south passage at the start of the tournament at 7am.

The 10AM temperature is 42 degrees, wind is out of the west at 20 to 23 knots wave are 3 to 5 feet. The Walmart-FlW tournament was canceled for today due to the weather. Basically the weather is miserable due to the wind chill and waves.

While our boat is in the water we are in no hurry to get out, with the limit going to six after April 30^th and the nasty weather patience is the prudent approach J.

April 27, 2005 (Wednesday) The morning temperature is 44 degrees; wind is out of the SW at 17 to 20 knots (South Bass). Waves for that wind speed should be around 2 to 4 feet and showers are forecast for this afternoon. The Wal-Mart-FLW walleye tournament starts today. There are around 130 boat participating. They have been busy for a week now trying to locate a honey hole but the last few days of weather shot that idea, so they are all starting fairly blind today. Weight in will start about 3:30PM; we plan to attend provided the weather behaves.

The water was clearing yesterday a mile or two north of Perry Monument so I expect lots of folks will be fishing between the island and north of Kelley’s Island.

April 26, 2005 (Tuesday) There has been a bit of discussion regarding the law when bring back walleye aboard a ferryboat from the island. I have exchanged emails with ODNR enforcement and the following is my take on how this should be done, hopefully all the enforcement people see it the same way but don’t take my version as gospel.

You may fillet your walleye but they must be whole fillets and the skin must be attached.
Package then so they can be counted, I would put the two fillets together with skin outward and in plastic bags making it easy to tell how many and what you have.
Each day’s catch should be marked with the date the fish were caught.
You could be asked how many days you were on the islands, receipts, tickets, etc.
Remember the limit is three walleye per day through April 30^th, then six per day.

Speaking of enforcement I hear seven Michigan fisherman were arrested on Kelley’s Island for double tripping for walleye. Three had double limits, three had one short of double limits and one angler had one fish over his limit. Each defendant was found guilty in the Erie County Court, fined $200.00 and court costs, given 10 days in jail (each suspended on the condition there were no further wildlife violations in the next two years.) Each defendant forfeited their fishing rods/reels to the state. (Except the angler with only one fish over)

April 25, 2005 (Monday) The morning temperature is 39 degrees; wind is out of the west at 27 knots with gusts to 30 knots, waves should be around 5 to 6 feet. The weather guessers predict the wind changing to the south this evening. If that happens the lake should start to lie down and clear up but only time will tell. We had some heavy seas yesterday afternoon, Sue and I drove up to Miller Ferry dock and watch the wave hitting the end of the dock go 30 plus feet into the air.

I posted a question to the Ohio Sea Grant discussion board regarding what they think about the 2005 walleye hatch and the gale force storm we just went through, it makes for an interesting read, click on the lake above to go to their site.

April 24, 2005 (Sunday) The wind blew all night, at 7am the temperature is 36 degrees with a wind chill of 22 degrees. Wind speed at South Bass is 34 knots with gusts to 38 knots; waves are predicted at 8 to 12 feet declining to 7 feet later today.

Many have asked, “what will this do to the 2005 walleye hatch?” my answer is no one really knows. The high wind and waves could damage any eggs yet hatched; hopefully many are past the egg stage. The strong north winds will work to keep the hatchlings in shore where there is more food for them than off shore so that’s better than strong south winds, but we will all have to wait for the fall trolls to get the real numbers.

April 23, 2005 (Saturday) Those of you that choose to stay home this weekend made a good move. The morning temperature is 42 degrees with a wind chill of 26 degrees; wind is out of the north at 29 knots with gusts to 34 knots and we have a gale warning in effect.

What little I know about the walleye hatch and what the weather does to hurt it, this is not good. The spawn should be about over, all the eggs spread and fertilized and along comes a gale. The waves could wash the eggs out of the cracks or cover them with silt all of which is not good. Lets hope mother nature is in a kindly mood, we really need a good hatch this season.

April 22, 2005 (Friday) Lots of big females were taken yesterday south of Green Island, south of South Bass and south of Starve Island. As they migrate from the reefs area these big fish are coming thru the south passage then up between the Bass Island and Kelley’s so anywhere along that path seems to be productive. Most reports are of fish down on the bottom, best baits are deep running cranks, something that can get down around 30 feet or harnesses behind heavy bottom bouncers of up to 6 oz in weight.

We have a cold front coming through later today according to the weather guessers, if they are correct fishing will mostly be stopped until the middle of next week.

