John and I fished today west of the islands.Even though we had north winds to start the day, the velocity was light and had a comfortable morning on the lake.Took us 4 hours to catch our 12 fish that weighed 29 lbs at cleaners.Finally caught some fish with our dipsey and worm burners.But the bandits caught the majority of fish and definitely the larger fish.What caught best was the green/ copper worm burner on dipsey at a 3 setting at a 40 lead.The bandits that caught the best was IB frozen or gold color on leads of 90,85 and 80.Speed was 2.1 to 2.2 mph.Tried some white colors with no results too.We did throw back about 4 15″ fish and had a couple shorts.
Category: Uncategorized
Inline planer question
Working through my second season of using inline boards.
So far have things running pretty well thanks to many tips on this forum and various seminars.
How far do you keep the closet board from the boat?
I normally run 3 to 4 per side. I think I try to keep inside board at least 50 feet from boat.
How big of an effect do you think the boat has on spooking fish?
So far have things running pretty well thanks to many tips on this forum and various seminars.
How far do you keep the closet board from the boat?
I normally run 3 to 4 per side. I think I try to keep inside board at least 50 feet from boat.
How big of an effect do you think the boat has on spooking fish?
Monroe/Sterling Park
Looking for any advice on the Monroe/Sterling Park area. Fished it this spring (April) when the NNW winds picked up and did well. Concentrated on 14-18′ of water at that time. Just wondering if that bite also exists now? Headed that way, staying in Port Clinton, next week and hoping to fish even if we get some NNW/NNE winds. No problem trailering around to the Sterling Park launch if needed. Assuming we would target a bit deeper water this time of year? cranks/harnesses any thoughts are welcome.
Thanks much and good fishing
5/8 fishing
Returned to the south side of Green and made a pass where we (myself and five children) ended the night before. At the south bass ferry line we circled and headed up the west side for a while.
Moved up to the North side of Rattlesnake and trolled (12 lines) East through the channel to Middle Bass shoal. Moved to Gull buoy and trolled North East towards line until we were well Northeast of Kelleys shoal. Moved south and looked for marks East of the airport and south a bit. Picked up some ice at the ferry dock and headed west again with four fish, lunch and disappointment. There were a few boats between carpenters point and starve island drifting and trolling, so we set up Southwest of them and made a pass along the south side of the pack. Picked up a few on the first line (1:30-2:30?) and continued to work the area until 7:30. Finished with 27 keepers, a handful of shorts, two fish Ohio drums and a few other odd balls.
From all our travels I was amazed at the lack of marks from Gull around the east side of Kelley’s. The area we worked at the last showed better marks than anywhere else we had been.
We used the following spread-
2-p-10’s at 100’
6- bandits 40-100’
2- flicker minnow / small spoon 30/30 2oz
2- disc diver / medium spoon (I like the lite bite slide diver for finding shorts)
Pink, white and blue worked best. The spoons took no keeper walleye.
Thanks to all who keep posting, I appreciate the posts whether at the lake or not!
Moved up to the North side of Rattlesnake and trolled (12 lines) East through the channel to Middle Bass shoal. Moved to Gull buoy and trolled North East towards line until we were well Northeast of Kelleys shoal. Moved south and looked for marks East of the airport and south a bit. Picked up some ice at the ferry dock and headed west again with four fish, lunch and disappointment. There were a few boats between carpenters point and starve island drifting and trolling, so we set up Southwest of them and made a pass along the south side of the pack. Picked up a few on the first line (1:30-2:30?) and continued to work the area until 7:30. Finished with 27 keepers, a handful of shorts, two fish Ohio drums and a few other odd balls.
From all our travels I was amazed at the lack of marks from Gull around the east side of Kelley’s. The area we worked at the last showed better marks than anywhere else we had been.
We used the following spread-
2-p-10’s at 100’
6- bandits 40-100’
2- flicker minnow / small spoon 30/30 2oz
2- disc diver / medium spoon (I like the lite bite slide diver for finding shorts)
Pink, white and blue worked best. The spoons took no keeper walleye.
Thanks to all who keep posting, I appreciate the posts whether at the lake or not!
Drifting Canada
The past five years I’ve been on charter boats that fish Canada in May and June and do great. We drifted harnesses and I really am not interested in trolling.
I’ve got my own money money pit now and I am looking for Intel on fishing in Canada. Is this a simple case of the grass is greener over the line?
I’ve got 2 little boys and want the initial experience in the Basin to be positive….
CharterCam webcam starts Saturday
The CharterCam live charter fishing boat webcam should start the 2024 season Saturday morning, the next charter. Boat should be out nearly every day afterward (weather dependent). It’s on my Lake Erie web site:
Lake Erie Live Webcam Webcams Web Cam
I will also be live streaming from my boat when I’m out fishing, nearly every weekend and a few weekdays (weekdays will mostly be Friday evenings and around holidays). I plan to help fisherfolks by getting out early and locating walleye. Once I find active fish, I’ll post the spot and then go looking other places for them. Try to find more than one location for people to fish. That stream is at the bottom of the fishing report page. It could change when I get a chance to update the web site.
