Fishing Reports

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There has been a fair amount of wind the past few days.  It blew hard out of the south, and then the front came through last night and it went NW today.  Maybe we'll get our wind out of the way early this fall and then have a calm October/ November.  Right now the Saturday forecast is back to south, but increasing in velocity.  It might be a good day to try some nearshore perch or walleye fishing.  See my report from this past Sunday if you're going to be around Huron.

A report came in from Kelleys Island Shoal earlier this week that said even in the rough conditions walleye were being caught on the west end of the shoal.  I've heard from other sources that the action has been pretty good out there with most fish in the 18 to 24" range and a select few near 30".  Both drifting and trolling have put fish in the boat.  Look for bigger fish to be moving back into  shallower structure all around the lake in the coming weeks.

A perch report from the far west was marginal at best.  It sounds like white perch have been a real pain over the last few weeks.  The Toledo water intake, turnaround buoy of the shipping channel, and little cedar point are all producing yellow perch (with little cedar point being the best), but the white perch are relentless.  It might take patience and a lot of shiners to get your limit, but the yellow perch are there.  Another spot to try over by Toledo is the harbor light.  If you've read the Denied page over the last few years you probably have spreaders with chrome blue blades in your arsenal.  If not get a few and give them a try.  A few regular reporters really clean up with them.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 13 knot NW wind, 2.0 feet waves, 56 degree air temperature, 64 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis

Not much new to report.  There is a front coming through Wednesday afternoon that's going to drop the highs into the mid to upper 50's later in the week.  The wind forecasts aren't flattering but after the front passes the wind is supposed to make it back around to southerly directions by the weekend.  After the Hawg Fest I can't wait to catch the big fish as they come back this fall.  Many of the fish weighed in at the tournament were already very fat and looked to be in a fall feeding mode.  When the trophies make it back it will be fun.  There are plenty of 2003's to provide fast action and the with the big fish returning there is always a chance for a fall giant.  Now all we need is for the weather to cooperate to be able to enjoy it.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 13 knot E-SE wind, 0.7 feet waves, 63 degree air temperature, 65 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

The Hawg Fest tournament and meal on Saturday was a blast.  Compared to last year the fishing was great with LOTS of 2003 walleye being caught in addition to some real nice fish.  The fall big fish bite isn't on yet, but we are much farther ahead of last year at this same time.  The tournament was well run and had it's best attendance yet with 80 boats competing, and the food was great as always at the party afterwards.

I fished the tourney with my dad and my friend Kevin.  I have to admit we did much better than we expected to.  We hadn't fished for walleye for about a month and just went out and hit spots that had been good in past years.  We ended up with 5 fish that weighed over 22 pounds and it was good enough for 5th place.  Our biggest fish was just over 7 pounds.

We started the day out in shallow water (less than 15') west of the Huron River pulling all crankbaits.  After catching two trophies (drum and channel catfish) on one pass we headed out to the Huron dumping grounds.  We trolled diagonally from SW to NE across the entire dumping grounds with 2 harnesses and 4 cranks without a single hit.  There were some decent marks in a few areas but they weren't interested in our lures.  By 11:00 I figured that we didn't have much time left to find some active fish if we were going to have any chance at all.  I fell back on the area from Old Woman's Creek to Ruggles Reef nearshore just east of Huron.  Just before noon we had trolled from Old Woman's Creek to Route 61 and figured that our luck might have run out this year.  Then between noon and 2:30 we caught 9 fish in 22 feet of water from Route 61 to Ruggles Reef.  The best area started at route 61 and ended right in front of Cranberry Creek.  If we got shallower than 21' or deeper than 23' we didn't catch fish.  8 of the 9 came on Reef Runner crankbaits 40 to 50' back on both mono rods and superline (braid) rods.  The best color was Blue Hawiian, with mooneye minnow and chartreuse head wonderbread also working.  The one other fish was our 7 pounder that hit a blue hawiian ripstick 80' back on braided line.  That single lure (the B-H ripstick) has caught more of our big fish than any other crankbait we own.

Our speed was 2 to 2.2 mph (GPS speed over ground).  The fish were pretty aggressive for about 2.5 hours and then shut off as quick as they turned on.  At first we were also running a few harnesses, but they only seemed to want cranks.  We were one of the few boats fishing the area.  It was interesting to hear that other boats in the tourney caught fish on everything from spoons and harnesses to cranks.  Most fish were caught out in deeper water between Huron and the Sandbar.  Some boats caught fish early and then couldn't catch anything later, while others couldn't catch then early and then did catch them in the afternoon.