April 21, 2005 (Thursday) Somehow I have had far more “political” posts this year then I ever intended. In my April 12^th posting I referred you to information regarding the change in total allowed catch (TAC) by the “Lake Erie Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission”. I told you of my dissatisfaction with this change and my intention to write the Governor voicing my displeasure. Soon there after I was contacted by one of the ODNR people asking if I would set down face to face with them and listen to their side of the story. That was followed by an e-mail from Roger Knight, Lake Erie Program Administrator, ODNR with the same offer. So this past Monday I met with Mr. Knight and a couple of his staff folks, they did their best to educate this old fisherman and I did learn a couple of things. Before the meeting I put together 20 questions (with input from several of you) that framed my concerns and I ask that they (Knight) answer the questions so I could pass them on to you. Following are my questions (in black) and their answers (in blue) with no changes what so ever. If I have a comment it follows Mr. Knights answer headed by “Comment”.

ODNR questions 3/18/05

What is TAC?

TAC is short for Total Allowable Catch. The TAC is an estimated “cap” or “upper limit” of harvest that can be safely supported by the walleye and yellow perch populations each year in Lake Erie.

How is it set?

Each year, fisheries scientists from all agencies (OH, MI, PA, NY, and Ontario) work collaboratively on interagency task forces (called “Task Groups”) to determine the health of the walleye and yellow perch populations. Health determinations are based on a variety of biological data, including lake-wide assessments of the hatch, the age structure and abundance of the adult population, harvest of each age class by fisheries within each agency, growth rates, and natural mortality. The Task Groups use computer models to project population age composition and total abundance of age-2 and older walleye for the approaching fishing year and then apply a fishing rate to the projections to estimate a Recommended Allowable Harvest (RAH). The RAH is then forwarded to the Lake Erie Committee (LEC), a group of fisheries managers from each agency. The LEC then formally sets the TAC at a public meeting in March of each year, prior to the start of extensive fishing.

How is TAC divided between the members? Allocation of TAC among agencies is based on the proportion of designated “primary walleye habitat” within each jurisdiction from surface area calculations. Primary walleye habitat was designated by an interagency team of scientists in the early 1970s as the western basin extending out to the 15-meter depth contour of the west-central basin. This definition excludes offshore waters in the central basin as well as all waters east of Fairport Harbor.

Ontario quota (share) = 43.3%
Ohio quota (share) = 51.4%
Michigan quota (share) = 5.3%
New York quota (share) = 0.0% because it is outside of the defined habitat
Pennsylvania quota (share) = 0.0% because outside of the defined habitat

Note that NY and PA walleye fisheries are assessed and included in the scientific analyses even though interagency quotas are not assigned. PA and NY harvests combined are typically 50,000 – 100,000 walleye.

Comment: Here is one of my problems; Ohio has a 51 to 43% advantage in TAC but fall far behind Canada in harvest (fish caught) numbers.

What are Ohio’s harvest numbers vs. Ohio’s quota since 1999?

1999 : quota = 4.6 million fish, harvest = 1.0 million fish

2000 : quota = 4.0 million fish, harvest = 0.9 million fish

2001 : quota = 1.7 million fish, harvest = 1.2 million fish

2002 : quota = 1.7 million fish, harvest = 0.7 million fish

2003 : quota = 1.7 million fish, harvest = 1.0 million fish

2004 : quota = 1.2 million fish, harvest = 0.9 million fish

Note: Relative to quota performance, our goal is not to attain quota but to stay within, it is a cap that shouldn’t be exceeded. Ohio has attained or exceeded quota only during years when fishing pressure has been well-above average. The very conservative quotas in 2001-2004 were enacted by the LEC to rebuild walleye stocks in Lake Erie

Comment; While Ohio’s goal is “not to attain quota” the Canadian gill-netters will always reach or exceed their share, this seems very one sided to me. In 2004 the gill-netters took 2.49 Million walleye while Ohio sports fisherman took 859,000.

With the 2002 spawn being zero, 2004 not much better and 2005 an unknown why not wait another year before raising the quota?

The quota was raised this year because scientific work to improve abundance and harvest models was finally completed and implemented. This interagency effort has been underway since 2000 while fishery harvests have been severely restricted lake-wide. For those who are unaware, the highly conservative TACs for 2001-2004 were reduced substantially by the LEC to rebuild walleye stocks in Lake Erie. With estimates now showing the strongest population since 1990, harvest restrictions were eased (see question 7 as well). Incidentally, the 2004 hatch is better than the 2002 (the all-time worst) but still is below-average. See question 20.

Comment: I feel and told them that the timing of this change was ill advised, had it been done next spring then we would have had some idea what the 2005 hatch numbers were and Ohio’s fisherman would have had the same opportunity as the Canadian gill netters.

