Author: Admin 1

Mother Nature has not been nice to me this season. When I have no one scheduled, it’s nice out, and when I have a trip scheduled, she turns the fans on “High”!

So, with that in mind, when I was invited to go fishing on a friend’s boat this morning, I said, “Yes”. I wasn’t going to let another nice day get away. The lake is nice only so many days of the year, so you have to take advantage of them when you can.


It looks like my trip tomorrow will be moved to Sunday, because Old Momma Nature wants to blow from the NE again tomorrow (17 to 23mph). Luckily, my customers are my neighbors, so it’s easy to reschedule with them. It’s neighbor, Dave’s, birthday tomorrow, so it would have been fun to go tomorrow, rather than Sunday, but hopefully, Sunday will be nicer…and, it’s still close enough to his birthday, to celebrate it. Should I make him a cake? Maybe, I will….we’ll see. 🙂


My friend, Keith Sheuer, runs a Ranger 620, and wanted to get it out and run it… so, we were fishing out of his boat today. We launched from Catawba at 7am.
I go through a real adjustment, mentally, when I’m not in control of the boat, but Keith did a fine job, and I learned to relax and have fun, but by the time I relaxed, it was time to go in…(it’s a big adjustment…lol)


We were fishing west of Green in 26 feet of water, and there was no one around us…that we could see, anyway, but that’s not saying much, since it was pretty foggy out there for many hours. Once it did lift, we could see boats a mile to two miles away.


Our speed was 1.8-2.0mph


Water temp was 58.3 degrees


We first set up in the dirty stuff and pointed the boat in the direction of the cleaner water, so we would pass through several shades of water clarity. The fish were holding mostly in the kind where you can just make out your cavitation plate.
We went 10 for 13 before heading in.


The tally was:
Flicker Minnow 11s in “Flashy Chartreuse”, “Firetail Hot Perch”, and “Firetail Chrome Candy” caught at 47 (3), 72 (1), and 74 (2) back.
**(#) depicts how many fish were caught at that distance back.


Bandits caught at 37 (1), and 57 (2) back. “Fruit Dots” at 37 back caught one, and had a hard pull back, but it came off.
“Bumblebee” at 57 back caught two, and had a pull back/lost fish, too.


A baby “Spro” caught one at 85 back. I don’t know the name of it…sorry. It’s the goldfish color with the red head and painted dots all over the sides.


We had one more pull back on bandit at 90 back, but it came off.


We got off the lake at 12:30, and headed back through town, so the fish could be dropped off at Port Clinton Fish Co., to be cleaned. It was only going to take them 15 minutes, so we hung out until they were done. I bought a chest freezer last month, so now I can keep a fish or two from time to time. My kitchen freezer is very small, so I couldn’t fit any, if I tried. Now, I can, and that makes me happy…:)


I invited Keith to stay, when he brought me home, and fried up some of that fresh walleye for lunch. It was delicious!


I have a trip scheduled for Saturday, with Gene Piscatillo, and it’s looking decent right now, with winds forecast for 10-15 out of the west. That’s doable. 🙂


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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I was out with my son this morning. We fished about 3 hours and got 4 decent fish. We started with crawlers on harnesses and got 1. This was at Locust. We started working our way north and switched to jigging and picked up the rest. The fish are still hanging close to the bottom. Two of them were still milking. The change is coming.

Water temperature was 53 where we were.

Hey all, what is the water temp out around the islands? Heading out tomorrow and trying to decide whether to stop and grab some nightcrawlers. Buoy’s aren’t in yet or at least not reporting.

Thanks!

Heading out tomorrow morning. I don’t have a lot of hope, but I’m here. With the east wind I’m going to fish the triangle, and use middle bass to block the residual waves. When I came up yesterday there were a lot of boats out between green, and south bass. They had boards out, and the nets were being used. As long as the wind dies like it’s supposed to I’ll probably head out early, to grab some minnows, then try for some eyes as the sun comes up. If that’s no good I’ll perch a bit. Next week it’s on!! Last year I fished 12 days in May, and was off the water every day by 10:00 with a limit.

I have searched and not found any recent discussions on these devices. I have a 1990 22′ Grady White that is currently equipped with a 2005 vintage Garmin GPSMAP 5212 unit with a thru-hull transducer and NMEA 2000 hub. I use the 5212 for finding fish (not so great) and engine/fuel data. The boat is also equipped with a smaller Garmin GPSMAP 546s unit that I typically use for navigation only while I’m looking for fish marks on the 5212. The boat is powered by a 2005 Yamaha 225 4-stroke which I use for trolling, with socks when needed.

I cannot see perch on this unit and based on what I have read online, the technology of my 2005 equipment is not capable of showing enough definition. I am in the market for a new chartplotter and transducer, and possibly a new NMEA 2000 unit as well – not sure I will be able to use the existing one.

I fish for perch and walleye, so I don’t need all the fancy features like side scan and live view, and I don’t want to spend the money on this stuff either. I just want to be able to see marks while underway and then see better definition on the bottom for perch. I would like to keep the 546s connected to the current thru-hull transducer for navigation (and as a backup) if possible, but I am not married to this plan.

I would like advice on which chartplotter/transducer to purchase for just down scan or total scan (I think that is all I need) to find marks at speed and then have better definition while trolling or sitting. I assume a transom mounted transducer will be best, but I am not sure. I will replace the thru-hull transducer if that is the better way to go. Also, do I need to replace the NMEA 2000 hub as well?

Sorry for so many questions, but I am not a techie. Thank you to anyone that can point me in the right direction.

I haven’t seen any fishing post lately. Coming up mon and tues for first time this yr. Bringing my son’s girlfriend who has never fished. Been windy lately it looks like up there. Where can we find some eyes?thaks

Recently I started bleeding the walleye we caught while they were still alive. I cut through the small strip that ties the bottom of the body to the head at the bottom of the gills. I put the fish in the cooler and they bled out very fast. When I filleted the fish, I noticed the flesh was much lighter in color. After we ate some, I can’t say it was a lot better but fresh fish is pretty hard to beat.

I have heard several things about the process and wonder if there’s other options. I have heard putting the fish in water while they bleed out helps the process.

How about some thoughts/feedback from the community on this topic?

Thanks in advance

Apologies in advance for posting my questions in this forum, but I posted this question in the general forum and didn’t get any answers so I’m hoping I can y’all might be kind enough to help here. I’ve been away from the area for a number of years but am excited to be back around Erie and looking forward to fishing her again very soon. We’ll be running up the Portage from a mile or two south of Route 2 bridge.. I hear a lot of horror stories about depth or debris problems, especially early in the season. I’m running with 20” draft if it helps. Would appreciate any insights about getting to the open water- is it navigable? Do I run risk of bottoming out? Also, if anyone has any info on the train drawbridge, thanks for that too. Appreciate any insights, thank you and tight lines!