How is the current mayfly problem on this western basin ? Was out a week ago and the bottom was covered about 4 ft from bottom. Any relief yet ?? Thanks in advance..
Category: Uncategorized
6/14-6/15
Came up Friday afternoon. Started about 5:00 pm. Fished between rattlesnake, and middle bass pulling harnesses target speed was 2mph. The wind however made a constant speed unattainable. The bite was actually pretty good, but lots of shorts. Sheep, and cats mixed in to keep me busy. The wind forced me off the water by 8:00pm ended up with 4 keepers all 16-18 nothing big.
Saturday I was waiting for the wind to die down, so I didn’t get out till 10:30. Fought wind, and waves all day. Stated same spot as yesterday. Water was horrible with the blow. Fish finder was almost useless with everything suspended in the water. Looked like a full screen bait ball! Tried everything. Harnesses, spoons, cranks. Moved all over, but still nothing. Finally moved the east point of middle bass. Not comfortable when I got there with the north wind, and running east to west along the shoal. Around 5:00 the wind was down, the lake laid down, and the fish turned on. Btw much cleaner water over there. Back to harness. I had not put anything in the box by 4:00pm. 4:00-6:00 got a limit of better fish 18-22 with one barely legal that swallowed. A bunch of shorts. A couple farm, and cat. Also caught my best walleye of the season! I had to squeeze the tail a bit, but got across the 29” line. He got to swim another day. Heading out now Sunday morning. Might be a short day. Weather buoy showing bigger waves than yesterday, but supposed to calm down until noon then pick back up.
Big boards VS Small boards
I went on a charter Friday out of Wild Wings and it was a beautiful day, we headed east and finally found some fish. The captain set up the big boards and showed us how to set the lines, this was a first for me, I have always used the small boards but never the big ones and it was a great adventure. I was just wonder what the pros and cons are using big boards because it seemed rather easy but I was only out for 6 hours so there might be some big disadvantages to them that we didn’t encounter. There was three adults and two young boys 10 & 12 and they were setting the lines but not connecting the rubber bands and clips. We ended the day with 27 in the cooler. I was just curious about the boards but I am sure it just boils down to personal preference.
Midges. What to do?
I’ve had my boat infested with midges. Is there anything to do to minimize. Going up to Erie next week with high temps and humidity and low winds. Fans, leaf blower, any ideas? Change spots?
Fishing Day 1 of 3 with Bob, Tom, and Dave….6/12/24
This morning, I picked up my crew at the White Caps Motel at 4:30, and headed to Vermilion again. We hit the gas station on the way, to pick up some ice for the coolers, and were launched by 5:30.
It was a beautiful sunrise, of reds, yellows, and oranges painting the partly cloudy sky with warm colors. The air temp was 67 degrees, and the wind was out of the SSE at 10 mph.
We headed back to where I was yesterday, which was about 6-7 miles NNE, and set up over 44 feet of water. But, unlike yesterday, where we set up over deeper water, and headed towards shallower water…this time, since there was a wind direction change, we set up over shallower water and headed towards deeper water. I had took note, of the amount of fish the Humminbird was marking on our way back in, yesterday, and found them to still be in the same areas, so we started short of where we were yesterday, and set a heading towards it.
The same program that worked yesterday, worked today, too.
We ran dipsies on the zero, two, and three settings. The two inside dipsies, on the zero settings were set at 54 on the starboard side, and 40 on the port side. The two setting ran on the starboard side at 65 back, and the three setting ran on the port side at 55 back.
Yeck spoons and Scorpion spoons ran off the dipsies and were in constant action.
The starboard side ran Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2 oz snap weights at 50/80, 50/50, and 50/27 behind Off Shore boards.
The port side could only run two baits behind the boards, due to the rod limitation, of three per angler. So, two Bandits ran at 120 and 80 back, unassisted.
Speed was 2.3-2.5 mph
Water temp was 67 degrees
Stronger SSW winds tomorrow morning, so we will not be going back out that way, and will launch out of Mazurik’s or Dempsey’s…I’m not sure yet.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
It was a beautiful sunrise, of reds, yellows, and oranges painting the partly cloudy sky with warm colors. The air temp was 67 degrees, and the wind was out of the SSE at 10 mph.