For the last several years we have been told that the walleye population was in trouble, other than the great hatch of 2003 has anything else changed?

Very conservative quotas from 2001 to 2004 have increased survival and current abundance of walleyes from the strong 1999 and 2001 hatches to go along with the exceptional 2003 hatch. In other words, rebuilding of the population was well-underway prior to the 2003 hatch and now there are more year classes to support fisheries than before. Also, see next question….

If a raise in the TAC is justified, why not a small increase instead of the 140 percent? (2.4 Million to 5.8 Million)

The increase was entirely based on implementation of a new, scientifically-derived, fishing rate (see answer to question 5). When compared to the ultra-conservative TACs of the rebuilding period, the magnitude of the increase is large but so is the population increase. The adult population is now estimated to be the largest since 1990. The new TAC, if fully attained (which is unlikely) would result in the removal of about 14% of the population, almost identical to the proportion of the past 3 years (about 15%). The new TAC is about 800,000 fish below the average TAC set during 1978-2004.

Won’t most of the increased TAC walleye come from the 2003 class year, which won’t be legal for Ohio fisherman until late this fall at the earliest?

The Walleye Task Group estimates that the 2003 year class will provide 2.7 million of the 5.8 million fish TAC. Given expected growth patterns, most of the 2003 walleyes should be of legal size in Ohio by August-September, with normal weather and forage.

What percent of the walleye population of Lake Erie are 2003 class year fish?

The Walleye Task Group estimates that the 2003 year class makes up about 71% of the 42 million adult population, or about 30 million fish.

What happens next year if the 2005 spawn is zero?

It generally takes two years for hatches to be considered as part of the fishable population. A poor hatch in 2005, on the heels of a below-average hatch in 2004, would result in a major decline in the adult population in 2007. Under the new fishing rate methodology, the TAC will be reduced.

What is your estimate of total Lake Erie walleye population at this time?

About 42 million age-2 and older fish at the start of 2005 (Walleye Task Group).

When was the last year Ohio fisherman managed to reach their quota?

The last year was 1989, when the quota was 3.7 million fish and 4.2 million were harvested because fishing pressure was high (5.2 million hours as compared to 1.2 million in 2004). Also, see note on Question 4.

Comment: Fishing pressure by Ohio fisherman has declined every year and in 2004 was the lowest since the late 70s.

IF Ohio goes long enough without reaching its quota, could the Canadians quota be increased?

It has been 15 years since we last caught our quota, which again is not our goal (see question 4), and the Ohio share has remained the same as initially established (see Question 3). Given that it is feasible for Ohio to catch its quota (at lower walleye abundance or higher fishing pressure), we are not interested in changing the allocation. Therefore, Ontario’s quota will be 43% of the TAC.

Comment: I hit on this one hard and was assured by Mr. Knight that it could not happen.

Why is it Ohio can’t seem to get any closer to its share of the TAC?

Fishing pressure is low…less than a fourth of the extremely high levels of the late 1980s (see Question 12 and 13). At current levels of fishing pressure, we would only hit quotas during periods of low walleye abundance.

Isn’t it unfair to Ohio fisherman that Canada will always reach it’s share and Ohio will seldom if ever reach theirs?

Quotas are used world-wide to regulate commercial fisheries and are generally not used in angling-only fisheries. We are involved in quota management because of the extensive Canadian gill net fishery…it is very much to our benefit work with the OMNR within the interagency framework to establish harvest quotas that constrain/regulate the commercial fisheries. We have a 30-year history of very good walleye fishing because of the interagency system in place. Ohio’s goal is to provide sustainable, quality, fishing opportunities to all types of anglers, and to stay within our interagency quota. It is NOT our goal to attain quota…the quota is merely a cap. Not all fish move into Canadian waters and most spawn in Ohio waters, so we can make a difference internally on the quality of Ohio fisheries through regulations that do more than simply keep us within quotas. If we had no regulations on our fishery right now, we would probably not catch our quota but would that be an appropriate strategy to improve the quality of our fishery? Perhaps another way to think about this question is from the Canadian perspective: is it fair that they are constrained by a quota when we can’t catch ours? See question 13 for our response to that.

Why the quota change now after the state limits has already been set?

Formal regulatory processes vary among agencies. In Ontario, commercial fishing regulations can be set and/or modified during the fishing year. In the U.S., angling regulation changes require at least 9 months to enact under normal conditions (Governor’s Emergency Orders can be executed sooner but are intended for “emergencies”). For us to make a regulatory change in 2005 would have required effort in summer 2004, when we did not know where the TAC would land. Given the wide natural fluctuations we see in walleye hatches, it would be difficult and unnecessary to change regulations more frequently than we do, unless we are in danger of exceeding quota.

