Fishing Reports

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The weather this past weekend was nearly as miserable as predicted and one of the hourly readings at the buoy measured the wave height at 9.5 feet (and that's just an average of the largest 33% of the waves).  Based on today's satellite photo the western basin is a muddy mess.  As always the strip of nearshore water from Ruggles to Vermilion appears to have already cleared up very quickly.  It also doesn't look too bad along Cedar Point west of Huron.

I haven't heard much and I'm not surprised considering the weather.  At the end of last week right before all of the wind some more walleye were caught at night casting off of the South Bass Island shoreline.  I also heard that some nice fish were caught during the day off of Sawmill Creek, but I don't know how far out.  It could have been out north of the Huron dumping grounds where fishing had been fairly consistent, but I'm not sure.

The forecast for the week isn't all that encouraging, other than the fact that we keep avoiding NE blows.  The water temperature is into the zone that I really look forward to each fall.  Now we just need a little help from the wind (or hopefully a lack-there-of).

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 13 knot S-SE wind, 1.0 foot waves, 56 degree air temperature, 48 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

I've received two new reports since Wednesday.  The first one is encouraging for night walleye anglers.  Fish are being caught casting from shore off of the east point of South Bass Island.  The size has been 17 to 24" and at times the action has been consistent.  That isn't a convenient area for most of us to get to, but it should be indicative of other fall hotspots.

The other report was a perch report from Thursday.  3 anglers caught about 40 perch in 35' of water just off of the Lucy's Point green can (east side of Middle Bass Island).  The size range was 7.75" to 9.5".

Batten down the hatches.  The most recent forecast has 60 knot gusts predicted for Saturday night.  That's right 60 KNOTS!  I don't think that I've seen that before.  That would put the gusts in the 70 mph range.  I hope they are wrong.  That will do damage on land and water.  Let's get through this blow and hope for mild weather.  As always they could be wrong, but don't make any plans to be out there in the 14 to 18' feet waves Saturday night.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 15 knot E wind, 3.0 feet waves, 48 degree air temperature, 49 degree water temperature, and rapidly falling barometric pressure.

In last year's reports I noticed that the water temp was 58 degrees on Oct. 25.  Every fall is different....

Travis

The wind finally laid down, but only for the next 48 hours or so according to the forecast.  The satellite picture is very cloudy, but a vague glimpse of the Ruggles/Vermilion area nearshore doesn't look horrible like I thought it might.  This wind has really been depressing.  I'm really looking forward to the first 3 or 4 day calm stretch that usually happens sometime in early November.

Only one report has come in since Marc's Monday night post (thanks Marc).  Over the past weekend a good grade of perch were caught NW of the Vermilion condos (east of the river mouth and breakwall).  28 to 30' of water was best with green-bladed spreaders near the bottom producing most of the fish.  4 hours of fishing on Sat. and Sun. produced slightly less than limits each day.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 9 knot W-NW wind, 0.7 feet waves, 44 degree air temperature, 49 degree water temperature, and steady barometric pressure.

On October 1 the surface temperature was 63 degrees at the buoy.  I really didn't imagine that we'd be in the 40's before November.  Over the short term quick temperature drops can shut fish down.  The upside is that along with daylight (length of day) cues this cold water should really kick the migrators back towards Huron and the islands.  Last year we had December ice and a January thaw.  Is a "normal" fall with January ice-up too much to ask for?

Travis

Travis has been sidetracked for a couple of days so I'll try to fill you all in on the few reports we've had since thursday last wek.

I fished off Vermilion last Thursday for a few afternoon hours. We managed to catch some fish but not even close to a limit with 1 at over 8 pounds and a couple around 4. All fish came on spoons on dipsy's at 80 back on a 2 setting. We had tried cranks for a couple hours with no luck before putting on the small Stinger and Silver Streak spoons. Chartreuse ad purple were the winning colors. We were at the 28-23 area off Vermilion. We also tried the night bite down by Cranberry with no luck at all.

