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November 29, 2008 (Saturday) Travis 

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.

We came through some pretty nasty weather from the previous few weeks.  I did make it out Thursday evening and the fish (and water clarity) just hadn't recovered from the blow yet.  We fished muddy water from 26 to 32' around Ruggles before dark and had good marks, but couldn't make them bite in the dirty water.  After dark we went up on Ruggles and nearshore from Ruggles to Cranberry Creek.  The water was clear but the fish weren't there.  We finished up in dirtier water at Old Woman's Creek.  We didn't catch a single walleye in about 4 hours of fishing.  We did manage to tail snag a 13.5 pound carp.  The water temp was 38 to 40 on the surface out on the main lake and as low as 34 in the Huron River near Walski's ramp.  When we came back into the river around 8:30 there was some skim ice that we had to go through to get to the ramp.  It wasn't bad at all, but I still didn't want to see any ice.

It sounds like the water is clearing and the fishing got pretty good today with good fish being caught around Ruggles.  Unfortunately more cold weather is predicted and it's going to get tougher to get out on the lake if the harbors and rivers start freezing up.  I don't like to think that the season is over, and it certainly might not be, but I won't be risking boat or engine damage to break through ice.

Travis

November 14, 2008 (Friday) Travis 

It looks like tonight is about the last decent weather for the next week.  Unfortunately it's going to blow out of the N and NW the next few days and it could really mess the water up nearshore where the fishing has been so good lately.  It's not the end of the season if we get any calm weather in the following weeks, but it certainly will slow things down in the near future.  I would imagine that the best bet to catch some fish when the wind stops will be in the areas around the island that are protected from N winds.  Any clear water will be better than the mud that will be stirred up from Huron to Vermilion.

Looking over my last report I realized that I forgot to mention that Cranberry Crusher reef runners also caught fish in the 35' of water before sunset.

One perch report came in today:

Yellow Perch: "Fished about 500 yards west of the West Reef  Red  marker both Sun and Mon 11/2,3 . Quick limits of nice fish both days. Only 2 other boats nearby . Both were catching. 32 feet of water. All were over 8, some as big as 12 inches. Last trip this year. A good memory to end on."

This will probably be the last report until the weather turns around, unless I get some e-mail reports from the last few days.  I heard that some really nice fish were caught since Tuesday.  There are enough big fish around that we have plenty of time left to catch them, but as good as it has been it's a shame that this weather is coming through....

Travis

November 12, 2008 (Wednesday) Travis 

Dad and I took advantage of the great weather again yesterday.  We went out and fished the afternoon and evening and had a great time.  The water off of Ruggles is in great shape considering all the wind that we had over the weekend.  We started in the early afternoon in 40 to 42' north of Cranberry Creek and Ruggles Reef.  There are decent marks our there, but we only managed 2 hits and landed one fish.  Around 3:00 we moved in to 30 to 32' north of Ruggles where we had caught fish last week and the marks were sparse, so we headed north from there.  The screen lit up when we hit 34-35' and we had a fire drill from about 4:00 to 5:00.  We had multiple doubles and generally had a fish on most of the time.  They were nice fish, but nothing was over 6 pounds or so.  The best two lures were a gold clown reef runner 20' back and a chrome clown deep husky jerk 20' back.  In general deep divers 20' back got hit and there were also a few hits on a purple barely naked ripstick 50' back.  That bite died out as it got dark so we headed in to Ruggles Reef.  From about 6 pm to 10 pm we consistently caught fish in 14 to 17' of water on the west half of Ruggles Reef.  It wasn't quite as fast as the earlier bite out deeper, but we did have some doubles and caught a lot of fish.  We also found some bigger fish with the biggest two going 8.75 pounds each and another one that was probably pushing 7 pounds that I didn't weigh.  By far the best set-up was just about any ripstick 30 to 35' back.  The best colors were purple barely naked, blue prism and gold prism.  Slower seemed to be better as most of our fish came at speeds from 1.1 to 1.4 mph.

The more I think about it last night was probably the single best night of fishing we've had on Erie, at least for numbers of fish.  A couple of times we literally put a rod with a fish in a holder after we saw that it wasn't big to land a second fish that was pulling harder on another rod.  I didn't count, but we had to have caught at least 30 fish and lost another 8 or 10 that didn't hook up or that came off about when the board got to the boat.  Considering that it was just two of us with 4 rods we couldn't have caught many more fish.  We didn't catch any huge fish (it sounds like a few were caught west of the river in the afternoon), but the quality of fish was hard to complain about.  Not only was the fishing incredible, but the lake was glass calm and dead quiet.

Barring horrible weather conditions it might continue to get better.  We have some more wind coming this weekend, but they are still saying that it will stay west and we might avoid getting the water screwed up as long as it doesn't go NW or NE.  We came through last weekend with clean water and that should continue.  If we get some more south winds or light winds from other directions the late November/early December fishing might produce some real trophies considering that there have already been some big fish caught and we're only in early November.

One report came in today:

Travis

November 6, 2008 (Thursday) Travis 

I couldn't pass on the calm weather last night (Wednesday).  Dad and I went out and fished from about 7:30 pm to 1:00 am.  The lake was still flat and it was another beautiful night.  Our results were about identical to Tuesday's results.  We ended up landing 8 walleye.  The biggest was 9.5 pounds (29 inches), the second biggest was just under 7 pounds, and the rest were from 3 to 6 pounds.  The two biggest fish came around 9 pm in 32' of water straight north of Ruggles Reef.  They both hit a purple bare naked reef runner 30' back.  The other six fish all came in 13 to 15' of water right on Ruggles Reef and along the shoreline from Ruggles to route 61 (west of Cranberry Creek).  We also missed another 5 or 6 fish that either didn't hook up or got off before we took the board off.  All the smaller fish hit ripsticks 30 to 45' back, a size 14 husky jerk 50' back, and reef runners 35' back (in deeper water).  Colors that got hit included chrome clown (husky jerk), salamander, lights out, pink squirrel, gold clown, and blue hawaiian.  The fish were pretty aggressive and I think that most of the fish we lost were because they simply ripped the hooks loose.  At least one of the fish that we missed seemed to be a pretty good one.  Our speed was 1.3 to 1.5 mph, the water was stained offshore and pretty clear nearshore, the water temp was around 52 and at worst there was a S or SE breeze from time to time.