Will Ohio catch any more walleye this year due to the quota change?

The Ohio walleye catch will be a function of fishing pressure times the catch rate (fish caught per hour)…changes in quota do not appreciably affect either of those variables. Again, our goal and our regulations are intended to improve the quality of your fishery. If every angler in Ohio limited out every time out this season and we still did not exceed quota, we would declare it an extremely high quality fishery, not a failure.

Will the 2005 and or the 2006 state limits be changed?

Possibly and there will be ample opportunities for the public to comment on any proposed regulation changes. These changes will be predicated on the health of the population and predicted strength of the ‘05 and ‘06 hatches.

Has LEC ever made a quota change at this time of the year?

(Following the setting of state limits)

See Question 2…the LEC always announces quotas at a public meeting near the end of March before the start of each fishing season. It takes that much time for the Task Groups to process and analyze assessment data from the previous year.

How much did political pressure from the Canadian commercial fishing industry have to do with the decision to raise the quota at this time?

The decision to raise the quota was based on implementation of a new, scientifically-derived harvest policy (fishing rate) after several years in development while fisheries were severely constrained by low TACs. The Walleye Task Group compared many harvest polices in terms of their probable effects on the walleye population and the LEC ultimately chose a policy that presented acceptable harvests at low risk, i.e., a policy that would not only deliver appropriate harvests but also would promote fast recovery of the population should we experience another decline in the future. The decision to implement the new policy now, as opposed to some time in the future, was based on the improved health of the population in relation to highly-conservative quotas. In short, keeping the quota at an extremely low level was not biologically defensible, especially when a concerted effort to develop a new harvest policy was completed and ready for implementation.

Comment; while I did not agree with Mr. Knight on several points I applaud his willingness to meet with me and to answer these, somewhat embarrassing questions. If we accomplished anything it was to voice our displeasure and hopefully the LEC will be more aware that we are watching and do have a voice and will use it when necessary. Thanks to all of you who sent letters, e-mail and phone calls, I think it did some good.

dean

April 20, 2005 (Wednesday) Male walleye are still on the spawning grounds (reefs and rivers) but a large migration of females are strung from south of Green Island, south of South Bass and up between the Bass Island and Kelley’s. These fish move every day so you will need to hunt for them.

Around Toledo the fishing continues to be very good between Toledo Harbor light and Turtle Island.

Jigs and minnows are the bait for the males still around the spawn while cranks and spoons are working for trollers targeting the large females.

We have thunderstorms and shower this morning with lighting and thunder out over the lake. Most folks (the ones with good sense) are ether off the lake or are heading in.

April 19, 2005 (Tuesday) I have several reports from over the weekend, it sounds like the better spots were, North of Kelley’s Island, between Rattlesnake and Sugar Island and East of Kelley’s for the larger spawned out females, 1 to 2 miles NE of Niagara and Cone reef where the males are still hanging around. From the far west end of the lake the walleye seem to be moving out from shore, they are between Toledo Harbor Light and Turtle Island, jigs and big minnows were the most productive bait.

Perch were taken this weekend off Marblehead and the SE corner of Kelley’s.

Morning temperature is 56 degrees, wind is calm and waves are 2 feet.

April 18, 2005 (Monday) In the following letter Jeff Reutter is asking for our help, he is trying to get an Ohio specialty license plate titled “Lake Erie Fishing” from which the proceeds would go to Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab. Please read his letter and if you agree as I do, then click on this petition link, fill it out and sent it to Jeff. His address is at the bottom of the petition.

Jeff is “good people”, he and Ohio Sea Grant are deserving of our support and help.

Dean

“Fish Lake Erie” License Plate

By Jeffrey M. Reutter, Ph.D., Director
Ohio Sea Grant College Program and Stone Laboratory
The Ohio State University