Saturday I fished the WCGT with my girlfriedn and we really struggled to catch just a couple 03's. We were near the winners of the Bragging rights tourney and actually ran at least 2 lines with their winning program but it didn't work for us. We moved to the 28-23 lines later in the day and caught 1 steelhead and dropped another for sure. I think if we had sped up that we may have pulled all the Steelhead that we wanted and the timing is right for the trout to be in the area. If you are in Vermilion try running some spoons or small cranks up high and fast. they are fun to catch.

We didn't attend the WCGT weigh in with our miserable catch and instead went in for a bite to eat and then came back out for the night bite. There again we did poorly until later in the evening when we bumped our speed to 2.5- 2.8, which in my mind is too fast for night fishing but that's what they wanted. I called a buddy and told him to try more speed and it worked for him as well with a 7 ponder soon after speeding up.

The few walleye reports we got this weekend were a good night bite, shortly after dark, off Catawba with a blue glass Shad Rap on a short lead being the hot lure for a fast limit. A Saturday report showed a slow bite early 6 miles off shore from huron that turned into a good steady bite when they came in closer to 25-35 FOW in late afternoon. The majority of their fish came on a Shad Rap knockoff with no color mentioned. Another report off Huron was nearly identical except that Gold Clown Reefrunners were the hot lure.

The perch reports were poor this weekend form all we've heard. I'm sure someone somewhere got into them but they haven't told us about it yet. got a good report? Let us know, actually I'm about in the mood for a good perch trip myself.

The WBSA Shootout this weekend was poorly attended probably because of miscommunication and conflict with the WCGT. the winner was Rob Cline and boater Ed ??? They had 19 pounds and fished the Sherrod to Castle area. We will have this minimal fee tournament series until iceout when weather permits. We expect to see some huge weights as the water tempos cool and those hawgs move closer to shore.

Travis updated his helpful hints page today. Check it out! It's good information about cold water fishing.

The Weather buoy is reporting rough water and Small Craft Advisories through Tuesday afternoon but the long range forecast is looking promising for next week and maybe this weekend. The est bet for finding wool blankets would be at a Army/Navy Surplus store. I know there's on in toledo and if your in the area it would pay to check it out and put one on your boat.

Marc

Two good perch reports came in from Wednesday.  Over in Cleveland slightly less than limits were caught 4 miles NE of East 55th street in 44' of water.  The size was good at 8 to 11.5" with few throw backs.  Closer to home in the western basin limits were caught 1.25 miles out of Cooley Canal at the 16.1/41.23 lines.  The size range was 8 to 10" and most were around 8.5".  The junk wasn't too bad and the best spreader blade colors were gold, firetiger, blue or silver.

You can tell that the weather is unstable because the forecast has really been jumping around.  In one forecast Saturday will look great, and then in the next it won't look good.  If you're thinking about going out this weekend I would wait until the last second to make a game-time decision based on the current buoy readings and the most recent forecast.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 15 knot N wind, 1.3 feet waves, 49 degree air temperature, 55 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

A few perch reports came in that are worth relaying.  On Sunday limits were caught in 38' of water at the Kelleys Island airport.  The size was decent with a few jumbos mixed in.  On Monday the same group went to the Catawba green buoy.  Although they didn't quite hit their limit the fishing was good until noon, and the catch included two monster perch over 14".  Farther east I've been hearing that shallow water has been the key for perch.  Nice fish have been caught in 25 to 30' of water right off the Vermilion breakwall and also east of the breakwall over near the condos.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 31 knot W-SW wind, 4.3 feet waves, 56 degree air temperature, 55 degree water temperature, and rapidly rising barometric pressure.

Travis

The weather just isn't making this fall very easy.  We've been lucky to have more south blows than north blows, but that's about where our luck ends.  Saturday we had sleet and snow on top of wind.  It didn't feel much like October.  I still feel like this fall will be better than the last few.  There are a lot of fish out there, and they didn't seem to migrate as far east this year.  They shouldn't have as far to come back compared to how late they stayed in NY last year.  The surface temp is now in the lower 50's and (as always) the best is yet to come.

Take a look at Sunday's satellite photo if you get a chance.  The islands and from Huron to Avon are all in very good shape considering all of the recent wind.  The western basin is bad, but at least around the islands is pretty clear.  Right now the wind is supposed to be from south directions through Thursday.  Let's hope that Friday is wrong (30 knots NW).  If you get a chance get out nearshore while the water is still clean.

