2006 Reports

Fishing Reports

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Lots of recent information is still coming in.  The following is a summary of all the walleye reports and all of them caught quite a few fish:

W of Green Island and the South Passage on jet20’s and 30’s 35 to 45’ back and up to 100’ back with crawler harnesses at 0.8 to 1.8 mph GPS.  The best blades were size 5 Northland colorados in rainbow chub and golden shiner, and also size 7 Bass Pro Shops XPS hatchet blades in rainbow or brown/gold.  Jet20’s caught more than the jet30’s.

2 miles N-NW of the Toledo water intake in 21-22’ of water on oil slick and Kevorkian stinger spoons.  A bump up to 2.5 mph greatly improved the catching.

Right around the Toledo water intake on size 1 dipsys 30’ back (not sure what setting) with boy/girl spoons, along with jet20’s 50’ back with the same spoons.

Two limit perch reports came from 33’ of water 300 yards S-SE of the Lucy’s point buoy (Middle Bass Island) and 32’ of water off of Peach Point (South Bass Island, south entry to PIB).  The Peach Point limit came in 45 minutes with 8 to 9.5” fish.  A much slower perch report came in from the Catawba green can in 23-24’ of water.  The good news was that although the perch fishing was slow there was minimal junk fish.

Marc will be covering the reports for a week or so since I’ll be headed out to do some muskie fishing and then will be busy at work next week.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has E-SE 7 knot winds, no waves, steady barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 66 degrees.

Travis

Two walleye reports came in today.  Over the weekend fish were caught west of Green Island on quite a few different set-ups.  Harnesses in Red/White or Chartreuse worked well behind 3 ounce bottom bouncers trolled 95 to 125' back from 1.7 to 2.5 mph.  Crankbaits that caught fish included gold and black Hot-N-Tots, purpledescent deep tail dancers 200' back, and a chrome Berkley Frenzy 110-160' back.  A gold Erie Dearie behind a dipsy even caught fish.

The other report today said that there are fish off the Vermilion condos in 40 to 43' of water.  It sounds like you can catch walleye from Ruggles Reef all the way to Lorain right now if you can find the best depth for the day.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has S 5 knot winds, no waves, falling barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 63 degrees.

The wind forecast is great, but watch out for the possible thunderstorms in the forecast through the weekend and into next week.  Today the storms were widely scattered, but a pretty good one went through Sandusky with some frequent lightning.

Travis

The fishing has beeen nothing short of awesome in wide areas of the lake. The fishing is so good that many people are double tripping and the DOW officers are working diligently to try and control it.

Alas but the courts are handing out fines that are less than most of you would believe. Parking tickets cost more, seat belt violations cost more, littering costs more, Hell, whens the last time any of you have heard of a $10 fine for ANYTHING! The latest round of fines in the Port Clinton court was mostly in the $10 range with a couple around $150 but suspended sentences if the offenders act like nice little boys for the next year or so. Gimme a break! These violations weren't for simple miscounting that cost a friend of mine $100 a couple years ago, these were blatant lawbreakers! This is even worse, in my eyes, than the commercial fiasco last year and their $30 fine! No wonder so many people are scofflaws if this is the best the courts can do!

This issue and the lackadaisical manner that the courts are dealing with it ought to bother you all if you have any sportsmans blood in you at all. The court that this happened in was the Ottawa County Court, The judge was, 

Frederick C. Hany II,

the address of the court is

Ottawa County Court
1860 E. Perry St.
Port Clinton, Ohio 43452

Clerks Office - 1-419-734-4143

We have 800-1500 people a day reading these reports. Phone calls from a good portion of you would be enough, I think, to let them know how the sportsmen in Ohio feel about this. You Port Clinton and Ottawa County folks would do well to reconsider your votes the next time that this guy comes up for reelection! You might want to look at your representatives a little more closely as well.

While I'm at it and on a roll let me remind you that Senate Bill 77 was passed unanimously in the Ohio Senate. The bill as passed is here: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_SB_77

This bill is now on it's way through the House and rumor has it that Representative Redfern is against this bill as he was against the bill last year to buy out the commercial netters. Expect to see more changes before it comes up for vote in the house if it doesn't get bogged down in committee again. The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee members are all listed here. http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Committee.jsp?ID=1  If you feel strongly about changing the laws on commercial fishermen then phone calls, emails and letters should be sent to all committee members to let them know how you feel. Contacting your own representative is also a good idea. From what I've been told phone calls and letters make a bigger impact than emails do.

