Fishing Reports

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July 31, 2008 (Thursday) Travis 

Only two new reports to pass along.  Here they are:

Wednesday- "I got out last evening and trolled spoons around Northwest Reef. Too many white bass, drum and white perch to allow the lures to fish long enough to catch many (keeper) walleyes. Went home with 4. Used size 30 jet divers 100 feet back, with pink panties, cat/dog and deep sunset
colored spoons. All caught fish equally. Probably 8 or so 2007 'eyes.
6:30 to 8:45 pm.  I saw a group of 12 boats fishing for perch south of Green Island."

Today- A limit of perch was caught in "33 feet of water directly in front of Sawmill".

Travis

July 27, 2008 (Sunday) Travis 

Good reports are coming in from the end of the week and weekend.  Here they are:

"3 of us fished Thursday (7/24) from about 9:30 am to 4:00 pm out near NW Reef (NW of N. Bass near Canadian border) in about 32 FOW.  Was very slow going and only ended up with 5 walleye over 15”.  Ranged in size from 18-25”.  Also lost one other one just shy of the net.  Had good marks all day, but caught mostly Sheephead, white bass, 1 large catfish and 6 perch.  The good news is we caught 12 to 15 small walleye under 15”.  Were the first “spikes” we have caught all year and is encouraging for the future.  All fish were caught trolling dipsies with both large and small Stinger spoons in various colors.  While none of the spoons did all that great, Superman was probably the best color followed by Chicken Wing.  The weather was beautiful with waves 1-2 ft.  The fish we did catch were all down low.  The last hour or so we tried the NE side of N. Bass, but there was so much grass in that area you couldn’t keep the spoons are dipsies clear of it so we called it a day.  Was the first time in 6 weeks I’ve seen my boat and we fished the Island area.  Was hoping for a better day, but was still a great day to be on the Lake .  Have been fishing out of Lorain since mid June with a friend and have been doing real well East of the Sandbar in 48-50 FOW."

I also talked to a buddy that did well this weekend.  He got his limit trolling crankbaits from NE of "C" can to the Canadian line on Friday morning and then went out with friends on a charter Saturday morning and had a 7 man limit trolling harnesses just north of Big Pickerel Reef.

This Saturday is our LEWT championship out of Lorain.  I'll be out Thursday and Friday, and then I'll give a report Sunday that covers all three days.  In the mean time I'll put up whatever comes in.

Travis

July 23, 2008 (Wednesday) Travis 

I received a white bass report today.  It's refreshing to get a non walleye/perch report.  There are plenty of other fish out there to chase after, but I'm as guilty as anyone for not taking advantage of everything that Erie has to offer, especially this time of year when walleye can be a little harder to catch in the western basin.  Here is the report:

"The white bass have been schooling around Put-in-Bay Harbor, West Reef, Buckeye Island, Catawba and Chimney Point off Middle Bass. We targeted some last night for the smoker, keeping 40 11-13 inchers and releasing another 10 or so smaller ones in less than an hour of fishing. Went south of Northwest Reef and ran 30 jet divers back 75ft, but only caught 1 keeper walleye (16") in the hour before the wind picked up and chased us home. Caught 4-5 2007 walleyes and a couple of white bass and white perch out there."

I'm sure that you've all noticed lately that I'm basically copying e-mails right into the report page.  I haven't gotten any positive or negative feedback on it yet.  I want to make sure that it doesn't scare anyone off from sending a report.  While I don't put a lot of time into editing the structure of the e-mail, I do make sure to pull out anything that isn't appropriate for the report page, such as foul language, personal information, or comments intended for my eyes only.  I guess that the bottom line is that I want you to continue sending me reports like you always have.  I enjoy your commentary and hearing details about your families and everything else that you've all included over the years.  You can trust that I'll filter through anything that I directly copy to the report page.  Obviously I don't directly attribute the reports to the original sender.  I started copying the reports because you've all gotten so good at including all the important details that I don't need to spruce it up at all.  I just pull the important stuff out and copy it up here.  The other reason that I've started doing it is that this web provider (Host Monster) has been so reliable that I can go into the web editor, do all the work, and then rely on it saving immediately to the web page.  With the old provider the web page was slow and it would frequently not save work that I had just done, so I would have to do it all over again.