As you might expect not much has come in from the weekend.  One report mentioned a few walleye off Huron Saturday and a few off of "C" can of the range on Sunday, but nothing consistent.  It sounds like some fish were caught offshore of Vermilion Sunday, but I don't have any first hand reports with specific details.

I'm tired of talking about the weather.  I think that we are due a good stretch of calm winds, right?

As Marc mentioned that Walleye Central get-together is this Friday in Vermilion.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to go, but it's a great chance to meet a lot of people passionate about Erie walleye fishing.  If you're able to go it will be worth your time.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 19 knot SE wind, 1.6 feet waves, 55 degree air temperature, 55 degree water temperature, and falling barometric pressure.

Travis

Friday the 13th has been an extremely windy day.  Gusts have been over 35 knots with waves around 7' at the can north of Vermilion.  Since the wind is SW the water level in the west end of the lake has really dropped.  All of our water is headed towards Buffalo.  Right now the forecast says the wind will let up a little and go west for the weekend before turning back south by early next week.  At least this hasn't been a noreaster.

I promised coordinates from my trip earlier this week, and here they are-

Hump just west of the Huron breakwall (where we caught a few fish Monday afternoon): 24.393/33.211

The marks at route 61 that wouldn't bite: 29.236 west line to 29.724 west line in 20 to 25' of water

Stretch of water just west of Sherod park that was good Sunday after dark (shallow rocky area, be careful!): 25.155/23.803 to 25.043/24.047

The hump west of the Huron river is a new area for me.  I usually fish some other spots over there, but this is the first time I've caught fish on that particular hump.  The route 61 lines are almost always worth a check.  That area holds fish most of the year.  Please be careful if you use the Sherod park coordinates.  I went as shallow as 9' and there are some nasty boulders in the area, especially between the coordinates that I gave and the shoreline.  If you fish in there you should check it out in the daylight before you troll it at night.  The coordinates at Sherod are only about 0.25 miles apart.  It was a small area, but produced pretty well Sunday night.

I failed to mention to all of you that earlier this week Marc had a birthday.  I won't give his age away, but he's no longer in his 50's.  Happy Birthday Marc!

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 35 knot SW wind, 6.9 feet waves, 50 degree air temperature, 57 degree water temperature, and steady barometric pressure.

Travis

It looks like we're in for some real nasty weather the next few days.  The good news is that at least they aren't calling for any north winds.  This weekend probably won't be good if the forecast holds up, but we're not looking at a sustained NE wind.  It should recover early next week if the weather improves.

Reports filtering in from the weekend and earlier this week are mostly perch reports.  Limits came from NE of North Bass Island by the border, the Catawba green buoy, and the turnaround buoy.  Other good spots included NE of Kelleys Island, E of Kelleys Island Shoal, and E of the Kelleys Island airport.

For walleye it sounds like the 29/29 lines were slow as was "F" can in the western basin.  I am starting to hear that the Lakeside pier is producing some night walleye.  It's that time of year and many of the piers will start giving up fish in the coming weeks.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 25 knot SW wind, 3.3 feet waves, 60 degree air temperature, 61 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis

Hindsight is always 20/20.  Knowing now that the nearshore fishing wasn't good today I would have stayed out later last night.  It wasn't spectacular last night, but it was very consistent.  Around 10:30 last night we decided that we'd rather get off the water and get some sleep so that we could get back out again today.  That was a poor choice.

Last night we fished right in front of Sherod Park in 9 to 11' of water.  (Sherod Park is on route 6 just west of Vermilion, but east of Ruggles Reef) We found a consistent area slightly west of Sherod in 9.5 to 10.5 feet of water that produced fish on most passes, with east to west passes being best.  I don't have the numbers handy right now, but I will get them off of my GPS.  Our speed was around 1.3 to 1.6 mph GPS speed over ground.  From 7 pm to 10:30 pm we landed 8 walleye and missed another 4 hits or so.  The biggest was 8.5 pounds and 3 were over 24".  The best set-up was Reef Runners 10' behind the boards.  The big fish came on Purple Demon and others came on Hot Tamale.  Ripsticks 20 to 30' back in purple prism and blue hawiian also worked.  It was a beautiful crystal clear flat calm night.  The nearly full moon really lit the sky up.  It was actually hard to see the boards when they were directly in line with the moon.  The water clarity nearshore is pretty good considering the blow.  I could see my prop on the big motor out to 20' deep or so, but then it got worse farther out.