Now read Travis' good fishing reports below this rant and good fishing to you if you make it out.

Marc

Thanks for all of the great reports from the weekend.  All of the reports included plenty of walleye being caught.  Here they go from west to east:

Toledo water intake to the Gravel Pit trolling monkey puke or chicken wing spoons or casting weight forwards with worms.

South of Round Reef to the picket fence (buoy line) casting gold and red harnesses.

East of Kelleys Island in 41’ of water on purple or purple/gold spoons and shad color Killer B crankbaits.

Ruggles Reef in 16-20’ of water on bare naked reef runners 25’ back and dipsys with harnesses on a 3 setting 33’ back.

Sherod Park (Vermilion) to the Castle in 26’ of water on harnesses.

West of Sherod Park in 23 to 26’ on reef runners 35-40’ back and dipsys with harnesses on a 3 setting 37’ back.

35’ of water off of Beaver Creek on jets and dipsys with spoons.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has E 9 knot winds, 1 foot waves, falling barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 61 degrees.

Travis

The early reports from the weekend have all been limits.  For walleye limits were caught Friday evening on jet30's 25 and 50' back between Niagara Reef and Green Island with Michigan stinger spoons in monkey puke and cat-dog.  The other walleye limit was Saturday off of the Port Clinton Moose building in 12 to 15' of water on bottom bouncers and harnesses with purple blades.  The fish were up to 24".

On Sunday a perch limit was caught in 36' of water off of Ballast Island with most running 8 to 9" and very few trash fish.

Based on the forecast we're headed for a week of temps in the 70's and 80's with relatively light winds and the chance of thunderstorms nearly each day.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has E 7 knot winds, 0.7 feet waves, steady barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 62 degrees.

Travis

A few reports from Toledo to Lorain have come in recently.  Over off of Beaver Creek fish were caught at the 28/17 lines on jet30's 125' back with spoons.  Around "A" can of the range and Crane Creek in 20-22' of water walleye were caught on Erie Dearies in purple, gold and green.  Woody at Cranberry Creek says that some quality walleye up to around 10 pounds have shown up in front of the marina.  There are lots of good marks around 31' and they've been caught sporadically on reef runners, deep little rippers or harnesses spread throughout the water column; however, the best bite has been in the evening in 16 to 18' of water.

A perch limit was caught in 28' of water NW of Green Island with fish ranging from 7.75" to 10.5" and trash fish mixed in.

It looks like my next trip will be chasing muskie in Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River during the June 2 weekend opener. I haven't fished for muskie since my September trip to Minnesota so my muskie fever is running pretty high.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has S 7 knot winds, no waves, steady barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 59 degrees.

Travis

Some more good reports continue to come in.  Walleye limits came from NW of West Sister Island on bottom bouncers and harnesses, and also 3 to 4 miles W of Green Island in 27 to 30’ of water on Matzuo deep diver crankbaits (firetiger) 95’ back at 1.6 to 2 mph.  A near-limit was caught between Kelleys Island and the South Bass lighthouse on Jet30’s 100’ back with harnesses.

I also received a great perch report from Monday.  106 perch were caught by 4 anglers in 2.5 hours near the Catawba green buoy.  Most of the perch were quality 8 to 11” fish.  They were caught in 22’ of water at the 34.6/52.1 lines (remember that when I talk about the “lines” I’m simply talking about the minutes, or middle numbers, of the GPS coordinates with the north minutes first and the west minutes second).  The perch trip started N of Green Island but the fishing was very slow and there were too many non-targets which prompted the move to the green can at Catawba.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has E 13 knot winds, 2.3 feet waves, steady barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 54 degrees.

Travis

Thanks for all of the reports the last few days.  I can tell that the season is finally getting under way for most of you.

One of the best reports from the weekend came from Saturday between Mouse Island and 2 miles west of American Eagle shoal.  Limits were caught on 40 jets and stinger spoons with Chicken Wing really producing.  1.9 to 2.2 mph was the best speed range.  The same group caught fish near Niagara reef on Sunday, but didn’t quite fill a limit.  They had to accidentally bump the speed all the way up to 2.7 mph to start catching fish.

