Coming up next week to East harbor State Park. I usually trailer over to Huron and head east. Or should I stay in Western basin to perch fish.
Category: Uncategorized
LakeMaster Premium Great Lakes Card Question
I just bought the LakeMaster Premium Great Lakes card for my Helix 9 Gen4. The card loads, but I can not find any of the Camp Perry Range Buoys (ACan, BCan, ect.) or any of the international boundary buoys. Any help greatly appreciated before I go and load them manually by setting waypoints. Thanks
Draggin the Line with John and Terry
We made the long run to Lorain this past Friday and Saturday. The lake was flat both days and the only reason we did it twice, was John’s friend Terry could only fish Saturday. We did some scouting Friday out at the weather buoy and east of it.Tried a few spots but the midges were not to Johns liking, so we headed south closer to land where there was a pack of boats. We only caught half our limit both days. Friday, our 6 weighed 14lbs. What caught was all dipseys with Colorado harnesses with speed around 2.0mph. Dipseys both days caught 3 setting 90 and 95 and 1 setting at 75 and 80. Got nothing on our boards. On Saturday we had to speed up to 2.5mph and after changing out a bunch of lures and colors. Finally found they wanted green or perch colors. We caught 9 that weighed 17lbs. Caught on green J7, perch color Flicker shad and green willow harness. Even caught a couple on boards with green Yozuri and a J9.
Sat Sun 24 / 25 Perch
Finally got out helping buddy learn his new old boat.
Saturday 24th. Late afternoon / evening. SE corner of Kelleys Island and half way between Lakeside and Kelleys. Fair fishfinder marks. Zero yellow perch, nothing else either.
Sunday 25th. Late afternoon / evening again. NW corner of Kelleys first, fair marks, zero fish. Moved to just east of Ballast Island. Better marks, but still not great. Managed 12 in about two hours. We’d get 2-3 in a few minutes. Then nothing for 25 minutes. Then 2-3 again in a few minutes. Repeat. Three doubles – half the fish caught. By the marks and the fishing, I’d guess the perch were spread out in small groups. Frozen salted minnows out caught live shiners as did crappie rig vs. traditional spreader.
No wind, so we didn’t anchor. Lines were nearly vertical or slightly angled, very slow drift. Water had a lot of algae dispersed in it, but the visibility wasn’t real bad, about 3+ feet at the surface.
Hope to get out several times over the coming long Labor Day Weekend.
WB
8/22-8/23
Late with the report, just randomly busy weekend.
Perched Thursday afternoon around G can with my cousin and his little 4 year old boy. Humminbird was lit up like Christmas so was excited thinking we could get the little guy into some hot action BUT noooooooo, we completely struck out! fished for 3 hours, moved a couple times and only managed 1 stinkin white perch for all the effort lol! He was getting pretty restless (I couldnt blame him!) so we ended up just swimming for the last hour off the back of the boat.
Stayed at Kelleys that night and next morning decided to try the East side for walleye since we struck out so hard the day before on perch. Tried slow drifts (no wind at all!) on the south side in a real small pack and had on perch gear, a deadstick jig, and casting harnesses. Nothing at the south side, then moved East into another small pack. Marked some here and there and ended up trolling harnesses to try to cover water. Managed 1 mid sized sheep and 1 short walleye before the little guy was bored out of his mind and wanted to go to the beach (again, couldnt blame him!).
I fished hard AF trying to get him into some action but just couldnt get anything going. And of course the last couple days all i see are reports of quick limits around the Cans lol 😡 :D.
Might be back up next weekend or following to see if I can finally break through on the perch! Had the boat for 4 years and I think the grand total of perch on board is around 40 haha!
8/22 perch report
Went out with my wife today. We fished about a mile and a half southeast of B can. Lots of marks there. Fished for about three hours. Got 40 keepers. Several sheepshead and a couple dozen small white perch. Threw back a couple dozen small yellow perch also.
Got minnows at Bite me baits. Mostly emerald shiners but very small. Lots of pin minnows that are tough to get and keep on the hook.
Kicker dial
I’ve been on a few boats where you can fine tune the speed of your kicker motor. Now that I’ve purchased a boat, mine doesn’t have this feature and would like to install one of these.
Who makes the best one??
Thanks,
FF
8/17 perch
Lots of wind, and waves. Fished north of rattlesnake to stay out of the waves. Plenty of marks…not many bites. Only ended up with 10 decent 9-11” fish. Frozen shiners on crappie rigs. No minnows at the bait shops.
Fishing with Keith and Stacy….8/14/2024
I had fished with Keith a couple years ago…his wife likes to read my reports, and relay info for their own trips, because Keith isn’t online a lot. He has a Ranger 621, and doesn’t live far from the lake. The other day, when I had a cancellation for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Stacy told Keith about it, so he called to see if they could do a perch trip with me.