We'll have to see how the weather plays out after Friday.  With a front coming through let's hope it doesn't mess the water up too bad.  Other than rain and cold temperatures the winds don't look too damaging (no gales or extended blows predicted).  There are a lot of solid 5 to 9 pound fish in all the right places.  Between the group of fish off of Ruggles and the big fish from Huron to Cedar Point we are really set up for a great fall if the conditions let us get to them.  This was our third straight trip that produced a 9 pound fish.

Three other reports have come in:

Michigan: "Left Bolles harbor around 5:00 pm Tues and found the fish we left this weekend that wouldn’t hit.  The fish seemed to move north towards Brest Bay but stayed in the 16’ range. Once again we where thick in fish both high and low but couldn’t get them to go. We had one board go back with a ripstick 40 back and that was it. Hopefully sometime these fish will turn on. The temp was back up to 51 tonight."

"Fished Wednesday off Cranberry Creek.  Caught a one-man limit of perch in 3 hours, biggest was 12 1/2", noon to 3pm north of the marina in 21 'FOW.  Then an 18" smallie trolling a monkey puke reef runner 125' back in 18 FOW on the north side of the reef in front of the castle.  No walleye, but what a beautiful day for November on the big pond!"

Travis 

November 4, 2008 (Tuesday) Travis 

I had a chance to get out on the lake today and it was a beautiful.  It was the calmest, most peaceful day that I've spent out there this year.  The wind was dead and the lake was flat glass calm.  The air temp was in the upper 60's and the water temp was in the low 50's.  The fishing was good.  We never had a fire drill, but just kind of picked at them all day.  In the late morning and early afternoon we caught 6 fish north of Ruggles Reef in 31-32 feet of water.  5 came on reef runners 35 to 45' back and one was on a ripstick 80' back.  Gold Clown and Purple Bare naked reef runners caught the most fish.  Later in the afternoon we moved NW of the Huron dumping grounds around 28.5 N/33.5 W.  We got there right as a good bite ended, but we did manage one fish and it was the biggest of the day at 9.25 pounds.  I didn't get a measurement on it, but it was short for its weight.  It also came on the purple bare nake RR 35' back.  For the last few hours we moved back to the area north of Ruggles again and made a pass that ended up on Ruggles shortly after dark.  We landed 3 more fish, two of them around 6 pounds and 1 smaller fish.  The two bigger fish came on the purple bare naked 35' back again and the other was on a blue hawaiian ripstick 45' back.  In addition to the walleye the day produced a couple of trophy drum, a huge white bass, and a big smallmouth bass on ruggles that didn't make it to the boat.  Our speed was right around 1.5 mph all day and we trolled all directions since there wasn't any wind to dictate our heading.  The water was cloudier than I would have preferred, but I could at least barely see the prop on my big motor and I've caught fish in worse in the past.

I've had better fishing days and caught bigger fish, but all things considered this is a day that I won't forget very soon.  Between the flat calm, quiet peacefullness of the conditions, and pretty good fishing, it was a rare combination on any Great Lake.

One report came in today:

"Perched just west of red buoy on West Reef (about 400 yards) 32 ft of water. Quick limits of nice ones both days. Some over 11 inches all over 8 inches. Very enjoyable last trip."

Travis

November 3, 2008 (Monday) Travis 

Two perch reports came in today:

"Big boat is winterized, so took 16 footer out of Avon.  Never have I seen
such large perch-only caught 16 for 7.5 pounds!  Most all were 11-13", no
FO. Normal amount of white perch and junk.  Fished on the hump 3 miles east of the ramp, just south of the hump in 32 ft."

"Five of us ventured out this morning from Mazurik. We went to a spot SE of the Kellys Island airport ( 41d 36.06', 82d 38.69' ) 39 FOW. Just as we arrived, about 0845, the rain started. We stayed there until about 1110. We had 27 keepers. Losts of small perch, usual WB and WP. Moved about half a mile to a spot about 1.8 miles East of the runway ( 41d 35.76', 82d 39.85') 41 FOW. Stayed there until about 1410. Kept 51 fish from this spot. We also caught a 25" SH, a 23" SH, and a 24" catfish. The perch ran larger at the second spot. The day's largest, just over 13"  was the last fish caught. Total for the day was 78 keepers, which wasn't all that bad considering the weather. BE PREPARED. The portable toilets were removed from Mazurik today."

Travis

November 2, 2008 (Sunday) Travis 

We came through a week of bad weather without nearly as much damage to the lake as I expected.  If you fish from Cedar Point to Vermilion you're in luck.  I really thought that it would be a wreck after the week of wind, but the satellite picture doesn't look too bad.  The forecast has light south winds through Thursday and I hope to get out and take advantage of it.

Two reports came in over the weekend:

"Finally had a chance to get out and see if the fish are in Michigan yet.  Went out of Bolles Saturday and marked lots of fish north near Brest Bay in 18 to 20 fow.  Made two passes thru them both high and low and nothing.  Moved south to Luna Pier and the same thing, saw great marks but couldn’t get them to go. I should have snagged one it was so thick. Water was very clear, temp was 48.5 most places. We will most likely try them at night to see if that works."

Travis