Other limit reports came from NW of Kelleys Island on bottom bouncers with chartreuse, blue and purple harnesses, and 3 miles west of Kelleys Island on 1 oz bottom bouncers 75’ back with gold and purple harnesses.

Fish were also caught around the Carpenter’s Point red buoy with 3 ounce bottom bouncers 60’ back with harnesses, NE of the Toledo water intake and farther north at the 43.340/09.430 lines on Erie Dearies (red and white, chartreuse and white) and red Northland propeller jigs with two minnows, and near “D” can of the range on bottom bouncers with gold and chartreuse harnesses.

A great Michigan report came out of the FLW League tournament with many limits being caught.  18 to 23’ of water 5 miles out of Bolles Harbor near the Ohio line produced plenty of fish on harnesses.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has E-NE 15 knot winds, 1.6 feet waves, rising barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 53 degrees.

Travis

Dad and I had a great time fishing this weekend.  We pre-fished on Friday and then fished the tournament yesterday.  Both days were very consistent for us and we ended up finishing 4th in the tournament with our best five fish weighing 34.5 pounds.  We didn’t find the 10 pound fish that would have moved us up, but the average size of the fish that we caught was great.  Both Friday and Saturday we caught around 15 fish per day and very few were under 4 or 5 pounds.

All but 2 of our fish over the two days came from the east side of the north leg of Gull Island shoal, and also the north tip of the north leg.  On Friday we caught fish all over the area.  One of the best passes came in 25’ along the east side of the shoal, but we also caught fish NE of the shoal in 32’ and east of the shoal in 35 to 38’.  On Saturday it was a little tougher to maintain control of the boat since the wind wasn’t blowing in the direction that we needed it to.  Most of the fish Saturday came from 26 to 31’ along the east drop off of the north leg of the shoal.  We started most of our passes at N 41 39.575 W 82 41.025 and ended them around N 41 40.262 W 82 40.124.  Between those two points we tried to stay in 28 to 30’ of water.  We moved a little shallower or a little deeper on each pass trying to nail down the best depth.  In the end 28-29’ produced most of our fish.  Late in the day our last fish came in a little deeper water E of the north tip of the shoal.  If it would have been any calmer I’m confident that we could have really zeroed in on the best area, but it was a battle to maintain our speed from 1.0 to 1.3 while staying at a constant depth along the shoal.  The wind had just enough west to it that it was always trying to push us off the shoal and we had to use a trolling bag to help hold our heading.

Most of our fish came on 2 or 3 ounce inline weights and crawler harnesses.  We would let out the same amount of line as the water depth (30 back in 30’ of water, etc.).  The 3 ounce weights were right near the bottom.  When we could stay around 1 mph the 3 ounce weights would hang up if they were on the inside of a turn and their board stopped.  The 2 ounce weights stayed off of the bottom.  There didn’t seem to be any real weight pattern, some came on 2 ounces, some came on 3.  Our best three harness blades were a size 7 fluorescent green Colorado, size 7 gold Colorado with gold holograph tape, and a size 6 hammered silver Colorado with blue and pink along one edge.  The few crankbait fish that we caught came on ripsticks (white purple hot tiger) 60 to 80’ back with a 1 ounce snap weight 20’ in front of the lure, and deep husky jerks (clown) 120 to 150 back.

A few of the highlights of the weekend included having two 7 pound fish on at the same time within 15 minutes of starting Friday morning and having to net them both at the same time, having a monster drum and 7 pound walleye on at the same time in the tournament, and then catching one of the 5 fish that we weighed in as we started pulling lines to come in.  As always it was a great time talking to everyone after the tournament.  The tournament was won by Gary Zart near Kelleys Island shoal with an impressive near 40 pound bag anchored by a near 10 pound big fish of the tournament.  Aaron Humbert got second fishing shallow on the west shore of North Bass.  The Siberts, Dad and I, and Dan Gies all finished in the top 10 fishing Gull Island Shoal.  Harnesses ruled the day with pretty much all of the top 10 using either inline weights or bottom bouncers.  Congratulations to all of the top finishers and a tremendous thanks to everyone that helps the tourneys run as smoothly as they do.  The LEWT is really something to be proud of considering it started from scratch just a few years ago.  It's a real testament to the people that put so much time into running it.