I was available. 🙂
I met them at Catawba at 5:45…they were right on time. Stacy got in the boat, and Keith and I got in truck. As I’m driving down to the launch, I see a crew of two, loading their boat in the approach…ugh.
It was still dark out, so there was no hurry at all to get going, I told Keith, “He’s lucky it’s still dark out, or I would have said something by now.” He laughed, and told of his own experiences at other boat launches.
They were taking much longer than we had expected, so I got out of the truck, and walked over to chat with them. As I approached, I said, “You’re lucky it’s still dark out”, and smiled. He nodded, knowing they were in the wrong…. then said, “Morning Captain, we’re your crew for tomorrow”, and reached out to shake my hand.
I about died…thinking of how close I could have been to becoming a Karen at 6am in the morning, but refrained, and went the nice route instead. It just goes to show you….you should always try to be nice…it always comes back to you when you least expect it. That could have been a very bad experience, otherwise. lol
Anyway….we got launched, and I even waited for Dan and Ed to launch, so they could follow us out to D Can, because they’re from Missouri, riding in an aluminum bass boat, and this was their first time to the lake. They wanted to try for some perch today, too. They followed us out, and we both got set up near the can.
We caught, but it was a very slow bite, and I wasn’t happy with the marks on the screen, so we moved. The boats were piling in, so …we left. I pointed the nose of the Vexus to the north, and went up to Niagara. No one was there, but there were good marks, so we set up again.
Stacy and Keith were using the Fishing Addiction Fly Rigs, and I was using one of my homemade crappie rigs. The bite was slow for us again, but the marks were good, and when we did catch one, it was a big fatty yellow perch.
Looking back at D Can, we couldn’t even count how many boats were there, because there were so many. I wasn’t going back there. I hate fishing in crowds.
Algae formed on the surface of the water, due to the absence of wind, and looked like pea soup. We decided to turn the Spot Lock off and just drift ever so slowly.
We didn’t catch our limits of perch, but they were very happy with the amount and size of them. Memories were made, and we all had fun, and that makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I have Dan and Ed for a walleye trip.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I was available. 🙂
I met them at Catawba at 5:45…they were right on time. Stacy got in the boat, and Keith and I got in truck. As I’m driving down to the launch, I see a crew of two, loading their boat in the approach…ugh.
It was still dark out, so there was no hurry at all to get going, I told Keith, “He’s lucky it’s still dark out, or I would have said something by now.” He laughed, and told of his own experiences at other boat launches.
They were taking much longer than we had expected, so I got out of the truck, and walked over to chat with them. As I approached, I said, “You’re lucky it’s still dark out”, and smiled. He nodded, knowing they were in the wrong…. then said, “Morning Captain, we’re your crew for tomorrow”, and reached out to shake my hand.
I about died…thinking of how close I could have been to becoming a Karen at 6am in the morning, but refrained, and went the nice route instead. It just goes to show you….you should always try to be nice…it always comes back to you when you least expect it. That could have been a very bad experience, otherwise. lol
Anyway….we got launched, and I even waited for Dan and Ed to launch, so they could follow us out to D Can, because they’re from Missouri, riding in an aluminum bass boat, and this was their first time to the lake. They wanted to try for some perch today, too. They followed us out, and we both got set up near the can.
We caught, but it was a very slow bite, and I wasn’t happy with the marks on the screen, so we moved. The boats were piling in, so …we left. I pointed the nose of the Vexus to the north, and went up to Niagara. No one was there, but there were good marks, so we set up again.
Stacy and Keith were using the Fishing Addiction Fly Rigs, and I was using one of my homemade crappie rigs. The bite was slow for us again, but the marks were good, and when we did catch one, it was a big fatty yellow perch.
Looking back at D Can, we couldn’t even count how many boats were there, because there were so many. I wasn’t going back there. I hate fishing in crowds.
Algae formed on the surface of the water, due to the absence of wind, and looked like pea soup. We decided to turn the Spot Lock off and just drift ever so slowly.
We didn’t catch our limits of perch, but they were very happy with the amount and size of them. Memories were made, and we all had fun, and that makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I have Dan and Ed for a walleye trip.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Fishing with Dan and Ed….8/15/2024
My original plan was to go to Huron, but with reports of floating grass in the area, I decided that launching in Vermilion would be a wiser move. We could head north to escape the floating masses.
I picked my crew up from the White Caps Motel at 5am, and headed to the gas station, to get ice for the coolers…we then headed east to Vermilion. No one was there, so the ramp was all ours. After paying the launch fee, and hitting the bathrooms, we launched at 6am. Sunrise is at 6:30 now.
The sky was lightening, so by the time we got to Lorain, it was light enough to remove the navigation lights.
The dipsies went out first, and were catching before I could start on the crankbaits behind the planer boards.