The only other reports so far are perch reports from Friday and they were both good.  "B" can on the Camp Perry range gave up limits on gold crappie rigs, and  0.25 miles north of the Marblehead lighthouse was also consistent.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 23 knot W-SW wind, 3.3 feet waves, 63 degree air temperature, 65 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis

The wind calmed down today and even though the forecast is for increasing winds they are supposed to be out of southerly directions through Saturday.  I have all of my muskie equipment pulled off of the boat and the boat is airing out from the week long trip.  I'm ready to chase after walleye again after a long break from pulling planer boards around.

The only report from the last few days said that perch fishing around the Toledo water intake and gravel pit was tough.  It's not that the perch aren't around.  The problem is that the white perch are hitting so fast that the yellow perch aren't able to get to the bait.  Three anglers ended up landing 47 yellow perch along with numerous white perch.

I put the pictures of our two biggest muskie from our vacation up on the WBSA page.  My 46.5" muskie can be accessed at:

http://www.westernbasinsportfishingassociation.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=887&cat=500&ppuser=6

My brother-in-law Mike's 52.5" fish is at:

http://www.westernbasinsportfishingassociation.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=888&cat=500&ppuser=6

There are bigger fish out there, but the 52.5" fish was giant.  It was a healthy fish, but I can't imagine what it will look like in a month or so when it's stuffing itself with spawning whitefish.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 11 knot E wind, no waves, 60 degree air temperature, 67 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

It's back to reality for me as I returned from 8 days in Minnesota on Monday.  I had a great trip with my dad, brother-in-law Mike, and his dad.  We spent all of our time muskie fishing on Leech Lake, Wabedo Lake and Little Boy Lake.  We would have like to fish Leech more, but late-week wind prevented it.  We could have been out there, but boat control was nearly impossible in the "Lake St. Clair-like" 2 feet chop that piles right up on each other.  Wabedo and Little Boy are smaller lakes with muskie that offered refuge from the wind.

Over the week our two boats had 60-some confirmed muskie follows or hits.  We hooked 12 of them and landed 8.  The largest was Mike's monster 52.5" fish from Leech and my largest was a 46.5" fish from Leech.  We caught all of the fish casting with most coming on jerkbaits.  On Leech we were fishing the incredible rock (boulder) reefs that are scattered around the lake and in the smaller lakes we were fishing mostly weeds and reeds.

I won't bore you with all the details of the trip, but it was more fun than I can convey.  It was a great trip spent with family doing nothing but thinking about muskies.  We spent all day fishing for them and then talked about them at night in the cabin.  It was the best week of muskie experience that I've had to date.  I can't wait to get back up there in the future for another week of chasing muskie.

As Marc promised I will have pictures up shortly if you want to see a few of the big muskie that we caught.

I went through the 20-some e-mails that came in over the last week and Marc is up-to-date with the reports.  Besides the e-mails I've heard that the Catawba Green Can has been really good for perch with the size being better than you might expect from there.  Other traditional fall spots have been producing perch and reading Marc's reports from the last few days would be a good start if you're fishing this coming weekend.

It's back to work for me and also back to thinking about walleye for this weekend's Huron Hawg Fest.  We'll be fishing it blind, but I'm sure that we'll have a good time.  I'll be handling the reports again so keep the e-mails coming.  I don't say it enough, but thanks to all of you that keep us up to date.  Without you this site wouldn't be as usefull as you all tell us it is.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 25 knot W wind, 3.6 feet waves, 58 degree air temperature, 67 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis

Well I got up Sunday morning, called a buddy to go out and he said gonna be rough but OK. After looking at the wind forecast, I changed my mind and stayed home instead so no direct report from me yet. Shouild have gone as it wasn't that bad nearshore.

We are getting quite a few perch reports however and most of them are pretty good with limits or near limits of nice sized fish. Fast action was had just north of Mazurik ramp in 22 FOW but sizes ran small. B-Can area was fast action early then a slow down with decent fish caught and some sorting. They also reported good sized perch being caught both 1 mile south and north of West sister. Nice sized perch were also caught east of Ballast and north of Green this weekend, they reported that not much sorting was needed but the action was steady if not fast. 1/2 mile east of D Can produced limits of perch on Friday and Saturday and a 1/2 mile closer to D Can on Sunday, incidental walleyes were caught each day in this area as well. 48 FOW north of Beaver Park produced this weekend and also NE of Vermilion in 28 FOW. Other areas that produced were SE corner of Kelleys.(big perch but no limit), Niagra, and just starting to bite again north of Huron. Still no word coming in about Anchor Point and the west end of the lake for you west end guys. We'll report it when we get it.