We headed back to where I was yesterday, which was about 6-7 miles NNE, and set up over 44 feet of water. But, unlike yesterday, where we set up over deeper water, and headed towards shallower water…this time, since there was a wind direction change, we set up over shallower water and headed towards deeper water. I had took note, of the amount of fish the Humminbird was marking on our way back in, yesterday, and found them to still be in the same areas, so we started short of where we were yesterday, and set a heading towards it.
The same program that worked yesterday, worked today, too.
We ran dipsies on the zero, two, and three settings. The two inside dipsies, on the zero settings were set at 54 on the starboard side, and 40 on the port side. The two setting ran on the starboard side at 65 back, and the three setting ran on the port side at 55 back.
Yeck spoons and Scorpion spoons ran off the dipsies and were in constant action.
The starboard side ran Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2 oz snap weights at 50/80, 50/50, and 50/27 behind Off Shore boards.
The port side could only run two baits behind the boards, due to the rod limitation, of three per angler. So, two Bandits ran at 120 and 80 back, unassisted.
Speed was 2.3-2.5 mph
Water temp was 67 degrees
Stronger SSW winds tomorrow morning, so we will not be going back out that way, and will launch out of Mazurik’s or Dempsey’s…I’m not sure yet.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Fishing with Dan and Mike….6/11/2024
The other night, when I was climbing in bed, I got a phone call from Dan. He and his Dad had just arrived in Port Clinton, and had never fished Lake Erie before. I gave him what information I had that might help them, and said, “Good night”.The next day, I sent them a text, “Are you doing okay out there? Are you catching?”. He replied, saying that it was pretty rough, and that they were back on shore eating lunch. They hadn’t caught anything. Dan asked if I had the next day open, but I didn’t, and told him I had Tuesday open, if they wanted it. They did.
I picked them up at 4:30, at their Air B-N-B, and we headed to Vermilion to launch. The wind forecast was for 5-8mph out of the NW-N-NE for the morning, so I thought it would be better to launch there, than at Huron. I knew it would be rough, even with low wind speed numbers, like the above.
It was 1-3s this morning, when we got out of the mouth of the river. First we headed straight out to 40-41 feet of water and turned the boat west. There were good marks, and I figured we could catch a limit by the time we got closer to Huron.
While it was non-stop action…it was the wrong size fish. Out of 25-30 fish caught, there was still only 5 in the cooler. “I think we should head north to cleaner water”, I said. “It will take some time to get up to where I want to go, but the water will be cleaner, and I believe the fish will be bigger”. They were on board with that decision, so we picked up everything, and took a ride for about a 1/2 hour, and set up over 50 feet of water and had the nose turned, so we were headed towards shallower water, as we trolled.
We ran dipsies on the zero, two, and three settings. The two inside dipsies, on the zero settings were set at 54 on the starboard side, and 40 on the port side. The two setting ran on the starboard side at 65 back, and the three setting ran on the port side at 55 back.
Yeck spoons and Scorpion spoons ran off the dipsies and were in constant action.
The starboard side ran Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2 oz snap weights at 50/80, 50/50, and 50/27 behind Off Shore boards.
The port side could only run two baits behind the boards, due to the rod limitation, of three per angler. So, two Bandits ran at 120 and 80 back, unassisted.
Speed was 2.3-2.7 mph
Water temp was 66.7 degrees
The wind subsided a little bit by mid morning, allowing us to make a turn over the area, but going with the waves was a better bite, so we turned back around, and since we only needed two more fish at the time, it wasn’t long before we were done.
Dan, and Mike were impressed with the fishery we have here, and learned a lot. Laughing, I said to Dan, “Congratulations on being the only male this season, that I only had to give instructions to ONCE, and you did everything right!” I added, “Usually, it’s the wives that listen to me, and I only have to tell them once.” They both laughed, and he graciously accepted his accolade. 🙂
We finished the morning with them catching their two man limit, and me reeling in my 6 also. It was a much better bite after we moved north, because the majority of fish didn’t have to be measured, and my crew was really happy with their bounty, after their dismal results the day before, and that makes me happy!
