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Fishing Reports & News |
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March 31, 2009 (Tuesday) Travis |
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I've been spending a little time the last few nights getting some of the past months archived since I had fallen a little behind. I was looking back and you can get every individual month from January 2006 through last month. I don't have the links to all the months cleaned up yet, especially for 2008. If you are looking for a past month back through early 2006 it's easy to get to it. Here's the link:
http://www.wbsa.us/denied/reports_2006_01.html
Click on the link and then modify the month and year in the browser address line to get to the month and year that you want. Keep in mind that the months are two digits (June is "06", not just "6").
Travis |
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March 30, 2009 (Monday) Travis |
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I haven't received any more e-mail reports since Friday. From what I've heard it sounds like Friday was pretty good. The weather got worse over the weekend and was horrible by the end of the day Sunday. Based on the part of the western basin that is visible on today's satellite picture the winds have changed everything.
Spawning activity is already well under way and should be picking up. For those of you that jig, the males should be showing up strong right on the reefs. The trollers around the reefs should start seeing more of a mix of spawned out fish and pre-spawn fish. The tournament this weekend should be real interesting. If the weather and water clarity cooperate at all there will be a lot of ways and a lot of places to catch fish.
Travis |
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March 27, 2009 (Friday) Travis |
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The weather has really been pretty good for March. This morning would have been a great morning to be out. Maybe this month is a sign of a better year on the way. At least when we get wind it has been followed by calm days. Last year it seemed to never give up. It looks like Saturday afternoon and Sunday are going to be windy and cold. Let's hope for another quick recovery. I got the first e-mail report of the open water season today. Here it is:
"Two of us went out to Turtle Creek at noon and fished 3 hours in 16 feet of water. One headboat and a couple of six packs along with over 50 other boats. Only hooked one walleye and it got off. Saw few nets going down but two barrels at the fish cleaning station were nearly full of walleye carcasses when we got back at 3 so the bite must have been good in the morning."
Travis |
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March 22, 2009 (Sunday) Travis |
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This was a great weekend on Lake Erie. It's hard to believe that we had two perfect weather days on a March weekend. Today was the best day of the two with warmer temps and the water was pretty much glass flat most of the day.
Since we're only two weeks from our first WBSA LEWT tourney I hope that you can all respect that I'm not going to give you all the details from the weekend. I think that you all know I'm very honest and what I post on here from my trips is all 100% true. This time I'm just going to give the basics and keep some of the details to myself. I rarely do that, but I think some of the things that happened this weekend could hold up in two weekends. I know a lot will change, but we'll see.
Yesterday three of us fished in one boat. We jigged in the morning and caught 5 males on hair jigs with shiners (mostly purple) on the west edge of Locust Reef. We missed plenty of fish and it was a spotty bite. In the afternoon we trolled and only caught 3 fish, but the best two were 9 and 10 pounds.
Today 4 of us trolled in two boats. The bite was far from fast and furious, but together we landed 10 or 11 fish and the best 3 were all over 10 pounds with another at 7. We found that stained water that was a little warmer was best and there were incredible marks where we caught them.
I guess the bottom line is that you can catch them jigging or trolling right now and in a lot of different places. Based on some other second hand reports quite a few fish were caught this weekend, but limits were hard to come by. I think that we're close to the jig bite exploding and the trolling bite will only get better as long as water clarity cooperates.
Travis |
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March 20, 2009 (Friday) Travis |
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Today dad and I made our first trip of the year. The good news is that all the equipment is working well and, although it was cold, it was a nice day on the lake. We waited until 1 pm to head out since it was a cold windy morning. We jigged for about 1.5 hours and trolled a few hours. We didn't get a hit the whole afternoon. There is clean water on the reefs that extends E and NE of Niagara, but there is a lot of dirty water in most other places. The clean water is 36-37 degrees and the dirty water is warmer. Most of the offshore dirty water is 38-39 degrees and it is as warm as 43 nearshore around Turtle Creek. There were about 8 other boats between Cone and B can.
It looks like it could be a great weekend of weather. I'll be out again tomorrow.
Travis |
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March 14, 2009 (Saturday) Travis |
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I heard from a friend today that the jig bite on the reefs was pretty good. They got their limit in a few hours mostly on hair jigs. They gave trolling a brief try early in the morning but it didn't work out. They said the water was fishable off Niagara where it looked good on the satellite picture. The temperatures were bitter, though, in the clearer water. Some skim ice had formed over night and the depth finder was saying 30 degrees.
Travis |
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March 13, 2009 (Friday) Travis |
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It looks like this weekend could be a good kick-off to the '09 open water season. Based on the latest satellite picture most of the ice is gone, especially in Ohio waters of the western basin. Even though there is a lot of mud out there the reefs have actually started clearing up. The wind and weather forecasts look favorable, at least for Saturday for sure.
I'm hoping to get out next weekend if the weather permits. Any of you that make it out this weekend send reports so that I can post the first real reports of the '09 season.
Travis |
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March 9, 2009 (Monday) Travis |
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I'm finally able to say that the winter is over and open water is here. There is still some remnant ice out there, but it won't be around long. I still have a few loose ends to tie up in the next week or so and then if the weather cooperates I hope to be out for the first trip the weekend of March 21. You can't count on good weather this time of year, but I've had a few beautiful flat calm March trips in past years and I hope to get a few this year.
In the end Dad and I decided to sign up for the first two LEWT tourneys for sure and then we'll go from there. The way the fields are filling up we might have to make a decision on the Sandusky tournament real soon. Fenwick and Lakevue are both less than 10 boats from being full.
Anyone thinking about ordering your Canadian license might want to do it soon. Currently the exchange rate is more favorable than it had been. Right now $77 US dollars are worth $100 Canadian, so a $77 dollar Canadian license costs $59 and some change. The reason that it costs $77 Canadian for a full year non-resident license is that you are now required to have a sport card in addition to the license. The sport card is $9 Canadian for 3 years and is supposed to simplify things when they get their new internet licensing system working. I think that they are targeting next year for that, so in the mean time you still have to either stop and get it on Pelee or call and order it. I still think that calling and buying with a credit card is easiest. They claim it can take 4 to 6 weeks, but I've never waited more than 2 weeks or so. The number to call is
800-667-1940
. They have a new voice activated phone system that is a little annoying, but if you choose the option to talk to a person it's no different than it used to be once you're past the initial menu.
Anyone that saw the new 2009 Ohio regulations pamphlet and looked at the Erie regs probably noticed that is said no night fishing on Erie in March and April. It was simply a mis-print. It is still illegal to fish the rivers at night during spawning, and it is still legal to fish Erie at night all year long. Here are the online regulations (minus the mistake in the printed version):
http://www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife/dow/regulations/fishing_erie.aspx
Be safe if you head out soon. Watch the wind to make sure you aren't putting yourself at risk with any of the floating ice in the short term. With or without the ice the water is cold and you need to take extra precautions in case you have boat trouble.
Travis |