Walleye are slowly picking up again with some big fish being caught around the bar and north and west a couple miles. The ruggles area is starting to shape up again as well with a few good catches being had. Overall it is still somewhat slow though. The reefs are producing walleyes again and would be a good place for catching those 03's and also Northwest Reef has had some good if spotty catches. Woody at Cranberry Creek says that Smallmouth are turning up more often along with perch & walleye north of the castle. 

I still intend on getting out and giving some first hand reports. Maybe on Tuesday!

Marc

Reports are extrememely slow yet but 2nd hand info says that perch are biting for some near the firing range cans and that shiners are starting to be iffy to find. There's still a lot of dirty water around but west of the islands looks to have better water than Sandusky and east to Lorain (at least near shore).

There were some walleye caught north of vermilion today, the action wasn't fast but nice sizes were taken by those that did figure out a program. Still mostly a spoon and dipsy bite but I'd suggest keeping at least 1 or 2 harnesses out there if trolling. The forecast is still looking pretty good for the next week and by mid week we ought to be back to catching instead of washing lures.

There have been no reports west of West Sister for a week or more. Everybody over that way give up? Perch should be going pretty well over that way and the water looked pretty decent according to the satellite view today. Help us out if you can.

I'll be going out of Huron tomorrow and at least a couple times during the week. I'm not fishing the Hawg Fest tournament so if I get into them you will all get good numbers from my catches. I expect the walleye reports will be slower this week as people stay mum until Saturday.

Marc

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last few days but to tell the truth the winds have stirred things up again in the Vermilion area that I keep up to date with and there's not much to report from first hand or in reporting from others. Water nearshore and around the islands muddied up again with the blows last weekend and it's not clearing up very fast. There are pockets of cleaner water around though and if you keep an eye on the Satellite images the next couple of days it may give an indication where to start.

The weather for the next week or so seems to be settling and that will bode well for the weekend of the 23rd but for this weekend I'd suggest trying the area west of Green and North Bass, and north and west of the Sandbar for the eyes and north of Niagra down toward Port Clinton for the perch. Before the blow we also got good reports on perch on top of the sandbar. There should be a pretty good perch bite if the weather settles down as it's forecasted to. Walleye may be tough to get going for a few days yet. Not much of a report I know. Hopefully things straighten out quickly for us all.

Other news is that I heard from Travis yesterday and he's having the opposite problem that we are. his weather in Minnesota is too good! He has caught a few muskies though. He got a 43 and his Brother in law got a 52". He's hoping for some wind and cooler conditions to roll in so that they fire up better. He has some good photos to share when he returns and I'm sure some stories to tell.

Marc

I finally got a line wet after more than three weeks of landlock. Fished with the Outreach Walleye Club's State Kid's championship out of Cranberry Creek Marina with a 10 YO girl named Sam and her father. Cranberry and Oureach put on a great show for the kids and I'm sure they had a great time and really enjoyed their priozes. I decided to fish close to Huron because of the iffy afternoon weather and only managed 2 Walleye and those didn't come until late in the day down towards Cedar Point. One of them was 4 1/2 pounds though and the girls new big fish so that was cool. Blue Dolphin Charters/Gary Zart's kid won the tournament with around 25 pounds of weight and a huge 9 1/2 # walleye. they caught a lot of fish on harnesses and spoons at the 40-20 lines near the bar. 6 other WBSA members donated their time and boats as well. They were Larry Woods of Bad Boy charters, Steve Carlson, Troy Swanger of Reel Pursuit Charters, Dan Gies, & Joe Napaver.

Other Walleye reports came from North of the B & C cans by both drifters and trollers, the sandbar had probably the best results we heard this weekend so far and the nearshore bite at Huron just hasn't developed again yet although a few are beginning to be caught. One thing I noticed was that the bait around Huron wasn't organized yet (Balled up) and that the water while getting cleaner still had a ways to go.

Perch results are still going good at the Green Catawba can and the results of the Wild Wings Perch tournament this weekend show that there are some big perch around north of Niagra and C can. The winners had 10 perch that measured 119.6 inches for nearly a 12" average with not much sorting but not a boat limit either. Traditional methods of spreaders and shiners with some golden shiners worked for them after moving around a few times when the bite went slow. Team members were Marty Kruser, Tony Barry, Jerry Meyers Jr, Jerry Meyers Sr. and Dan Tucker

Weather kicked up again Saturday afternoon and I doubt there will be too many reports for a couple days until things settle down towards the middle of the week but if we get them we'll report them.

Marc

Marc here! Travis is off to Cheeseland for musky fishing and I wish him good weather and luck.