Today was slow.  It sounded like the charters were doing well out by the bar.  I didn't have all day so I stayed nearshore.  There is a good group of fish at route 61 but I couldn't catch them.  The best marks were in 21 to 25' of water straight north of the route 61 smoke stack (or whatever that big brick stack is).  We had a pullback on a deep tail dancer 60' back and a ripstick 60' back, but no hook ups.  Before we went in I tried west of the Huron River.  We got 4 more hits and landed 3, with 1 being a huge drum.  The other 2 were nice walleye with the largest of the two being 5.5 pounds.  All 4 hits came on the same white-purple hot tiger ripstick 30' back.  The two walleye were on the hump just west of the dredge-spoil breakwall.  The hump comes up to about 14 or 15' with 18 to 20' of water around it.  Again, I don't have the numbers handy, but I'll write them down the next time I fire the gps up.

For walleye other good reports are coming from the following lines 30/20, 35/27 and especially 34/25.  Spoons with dipsys or jets and crankbaits are dominating the reports. On dipsys try 3.5 or 1.5 settings 95-115' and 55-75' back respectively.  Best spoon colors are blueberry muffin, kevorkian, metallic superman, and purple demon.  On the crankbaits only reef runners were mentioned with one report using Eriedescent.

Perch reports are mixed.  The only limit report came from N of Lucy's Point with a 4.5 hour 6 man limit. E of Kelleys Shoal produced the most consistent grade of 8 to 9's with a few larger.  Niagara is still producing some numbers, but less than limits of 7 to 8.5" fish.

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 19 knot N-NE wind, no waves (it just picked up), 62 degree air temperature, 63 degree water temperature, and steady barometric pressure.

Travis

I just got back from an evening/night trip west of Vermilion.  Two of us caught 8 walleye from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm.  The biggest was 8.5 pounds and 3 of the 8 were 24" or bigger.  We trolled 9 to 11' of water and caught fish on ripsticks and reef runners on short lines behind inline boards.  I'm going to bed right now because I have Monday off and I'm going fishing in the morning.  I'll put up a full report Monday evening if I have time to.

Fall is here and it's crankbait time if you like them as much as I do.

Travis

I made an error in yesterdays report. Where I said just east of Kelleys Island and to Vermilion it should have read Cranberry Creek and to Vermilion. I have corrected it but wanted to point it out if you've already read it. Sorry about that, these things happen more and more as I get a few days from my 60th birthday!

I got a link today for wool blankets and they seem to me to be a good deal. It was also suggested that Army/Navy Surplus stores would have them. http://www.majorsurplusnsurvival.com/

Waves were ferocious today and the couple boats that I heard went out didn't last long before they came back in. There were SCA'a all day today and into this evening. Nearshore in the Vermilion area is pretty muddy and I haven't heard from offshore but expect it to be stained somewhat. The satellite picture is cloudy east of Catawba but the water looks to be pretty bad west of there except for possibly around the islands and the current may take the muddy waters out there too. I am either going to concentrate my efforts for the eyes around Kelleys or offshore from Huron to Lorain this weekend.

Another safety tip from our WBSA meeting: Tie a rope from a front cleat to a back cleat with a sag in it. If you have trolling bags out you already have it. This rope gives a person something to grab onto and also if they work there way to the front of the boat while in the water, something to step on to assist in getting back in the boat. A rope ladder that you can quickly attach could also be of use to help get a big soaking wet guy back in the boat. If done right it shouldn't interfere with fishing or handling of the boat. Licensed Captains are required to have Throw rings and life jackets readily available. You sometimes only have seconds to respond and digging through a compartment might mean the difference in life of death for one of your buddies. Have that throw ring or cushion at immediate access at all times.

