2006 Reports

Fishing Reports

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I haven't been up here for too long (this is my 5th fall), but it is by far turning into the windiest October/November that I can remember.  Based on recent satellite shots the lake is a mess and we're coming off of another day of gale winds.  The lake level at Marblehead this afternoon was nearly 1 foot below low water chart datum.  If you venture out keep the low water level in mind.

The conditions keep getting worse.  It's hard enough to get out with limited opportunities when the weather is good, but it's nearly impossible when the weather stinks.

I did get one report from last Tuesday, the day after my last report.  For some reason it just now showed up in my mailbox.  It must have been stuck in cyber-space.  It's a good report, so I'll post it in full.

"Fished (Tues. Nov. 20) from 8:30-5.  Ended up boating 27 eyes & losing about a dozen.  Biggest was 29 1/2", average about 6#'s.  Fish came off RR anywhere from 20-80 back.  Mooneye, Gray Ghost, Pink Lemonade, & the Red Head white bodied one (NAME=?). Color did not seem to matter a whole lot.I think the speed of 1.0-1.5 was more important. Fished from the river to the Castle in 24-27 fow."

Thanks Steve.

Travis

This afternoon was relatively calm with winds out of the south.  Unfortunately the reports are saying that north of Huron has a lot of dirty water.  The cleanest water is around Ruggles Reef and nearshore towards Vermilion.  There were a handful of boats out today and it sounds like the fishing was sporadic.  Fish were being caught and a few were big, but nothing was consistent.  Most of the boats were north of Ruggles Reef in 30 to 34' of water.

Marc's post below is a great summary of fall fishing.  He hit the nail on the head.  It's unbelievable when it's good and non-existent when the weather stinks.  He's also right about December fishing.  Be very careful, but on a calm day the big fish can go nuts.  For me November is turning into a bust.  We haven't had any sustained 3 day NE blows, but the wind has consistently blown from 10 to 25 knots from every direction.  We're down to about a month of reliable open water, and if it's like last year it could last longer.  Surface temps are around 47 off of Huron right now.

Let's hope for a few light and variable days in a row to fire things up.  I'll be traveling for Thanksgiving so maybe Marc can post later this week again if he gets out.  If I get any good e-mail reports I'll post them when I get a chance.  Otherwise, Happy Thanksgiving!  Remember that last year I got two fish well over 10 pounds NW of Ruggles Reef in 28' of water on the day after Thanksgiving.  I think that the water temp was around the mid 40's then also.  They both came on Ripsticks from 40 to 60' back and were in very clear water just inside of muddy water that was offshore.

Travis

Well, I haven't been on here for awhile and thought I'd stop by and give a couple reminders and Thanks for the support many of you have given us this year. When the club has events and goes to shows one of the most popular topics of conversation is the Denied pages of our website. We always enjoy meeting you guys and hope that this winters shows will allow us to meet more of you.

This is my favorite time of year for walleye fishing, it's also one of the most frustrating because of declining good weather. Boat ramps are getting harder to put in at as most of them have pulled their floating docks, you have to wear more clothes, there's not as much daylight, water levels are down and it gets harder to find fishing partners. Those that want to charter are finding most of them have pulled their boats and your trips are getting cancelled due to bad weather. It just gets tough this time of year. BUT...... This is the time of year that when the planets align and the weather cooperates allows your best chance of the year to reel in that fish of a lifetime. I've been fortunate enough to land 4 fish over 14 pounds in the last 15-20 years. 3 of those fish came after December 7th. So even when it's frustrating to wait for those rare good weather patterns it is Oh So worth it when you finally get out there and let it happen.

This is also the time of year, along with Ice Out fishing, that you need to take some extra precautions. Because of the cold a bucket of rock Salt or small stones in the back of your truck is a good thing to have along, keep all your gear that you don't need stowed if fishing at night and make sure that you have plenty of warm clothes and even some dry ones stowed away just in case you get wet. A good working radio is probably more important now than any other time of year because boat traffic will be down to a minimum and help won't be as close by if you need it. If you have an Outboard make sure the motors are drained before leaving the ramp even if you plan on going back out in the next day or so. A sharp drop in temps will be very expensive if you forget. Drain your livewells and remove your drain plugs so water doesn't build up in the bottom of your boats and put a good cover on to keep rain and snow from icing up the inside.