I have a three day trip, with an Indiana crew, starting tomorrow. I’m just going to go right back there tomorrow, if the wind allows us too. I see the forecast has changed and that area might be too rough. Hopefully, it will change again by morning. Thursday, won’t find us there, due to wind direction and speed, so I’ll have to figure out someplace else to go. Friday, is a possibility though, but it will be a little rougher than it was early this morning. Rough, but doable.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I picked them up at 4:30, at their Air B-N-B, and we headed to Vermilion to launch. The wind forecast was for 5-8mph out of the NW-N-NE for the morning, so I thought it would be better to launch there, than at Huron. I knew it would be rough, even with low wind speed numbers, like the above.
It was 1-3s this morning, when we got out of the mouth of the river. First we headed straight out to 40-41 feet of water and turned the boat west. There were good marks, and I figured we could catch a limit by the time we got closer to Huron.
While it was non-stop action…it was the wrong size fish. Out of 25-30 fish caught, there was still only 5 in the cooler. “I think we should head north to cleaner water”, I said. “It will take some time to get up to where I want to go, but the water will be cleaner, and I believe the fish will be bigger”. They were on board with that decision, so we picked up everything, and took a ride for about a 1/2 hour, and set up over 50 feet of water and had the nose turned, so we were headed towards shallower water, as we trolled.
We ran dipsies on the zero, two, and three settings. The two inside dipsies, on the zero settings were set at 54 on the starboard side, and 40 on the port side. The two setting ran on the starboard side at 65 back, and the three setting ran on the port side at 55 back.
Yeck spoons and Scorpion spoons ran off the dipsies and were in constant action.
The starboard side ran Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2 oz snap weights at 50/80, 50/50, and 50/27 behind Off Shore boards.
The port side could only run two baits behind the boards, due to the rod limitation, of three per angler. So, two Bandits ran at 120 and 80 back, unassisted.
Speed was 2.3-2.7 mph
Water temp was 66.7 degrees
The wind subsided a little bit by mid morning, allowing us to make a turn over the area, but going with the waves was a better bite, so we turned back around, and since we only needed two more fish at the time, it wasn’t long before we were done.
Dan, and Mike were impressed with the fishery we have here, and learned a lot. Laughing, I said to Dan, “Congratulations on being the only male this season, that I only had to give instructions to ONCE, and you did everything right!” I added, “Usually, it’s the wives that listen to me, and I only have to tell them once.” They both laughed, and he graciously accepted his accolade. 🙂
We finished the morning with them catching their two man limit, and me reeling in my 6 also. It was a much better bite after we moved north, because the majority of fish didn’t have to be measured, and my crew was really happy with their bounty, after their dismal results the day before, and that makes me happy!
I have a three day trip, with an Indiana crew, starting tomorrow. I’m just going to go right back there tomorrow, if the wind allows us too. I see the forecast has changed and that area might be too rough. Hopefully, it will change again by morning. Thursday, won’t find us there, due to wind direction and speed, so I’ll have to figure out someplace else to go. Friday, is a possibility though, but it will be a little rougher than it was early this morning. Rough, but doable.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
slow fishing 6-3-6-7
6-3 We got on the water about 11am Mon after driving from Indy. Due to wind direction we decided to troll from halfway in between green and rattlesnake towards Niagra reef. Only picked up a couple of keepers and some goats, so we then ran over by west side of south bass and trolled over there trying to stay out of the wind. Picked up a couple more keepers and few more goats. We were trolling bandits on one side and pwc on the other side and dhj12 on snap weights out the back. Fishing lures 15 to 23 ft deep.
6-4 Tues launched out of Mazurik’s and headed out to the dump straight out from Marblehead. Started trolling north from the dump. Same setup of cranks. Picked up a couple of shorts then my brother hooked into a big 26″er. Landed that big boy and trolled north till we were half way up the side of Kelly’s island. Ran back to the dump and made another troll. picked up a couple more and a few goats, and some white bass. Decided to switch to worm harnesses instead of crankbaits. There were a bunch of boats farther east of Kelly’s Island wasn’t sure if they were catching or not but later they were gone. Once we switched to harnesses it turned into a goat bananza.