Perch fishing has been the norm from our reports recently. The areas above Niagra and C Can have been dominant in our reports as well as between Rattlesnake and Green Island. We did get a bummer report yesterday that the Rattlesnake/Green Island didn't produce much besides White perch in 2 days for a group of boats though. Another area that has fired up for fast action but lots of sorting is the area around the Green Catawba Island can. Quick limits and lots of sorting are needed and White perch are bothersome there as well. The water nearshore at Ruggles and Vermilion is still muddy and not producing very well for perch or Walleye but that should change as the water cleans up. There were a lot of boats out of Mazurik ramp yesterday afternoon. the water looked good from shore and the Lakeside/Marblehead area ought to be producing but I've received no reports from that area at all, except for 2nd hand reports of slow fishing east of Kelleys. Have any Denied readers been fishing this area? Reports would be appreciated.

Walleye reports are few but the successful ones are north of B&C Cans at the range and way out at the Sandbar. Trollers and drifters are getting near limits but not the fast action of a few weeks ago.  Some bigger fish are starting to show up in the Lorain and Vermilion catches.

Weather forecasts for this weekend looks very fishable with maybe some 2-4' waves building Sunday.

This will most likely be my last report before I head to Minnesota for a muskie fishing trip on Leech Lake.  Marc will be handling the reports while I spend long days casting 9" lures chasing the elusive 50" trophies.

The perch fishing is definitely picking back up.  Limits are the rule coming from Niagara Reef, "C" can of the Camp Perry range, from the Green Buoy at Catawba Island towards Mouse Island, and S of Rattlesnake Island.  Decent fish were reported in all of those areas, but Niagara by far had the best grade of fish even though it wasn't the quickest limits.  Rattlesnake and Catawba produced some fast fishing with sorting required to thin out the smaller ones.

An interesting observation was made S of Rattlesnake.  When the fishing slowed on the bottom all of the marks seemed to have moved up to about 4 to 5' off of the bottom on the depthfinder.  Pulling the perch rigs up off the bottom produced better action.  Then when the marks moved back down to the bottom it was  necessary to drop the rigs back down.  It sounds simple but you might not notice if you don't trust your electronics.  The lesson is that it isn't always necessary to burn gas and find different spots.  You might be able to improve your results just by learning how to read your sonar and then reacting to what you see.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 9 knot NE wind, no waves, 69 degree air temperature, 71 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis

Reports coming in from last weekend confirm what everyone else has been saying.  This past weekend might have been the worst of the year.  It was the first extended NE/E blow of the year, and it really slammed the door on the past week's fishing.  Things have calmed down and the waves have subsided, but it will be a waiting game to see how long it will take for water clarity and fishing to improve.

The two latest walleye reports were absolute zeroes.  One frequent reporter that always manages to catch fish had a very tough day.  He fished from 6 miles N of Lorain to 14 miles N of Avon.  He landed a total of 2 white bass.  The good news is that there were good marks N of Avon and that the water starts clearing up at about 7 miles out.

The other fishless walleye report came from Gull Island Shoal.  There were good marks E of the shoal in 22 to 36' feet, but the water was cloudy and the fish wouldn't bite.

A decent perch report came in from yesterday.  Three fishermen fished 0.5 miles W of Green Island for about 1.5 hours.  They caught around 40 perch and kept 12 of them that were from 9 to 10.5".  Firetiger spreaders were the ticket.  Gold or fluorescent yellow didn't work nearly as well, and crappie rigs didn't catch a fish.

Right now the latest forecast has less than 2 feet waves in the forecast until Friday when it becomes 1 to 3' waves, but out of the SW.  Unfortunately at this early juncture the weekend forecast has taken a turn for the worse with the wind becoming 10 to 20 knots NE on Saturday through Sunday with waves increasing to 3 to 5'.  Let's hope that it changes before the weekend (as it usually does) and we don't have a repeat of last weekend.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 3 knot E wind, no waves, 70 degree air temperature, 72 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

I ended up spending the weekend with family away from the lake so I'll be depending on reports to catch up on what happened over the weekend.  From what I've heard so far the perch pack is still NW of Green Island.  One perch report that came in said that easy limits of 8 to 10" fish were caught 0.5 miles south of the Rattlesnake Island "rattles" in 31' of water.  No other boats were around and the catching was easy.

Don't forget that there is a WBSA meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) night at Margarittaville on route 6 west of Sandusky at 7:00 pm.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 3 knot W-SW wind, no waves, 69 degree air temperature, 70 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.  The surface water temperature has fallen from a high around 80 earlier in August all the way to 70 in less than a month.  I'd say that we're headed for fall....

Travis