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Thanks in advance for anyone in the area!

I have a waterfowl hunt on Saturday at Magee Marsh. Buddy has one tomorrow up there (Thursday). Anyone know if the marshes along the Lake are froze, and if so, how thick? Can’t get any definite info from marsh or anywhere else.

West Basin

Up until the last couple times when I went out I have always been using snap swivels to attach my crankbaits. So after reading some post from guys that are just using a simple snaps instead of a snap swivel I decided to try that. So when I was out this past Saturday I had some major issues with the line twisting so bad that I couldn’t even reel it in. Have any of you experienced that? The only change I made was the snap and I’ve only been pulling crankbaits.

The day started by awaking at 2:15, about 45 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, which is not unusual when I have fishing on my mind. I made the 3 hour jaunt from Goshen, IN to the Mazurik launch, noticing the outside temps on my truck were showing a chilly 20 degrees at times, which was 5 to 10 degrees colder than what I anticipated. I was just hoping my outboard would start and stay running at those temps.

I launched around 6, well before dawn, and made the chilly ride out to where I thought the water clarity would be fairly decent.
I started checking for marks on the Garmin and most of them came in the 32 to 40 fow. The morning started fairly slow, and the sun was beginning to rise by the time I got my first walleye. My program for most of the day was a speed of 1.4 to 1.7, pulling bandits, Smithwick P10, DHJ14’s and DHJ12’s. The bandits seemed to do the best and white based lures were better than chrome and gold. I got a few at 60 to 70 back unassisted (no weight) but I would say the majority were deeper. I also use the Precision trolling app and was setting most of the boards at 50/20, but I also caught at 50/15 and 50/25. So the majority of my fish were caught at 20 to 25 feet down.

The bite really picked up mid to late morning, and I was soon shedding my hunting coveralls to try to cool down. Again, it was difficult to keep lines in the water, just fishing alone. BTW, I would much rather fish with others with me, but because of entering the tournaments this year, and not personally knowing anyone else in the tourney, I fish alone, just in case I land that 12 pounder :rolleyes:. I definitely have mixed feelings about being in the tournament because of this, but maybe next year some of my buddies will enter as well.

Most of my day was spent north of Kelleys, but I did run down a couple miles southeast of Kelleys to give it a try there. The further south I got the more stained the water got and there were not as many marks there either. So after catching a couple, I went back up where I started the day and finished there, fishing for about an hour or so after dark trying to land that trophy. The trophy didn’t come but it was another great day on the water. I lost track of how many I netted, but the biggest was a 26″ fatty must have been at least 6 to 7 lbs. but didn’t get an actual weight on her.

I got off the lake around 7 and made the 3 hour drive home, fighting sleepiness most of the way. With what the forecast is showing for the coming week, I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to get out there today.

All the Best!
Lynn

It was 26 in the morning, so we waited until mid day when it warmed to a balmy 36. We launched out of Mazuriks and headed strait to the area south of S Bass we have been working for the last few weeks. We concentrated in the deeper 40 to 50+ channel.

It was just Christy and I, so we set out 4 inline boards to port and deployed the side downriggers (2). We stayed with the same program as before but shifted deeper as that was giving up the better quality eyes.

The boards ended up out 140,125, 110, and 90, pulling naked Bandits. Seasick frog in white, Seasick frog in chrome, and fruit dot caught our smaller fish (not really small, mostly 3 pounders).

The riggers were the real producers and accounted for all of our bigger fish. They were working 30 to 40 down pulling P10s in Perchase and Ctown. They produced 1 over 8, 2 over 6, and several 4s (by boat scale).

We didn’t change up colors as all of the above caught steady. Riggers non stop, boards not so much. NOTE: the riggers caught at the slower speeds 1.2 and the boards faster 1.6

We released the bigger fish and kept 12, 3-4 pounder ish for the freezer. Someone ask what we do with all those fish: we give our catch to the guests who fish with us, so it is nice to be able to stock our freezer for the winter.