I'd appreciate any constructive criticism on anything that we do on this page.  That's what continues to keep it so popular.

Travis

July 22, 2008 (Tuesday) Marc (See Travis' today report below)

Since we have many Michigan readers, i thought I'd post about my Saginaw Bay trip last week.

Well, I'm recuperating from 7 days on Saginaw Bay for the MWC last weekend. They had an awesome 03 hatch just like we did here on Erie and let me tell you they were on fire all week long with mostly good weather. Except for one day when we were searching the Au Gres area we caught fish constantly and almost everywhere we stopped in the Bay. 60-70 fish a day wasn't unusual and that was with us never fishing more than an an hour and a half anywhere. There were a few dead spots but not many and if the fishfinder said there were fish there we usually caught them. I was surprised at the amount of nets out though and did lose a few lures when i wasn't watchiong wqhere I was going. Our best spots were 8 miles straight out of Linwood marina and 10 miles NE of the Marina, mainly for size though.

Most fish we caught were in the 16-17 1/2" range but the area 10 miles NE in 23.5 FOW produced many more fish in the 18-19inch size with an occassional bigger fish of 21" or bigger with one that we didn't get in the boat that would have went 7-8 pounds. Harnesses and Crankbaits both worked well with harnesses having the edge. Depths seemed to change houly with mid day having fish deep and early morning up high. We ran 1-2 and 3 ounce inlines for the most part and changed when the fishing slowed down. Bottom bouncers produced too but mostly in the PM hours. Best colors were pinks and pink harnesses pulled most of our bigger fish. Other species weren't a problem unless we got into water less than 17' and grass was a problem in 14-15 FOW. Cranberry Crusher Deep Lil ripper was on fire for 2 days but on tourney days it slowed down enough that I had to take it off for the first time all week. Our program of running at speeds of 1.8-2.3 really produced for us and we were running circles around most of the locals fishing the same area.

Needless to say we didn't place very high in the tourney. I knew that the area  around the Charity's had the best chances at tourney fish but decided that we had a good shot in the inner bay with the fish we had going. Looks like I was wrong because the only big fish we had on during the tourney decided to shake the hook about a foot from the net. That extra 5-6 pounds would have made a huge difference in our finish but it wasn't meant to be.

It is good to be back home though and I'm looking forward to catching some more of those 03's again. They average much bigger than the Saginaw Bays 03's do. 

Marc

July 22, 2008 (Tuesday) Travis 

One weekend report came in today-

"Fished Friday and Saturday and only got one each day about 20 inches long. Tried everything I could think of just couldn't get them going. Fished Lucy's to Middle to Balast Island, One came on a green spoon on a size 1 Dipsy 65 feet back and the other on a gold Harness 20 feet behind a ball 31 feet down on a downrigger. Noboby at the campground was doing anything to write home about either."

Travis

July 21, 2008 (Monday) Travis

More reports from the weekend came in.  Here they are:

"Sat. 7/19/08- 2 adults and one 9 year old.  72 perch 3 hours, stone dock Kelley's.  Weight 22lbs. Only 10 to 15 fish under 9 inches. Biggest 12 inches. Most 9 - 10.  Several 11's"

"I fished with a new friend and my 2 oldest daughters between Sugar Island and North Bass on Friday evening. 4 drifts produced 14 walleye between 18 and 25 inches. weight forwards in yellow or gold worked as well as a green and chartreuse harness with pink panties colorado. Most were caught between 10 and 20 feet below surface in 20 -30 f.o.w. We were counting down and reeling them back up. Many of the fish marks were off the bottom. One of my most enjoyable fishing trips ever.

We went back for another 2 drifts Saturday morning and managed 2 more. One was below the legal length so we set him free.  Few marks on the screen and what were there were on the bottom."