On 24 March I met with Representative Chris Redfern in his Columbus office with representatives of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Representative Redfern has been working hard to support Lake Erie and informed me that a bill to create a new license plate had passed the House and the Senate and was on its way to the Governor’s Office where he assured me it would be signed. The new plate will say “Fish Lake Erie” and the proceeds from the sale of the plate will go to the Ohio Sea Grant College Program and Stone Laboratory to support our research, education and outreach efforts focusing on the Lake Erie environment, economy, and education. In the next few days I will be forming an advisory group to help in selecting the appropriate design for the plate and a marketing strategy that would support our desire to use this plate to stimulate tourism and the economy and to enhance fishing participation, among other things. This advisory group will also aid in establishing priorities for our use of the revenue from the sale of these plates, e.g. support for research on fisheries, ecosystem restoration, the “Dead Zone” in the Central Basin, aquatic invasive species, the economic value of fishing and Lake Erie, etc, and scholarships and fellowships for students and teachers studying and bringing classes to Stone Laboratory, Ohio’s Lake Erie Laboratory on Gibraltar Island at Put-in-Bay and the oldest freshwater biological field station in the country. However, the next step in the process is to get 1000 signatures from individuals willing to purchase the new plates for their cars, boat trailers, trucks, etc. This does not need to be 1000 different people as a person who owns two cars and a boat trailer could fill in a separate line for each vehicle and the boat trailer. Please help us get the needed signatures. Fill in the requested information on the attached form and mail it back to the address at the bottom, or, even better, get a few of your friends to add their information before you mail it back. Thanks for your help and watch for the availability of the new plates.

Jeffrey M. Reutter, Ph.D., President
National Association of Marine Laboratories, and
Director
Ohio Sea Grant College Program,
F.T. Stone Laboratory,
Center for Lake Erie Area Research (CLEAR), and the
Great Lakes Aquatic Ecosystem Research Consortium (GLAERC)
The Ohio State University
Area 100 Research Center, 1314 Kinnear Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43212
tel (614)292-8949; fax (614)292-4364; email reutter.1@osu.edu
http://www.sg.ohio-state.edu/
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." --Mark Twain
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement." --Will Rogers
"Learn from the mistakes of others--you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."
"Being humble doesn't mean thinking less of yourself, it means thinking of yourself less."

April 17, 2005 (Sunday) Good catches of walleye were taken all along the reefs from Davis-Besse to K-can to Niagara Reef yesterday. The fish were hitting both in dirty and clearing water. While the shoreline waters still are muddy the off shore is clearing up. A large group of boats were between Kelley’s Island and the Bass Island and taking larger spawned out females. The water in that area has cleared up well. Perch fisherman are still taking limits off Marblehead light and out toward Kelley’s Island. This mornings temperature is 50 degrees, wind is calm so the lake should be fairly calm also.

April 15, 2005 (Friday) The noon temperature is 47 degrees; wind is out of the NE at 11 knots with gusts to 17 knots, which should give us waves in the 2 to 3 foot range. Not many boats out today, the few that I have heard from are not doing very well off the reef due to water conditions. The lake is still muddy with some clearing east of the bass island north toward Peele (see satellite images link). The rivers are still running pure mud so it is hard to tell about the weekend, I would guess your chances are not good.

I will be at Dave’s Baits in Vermillion tomorrow (Saturday) at 9am and will hang around for an hour or so, if you are in the area stop by and say high. Dave has been selling some of my maps and I am going to drop him off a supply.

April 14, 2005 (Thursday) The noon temperature is 49 degrees, wind is 5 knots or less here outside Port Clinton but South Bass weather station shows 9 knots with gusts to 14 knots, which should be 2 to 3 foot waves. The lake is very muddy and what boats that are out report few to no fish caught.

Speaking of lake conditions, thanks to one of our readers there is a new link in the weather section on the home page titled “Great Lakes Satellite Images “ click on that then click on Lake Erie and look at how much muddy water is coming into the lake. There is a patch of clear water east of the bass island but the rest of the lake looks like a mess. If you are on a dial up connection expect this to take a few minutes.

April 13, 2005 (Wednesday) We arrived back at Port Clinton about 11am today, we were not welcomed back by the weather with a warm embrace, its blowing 13 to 20 knots, the temperature is 44 degrees, and the wind chill is in the low 30s. In other words it’s colder than a well diggers backsides. The lake looked muddy with a good 2 to 3 foot chop when we came through town. Oh well start bad and end good I always say J.

April 12, 2005 (Tuesday) There was an interesting article in D’Arcy Egan’s column in the Cleveland Plan Dealer, titled “Short-sighted to hike quotas for walleye” it seems the “Lake Erie Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission” in the last week has more than doubled the total allowable catch (TAC) of walleye for 2005 from 2.4 million to 5.8 million fish.

Since the bag limit is already set for sports fisherman it is highly unlikely this change will have any effect on us BUT the folks who will benefit greatly are the Canadian commercial fishing industry. It appears to this uneducated observer that the Lake Erie Committee has caved in to pressures by the Canadians and in so doing COULD do serious harm to the walleye population. My response was to write to our Governor (yes that guy), since Ohio is well represented by folks drawing a paycheck from this state on the Commission, asking how this could happen? As usually I don’t expect my letter to do any good but I feel better. I ask that you do your own research, make up your own minds and act accordingly.

