Fishing Reports & News

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October 28, 2009 (Wednesday) Travis 

Other than my recent muskie trip I haven't been out much lately.  I've only been walleye fishing one day since the Hawg Fest.  I'm really hoping for at least a few decent days in November.  It's my single favorite walleye month of the year if we get any reasonable weather.

Here's a perch report that came in right after I put up my post yesterday:

Travis 

October 27, 2009 (Tuesday) Travis 

Here are two perch reports that came in today:

"Perch Sun/Mon ran North out of the Portage River looking for clean water. Tried Close in, Green Island, and West Reef on the way out. No luck until North of North Bass….Sun  Green Buoy at NE end and Mon… Red Buoy called Taco Bell.  Nice fish both days. Limit in about 5 hours."

"Fished Monday: Put in at Mazurick Ramp. Went to Green Bell Buoy NW of North Bass. (14.5 mi. from ramp). Great day, calm water, 2 person limit, 11 ½ lbs with several 9” – 11”. Heard other good reports from NE of Kelly’s at weather buoy; 5-6 mi east of Kelly’s, and NW of Kelly’s in close, 20 FOW. The water is clearer than it looks on the Satellite picture. The further north and east you go, the better it is for both water and Perch. I hope the S and SW winds Fri. & Sat. don’t change things."

Travis

October 24, 2009 (Saturday) Travis 

Here is a perch report that came in yesterday:

"Fished north of the Chagrin river in 40 FOW on Wednesday.  Slow action- 20 perch in 4 hours, but the ones we got were nice- 11” to 14”."

The perch definitely get bigger as you head east.

Travis 

October 22, 2009 (Thursday) Travis 

We caught a little bit of a break with the weather the last few days, although it looks like the next few days might be a little nasty.  Here are 3 reports that came in over the past 24 hours.

"Fished off the condos (Vermilion) this morning for about an hour -- nada.. not even a hit.. some were claiming a few, but couldn't prove it by me... headed out to about 33/22, trolled a bit with harnesses, good marks, no hits... headed north looking for clearer water... about noonish I anchored near a pack at ~ 38/22 ... got my ticket in 3 hrs... split about 1/2 over 9", and 1/2 under 9" -- 2 over 12", none under 8".. some picking.  Heard on the radio about one charter(?) grabbing a beauty, perhaps 13 lbs..."

"Two fishing buddies went out Wednesday afternoon looking for perch on the west side of North Bass, Rattlesnake and Green Islands. After 3 hours, they brought back 5 perch."

"Launched today (Thursday) at 8:00AM from Vermillion as the satellite picture showed the cleanest water being there and to the East inshore.  Tried for about an hour just to the west. Started in 18fow heading NE.  Started marking nice at 24 feet but no takers.  Water clarity was very good.  Headed East to 20fow just beyond Vermillion.  Again good water clarity.  When we got to the condos we again started seeing nice marks in and around 20fow.  Fish were from 8 feet down.  A lot of bait.  Made two passes through that area going from west to east of the Ford plant.  Total bag, one very nice steelhead on a perch J13 and two sheephead, no walleyes, one other pull back and one very big fish hooked but not boated."

Travis 

October 19, 2009 (Monday) Travis 

We just went through another big blow, this one from the NE last Thursday and Friday.  The sandbar weather buoy recorded 10' waves on Friday.  It looks like we're on a one blow per week schedule this fall.  This week might be the exception, though, based on the forecast.  I just got back from a great weekend of muskie fishing on Lake St. Clair.  My dad and brother-in-law and I landed 11 muskies casting on Sat./Sun.  5 were between 40 and 43", and I caught 3 on a homemade crankbait.  I got to watch one of the fish hit right at boatside.  Those St. Clair muskie are really fattening up just like the Erie walleye in the fall.  The water temp was as low as 42 degrees up there, with the water at the north end of the lake around 50.

Here is a perch report that came in:

"Not much to report. Had to wait until Sunday to go perching. Water was muddy out to Rattlesnake and as far as we could see north. We tried south of Rattlesnake to hide from the north wind but no bites. Moved to within a mile of Green on the west and picked up two right away. Then nothing for an hour. Gave up after that. Only saw three boats fishing during the 3 hours we were on the water."

Based on the satelite photo the water is really dirty out there, but it should clean up quickly with this south wind.

Travis

October 13, 2009 (Tuesday) Travis 

Two new reports came in today:

"Fished East South East of Kelly's Island Airport at N 41 35.985  W 82 39.245 in 40 ft water on Sunday. Started fishing at 1pm in the afternoon.   Bites lite but pretty constant until 5:30pm.   Used wire tri spreaders with weight in middle.  These are nice perch rigs as they allow you to be on the bottom with the wieght, but be just off the bottom with you three hooks.  Richards on Rt. 163 is one place that sells these perch rigs.  Some throw backs but most in 8"/ 9" range."

