May 31, 2009 (Sunday evening) Travis

Make sure that you read Marc's report below.  He mentioned all the big fish that were caught in the MWC.  It took 2 days, 10 fish, 86 pounds to win, and it took well over 70 pounds to make the top ten.  Only on Erie.....

Here are readers' reports that have come in:

"Fished northwest corner of kelly’s trolling north northeast two men on (Flat Bottom Girl) a 24 ft Carolina skiff  90hp 4 stroke, big jon mast and outer boats caught limit in 4 hrs. Program was Rapala tail dancers 150ft back on big boards approx. 1.6 to 2.2 mph also pulled a couple on crawler harnesses gold willow and silver baitfish all fish were good size 3lbs to 9.5 lbs, five biggest 29.00 lbs"

"Fished Saturday May 30th out of Catawba took 3 man limit by 1:30. Harnesses up high 12-20 behind boards 2oz inline, 1.4-1.6 speed seemed best, out off the reefs in 24ft water.Bite for us was early for a few then went dead then picked a few here and there but action was fast and furious in early afternoon to finish our limits out."

Travis

May 31, 2009 (Sunday) Marc

Here's a little more detailed report from last weeks prefishing for the MWC. Travis summed up the general program pretty good. 

I guess I could simply say that there are fish almost everywhere west of Sandusky and leave it at that but here is what we did last week. Sunday I started prefishing with my partner Ken lester from Illinois. Our first plan of attack was to fish where Travis and I fished 3 years ago in the MWT. It is in the archives and well worth reading again. We started on the NE corner of Pelee and tried both sides of that point with no action at all (turns out that that is where the tourney winners fished with an 8.6 pound average). We then went to deeper water off the east side of Pelee and toward the north end. One long troll in 25-31 FOW water produced some very big fish in the 8-10+ pound range and we were delighted to have them to ourselves. The program was mostly inline weights of 1 and 2 ounce harnesses trolled with #5 blades, in simple plain colors of greens, oranges and purple/reds. the fish changed their preference often it seemed so we always tried to keep a couple different colrs in front of them. 

We always ran our lead lengths a couple feet less than the water depth we were fishing. I switched to a 3 ounce weight when we got out as deep as 40 foot.  Travis is the one that taught me to run drop backs according to depth of water and i thank him for it. We always ran in the .8 to 1.3 speed range but did catch a few eaters when we experimented with speeds up to 2.0.  I also always ran at least 1 crankbait, usually Reefrunners and although the harnesses caught way more fish and big ones too, the crankbaits everyday produced our biggest fish without fail.

We never really got a big fish program going anywhere else (if you can call 5-6 & 7 pounders small) and we fished lots of areas, when we could get out, the rest of the week. The one main theme that we saw was that fishing deep water right off a reef or island drop off produced the best for us, so the fish were relating to structure but not yet moved up on it. That changed on Saturday when during the tourney we never had a fish over 5 pounds fishing those drop offs. When we moved up to 13 FOW late in the day we caught a few very nice 7 pound fish but too late to make a difference in our tourney weights. My guess is that for the next month or so those shallow reefs next to deep water are going to produce some really nice sized fish. Drifters should be able to target these fish too.

The program we used all week was what we started out with on Sunday and it worked everywhere we went, which was basically every island and deep water reef or shoal we could find. We never did any open water trolling even though there were big fish swimming around out there. We wanted to locate repeatable fish for the tourney and felt that structure related fish would be the best for a repeat performance. The other thing we found was big catfish and plenty of sheephead that the VHS a couple years ago didn't take out of the system. They are thick and hungry. Take lots of worms.

I want to remind you all that WBSA has a guest section on our message board that is open to everyone, club member or not. If you have questions about trolling programs or anything else that Travis and I and a multitude of tourney anglers are using, please feel free to post your question there. It would be nice to get something on there besides the few spammers that have found there way thru our filters to keep them out. You'll be anonymous, so don't worry about being embarrassed. I know many of you find it frustrating to use some of these programs but believe me they are easy once you understand them. 

And last but not least we are having a fish fry at Cranberry Creek Marina on Saturday June 13. This will be mostly a social gathering but we will try to get the latest info about 2010 TAC's and walleye limit thoughts to pass on while we are all together there.You are welcome to join us but try to let us know if you are coming. Side dishes are welcome but not required.  We'll supply the fish (walleye), french fries and slaw and some drinks but small coolers are welcome in case we do run out of drinks and for your beer if so inclined. Email us at the report email above to let us know.

Marc

May 28, 2009 (Thursday) Travis 

Tomorrow (Friday) the two-day Cabela's MWC walleye tournament gets started out of the Sandusky city ramp on Shelby Street.  For any of you that are unfamiliar with the MWC it is a two-man team format.  All waters (including Canada) are open from the mouth of the Detroit River all the way to Lorain.  It looks like they'll have some wind to deal with, but hopefully less than 20 knots if the forecast is right.