"I was able to fish the lake 3 days last week and was very successful on all days.  I have a later report from 7/15 that produced 16 nice walleye 4 miles east of West Sister Island.  Due to the flatness of the lake we had to rely on trolling for the fish.  Dipsey's and spoons produced half the fish.  1 setting at 50 and 3 setting at 45.  Anything with pink caught fish.  The wild card of the day was a pink and silver hot-n-tot trolled 100' behind an inline planar board and a jet 20 with a confusion stinger spoon with silver back trolled 60' behind an inline board.  The 2 rods with the boards took the other half of the fish.  No sheephead were caught (if you can believe that).  We did catch and release 25 spikes.

7/18 and 7/19- Fished both days in the same spot, 4 miles west of Rattlesnake Island in 32 to 33 feet of water.  Sorry, but I forgot to write the numbers down, but there was a good pack of boats.  13 walleye on friday, and a 4 man limit on Saturday by 1.  All fish were caught on gold and copper weapons and bottom bouncers with a gold worm harness.  Walleye that we kept were between 16 to 24 inches with many throwbacks.  The weapons were fished high or off the bottom.  The big key to both days was to get out there EARLY.  The bite was good from 6 am to 10 am, and then it seemed to just shut down.  It was a great couple days on the lake!"

Travis

July 20, 2008 (Sunday) Travis 

Here are the reports that have come in since my last post:

"4 guys 94 perch and 4 walleye all on spreaders and shiners lots of trollers in area 22 ft of water off wards canal we ran out of minnows went to crane creek made 1 drift up to 12 ft out to 16 ft cats weapons got 2 more walleye 4 big cats and 30 sheephead we had 4 fish on at same time lost around 5 walleye at boat we got our perch at the 41--31 line was back at dock at1 left at 7"

"we fished most of this week at geneva. perch are still there to be had 40 to 63 ft ,slowed some with the heat . the 63 ft northwest of the marina is still hot with nice fish early morning bite daylight till 8.30 am best you can catch all you want or have minnows for ..walleye deep down northeast set up at 67 ft troll to 72 ft 02 line there are some nice pockets of fish around the 68 ft mark we worked on no hogs, but some nice 2005 fish 17 to 18 inchers with some 2003 too. spoons and big dipseys 3 setting 200, 2 setting 140 all silver back big spoons only, lemon drop ,blue dolphin, bumble bee anything green yellow and blue will take fish. we hit the water before light and quit at 10am most days no huge catches but all we wanted charters are limiting in the same area done by 11 am, big boards spred way out wire line 300 back. gas has us limiting the long runs but you can run out 6 miles and still catch some nice fish one other thing no steelheads not one. we trolled some shallow in the morning with limited success"

"FISHED NORTHWEST REEF 7 A.M. T0 3 P.M. CAUGHT LIMIT - 18 WALLEYE. 2 FISH 16", 1 FISH 26", BALANCE 19" TO 23". ALL CAUGHT ON SPOONS WITH RED ON THEM. SATURDAY 19 TH"

(Kelleys Island) "caught five walleyes at the 38-37 lines north of the shoal and two fish by the rock pile east of gull shoal bouy, all on spoons 30ft. down"

I personally haven't been out in awhile.  I'll be getting out as our next tournament on August 2nd approaches.  In the mean time keep sending the great reports.

Travis

July 16, 2008 (Wednesday) Travis 

I have one walleye report that came in this morning to pass along:

"the walleye bite is getting very good to excellent in the western basin got limit off crane creek in 14 ft of water on weapons have a friend who limited sat sun and mon 114 fish 3 days size 4 colorado blades ten count 2 miles east northeast of west sister the middle numbers were 44-02 big pack out there mon i started at crane creek had a 1ft chop caught 5 then wind died went out to the 44-02 line pack was out at 44-04 line fished both places no bites lake was flat and hot so we went back to crane creek wind picked up to a 2 ft chop and we got 13 more in 2 hours back at the fish house they said no perch were coming in they had some 3-4-5 pound batches and we have been doing very good on perch off wards 75 pounds of perch in 3 days in 22 ft of water. there was 3 people that came in that were at the 44-04 line that also got their limit with nice fish 18 walleye with a total weight of 48 pounds so lets hope it keeps going"

Just based on what I'm hearing it sounds like Crane Creek and B can are pretty good in the west right now.  Other than that Pelee and the Sandbar are the only other game in town unless you're headed east of Cleveland.