I will be continuing my citizen scientist underwater camera project as well as doing a lot of experimentation with the Garmin Livescope sonar. Testing how to use it on Lake Erie to find and identify walleye as well as other fish and see how it can be used to increase catch rates.
Also, if anyone needs a ride out fishing, occasionally I may have a spot. Let me know. And, I’m interested in using the livescope (it’s a portable system) during trolling. I don’t troll, so if anyone has an interest in taking me along when you troll, I’d love to test out the livescope to see how it may be used to improve trolling success.
Everything I’m doing will be updated on the web site as time permits.
If anyone has an interest in any of this, send me a personal message.
Better MODIS satelilie image
There is a way to get the Lake Erie NOAA MODIS Satellite image closer to the size it used to be, and it has a zoom function.
Go the Great Lakes MODIS site:
MODIS ‘-‘ Coastwatch Great Lakes Node
Choose the Lake (Dataset), Year, and Month (month is already default to current month and day).
Look at the three buttons below an image. Click the aqua green buttom at the right that says “files”.
When the files screen opens, click the second, or lower, file of the two – the “.tif” file. It will download the image to your computer. It will not automatically open, you’ll have to open the file. Once open, you can move the image with your mouse and zoom in. The image gets more out of focus the more you zoom in, but you can get a decent look at the various water clairities a lot better than the standard image.
Fishing with Dave and Danielle….5/8/2024
I forgot to set the alarm last night, but thankfully, I woke up at 3:15. I only lost 15 minutes of routine, so it wasn’t too bad. By now, those of you who follow me, know my routine. If you don’t, it’s me going out on the back deck with my coffee, my dog Alfie, and my two weird cats. This is where I get the morning’s weather, in real-time. Then, I look at the wind and weather apps, to see what lays in store for the morning’s trip.
All the wind apps were showing different conditions, but I trust iWindSurf the most, out of all of them, and decided it was going to be a fishable morning. My neighbors, Dave and Danielle, were going with me, this time. This trip was set up months ago, for Dave’s birthday, by Danielle, so I wanted to get it in. Today, is Dave’s birthday, and I didn’t want to disappoint, since they both took off of work, to do this trip.
I told Danielle, last night, “I’ll text you at 4am to let you know if it’s a “go”, or not.” And, because, the apps were all different, it took me 45 minutes to decide which one to believe, and what time we should launch… but, at 4:00 I sent her a text saying, “We’ll leave at 5:30”.
The forecast was for a WSW wind from 10-13 w/gusts to 20. Very fishable, but Catawba was out of the equation, for launching.
A SW wind blows right into the docks, making loading and launching a little more uncomfortable, there. I don’t want scratches on my boat, if I can help it.
We headed to Mazurik’s, after hitting the gas station for gas and ice, and arrived at 6am. By 6:15 we were in the water, waiting a few minutes, for the 400 to warm up. Once she was up to temp, we headed north, to the line.
It was unfortunate, that I only found very clean water, with no fish marks showing up on the electronics, up there.
I didn’t even come off plane, before turning the boat and heading around to the other side of the islands. Down, around Sugar Island, through the pass between the underwater wall (between Middle Bass and Rattlesnake)…and, Rattlesnake Island.
The fog was pretty thick, up in the “Triangle”, so I stopped and put my navigation light in, (back on the transom), and turned them all on.
I was just about to start moving again, when Danielle said, “There’s a boat right there”, pointing out of the port side of the boat.
He didn’t have any lights on, and was going too fast for conditions… and would have hit us, had I not stopped to put the navigational lights on.
The fish will be there when you get there…..slow down, when it’s foggy, you might kill someone! Just say’n…grrrrr
Anyway….there were very scattered marks from the west end of Rattlesnake to the north side of Green. We kept heading west at a slow speed, and eventually, we ended up over by the “outside cans”. The fog was lifting, so we could start to see the land masses, and that made Danielle happy. The sun was trying to burn the fog off, too.
The Humminbird started showing some fish. The water was a nice mixing color. More stained, than the clean water to the north, but not chocolatey, either. I was headed to the edge of the chocolatey color, when the fish marks showed up.
I turned the boat, shut the motor off…deployed the Terrova, and the baby Merc, and set a course to the south….then, SW.
Bandits, out behind Off Shore boards, at 120, 110, 100, 80, and 60 back started the morning off. Along with a dipsey, on the zero setting, off each corner. The port side ran at 28 and the starboard side ran at 31.
Water temp was 58 something degrees
Speed was 2.0-2.3 mph on the FishHawk, and 2.3 to 2.6 SOG
Every now and then we would hit a current seam, and the FishHawk would show a drop to 1.4-1.6mph when the SOG was still at at 2.4 mph. They seemed to be skinny seams, because by the time I was done adjusting the speed, it would change back again, and we would be going too fast.
The fish definitely liked us going into the waves, rather than with them, this morning. It was a 60:40 split, with the spoons on the dipsies doing better than the cranks. The largest fish came on a spoon, too.