Travis should be back in the next day or so. I'll work on getting a safety tips page up on the info page and we'll let you know when we get it online. In the meantime visit the Division of Watercraft pages on the web and look around. There is a lot of good info there. http://www.ohiodnr.com/watercraft/safetips/default.htm

Reminder of a fun night in Vermilion on Oct 20th and 21st. The annual Walleye Central Get Together will be that weekend. Check out the walleye Central.com website for more information and try to make it if you can. They always have good food and some awesome raffles that will this year go to the Make a Wish foundation. They also have a free Bragging rights  tournament if the weather cooperates. Hope to see some of you there and make sure you tap me or Travis on the shoulder and introduce yourselves.

Marc

I looked at the wbsa mail box earlier today and saw no reports coming in. I wondered why until I looked at the Vermilion weather buoy and saw that North winds and 5.9 footers were showing up although most of the day Wednesday looked fishable. Small craft advisories are also in store until Thursday afternoon so I guess that would explain the lack of reporting.

This is the kind of wind that is damaging to the water clarity near the Ohio shoreline and it may take a few days for the water to settle down enough for the fishing to pick back up again. My guess is that clean water will be hard to find unless you go offshore  a ways. Sand Bar off Vermilion, Kelleys and Gull Shoals and around the Bass islands will probably be OK to fish for clarity this weekend but all nearshore waters should be iffy at best. There are usually streaks of clean water around the reef complex and in the flats north of the firing range and the water just east of Cranberry Creek and to Vermilion cleans up pretty fast due to some underground springs in the area. Let's hope for clear skies so that we can at least get a good satellite picture of where clean water is before we go out this weekend. Northeast winds are in the forecast til Friday and then they switch to mild southerly winds for Saturday and Sunday.

At last nights WBSA monthly meeting we had one of our best speakers ever, concerning boat safety issues. The coast gaurd number suggestion in yesterdays Denied Report, came out of that meeting and I'd like to pass on a couple more tips in the next few days that were brought up.

Now that cold weather is coming up you should be prepared for the worst. Hypothermia is a dreadful but avoidable thing to happen on the water. First off, good Goretex insulated clothing is recommended, however if you do get wet while on the water you will lose body heat rapidly especially if windy or in an uncovered boat while running in. The tip from the Watercraft people that stuck in my mind the most was to have a wool blanket available to wrap yourself or a passenger in and a bag of dry clothes to change into. Wool insulates even when wet and  it will slow body heat loss down greatly. I never thought about having a blanket aboard before but it makes sense to be prepared. I'll be looking around for those blankets in the next few days and if I find an economical source for them I'll let you all know. If one of you know a good source email us and we'll pass that on as well.

Marc

Travis asked me to update for the next couple of days due to his work schedules. I think he's just building comp time for musky and trophy walleye fishing this fall but I'll go along with it.

Perch reports are coming in pretty steady but they all have a common thread of sorting through either a lot of small perch or white perch and white bass to get limits or even numbers of keeper size perch although a few very healthy perch are being caught. NW of Kelleys in 40 FOW produced limits & East of Kelleys in 40 FOW off the airport produced 30 pretty quick perch but they too had to go through a lot of throwbacks and bait. The Green and Rattlesnake island areas were a bust for people reporting with what 1 person called anemic looking less that 8 inchers being about all they could cull out of the area.

Walleye limits were caught Monday at the 29/29 lines near Huron with 30 jets and spoons at 125 back and dipsy's with crawlers at a setting at 80-90 back. Action was fast and when they cleared lines after their limit they pulled 2 more. Sunday the action at Gull Shoal was slow but after a move to 38-40FOW between Cedar Point and Huron quick limits came there as well. All 2003 fish between 17-21". Everything worked for them, dipsy on a 3 setting at 100 back with wonderbread spoons, cranks at 180  back and gold bladed harnesses with 2 ounce bottom bouncers all pulled fish.

There's been a lot of wind lately but it hasn't been damaging wind for the most part and if we get some stable weather I see the best fishing of the year starting up, whether it be for perch, Walleye or Smallmouth. I know that's saying a lot after the summer season we just had and I hope I didn't just jinx everyone by saying it. We are also getting into true trophy season plus the steelhead opportunities that exist in the Vermilion river and rivers to the east for those that like that type of fishing.