Good luck to those of you that are going to keep fishing. The hot bite appears to still be in Cleveland but the Huron, Western Basin and Island nearshore bites are starting and will fire well once the weather cooperates.

I've noticed that there is good activity going on the Denied section of our message board. A lot of you are reading a few are posting. Please don't be shy about asking questions. Names aren't needed and it's one of the few places online that you can post without being registered. So use it, it's a good tool for finding answers to those little understood questions I know at least some of you have. The link is at the top of this section.

We've got another of those 7-10' wave forecasts coming at us tomorrow and Friday but the weekend looks decent. Let's hope the winds don't muddy things up too much.

Marc

I made it out again on Sunday and Monday with little success.  It was the same story, plenty of fish on the sonar, but they weren't active.  Sunday was tough.  3 more hours of trolling, this time in 28 to 32' of water from Ruggles Reef to Old Woman Creek and no fish.  The marks were great from Ruggles to Cranberry, and we hardly came out of fish anywhere.  On Monday I fished with a friend from 11:30 to 4:30.  From 4 to 4:30 we caught two fish (one about 20" and the biggest at just under 25" and very fat) and they seemed to be turning on, but then the lightning and thunderstorms showed up and chased us off.  The two fish came on a bare naked ripstick 60' back and a Eriedescent ripstick 80' back at 1.5 mph NW of Ruggles Reef in about 29' of water.  The big fish marks were great in that area.  There were huge red and yellow hooks scattered around in 28 to 30' of water from Ruggles to Route 61.

Of course after fishing 3 straight days in less than desirable conditions it really improved today.  It was flat calm this evening and it's around 55 degrees with an approaching front and falling barometric pressure.  I really wish that I could have gotten back out.  I probably missed a pretty good evening.  On Sunday and Monday the surface temp off of Huron stayed from 48 to 50 degrees.

Two other reports came in.  One from a friend that was trolling near me on Monday.  He also had a slow day.  A better report came from Middle Bass Island over the weekend.  12 fish were caught casting from shore Friday and Saturday night with a handful of fish from 26 to 29".  The fish were caught on Yo-Zuri and thunderstick crankbaits in black/silver and rainbow trout.  They also mentioned that there was a second hand report of walleye being caught off of the Catawba St. Park pier.  I've also heard that Catawba has produced some fish recently.

Travis

Dad and I made it out for about 3 hours of fishing just before dark yesterday.  Even though the wind was laying down there were some solid 4 feet waves if not better.  We went out to about the 28/30 lines and trolled back south towards Old Woman's Creek.  We caught 1 small fish on a blue hawaiian reef runner 100' back at 1.5 mph.  The surface temp is 52 offshore and around 50 nearshore.  The water is muddy from the blow, but it is fishable.  The marks are unbelievable.  It's only a matter of time until the right water clarity and weather conditions line up.

Travis

We finally have access to our web-editing software again.  It has been frustrating, and there may be more issues in the near future, but at some point things should be back to normal.  The only good thing about the timing of the down time is that the weather has been horrible since we lost access to the page.  Maybe the two are connected.  Right now the western basin is around 2 to 4 feet down, well below low-water chart datum.  This SW gale has the Buffalo water level up by 4' or more.  The difference between Buffalo and Toledo is 7'.  Needless to say fishing activity has been minimal recently.  I would hope that this cold weather has pushed the big fish back towards Huron and the islands and we're headed towards another November/December similar to last year.  Of course for that to happen we need some stretches of calm mild weather so that we can get back out and check things out.

The few fish that I've heard of recently have come from the Huron Dumping grounds to Vermilion on a mix of crankbaits, harnesses and even spoons.  Reports have said that the sonar is loaded and the big hooks are in the area, but not real active yet.  I hope to give it a try first hand this weekend.  For me it's crankbait-only time to look for 10 pound-plus fish.

Thanks for your patience as we've gone through this down time with the reports page.  I look forward to getting more reports from all of you over the next month and I plan to make it out myself.  I'll post any noteworthy information as it is available as long as I can access the web page.  Remember to check the Denied forum of the WBSA message board if there is nothing new here.  You all have the ability to post information there and Marc and I can post there even when our access to this page is limited.

Travis