April 11, 2005 (Monday) Not much to add from Saturday and Sundays report, other than most everyone who was walleye fishing handled a lot of fish, so at the suggestion of one of our readers this might be a good time to remind everyone how to handle walleye that you are going to release.

If possible don’t handle them at all, try and remove the hook while leaving the fish in the water, this can sometimes be done using needle nose pliers while leaning over the side of the boat. If that does not work, lift the walleye into the boat with the fishing line or net if necessary, then try and remove hook without handling the fish. IF that is not possible then wet your hands before taking a hold of the walleye and try to not remove anymore of the slim from the fishes body than necessary. The main problem is fish are coated with a slim layer that protect them from disease, so once this is disturbed they become susceptible to disease and can die later from being handled.

April 10, 2005 (Sunday) Reports indicate its been a great weekend, limits of walleye were the norm, with some coming is one hour or less. Jigs and minnows are still the most productive baits with blades coming in second. One person reported taking limits on spoons trolled around 15 feet down on or near the reefs. Reports say Turtle Island, Little Cedar Point, Davis-Besse, Locust Point and Cone were all big producer areas. Look for spawned out females to start turning up off the outer range markers and around the islands soon.

Now let’s all say a little prayer that the weather holds with no big storms for another few weeks and we could have another great spawn. That on top of the 2003 hatch would set up for years to come.

April 9, 2005 (Saturday) Several good reports from today on and near the reefs, Niagara and Toussaint Reefs were both hot as well as inside close to shore off Turtle Creek. ½ oz jigs and ½ oz Vibe’s tipped with big minnows seem to be the best baits. The fish are moving out away from the shore indicating to me that many have spawned out and are on the move. IF it’s a big female you are after try just north of the reef line out around B and C cans. Use your sonar to locate pockets of fish and work them hard.

We are packing for the big move next Wednesday so my weather reports will be first hand after that. I hope to get the boat ready and in the water by May 1^st.

April 8, 2005 (Friday) Limit catches in an hour are not uncommon, walleye are being caught all along the reefs, Locust, Toussaint, Flat Rock and just east of Little Cedar Point are all reporting limit catches. Jigs and minnows are the best producer with blades coming in second. Most reports are of walleye in the 20 to 24 inches range which I suspect are males. Bigger females will be moving out around the outer range markers after spawning.

Kelley’s Island to Gull Shoals area is starting to come on also, this should be the females coming off spawn and heading back into the central basin, also west of North Bass and the channel between North and Middle Bass Islands.

April 7, 2005 (Thursday) When the weather is decent the fishing has been decent. Several report from the Davis-Besse area of good walleye catches around ½ mile from shore. The walleye seem to be from in front of Camp Perry all the way to Little Cedar Point (West toward Toledo) area. 10 to 15 feet of water seems to be best depth. Best baits were jigs in chartreuse, green or white with either lime green twister tails or big minnow (3 inch). All reports lately have been from Camp Perry to the west but I suspect there will be walleye about anywhere there are reefs or rivers to spawn on. With the warming weather the spawn should be in full swing or close to it. Lets all hope for a calm and warming trend for the next month or so and we will have a good spawn.

April 5, 2005 (Tuesday) The best walleye catches seem to be coming from an area ~ ¼ to ½ mile off shore from Davis-Besse, Turtle Creek and Wild Wings. Looking at the Aprils map there is an elevation line just north of K-Can that crosses near Locust Point Reef running east and west. This seems to be the center of the activity right now. Some big females are being caught but mostly smaller males in the 17 to 22 inch range. As the females spawn out they will move out off the reef into deeper water near or a little north of the outer range markers. With the very cold water temperatures slow retrieves or trolling will be necessary.

The river fishermen are doing well in the Maumee River east of the US-23 (I-475) bridge from Button Wood to Fort Miegs. They are mostly using Carolina rigs with float head jigs tipped with minnow.

April 4, 2005 (Monday) I have one report from Friday saying that limits of males were taken Friday evening within 200 yards of shore off of Wild Wings Marina. Then the big winds of the weekend ended all that but I expect they will be back in there as soon as the water clears a little.

Any of you still wanting maps, need to get your order in soon. Once we move to Port Clinton (April 15^th) I will change the order information to that address BUT any that get caught in the switch, it could take a while for the US Mail to get them forwarded.