Travis

July 15, 2008 (Tuesday) Travis 

Two new reports came in.  Here are the highlights:

"We got 3 Saturday afternoon 18 and two 23" . Purple harness 20 ft behind a ball @ 35 feet on a downrigger. 2.0 MPH between Lucy's and Middle Island."

Sunday: "We left the dock at 09:15 AM under an overcast sky with air temperature about 75 degrees F, and a light breeze out of the West. We motored out to 23 feet of water in an area due north of Ward's Canal. Our objective was really to run the boat and get reacquainted with it more than anything else. We set out four rods. Two had Jet 20's and two had the new Slide Diver with the light bite trip lever. I was surprised how clear the water was after all the rain we had recently. The surface water temperature was 75 degrees F, waves were 2 to 3 foot. We found that if we kept the boat speed up around 2.5 MPH we didn't catch white bass. We trolled kinda North Northwest towards the Gravel pit then back again. We caught one nice 15 inch white bass and a few throw back small ones, took home three keeper walleyes (18 to 22 inches), Threw back eight that were less than 15 inches and lost a beauty right at the boat that threw the spoon. I was broken hearted! 

Travis

July 13, 2008 (Sunday) Travis

Since my last post a handful of perch reports have come in.

On Thursday and Friday there was some decent perch fishing 3 miles out of Ward's Canal (the channel beside Metzger's Marsh).  One day produced 76 fish that went 17 pounds and the other day was 70 fish at 20 pounds.

Also on Thursday the perch fishing was bad off of Ruggles Reef.

I got a good perch report from Geneva.  Here are the highlights:

"perch seem to be all over we fished 38 ,40,46,61, feet lots of fish some junk fish mixed in but some real quality fish to be had .minnows are another matter 2.75/dozen and thats 12 minnows at the marina we used frozen ones a lot didnt seem to matter, earlier the better for fishing daylight till 9am best .walleye we only tried two days i couldnt find much the first day but we had good luck straight north in 70 feet small pockets of 2003 fish most charters are heading north east i quit following them at the 8 mile they are limiting daily i think they are running out 14 miles  we trolled reef runners early shallow blue and chrome and dipseys when the sun was up .down deep i dont think the thermocline is set up yet as fish are all over at different depths anyone that wants perch and save on gas they are there."

Travis

July 8, 2008 (Tuesday) Travis  

Three new reports came in today.  Here are the highlights:

"100 perch on sunday 4 people shiners and spreaders on bottom 4 hours fishing lots of doubles 3-4 miles off wards canal"

"Monday, July 7, two people caught their limit of 50 perch at the dumping grounds east of Kelleys Island in 37 feet of water."

"Lets just say very slow!!!!  Fished Friday-folks wanted to cast..... South Side of Kelleys hiding from wind- Casting caught one walleye.  Saturday-Fished East of Kelleys Shoal 4 miles and caught one ticket in 7 hours of trolling.....

One Charter captain from Channel Grove gave me a report on Saturday night that he had been doing fish up at northwest side of Pelee- catching 30 nice fish casting for several days."

Some storms with strong winds and heavy rains went through this afternoon.  It might have been enough to move the fish around or even shut them down for a while.

Travis

July 7, 2008 (Monday) Travis 

Only one report has come in from the weekend, and based on what I'm hearing second hand I think that the lack of reports is due to poor fishing in the western basin.  It went from rough on Friday to hot and calm by the end of the weekend.  The one report that came in said that it was slow east of Kelleys Island and from "C" can to West Sister Island.  The best reports that I've heard, and I don't have any information, are coming from the Cranberry Creek area.