Dipsey settings that worked well for us were:
zero setting 60 back (port side) and 65 back (starboard side)
two setting at 80 back (starboard side)
three setting at 80 back (port side)
Spoons were out-fishing the cranks this morning. Yeck (D-11s) in colors I don’t know the names of..sorry. They had pink bellies though, and I think that was the key to those two. Those were on the two and three setting dipsies.
A Black/Silver/Green striped back w/silver bellied BadMo Arrow spoon fished behind the zero setting on the starboard side. A Yeck spoon with copper/red/black on the back, with a royal blue belly, worked behind the zero setting on the port side.
Speed on the FishHawk was 2.3-2.5mph. The currents over in Lorain are all over the place, and flowing like ribbons in a gentle breeze, through the water. We would be scooting along at 2.3mph and then all of the sudden, the FishHawk shows the speed at 2.7-3.3mph, or 1.7-1.9mph….then, it would go back to 2.3mph after a short period. So, we were weaving through these opposing currents, continually.
The baby Spro (85s) ran behind the Off Shores on the port side, and the Bill Lewis Lites ran on the starboard side.
2oz Guppie weights ran 50/70, and 50/60 on the starboard side, and at 50/57 and 50/55 on the port side. All of these caught a fish or two.
Color were:
Spros: Chrome Perch and Blue/Chrome
Lites: Blue/Chrome and Purple Tiger
Water temp was 75 degrees on the surface…and, the same, on the FHawk, 20 feet down.
Dan and Ed did a great job getting their fish to the boat and netted…we only lost two that came unbuttoned from the spoons.
They each caught their limit, and I caught mine too. They were happy campers, to say the least, and so was I.
I told them on the way back to Port Clinton, that they should take a nap, and then go back out to try for some perch, because we have wind coming tomorrow through the weekend, and their boat isn’t really made of this lake. They were planning on going up to the Detroit River to fish, if it got too windy here.
I was happy to hear that.
We had a great time today, and that makes me happy! 🙂
I’m off tomorrow, but have Saturday and Sunday trips scheduled for a one day perch trip, and a one day walleye trip. I’ll be watching the wind forecast, because where I have been fishing, is not where I would go in any SW wind, gusting to 20-25mph. I’ll discuss it with my crew. We may reschedule, if it doesn’t improve.
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
I picked my crew up from the White Caps Motel at 5am, and headed to the gas station, to get ice for the coolers…we then headed east to Vermilion. No one was there, so the ramp was all ours. After paying the launch fee, and hitting the bathrooms, we launched at 6am. Sunrise is at 6:30 now.
The sky was lightening, so by the time we got to Lorain, it was light enough to remove the navigation lights.
The dipsies went out first, and were catching before I could start on the crankbaits behind the planer boards.
Dipsey settings that worked well for us were:
zero setting 60 back (port side) and 65 back (starboard side)
two setting at 80 back (starboard side)
three setting at 80 back (port side)
Spoons were out-fishing the cranks this morning. Yeck (D-11s) in colors I don’t know the names of..sorry. They had pink bellies though, and I think that was the key to those two. Those were on the two and three setting dipsies.
A Black/Silver/Green striped back w/silver bellied BadMo Arrow spoon fished behind the zero setting on the starboard side. A Yeck spoon with copper/red/black on the back, with a royal blue belly, worked behind the zero setting on the port side.
Speed on the FishHawk was 2.3-2.5mph. The currents over in Lorain are all over the place, and flowing like ribbons in a gentle breeze, through the water. We would be scooting along at 2.3mph and then all of the sudden, the FishHawk shows the speed at 2.7-3.3mph, or 1.7-1.9mph….then, it would go back to 2.3mph after a short period. So, we were weaving through these opposing currents, continually.
The baby Spro (85s) ran behind the Off Shores on the port side, and the Bill Lewis Lites ran on the starboard side.
2oz Guppie weights ran 50/70, and 50/60 on the starboard side, and at 50/57 and 50/55 on the port side. All of these caught a fish or two.
Color were:
Spros: Chrome Perch and Blue/Chrome
Lites: Blue/Chrome and Purple Tiger
Water temp was 75 degrees on the surface…and, the same, on the FHawk, 20 feet down.
Dan and Ed did a great job getting their fish to the boat and netted…we only lost two that came unbuttoned from the spoons.
They each caught their limit, and I caught mine too. They were happy campers, to say the least, and so was I.
I told them on the way back to Port Clinton, that they should take a nap, and then go back out to try for some perch, because we have wind coming tomorrow through the weekend, and their boat isn’t really made of this lake. They were planning on going up to the Detroit River to fish, if it got too windy here.
I was happy to hear that.
We had a great time today, and that makes me happy! 🙂
I’m off tomorrow, but have Saturday and Sunday trips scheduled for a one day perch trip, and a one day walleye trip. I’ll be watching the wind forecast, because where I have been fishing, is not where I would go in any SW wind, gusting to 20-25mph. I’ll discuss it with my crew. We may reschedule, if it doesn’t improve.
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
Attached Images