Other reports from the weekend have mentioned limits from 2-3 miles N-NW of Green Island in 30’ of water, Brest Bay (MI) in 18’ of water, and NW of Kelleys Island in 28-40’.  Some fish were also caught in 38’ of water off of the Vermilion condos and in 30’ of water near Ruggles Reef.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has N-NE 21 knot winds, 3 feet waves, rising barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 53 degrees.

Travis

It has been a slow week for reports and I blame the weather.  The next few days look good and it should be a great Saturday for the LEWT tournament.

A report from last weekend further confirmed good fishing around South Bass, Green and Rattlesnake Islands.  Harnesses on bouncers caught fish, along with 30 jets 85 to 100' back with Stinger spoons in wonderbread,pooh bear purple,cat-dog,copper kevorkian,and happy hooker.

A good night report from Vermilion came in.  As with most recent years the night trolling has been great at times over that way.  Husky jerks and ripsticks produced a limit with the new pearl ghost ripstick being the best.

Today most of the boats that went out were from Kelleys Island to South Bass Island.  I didn't hear any results.  Most of the morning was pretty rough and windy.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has north 11 knot winds, 0.7 feet waves, rising barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 52 degrees.

Travis

Reports from the weekend sound pretty good despite the windy weather.  Most of the reports came from Green Island to South Bass Island, over to Starve Island and down to Mouse Island.  Everyone reported using bottom bouncers from 1.5 to 3 ounces with worm harnesses.  The best blade colors were gold, chartreuse, firetiger, perch, and red/white.  A report from earlier last week said that limits were caught between Wild Wings marina and Crane Creek with the best lures being bottom bouncers with harnesses, or jigging hair jigs without minnows.  A report from Lorain today said that trolling didn’t produce any walleye south of the sandbar from the 28/17 to 31/17 lines.  The water is pretty well stained until you get a few miles out.

If you have any interest in getting in the WBSA LEWT tournament out of Lakevue Marina (west of Mazurik) that was rescheduled for this Saturday it sounds like there are now some spots open.  The tournament had filled, but when it was rescheduled because of the wind two weeks ago some teams had to drop out.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has south 11 knot winds, 0.7 feet waves, falling barometric pressure, and the surface temperature is 51 degrees.

Travis

I had a great time at the Mid-Ohio walleye club meeting last night.  If you live anywhere near Mansfield you should consider joining.

It looks like our run of flat calm weather is temporarily over.  The forecast for the next few days is highs in the low 60’s and NE winds from 10 to 20 knots.  The Cabela’s MWC walleye madness tournament out of Port Clinton the last few days has taken advantage of the great weather with the best 5 fish bags ranging from 35 to 38 pounds.

The best reports from the last few days have come from “K” can of the range in 13-14’ of water (green or white jigs with minnows and gold blade harnesses), 4 miles out of Turtle Creek in 22’ of water, and from Green Island to “D” can of the range (bottom bouncers and flipping harnesses with gold blades, and trolling monkey puke or purple stinger spoons on dipsys at 1.8 to 2.2 mph).  One report that only yielded a few fish, but showed a lot of promise came from north of Rattlesnake Island towards Perry’s Monument.  A lot of fish were in the area and a few were caught on reef runners 50’ back in firetiger and purple.  The fishing over at Crane Creek was slow in 20-22’ of water with hair jigs and minnows and Erie Dearies not producing much.

The most recent report from the Vermilion weather buoy has north 15 knot winds, no waves (the wind just picked up), steady barometric pressure, and the surface temperature jumped up to 67 degrees (again this is most likely just the very surface layer and the effect of a warm day).

Travis

Today was a warm beautiful day around the lake.  It nearly made me sick to not be out fishing.

Two reports have come in recently.  Limits were caught between Ballast Island and Kelleys Island with a move up to the border finishing up the limits.  Bottom bouncers with hammered gold blade worm harnesses caught most of the fish with a gold Erie Dearie taking some of them.  The other report said that 19 fish were caught 1 mile east of "A" can on weapons with gold blades.

On this Thursday May 10 at 7 pm I will be giving a presentation at the Mid-Ohio Walleye club meeting near Mansfield at Gormans Nature Center located at 2295 Lexington Avenue.  I shouldn't have waited so long to announce it, but time flew by and here it is.  I'll primarily be talking about using and understanding your sonar and GPS, along with how to improve your structure fishing results on Erie.

