2006 Reports

Fishing Reports

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I want to wish everyone and their families a very merry Christmas.  This is an especially good time to be thankful for everything that we have and to also keep the less fortunate in our thoughts and prayers.

Travis

I'm starting to think that this fall just wasn't meant to be.  These near-blizzard conditions aren't doing us any favors if we expect to get out again before the ice sets in.  At least it seams like we didn't get as much snow as was originally predicted.

Dad and I had a great time at the club Christmas party Friday night.  It was good food and good company at a good location.

Travis

Marc and I took an afternoon of decent weather today (at least compared to the last 3 weeks or so) and trolled from Ruggles to Huron in 15 to 29' of water.  I really needed to get out to run stabilized gas through my engine, and after a month of not fishing I had cabin fever.  We trolled for about 4 hours and didn't get a single hit.  The water is stained pretty good, but is fishable.  From route 61 to ruggles the clarity is OK from shore to around 25'.  Outside it gets worse, and near the Huron River it isn't good either.  The surface temp is 36 degrees and I think that the bottom of the water column is warmer than the surface.  Most of the bait is as tight to the bottom as it can be, most likely seeking the warmest water around.  Also, the Cleveland water temp is 40, and that is measured well below the surface at the water intake.  The best walleye marks from Ruggles to Huron are in front of Cranberry Creek from 22 to 24'.  Inside of 22' the marks disappear and as you go west of route 61 you run into way too much bait and fewer big hooks.

From here on out the fishing is really going to depend on the weather.  If the water temp stays over 35 degrees and we get some sunny days to warm the surface the bigger fish should move up and be easier to catch.  We also need the water to keep clearing.  If the wind returns and temperatures drop it isn't going to improve.  There is still a month or so left with some potentially great fishing, but we could also be one cold front away from losing access to the lake because of frozen up ramps.

Travis

This weather has gone from frustrating to ridiculous.  There have been fishable days or parts of days here and there, but overall the wind just won't quit.  For the last 24 hours we've had 40 knot gales from the west and northwest.  The water level keeps wildly fluctuating from as low as nearly 2 feet below low water datum to nearly 2 feet above low water datum (based on the Marblehead water level station).  At one point last week the water level rose 3 feet in just 6 hours.  Lake Erie is turning into a big limnology experiment with the water sloshing back and forth from Buffalo to Toledo.

It has been awhile since we had a good clear day to get a good satellite picture.  The last one around Thanksgiving was very muddy and I'm sure there is still plenty of mud out there.  The good news is that surface temps are still in the upper 30's even with all this poor weather and off Cleveland 44 degrees is being reported (I believe that the temp is read from around 20' down on the Cleveland intake, therefore it is not influenced by short term surface temp fluctuations).  Anyway, we aren't going to freeze any time soon without an arctic blast.  There could very well be boat fishing well into January again depending on how the weather plays out.  It won't matter if the wind doesn't calm down.  We really haven't had any more than 24 to 48 straight hours of calm weather in the past 6 or 8 weeks.

One report did come in from a friend that fished yesterday (Sunday) before it got too rough.  He fished the NW side of Kelleys near the state ramp in 26' of water and caught two 2003 fish and missed a good one.  Rogues caught both fish (50' and 60' back in clown and blue-chrome).

Travis