There are also rumbling of a night bite starting up from shore around the islands. This is the kind of bite that we won't get real specific on because heavy boat traffic and noisy shoreline anglers can shut down these bites in a heartbeat. It is well worth taking some time and finding a spot to try it though and it should be starting in the popular spots pretty soon. Typical spots are the Huron pier, Marblehead area, Lakeside, Sandusky, Dempsey and Catawba. Find a spot and if you hear fish splashing around it means something is on a feed more often than not.

Boaters please be couteous to those fishing from shore at night and for Crying out loud, leave your lights on so other boaters know you are there. That is like my # 1 pet peeve every winter and I have the Coast gaurd number embedded in my cell phone to report all those that I see doing it. There is absolutley nothing more scary to me that seeing a boat 20 feet away from me at night that you had no clue was there. Hypothermia sets in quickly in this cooling weather. As a matter of fact the Coast Gaurd number should be programmed into anybodies cell phone that fishes Erie day or night. Here it is, just don't be calling them for a restaurant location. Save it for emergencies just like Channel 16. 419-798-4444

The initial reports from DNR trawls that have been mentioned in the Toledo Blade by Steve Pollick indicate that the walleye surveys show a weak class of fish for 2006 in spite of what on the surface looked to be a good weather pattern. A pleasant surprise though is that some small small mouth bass are showing up now and then from the walleye and perch fishermen as well as in the DNR trawls and it's the first I've heard of that for quite a few years.

Geez, I got a little windy tonight didn't I. Thanks to those of you that keep us informed and Travis get back before I bore all these guys to death!

Marc

After a nasty Saturday and some wind early on Sunday this evening really was beautiful.  Most reports that have come in are from Friday perching.  I'll start out with the few walleye reports.

Two walleye reports came in from Friday and both were slow.  No fish were caught by trolling from Niagara Reef to Northwest Reef and then back towards Rattlesnake Island.  There were some decent marks but no takers.  The other report was from over east around the 28/17 lines.  In 3 hours of trolling one 2003 size walleye was caught.  The lone Saturday report was a decent one.  Walleye were caught just west of Cranberry Creek in 17 to 23' of water, right around where I caught fish in the Hawg Fest.  The fish were around 21" and were caught by drifting planer boards with 2 ounce bottom bouncers and chartreuse worm harnesses (basically slow trolling with the wind).

The perch reports have ranged from not very good to limits.  Early last week a rare shallow water bite happened in Put-In-Bay harbor.  12.5' of water in the harbor produced 9.5 to 12" perch with gobies in their guts.  It was good for two days and then they were gone.  So goes shallow water fishing for about anything.

The rest of the perch reports were from Friday.  Out west, 0.25 miles E of the Toledo water intake, produced mostly junk (as it has lately).  A better spot was the Gravel Pit at the 45.071/13.380 lines.  Most of the perch were 8 to 9 inches with a few up to 10.5" and very few non-targets.  At about 1.5 miles NW of Green Island limits were caught, but specifically right in the mud.  The best tecnique was to slack-line the spreader right in the mud for 5 seconds, tighten the line, and then usually set the hook.  If you got even a few feet off the bottom white perch would attack.  Doubles were common in the mud with most of the perch running 8 to 9".  The last perch report came from around Kelleys.  A stop 1.5 miles N of the Mazuric ramp produced mostly junk, but 2 miles E of the Kelleys Island airport in 40' of water was good with minimal trash and perch from 8.5 to 11".  A final stop in 30' of water SE of Kelleys Island added some 8" perch, but too many non-targets.

I spent the last three weekends fishing between my Minnesota trip and the Hawg fest, so I stayed home and worked on the house this weekend.  Depending on weather I hope to make it back out for walleye soon, or even up to St. Clair for muskie.  I love fall fishing, but the weather has the final say as far as when and where you can fish.

I know that many of you are wondering about this year's hatch.  Steve Pollick of the Toledo Blade summarized the trawl results in a recent article.  For walleye it's not good.  Check the article out at:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060922/COLUMNIST22/609220376

The latest observation at the Vermilion weather buoy has 5 knot SW wind, no waves, 63 degree air temperature, 63 degree water temperature, and rising barometric pressure.

Travis