We still should have some good fishing this month in the western basin.  It  feels like things are behind schedule from the extended cold spring and there are plenty of fish out there if you can get the right conditions to turn them on.  If it continues to be tough in the west don't be afraid to venture to Huron and Vermilion, or farther east for some really good action when the temperatures rise.

Travis

July 3, 2008 (Thursday) Travis 

(also notice that Marc has a report for today below this one)

One perch report came in today.  On Tuesday 50 perch were caught on the dumping grounds off of Cedar Point in 33' of water.  The fish were 8 to 11".

I agree with Marc.  It's nice to finally see the details of the Ballville Dam in Fremont getting worked out.  This whole time the sticking point was building a new upground reservoir to replace Fremont's current water source.  Now that the funding for the upground is in place they can begin work on building it and ultimately removing the dam to restore access to all the spawning grounds that the walleye have been blocked from since the early 1900's.  Nobody knows how much the Sandusky River walleye stock will benefit, but it would be easy to argue that removing that dam is one of the single biggest improvements that can easily be made to have a direct impact on the walleye population.

Travis 

July 3, 2008 (Thursday) Marc  

Happy Independence Day everyone! Even with the prices of everything going up it is still a pretty good place to be right here next to such an awesome fishing hole! 

After our web upgrade and relocation it seems that we still have some glitches. One of those was our link to the firing range notices. I've put up the correct link and will be getting the updates shortly from Camp Perry. Sorry for the confusion. Our message board has been moved to our new server but we had to rename the location of it, so if you have old bookmarks for it they will not work. Here is the new location  We have also upgraded the board and photos and other entries can be made by guest users again. You'll have to jump through a couple of hoops but it is pretty easy once you do it a couple times. Of course you are welcome to join the club and get full access if you'd like.

Good news from the State yesterday on a couple of fronts. Number 1 is that the Water Compact bill has been signed and only needs to have Pennsylvania finalize it and it sounds like that is a given with lots of support. I put a post about it on our message board under the guest section of Regulation. Number 2 was an agreement has finally been reached to remove the Ballvile Dam in Fremont by 2011 or 2013. This will enhance spawning of Walleyes and I'm sure other species for Lake Erie. I've always felt that the Sandusky river Walleyes had a more natural progression to really large sizes (DNA makeup or asomething) and maybe this will get us some more of those big females that Travis and like to hunt so much!

Also, WBSA has a fun sunset shootout most saturdays that are held at the Fishermans Wharf in Port Clinton. It is $20 for a team of up to 4 people. You can fish anywhere you like in Ohio waters but you have to sign up at the Wharf before fishing at 4 PM and be at the weigh in site at the Wharf by 11 PM. These are fun little tourneys and you can learn a lot just standing around and listening to what worked afterwards from the guyas that have been doing them with us for the last 4 years out of Vermilion and Huron in the fall. If you are in the area come on down to the Wharf for a relaxing and fun weigh in on July 5th. 

We are considering starting to have meetings now and then in the Oak Harbor to Toledo area for the club. We have tried in the past to hold meetings in Port Clinton but the turnouts were always very poor and so we stuck with the Sandusky to Vermilion area, where turnouts are much better. We are willing to try again since we have so many members and interested people from the Findley, Toledo and Southern Michigan area. Please let me know if this would interest you or other suggestions and we'll Git R Dun!

Last but not least, Thanks for bearing with us over the last couple months while we were having all the Server problems. It'll only get better from here on out (if we can afford the gas, that is)

July 2, 2008 (Wednesday) Travis 

It looks like we're going to go through some stormy weather tonight and possibly tomorrow, but the forecast for the holiday weekend looks like it might be OK.

Two new reports came in today.

One reporter fishing by himself east of Kelleys Island caught 4 walleye casting weight forwards at the 39/35 lines.  A 17 count worked best.

Over at Geneva a 3 man perch limit of 9 to 13" fish was caught in 41' of water NW of the harbor.

Last weekend I saw plenty of those big Geneva perch while we were trolling for walleye.  That's the first time that I've ever caught them suspended well off the bottom, and they not only hit worm harnesses they also hit crankbaits.

Travis