I talked to Marc today.  He is fishing the tournament and has been pre-fishing this week.  Marc is one of the few people that I know that would give a public report the day before a big tournament.  (Last year Marc posted a report during the FLW tournament that he was fishing.)  He wanted me to pass along some general patterns for any of you coming up this weekend.  He said that he has mostly been fishing around structure, although he hasn't caught fish shallow up on top of any of the structure.  Most of his fish are coming from deeper water near the structure.  Everything that he has caught has been on harnesses or crankbaits with the biggest few fish coming on the cranks.  He hasn't had any luck with spoons this week.  He also mentioned that he's heard from other people that there are a lot of fish between Niagara Reef and Green Island, and heading north from Green Island between the islands.  The trick is being on them and getting them to bite when they turn on.

Travis 

May 27, 2009 (Wednesday) Travis 

There were some pretty strong storms over the western basin today.  I hope that all of you that were on the lake got out of harm's way.  Here is another report from the weekend that came in:

"I fished with 4 kids on Saturday night plus one other dad. I couldn't keep the bait on the hooks. We drifted East and North of Niagara reef for 2 hours. Went home with 2 walleye and a perch. We had a 6 year old pick up her first walleye and my daughter caught a 4 # smallie that went back after a photo. Gold green and chartreuse erie dearies took the good fish. The kids had a great time.  Monday morning, went out with a friend who took me out to the islands for the first time when I was 12. We knew it would be rough but this was our only chance. We drifted with the pack and just south of the pack between green and sw corner of south bass. One drift without sock produced 1 walleye. Three drifts with sock produced 7 more. All good size 19-24". Three perch at 12, 12, and 13 inches were the bonus. Almost all walleye came on gold harnesses with gold blade off a BB. Two of the perch came off green/ chartreuse harness with pink panties blade."

Travis 

May 26, 2009 (Tuesday) Travis 

Three more reports have come in.  First the walleye report, and then two perch reports follow:

"Got 12 on Saturday 2 miles west of Rattlesnake, Red and White Harnesses on 3oz. bottom bouncers 85 to 125 back and off of downriggers 28 to 30 ft down. 5 on Sunday with purple harnesses of a downrigger and red and white behind a 3 ounce bottom bouncer, same place as saturday, 1.1 to 1.5 MPH both days."

"Three perch limits using shiners and spreaders about 1/4 mile northeast of the Cedar Point break wall on Saturday May 23 in about 4 hours.  The perch averaged between 9 and 10 inches with almost no throwbacks, white perch or sheephead and the 75 perch weighted 20.5 pounds."

"3 of us limited out on perch 1 mile West of Vermillion river in 35 fow Sunday between 9:30am and 11:00am 3 fish Os weighing 34#s in the rough."

Travis 

May 25, 2009 (Monday) Travis 

A lot of good information is coming in from the weekend.  Here are the reports:

"Fished between Crib and Niagra reefs Sunday 24th pulling harness's. 3 1/2 hours and 3 limits. Nice eaters, 14 of the walleye came from around 20 ft back from the boards with 2 oz inline weights, the other 4 came from bottom bouncers. Also had a few nice ones come off, one throwback eye, a few whitebass a small and decent perch and a catfish to round it all out. Oh yeah and a couple sheephead of course. Waves building, but a great day on lake erie."

"Sunday two of us casted in the wind from 9am to 2pm. four fish 1 mi south of c-can. Three more fish south of green. All fish on chartreuse or pink. All fish were on bottom and 20- 24"."

"Set-up around 9:30 on the west side of Kelleys and pulled 2 tickets by noon, continued to fish until 3pm with a grand total of 18 and 2 more lost at the boat.  16 of 20 were caught on 2 oz bottom bouncers, w/ 6' #5 single blade harnesses, one purple/gold and the other chart/orange on gold blades.  Our speed was 1.2 - 1.4mph.  We ran them 45-60 back...most fish were caught in an area about the size of maybe 3 football fields...we trolled around and back through the area and picked up a few here and there but most fish were caught in close proximity to that one small area.  Our two biggest went around 7#'s and most were 3-5#'s...a very enjoyable day on the water!"

"Friday afternoon, 2-person limit, Saturday, 6-person limit, Sunday - 4 person limit, Monday - needed a day off.  All fish were caught in the area between Green Island and E and F-cans.  The clear water was better than the murky water.  In general, 20 jets at 65 feet and 30 jets at 40-50 feet with various stinger spoons caught most of the fish - just under a 3 pound average at the fish cleaners.  The best speed was in the 1.6 - 1.8 mph range.  Planning to be out there again this weekend with a new crew."