Well, this is long enough, and my dog keeps shoving a ball in my elbow, so it’s time to go play with him. Dave and Danielle said they had a great time, and that makes me happy! Happy birthday, Dave! 🙂
Tomorrow’s trip, is cancelled, due to the wind forecast. Ex PWT/FLW walleye pro David Kraft, set this trip up with his wife, as part of their adventure here. They came to town, from far away, like many do, to see the bird migration that happens in this area. The fishing trip was just an added highlight, but instead, we will meet for breakfast, and do some catching up. And, that makes me happy, too!
Next trip out if Friday, weather permitting.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
All the wind apps were showing different conditions, but I trust iWindSurf the most, out of all of them, and decided it was going to be a fishable morning. My neighbors, Dave and Danielle, were going with me, this time. This trip was set up months ago, for Dave’s birthday, by Danielle, so I wanted to get it in. Today, is Dave’s birthday, and I didn’t want to disappoint, since they both took off of work, to do this trip.
I told Danielle, last night, “I’ll text you at 4am to let you know if it’s a “go”, or not.” And, because, the apps were all different, it took me 45 minutes to decide which one to believe, and what time we should launch… but, at 4:00 I sent her a text saying, “We’ll leave at 5:30”.
The forecast was for a WSW wind from 10-13 w/gusts to 20. Very fishable, but Catawba was out of the equation, for launching.
A SW wind blows right into the docks, making loading and launching a little more uncomfortable, there. I don’t want scratches on my boat, if I can help it.
We headed to Mazurik’s, after hitting the gas station for gas and ice, and arrived at 6am. By 6:15 we were in the water, waiting a few minutes, for the 400 to warm up. Once she was up to temp, we headed north, to the line.
It was unfortunate, that I only found very clean water, with no fish marks showing up on the electronics, up there.
I didn’t even come off plane, before turning the boat and heading around to the other side of the islands. Down, around Sugar Island, through the pass between the underwater wall (between Middle Bass and Rattlesnake)…and, Rattlesnake Island.
The fog was pretty thick, up in the “Triangle”, so I stopped and put my navigation light in, (back on the transom), and turned them all on.
I was just about to start moving again, when Danielle said, “There’s a boat right there”, pointing out of the port side of the boat.
He didn’t have any lights on, and was going too fast for conditions… and would have hit us, had I not stopped to put the navigational lights on.
The fish will be there when you get there…..slow down, when it’s foggy, you might kill someone! Just say’n…grrrrr
Anyway….there were very scattered marks from the west end of Rattlesnake to the north side of Green. We kept heading west at a slow speed, and eventually, we ended up over by the “outside cans”. The fog was lifting, so we could start to see the land masses, and that made Danielle happy. The sun was trying to burn the fog off, too.
The Humminbird started showing some fish. The water was a nice mixing color. More stained, than the clean water to the north, but not chocolatey, either. I was headed to the edge of the chocolatey color, when the fish marks showed up.
I turned the boat, shut the motor off…deployed the Terrova, and the baby Merc, and set a course to the south….then, SW.
Bandits, out behind Off Shore boards, at 120, 110, 100, 80, and 60 back started the morning off. Along with a dipsey, on the zero setting, off each corner. The port side ran at 28 and the starboard side ran at 31.
Water temp was 58 something degrees
Speed was 2.0-2.3 mph on the FishHawk, and 2.3 to 2.6 SOG
Every now and then we would hit a current seam, and the FishHawk would show a drop to 1.4-1.6mph when the SOG was still at at 2.4 mph. They seemed to be skinny seams, because by the time I was done adjusting the speed, it would change back again, and we would be going too fast.
The fish definitely liked us going into the waves, rather than with them, this morning. It was a 60:40 split, with the spoons on the dipsies doing better than the cranks. The largest fish came on a spoon, too.
Well, this is long enough, and my dog keeps shoving a ball in my elbow, so it’s time to go play with him. Dave and Danielle said they had a great time, and that makes me happy! Happy birthday, Dave! 🙂
Tomorrow’s trip, is cancelled, due to the wind forecast. Ex PWT/FLW walleye pro David Kraft, set this trip up with his wife, as part of their adventure here. They came to town, from far away, like many do, to see the bird migration that happens in this area. The fishing trip was just an added highlight, but instead, we will meet for breakfast, and do some catching up. And, that makes me happy, too!
Next trip out if Friday, weather permitting.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
5/7 fishing
Wife and I took a boat ride today. Started east of toussaint reef in 20 feet of water. Fished there for about an hour and caught two shorts and a bunch of white perch. Moved to crib and marked some fish there. We set up for a drift on the south edge of the reef and picked up two keepers in 15 minutes. I thought we were set up for a good time but those were the last two fish we caught. I didnÂ’t want to get caught out in any of the weather that was predicted so we came in after another hour of fishing.
Casting spinners with worms. Red and white beads and gold Colorado blades with 3/4 ounce slip sinkers.
catawba state boat ramp
Hello, does anyone know if it is still allowed to launch boat and leave truck/trailer in lot over night as i would return 1 or 2 day later after fishing and docking at islands overnight? I havent launched out of catawba in 10 yrs.
thanks jim
thanks jim