6-5 Had a south wind today so we looked at the map and decided to check out north side of a few islands. Launched out of Catawba and ended up fishing north side of rattlesnake. We were trolling worm harnesses again today. Found a little group of walleye feeding and was doing pretty good. Had a couple come loose before they got to the boat. Even though we were trolling worm harnesses with snap weights on planers, we still had a couple of cranks on snap weights directly behind the boat. My daughter had a hit on the crank as we were coming to the north west side of the island. She struggled with it but got it in and we netted another 26″er.
We were in a decently calm area so we were just trolling in a big circle. Walleye tended to be biting more at the ends of the islands. We had 11 keepers in the boat and had caught several shorts. Trolling harnesses from 12-24ft over 30 fow. Decided to check the radar and came to the quick decision that we had to pack up and go. By the time we got all the lines in and untangled the storm was almost there! We headed in but my boat is only 18′ and the waves were decent size so could only go so fast without beating us to death! Luckily we got the boat loaded just before the storm hit….whew that was close.
6-6 It’s supposed to be windy today. There was some rain clouds on the radar and after yesterday did not want to be on the lake in a storm, so we waited for the rain clouds to roll through. Got on the water about 830am. The plan was with sw w wind to launch at Mazuricks and use land masses for wind break. We were hoping the wind would stay sw so we could try to fish N side of rattlesnake again but as we cleared the peninsula we found that wind was already out of the west. We ended up getting over to the west side of south bass. Trolled up and down west side of south bass. Picked up 2 keepers and 4-5 shorts along with some white bass and some goats. About 330 looked out towards Kelley’s island and it looked like the wind died down. We weren’t killing them where we were at so we decided to go check rattlesnake to see if the wind died down and if it did we would fish if not we would just call it a day. Got around south bass and quickly found that the wind hadn’t died down. We decided to call it a day and took the long rough ride back to the launch. Friday supposed to be even windier and that’s the day we have to head home anyway, so we decided we would just head home. Drive home proved to us that we made the right decision. Got to drive in the 20 to 30 mph head wind all the way home.
6-8 trip
Came up this past weekend with a group for a work trip. We stayed on PIB and went out with Cliff with PIB charters on Sat afternoon.
We went up toward Pelee island by the line and started our drift back toward MB. Did one long drift there and marked a TON of fish but picked up mostly sheepys and bait stealers. Ended up with 8-10 walleyes but all were short. Move to between NB and MB and did one more drift but more of the same. Nice seeing those good marks but figured we wouldnt catch much with the cold front, the big blow, and the buffet of mayflys!
Hoping to get up to my boat next weekend and will report how we do.
Tight lines all!
Portage River
I am taking the family to Cedar Point the first week of August and we will be staying at a house on a channel close to Nugent’s Canal Yacht Club. I will be taking the boat so my wife and I can fish while the kids go ride the rides. I was wondering how long the ride is out to the lake and is there any shallow points in that are of the river.
I was on Lake Michigan one time and saw a boat get beached in the St. Joe river while trying to get to the lake. There was a very shallow spot that was not marked and he tried to cross, not knowing it was that shallow.
I was on Lake Michigan one time and saw a boat get beached in the St. Joe river while trying to get to the lake. There was a very shallow spot that was not marked and he tried to cross, not knowing it was that shallow.
Thanks in advance for any info
On a side note my granddaughter is graduating one year early with a 3.80 gpa. plus she held a part time job for over a year. That is a huge accomplishment so I am taking her and a couple friends to Cedar Point for a day and then to some water park and they will probably hang out at the beach for a day.
Lorain 6/4/24
We went NE out of Lorain to 54 FOW and immediately found a nice school of active fish.
We trolled north @ 2.0 to 2.5 mph, pulling a combination of BadMo spoons, Stingers, Flicker Shads, and Bandits. The spoons out fished everything, with no color being the more dominant. The fish were from 30′ to 40’… 45′ down. Punched a 3 man ticket. We probably caught 50 shorts, the typical 14″er’s. Those little guys are everywhere and hungry…. next years “keepers”.
We trolled north @ 2.0 to 2.5 mph, pulling a combination of BadMo spoons, Stingers, Flicker Shads, and Bandits. The spoons out fished everything, with no color being the more dominant. The fish were from 30′ to 40’… 45′ down. Punched a 3 man ticket. We probably caught 50 shorts, the typical 14″er’s. Those little guys are everywhere and hungry…. next years “keepers”.