Yellow Perch-

"Went out 1 mile West of West Dock from Kelly's Island 10:00AM-3:00PM Saturday. Got 2 man ticket with 2 FO's and one 23" Walleye.  For every keeper perch, we culled 3-4 white bass, white perch or sheephead."

I had a great weekend with my family and I'll be getting back out on the water as our June 6 tournament gets closer.

Travis

May 24, 2009 (Sunday morning) Travis 

Marc sent me a report to post from his trips Thursday and Friday.  Here it is:

"Thursday 2 man limit 1/2 mi sw of the can on West reef. Trolling speed 1.0-1.4. Almost all fish came on #5 metalic blades in light green and orange. Friday (3 man limit) it was rough when we went out so we stopped short and fished by the State Park on S. Bass, thinking the islands would block some wind (it didn't) Used the same program as Thursday. 1 ounce inlines 25 back, 2 ounce 25 back and 3 ounce 25 back.and later moved the 1 ounce back to 40 back when the deeper stuff worked better, and 1 crankbait. The crank took one fish each day.  Hammered gold worked too and purples. We missed a lot of fish both Thursday and Friday and most fell off in the net. Of course we didn't miss any sheephead or Catfish which bothered us some on Friday."

Here is one other report that came in yesterday:

"Fished Saturday near Middle Island. Caught 8 walleye for 29 lbs. Trolled reef runners 180-220 back @ 1.7 mph. 29" 10 pound largest. Best color Wonder bread."

I hope that you're all having a great holiday weekend.

Travis 

May 22, 2009 (Friday) Travis 

Here are some reports that came in today.  Have a great holiday weekend.

"on tuesday 4 guys 20 fish 50 pounds bottom bouncers and weapons. wednesday 4 guys 16 fish 42 pounds all on bottom bouncers pink has been the hot color and purple. thursday 3 guys 18 fish 44 pounds bottom bouncers and gold weapons we were putting the bottom bouncers so they were on the side of the boat that they were would go under the boat 4 ounce bb we had a good chop of 2-3 foot let it hit bottom and reel up one turn 136 pounds in 3 days with lots of huge sheephead white perch take lots of worms"

"Two of us trolled for walleye Thurs. (5/21) from 2-9 pm and Fri. (5/22) from 7-10:00 am.   Thur. we got 10 and on Fri. we got our limit of 12.  Both days we trolled gold and chartreuse worm harnesses near the bottom behind dipsies.  On Thur., most were caught between D-Can and about 1 mile East of D-Can in 28 FOW.  Went through 6 doz. crawlers due to all of the junk fish.  Waves were 1-2' with wind out of the W/SW.  We first tried between Green and S. Bass Islands.  Like the previous Friday, we marked a lot of fish there, but yesterday (5/21) we couldn't get them to bite.  We also tried West of D-Can in 23 FOW with some other boats, but only had 1 hit there and it shook off.   A little East of D-Can was the area where we had the most success success.  Trolling speed varied between 1.5 and 2 mph.  This morning (Fri. 5/22) the wind had picked up and had shifted to out of the NE overnight.  We planned to head back out East of D-Can, but decide to first try between Green and S. Bass again.  This time the fish cooperated and we caught 12 nice (18-24") fish in about 3 hr. in 30-32 FOW and never had to move to anywhere else.  Was tough trolling against the waves (2-4').  When going with the waves, we shut our trolling motor off and just let the waves move us along at about 1.3-1.5 mph.  With the trolling motor at idle going with the waves we were moving way too fast (3.5 mph).  Without the motor was just about right.  Weather this morning wasn't nearly as pleasant as yesterday afternoon and evening, but the fishing was much better."

Perch-
"Caught a limit of all male perch just a 1/2 mile east of the Cedar point fog horn in 28' fow Thursday, 9am to 11:30am.  with a lot of white perch mixed in. Size was 7 1/2" to 10" with a few throw backs"

Thanks to the reporters for sending these just in time for the weekend.  Keep the information coming....

Travis 

May 19, 2009 (Tuesday) Travis 

Here's one more report from last Friday to add:

"I fished on Friday from 11am - 8pm. The winds out of east curse was on us. I fished 1.5 hrs at Clinton reef, where many other boats were. Caught 1 throwback and a bunch of junk. Used harnesses and weapons, mostly drifting some trolling. Poor marks on screen and few other nets out so we left.
We moved to north of Mouse Is. for a couple hours. Good marks on screen but only junk fish to show for it. Same patterns. Ate early dinner at PIB then went to drift in front of Lonz winery and West. Good marks, lost 2 at the boat plus 12" perch and many junk fish. The good fish seemed to be in 22-26 fow just off the shallower water. We drifted the shallow water a couple times but only junk in 12-16 fow."