The most recent report from the Vermilion buoy had 7 knot E winds, no waves, falling barometric pressure and 54 degree water temperature on the surface.  The temperature is a big jump from yesterday, but that is most likely just the effect of an unseasonably warm day on the surface layer.  I'm sure the water is still in the mid to lower 40's down near the bottom.

Travis

(Marc also has a brief notice below this report)

We finally caught a break from the wind and the next few days look like they could be pretty good.  I heard that limits were caught today between Green and Rattlesnake Islands and also west of Rattlesnake.  I didn't get many details but most were caught on harnesses along with some on dipsys and spoons.

A report came in from Saturday.  A boat limit of 24 fish was caught on the line between Middle Bass Island and Middle Island on 3 ounce bottom bouncers and gold harnesses with the biggest fish going 29".

The most recent report from the Vermilion buoy had 13 knot E winds, 0.7 feet waves, falling barometric pressure and 48.9 degree water temperature on the surface.

Travis

The weather ended up postponing our May tournament and to tell you the truth I'm thankful that it did.  Obviously I would have preferred better weather and no cancellation, but after getting beat up Thursday and Friday I was ready for a break.

Thursday wasn't a bad day, but it ended a lot better than it started.  We fished up around North and Middle Bass Islands.  Our first pass was along the outside edge of West Reef in about 35' of water.  We caught two decent fish, but the marks weren't great.  One came on a blue hawaiian reef runner back 50' on mono and the other came on a harness with a green blade on a 1.5 ounce inline 35' back.  Our next two passes were up shallow on west reef and in the channel between Middle Bass and North Bass.  We didn't get anything on top of west reef.  Between the islands we missed a fish that nearly sunk a board and then caught a small fish on a gold blade harness with a 2 ounce inline 35' back.  The best marks in the channel were slightly SW of the ferry dock on the North Bass shoreline.  We finished the day up with a bang on the south shoreline of Middle Bass.  We worked it from the middle of the shoreline to the SE corner near Lonz's winery (from west to east).  The best action was in 28' to 32' of water.  We caught mostly 3 to 4 pound fish on a mix of harnesses on 2 ounce inlines 25 to 35' back, the blue hawaiian reef runner 50' back and a clown deep husky 120' back.  We did get one fish that was 30.25" and 10 pounds-2 ounces on the deep husky.

Friday we made the run to the Canadian border north of North Bass.  After a little over an hour of fishing we spun the hub in our prop for the second time in about a month.  It was spun bad enough that we had to make the entire trip back to Catawba on our kicker.  It was a long slow trip, but it could have been worse considering the conditions.  I need to get my prop situation figured out.  There's clearly something going on there.  Before the incident we caught one small fish on a green harness 35' back with a 2 ounce inline and missed a better fish on the clown deep husky 120' back.

I'm looking forward to the May 19 make-up tournament and hopefully some calmer conditions.  I'm getting tired of getting beat up.

The most recent report from the Vermilion buoy had 21 knot E-NE winds, 5.2 feet waves, falling barometric pressure and 47.5 degree water temperature on the surface.

Travis

The wind today was horrible and the forecast just keeps getting worse for the next few days.  It's about time that they miss a forecast and it's better than they predicted.

The Maumee Bay fishing was the most consistent based on reports coming from Monday and Tuesday with a little slow down Wednesday.  Fish have been caught on hair jigs or bouncers and harnesses.  I doubt that the E and NE winds today did much to help that bite out.

The most recent report from the Vermilion buoy had 21 knot E-NE winds, 4.3 feet waves, steady barometric pressure and 46.2 degree water temperature on the surface.

Travis

The second WBSA LEWT tournament is quickly approaching and I'll be out the next few days pre-fishing for it.  This is a neat time of year because there are a lot of places from Toledo to Vermilion that you can catch fish as all of the spawners start to spread out around the islands and lazily migrate towards their summer destinations.  It can also be frustrating because a hot bite in open water one day can disappear without warning the next day.  I'll be out around the islands and I'll summarize my pre-tournament and tournament fishing later this weekend.

I'm not real excited about the wind forecast through Saturday because it seems to get a little worse every time they update it with plenty of E and NE winds up to 20 knots.  As always we'll see how it actually turns out and take what it gives us.

The most recent report from the Vermilion buoy had 5 knot NE winds, 0.7 feet waves, rising barometric pressure and 46.8 degree water temperature on the surface.

Travis