"I fished fri. sat and sun of last week. Boy, what a slooooooow 3 days of fishing. Fri- set up at the 31 line and trolled to the 36 line north with nothing to show. Moved everything around, hi and low ran reefs and dipseys nada. Sat only got out a few hours and got beat up. Didn't fish much before got tired of the waves. Sunday I decided to try inshore between Huron and sawmill. Only got 3 fish. 2 were on dipsy 1 setting 75 back with small spoons. One came on a reefrunner 47 back on a board 100 feet out. One fish was about 8lbs and 28.5 inches. That made my day."

Travis

October 12, 2009 (Monday) Travis 

Here is a perch report that came in today:

"2 of us perch fished from 9:00 to 2:30 Saturday at several spots South of Kelley’s Is. in 20 FOW and East of Kelly’s in 40 FOW.  Was extremely slow.  Ended up with only 12 perch over 8”.  Water clarity wasn’t very good.  Didn’t see many fish being caught."

Travis 

October 11, 2009 (Sunday) Travis 

Here is another perch report from the same reporter that sent in Thursday's information:

The bite pattern was the same as Tuesday and about 10:30 AM seems to be the magic number for the bite to pick up. Just another great day on the lake."

Travis

October 8, 2009 (Thursday) Travis 

It has been another turbulent week on Lake Erie.  On Wednesday the wind blew over 40 knots again and the lake fell 6 feet and then rose 6 feet within about 18 hours in the western basin.  Here is a report that came in Wednesday:

We fish an area off Little Cedar Point about 2 miles northwest from the entrance to Anchor Point/Meinke's Marina. Water depth was 15 feet. Coordinates: N 41* 42.400' and W 083* 17.500'. Out of 50 fish 30 were between 8 and 9 inches and 20 were between 9 to 11 inches. Did catch a Sheephead, a Gobie and a White Perch. Perch Spreaders with Fire Tiger Blades worked the best as compared to our Crappie and single hook rigs. Snells did not have any "jewelry". Hooks were Mustad #3337 size #28.  We noted that the Perch did not really start biting till approximately 10:30 AM and the bite was pretty steady till we had our limit at 01:30 PM. The bite was a bit unusual too. It started out being just off the bottom then it went to where you had to let it set on the bottom for 15 seconds or so and then do a slow lift. If you felt resistance then set the hooks. I was pitching the spreader out about 10 feet letting it set on the bottom then doing a very, very slow retrieve which proved to be very effective. Overall. it was a very good day even though it was a bit lumpy on the lake."

Travis

October 5, 2009 (Monday) Travis 

Here is a good perch report that just came in:

"Another good perching day. 5 men, 4-1/2 hours( 0915 -1345),  91 keepers with the first hour keeping 36.

Overall size ranged from 7 to 11-5/8. Several over 11, but mostly 8's and 9's

Fished our "spot" ESE of Kelleys Island airport, ( 41d 35.985', 82d 39.245' ) in 39 FOW

There were over 20 boats in the general vacinity, with most of them being North and Northwest of us.

We have fished this spot for the last 6 trips and have averaged 23.0 fish per man.( 4 limits and over 18 fish per man on the other 2.)."

Travis 

October 4, 2009 (Sunday) Travis 

I did end up making it out on Saturday, but it didn't end up being much of a walleye trip.  I decided not to get beat up.  We stayed between Huron and Ruggles Reef in 16 to 32' of water.  Even with all the wind it was calm in close, and the water was really pretty clear considering the wind earlier in the week.  The most impressive fish that we caught were two fat smallmouth bass.  One was 18" and 4.5 pounds, the other was 18.5" and 4.75 pounds.  Both were on Ruggles Reef in 16' of water, one on a ripstick and the other on a reef runner.  We only caught one 22" walleye and might have had two others on that popped off.  Other than that we only managed a few drum and white perch.

There were some good walleye caught between Ruggles and Vermilion in 35 to 45' of water out in the rougher seas, based on what I heard.

Travis 

October 2, 2009 (Friday) Travis 

Here is a perch report for the weekend:

"Two person limit, 2 ½ hrs, east of airport, 41 FOW. 11 lbs. Still lots of 7”-7 ½”, but a few nice ones are showing up. Also of note; 1, 10+ lb Sheep and one Seagull that tried to take my Perch before I could get it in the boat."

Travis