Travis

May 18, 2009 (Monday Evening) Marc 

My report from today;

"Went out of Lamberjacks with my son this afternoon at about 2PM. We started out with a Reefrunner, Deep Renosky and 2 inline harnesses, trolling just south of A Can in building east winds & 1-2 footers. After 45 minutes of nothing we changed up spinners and cranks with still not much luck. Finally caught one on the Pink Mirror Image Renosky at 70 back and then one off one of the purple #5 Lambert blades at 40 back with a 1 ounce inline. We then pulled one of the cranks out and replaced it with a 3 ounce BB and a simple #4 hammered gold blade and caught fish right away, put another BB on the port side with an orange metallic #5 blade and it was game on. Both BB's caught fish for us and the Renosky fired 3 more times and caught bigger fish at about 4 1/2 pounds. Speed was at 1.0-1.4. We had one undersize 14" fish and a few 17's that we released, the rest for a 2 man limit  were good 2 1/2-3 pounders and only one sheephead. Dock to dock it was about a 4 1/2 hour trip and it ended up much better than it started out. Our best results were within a 1/2 mile south to a 1/2 mile north of A Can, water temp was 59 degrees. It's amazing how often that BB off the corners of the boat will save your day."
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Readers reports;

"Five of us fished just East of the Green buoy at the East end of Kelleys Island Shoal. from 0900 to 1330. Had problems getting the anchor to hold, so we only actually fished for about 4 hours. We had 97 keepers, 7-1/2" to 12". and a 23" walleye. Water depth was 42 feet. When we drifted into shallower water, 37-38 feet, the bite went away, Got back into the 42 feet and started catching them again. Several gobys, quite a few sheephead and white perch."

"Seems like most of the anglers were staying in close Friday and Saturday. 17-19FOW between Clinton Reef and the Portage River mouth. Water wasn't too stained. Lots of charters and half a dozen headboats. Looked like everyone was catching something...sheephead more than half the time. Bottom bouncers were the key on Saturday morning. Buddy and I boated half a dozen eyes. Biggest was a 2003 grad. Water temp was still cold @ 57 degrees."

"Fished with 3 guys east of A can - 5,2 miles out of Wild Wings - caught limits on Saturday am by 11:00.  All fish came on dragging rods - bottom bouncers with green gold holographic spinners or 1 oz inlines dragging the same.  No fish were caught casting the swing....."

The weather looks ideal for the rest of the week, hope you get to enjoy it!

Don't forget to take the online survey 

Marc

May 16, 2009 (Saturday) Travis 

Here are the reports from the last few days:

"Started out east of middle bass on can. line  picked up 3 walleyes  trolling gold michigan stingers spoons  on 30 jets 60-80 back  not many marks in that area then went to north side of kelleys shoal  decent marks there and caught 3 more walleyes and lost 2 at the boat on 30 jets 90-100 back  dark purple stingers worked there  quite a few boats there were slowly picking like us. any crankbaits did not work today."

"got 9 fish that had a 24 lb weight biggest 26 inches couple dinks 2 yellow perch 50 white perch and 20 sheephead buddy used his ultralight and them big sheephead gave him a thrill 1 mile southwest of A can got them all on bottom bouncers cast my gold weapon that i smacked them on tuesday and got 0 on it 2 guys lots of fish great day on the lake we used gold and blue harnesses"

Travis

May 15, 2009 (Friday) Marc  

I've got a couple regulatory type announcements and then will put up the last 2 days worth of reports(not many with the windy conditions) for Travis.

There is an online survey being taken by ODNR. It is simple and fast with about 19 questions and a comment area. Please go there and take it so your boice can be heard. It is easy and fast and I think, worthwhile.

Also new is a VHS proclamation that changes the rule for transport of dead baitfish below a line of I 90 from Fremont to the Pa boarder and Route 6 from Fremont to the Indiana border. The rule for live fish transport remains the same which is not allowed but they have added dead bait fish to the rule. That means no taking of gizzard shad or shiners home to freeze for later use and possible introduction into other Ohio lakes and streams. It appears that VHS survives the freezing process and that VHS may have been introduced into Clear Fork Res. and bait fish is considered one of the ways that it got there.

Here is the lone report from yesterday:
Fished Tuesday of the E side of Kellys for perch. Got 2 man limit. Steady pick and decent size again. Then trolled for eyes just E of Kelly's Island Shoal. Trolled for 3 -3.5 hours and got 4 eyes. 1 eye on a crank bait on a dipsey set at 60 ish, 1 on a crawler harness off a 40 jet diver, and the last 2 off jet 40's back 60 - 65 feet.

Marc