April 2, 2005 (Saturday) South Bass weather station shows winds of 15 knots with gusts to 25 knots, open water predictions are for north gales of 35 to 45 knots. I don’t think anyone will be fishing today and tomorrow does look a little better with wave still in the 9-foot range.

I have one report of river walleye being caught in the area of Fort Meigs on the Maumee River starting this past Tuesday. “Float head jigs and Carolina rigs” were the bait used.

April 1, 2005 (Friday) Reports say that walleye are being taken between Fenwick Marina and Davis-Besse power plant. The walleye are in 15 foot of water or less not far from shore. Most are being taken on purple or blue hair jigs tipped with a shiner minnow but one report says they took walleye slow trolling a rattling rogue (blue back, purple belly) 30 to 50 feet behind inline boards.

The weather is not looking good for this weekend with 3 to 5 foot waves predicted as well as gale force winds Saturday night and Sunday.

March 31, 2005 (Thursday) I got a report yesterday that the dock were being put in at Catawba State Park. Decent catches of big perch are being taken north of the lighthouse off Marblehead. The water temperature seems to have dropped a couple of degrees lately, and water conditions are still muddy, all of which may cause the spawn to be a little later this year. We plan to make the move back to the lake somewhere around the 15^th of April. I am really in no hurry, with the three walleye limit and price of gasoline if I can get on the water by the 1^st of May I will be satisfied.

March 30, 2005 (Wednesday) If I had the money I have wasted on every kind of spoon box, container, holder, etc I could buy a couple of tanks of gas at today’s prices. One of our readers has come up with what I think is the best idea to hold spoons I have seen so far. This is a plastic box but with a unique pad inside that has slits in it into which you stick the non-hook end of the spoons. Each box holds up to 60 spoons, they can’t rattle around, get tangled and hooked together, fall out or chip off the paint. Three or four of these will definitely be in my tackle bag this year. To see what they look like and for a list of retailers go to the following link and click on “spoon caddy”, he also has some harness holders that also look promising. http://maxedoutenterprises.com/index.html

I have no personal stake in this product and only bring it to your attention because I feel it is a good product worthy of you taking a look at.

March 29, 2005 (Tuesday) Recently on Walleye Central there was a thread regarding how fish should be packaged and in what condition when being brought back from the islands on a ferry boat. I sent a question to ODNR asking for clarification on this subject and the following is their answer. You might want to read the messages from the bottom up as my question is on the bottom and the ODNR answer is on the top.

Dean,

Let me give you the part of OAC 1501:31-13-08 (CURRENT REGULATION) that pertains to fillets:

“It shall be unlawful for any person to possess a fish in any form or condition other than in the round while on or when unloading the fish from a boat, or when the fish are placed in a container or vehicle on shore, on or near a dock or pier, or when leaving the shore in a vehicle after unloading the boat at or on waters in this state where a fishing license is required.”

(The definition for “Round”, as stated in OAC 1501:31-1-02 Definition of Terms, states “when used in describing fish means with head and tail intact”). You cannot posses the fish in fillet form, skin or not.

This rule is and has been in effect for years. Nothing about leaving the skin on has changed (it is written in the fishing regulations each year as “It is unlawful to clean fish or possess filets while on or at a body of water.” Check in the section labeled “GENERAL INFORMATION”

The proposed change to the rule is as follows:

PARAGRAPH (A) HAS BEEN AMENDED AND THE WORDS “OR WITHIN ONE QUARTER MILE” HAVE BEEN DELETED.

PARAGRAPH (C) HAS BEEN AMENDED AND THE WORDS “OR WHEN TRANSPORTED OR STORED IN A CONVEYANCE MORE THAN ONE QUARTER MILE FROM LAKE ERIE, OR ANY STREAM, RIVER, OR OTHER BODY OF WATER WHERE FISHING THERIN REQUIRES THE LICENSES IN SECTION 1533.32 OF THE REVISED CODE, PROVIDED THE FISH SO STORED OR TRANSPORTED WERE TAKEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ABOVE DAILY LIMITS” WERE DELETED.

PARAGRAPH (J) HAS BEEN AMENDED AND THE WORDS “WHEN FISH ARE PLACED IN A CONTAINER OR VEHICLE AT THE SHORE ON OR NEAR A DOCK OR PEIR, OR WHEN LEAVING THE SHORE IN A VEHICLE AFTER UNLOADING THE BOAT AT OR” WAS DELETED AND THE WORDS “WHILE FISHING FROM SHORE” AND “PROVIDED FURTHER, IT SHALL BE LAWFUL TO POSSESS FISH IN THE WHOLE OR AS A FILET WITH THE SKIN ATTATCHED WHILE RETURNING FROM THE LAKE ERIE ISLANDS ON A COMMERCIAL FERRY BOAT” WERE ADDED.