Water temps were 34 and we trolled 1.2 to 1.6 mph fishhawk give or take.

It looks like weather, personal obligations, and holidays will keep us grounded for some time. I stabilized the gas just in case we don’t get back out until March when we typically start back.

Winter is coming…time to put some fish in my freezer, for some walleye chowder I like to make over the cold season. 🙂


I invited my friends Jen and Matt, to go fishing today. The high temp for the day was only going to be 35 degrees, but the winds were calm, so it would be a good day to go out. The water temp was still at 43 degrees, so there was no icing up at the ramps, yet.


We launched out of Catawba at 9:30(ish), and headed out looking for some fish near the islands. There were several boats working the F Can area, but I decided that going back to the Starve Island area, where Jen and I fished the last time out was our best bet….and, I was right.


There were several boats over there, too, but not too crowded, so down went the Terrova and the baby Merc. The Fish Hawk was deployed, because there’s a lot of current in that area, and the speed set at 1.8 on the FH. The SOG was showing 2.0-2.1mph on an easterly direction.


We targeted the south edge of the “hole”, in 28-32 feet of water. There weren’t a lot of marks, but we started catching anyway.


We set up with what Jen and I used last week, and it didn’t disappoint.


We set the following behind the Off Shore boards:


DHJ14s in Blue/Chrome with a 2oz snap weight set at 30/30 (putting the weight on at the 30 mark and letting out another 30′ for a total of 60′)


Bill Lewis PWCs (Precision Walleye Crank, for those that are as bad at acronyms, as I am)…BH Wonderbread, Christmas Sweater, and Green Tiger set 60-75 back, unassisted (meaning, no weight).


A Dead Eye (deep)… Red Headed Wonderbread, painted by DJ Custom Eye Lures at 50/24 2oz took three fish.


Spro Madeye 120 in the color, “Marvin” at 98 back unassisted did well, too.


We managed to put 19 fish in the boat, but only kept 17. Two smaller 17″ fish were released to get a chance to grow bigger.


The average was 2-4 pounds, with our largest going around 6 pounds.


It was a fun 4 hours on a beautiful lake, and it didn’t really feel that cold, since there wasn’t any wind. 🙂


The boat is back in its heated storage, and ready to go out again, when the weather allows.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Hey was wondering if anyone is having any luck out of huron? I was out today west of dump. Didn’t mark any fish hardly at all. Is it the weather ? Just curious. Thanks for any thoughts

Sorry for the late report.
I did some fun fishing off S Bass with a friend while Capt. Christy stayed in.

It was a little bumpy to start but the bite was hot and heavy early. The bite slowed way down around mid day and the waves started to build.

We were steadily catching and releasing mid 20s with doubles common. We trolled Bandits 80 to 100 back. All colors caught but Sea Sick Frog was best catching 6. Our best fish was 25.5 inches.

We had this area pretty much to our selves for a couple weeks but it was starting to get moderately crowded as others start working the area. Water temps dropped from 56 to 48 degrees.

We started trolling at 1.8 but had to bump it up to 2.0 as things slowed.

We called it early when the waves started building.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Jen and I, put 12 nice eaters in the box in an hour and a half this morning…good steady bite.

Blue/chrome DHJ14 30/30 with 2oz was hot…as was the Bill Lewis black headed wonderbread at 60 back unassisted.

The Spro Madeye 120 (color is Marvin) at 98 and 105 took several fish too.

Speed was 1.8-1.9

31-36’ of water by starve island.

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Another beautiful day on the big E. We once again fished the Western Basin. Todays guests from Michigan were not in the Brawl and just wanted freezer fish.

We worked males off East of the islands in 30 ft of water for a quick and easy 24 of 20-24 inchers. We did have one 7.5 pounder but the rest were smaller. The wind was light and the water temps were mid 50s. We trolled faster today at 2.1 mph.

All color Bandits caught but white was best. We caught from 40 to 120 back unassisted. No white bass or sheep today.

We will be ashore until after Thanksgiving.