WITH THESE CHANGES IT WILL BE UNLAWFUL THROUGHOUT THE STATE TO POSSESS ANY FISH WHILE ON THE WATER OR WHILE FISHING FROM SHORE IN ANY FORM OTHER THAN IN THE ROUND EXCEPT WHEN RETURNING FROM THE LAKE ERIE ISLANDS ON A COMMERCIAL FERRY.

*A small amount of skin on a fillet would not be sufficient, as the fish needs to be left in the round.

*As far as what the Division is trying to identify, number of fish (checking bag limits), size, and species are all correct.

*The general rule when you do package fish is that they are packaged in daily bag limit, and labeled according to the date. If you are not coming back from the islands on a commercial ferry, you can still package your fish this way, but they must be kept in the round (and filleted at a later date). This rule was proposed to allow people who come to the islands for extended periods the opportunity to package their fish. This rule also excludes the fishermen who are not staying on the islands, because they obviously have other ways of keeping their fish (taking them home/off of the water to clean).

I hope that this answers your questions.

I can send you the proposed rule changes in hard copy form if you provide a mailing address.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.

ODNR Division of Wildlife

Law Enforcement Section

-----Original Message-----

From: Dean [mailto:dean@cinci.rr.com]

Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 8:58 AM

To: Wildinfo

Subject:

Recently on the Internet there has been a lot of "chatter" regarding (I

think) proposed rule changes about people returning to the mainland from Lake Erie Islands with fish. On the Ohio Sea Grant site Kevin Ramsey (ODNR Lake Erie Law Enforcement Supervisor) was quoted that the 1/4 mile rule has been dropped but that with regard to people returning to the mainland via ferryboat the skin should be left on the fillets.

My question is;

* Should all the skin be left on fillet or is a small amount sufficient?

* If a person stays on the islands a week how should the fillets be packaged? Singly, one fish to package, meal size, etc? (Remember the fillets will be frozen)

* What is ODNR trying to identify? Species, numbers, size, etc?

* Why would you not enforce limits, size, etc on the island just like you do on the mainland and once people have processed their catch that's basically the end of it?

Please understand that I am all for keeping everyone "legal" and my reason for asking these questions is to clarify what is expected so people are not cited out of ignorance.

Regards, Dean Clifton

Fishing Lake Erie Aboard "Denied"

mailto:dean@cinci.rr.com

http://www.cliftond.com/

March 28, 2005 (Monday) I have received a few more reports from the weekend. It sounds to me and others that the season may be a little behind last year by a week or two. Water temperature is mostly in the mid 30s with 37 degrees reported off Marblehead. Several reports of lots of fish marks stacked and waiting to move onto the reefs and up the rivers, especially off Marblehead and Sandusky bay. The walleye are waiting on the water temperature to warm to near 40 degrees, which will trigger the spawn.

I did get one positive report from NE of Marblehead where on Saturday some folks boated 5 walleye and several fat perch. Baits were white Swedish pimples and white VibeEs.

REMEMBER, 3 walleye limit, 15-inch minimum.

March 27, 2005 (Sunday) Got a report from folks fishing Sandusky bay near the old railroad bridge. The water was muddy and no walleye were caught. It may still be a little early or the muddy conditions are keeping the fish from seeing the bait.

Reports from the Maumee River say “some” walleye are being caught between 18 and 22 inches but it is still slow going. Again it’s just a little early and the water conditions are not helping.

March 26, 2005 (Saturday) A few reports are coming in, the one thing they all agree on is “its cold out there”. Water temperature is still in the low to mid 30s. Good to limit catches are reported when clear water can be found. Best reports came from inside just off the beach in front of Camp Perry, Starve Island and west of Mazurik’s access. Most walleye are being taken using purple hair jigs or purple pimples and minnows. A big blow came through Friday night and muddied up the lake big time shutting down the fishing for a few days. This is typical and can be expected up into late May.

Personally I think I will wait a few weeks, that water could freeze the prop right off my boat, if you know what I mean J.

March 25, 2005 (Friday) There are times the we think that the law enforcement people are a hindrance keeping us from doing what we want but think about what would happen without laws and the people to enforce those laws. Recently 16 people were convicted of illegal commercial sale of walleye and white bass. The story was on a Columbus TV web site and can be view by clicking the following link.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/4310467/detail.html

I personally would like to say “Well Done, Ohio DNR” and thanks for protecting our natural resources.