Headed up this weekend from indiana for my dads 60th birthday and was wondering if anyone had fishing information around the islands. I know it’s not the best time but are there any fish around or north of the islands? Probably be staying in port Clinton. Thanks. If not it might turn into a perch trip pretty quickly
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Tomorrow perchin!
Taking some friends perching. Thinking about heading out of wild wings or Catawba. Can anyone point me towards a bite from today?
Fishing with Gene, Andy, and Drake… 8/29/2023
“Grandpa” Gene, his son, Andy, and his grandson, Drake (Andy’s nephew) came up from the Cincinnati area, and had signed up for a walleye trip, but due to conditions after the recent storms, and the distance to the walleye that were available, we decided to do a perch trip instead. The storms had ripped up shoreline weeds and mats of floating grass were all over the island area, which would be a pain in the butt, trying to troll the area, so that was a major factor in the decision.
We launched out of Catawba at 6:30 and headed north.
My original plan was to hit the north side of North Bass, to check for those bigger perch, but word from another Captain said to go to D Can, so that’s where we started. The marks were really good, but we couldn’t get them going and left after an hour and half, with only 8 in the cooler. At that point I should have stuck to my gut, and went further north, but didn’t, and went to known producing spots, instead.
I went back to the area between Rattle Snake and Green first, where I had done well in previous trips, and again…there were really good marks, but a poor bite. It seemed like every time I found a good pod, and set the Spot Lock on the trolling motor, the screen went blank. They would come and go, but when they came through, we could only get one or two at a time, so it was very slow and agonizing for me. It was very frustrating.
I told them, that if the bite turned on later in the morning, that I would keep them out, if they wanted, but Grandpa said, “No, that’s okay, we’ll head back around 11:30-12 O’Clock, if that’s okay, we need to get back”, and I said, “Of course”.
We tried 5 different spots on our way back towards Catawba, with the same experience in each spot. The best spot was where I have been several times SSW of Green in 28′ of water.
Andy was doing better than Grandpa Gene and Drake, who would only catch a couple, each, while he and I caught the rest. We were allowed 120, but only ended up with only 24 for our efforts.
It was just one of those humbling days. I’m guessing that the full moon, and the clear sky at night, didn’t help matters, and that the fish probably turned on mid to late afternoon…but, that doesn’t help when your trips are scheduled in the morning.
They were patient, and stayed positive, so that helped….and, it was a good time in the boat, even though the bite was poor. Gene said he still wants to come back to do walleye, so I told him the best time to come back this fall. He’s looking forward to that, and so am I.
On a personal side note… Several times, when Gene would turn his head a certain way, he looked just like my Dad, who I lost in May 2022, so it made me smile and warmed my heart. It was like I was fishing with my Dad again. 🙂
I don’t have any trips scheduled from now until September 6th/7th, so it might be awhile before I’m blogging again, unless I get a trip before that. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
We launched out of Catawba at 6:30 and headed north.
My original plan was to hit the north side of North Bass, to check for those bigger perch, but word from another Captain said to go to D Can, so that’s where we started. The marks were really good, but we couldn’t get them going and left after an hour and half, with only 8 in the cooler. At that point I should have stuck to my gut, and went further north, but didn’t, and went to known producing spots, instead.
I went back to the area between Rattle Snake and Green first, where I had done well in previous trips, and again…there were really good marks, but a poor bite. It seemed like every time I found a good pod, and set the Spot Lock on the trolling motor, the screen went blank. They would come and go, but when they came through, we could only get one or two at a time, so it was very slow and agonizing for me. It was very frustrating.
I told them, that if the bite turned on later in the morning, that I would keep them out, if they wanted, but Grandpa said, “No, that’s okay, we’ll head back around 11:30-12 O’Clock, if that’s okay, we need to get back”, and I said, “Of course”.
We tried 5 different spots on our way back towards Catawba, with the same experience in each spot. The best spot was where I have been several times SSW of Green in 28′ of water.
Andy was doing better than Grandpa Gene and Drake, who would only catch a couple, each, while he and I caught the rest. We were allowed 120, but only ended up with only 24 for our efforts.
It was just one of those humbling days. I’m guessing that the full moon, and the clear sky at night, didn’t help matters, and that the fish probably turned on mid to late afternoon…but, that doesn’t help when your trips are scheduled in the morning.
They were patient, and stayed positive, so that helped….and, it was a good time in the boat, even though the bite was poor. Gene said he still wants to come back to do walleye, so I told him the best time to come back this fall. He’s looking forward to that, and so am I.
On a personal side note… Several times, when Gene would turn his head a certain way, he looked just like my Dad, who I lost in May 2022, so it made me smile and warmed my heart. It was like I was fishing with my Dad again. 🙂
I don’t have any trips scheduled from now until September 6th/7th, so it might be awhile before I’m blogging again, unless I get a trip before that. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Perch “Fishing” report 8/29/23
We have had a great run on perch over the past month and the fishing has been the best I can remember for several years. That said we went for perch today: Goldies from Hwy bait and frozen perch bellys. Started south of the monument at 8:30; moved to south of Green island and then finished North of Lakeside at 1 pm.
3 fishermen. 12 perch.
Beautiful day on the lake. Frustrating day fishing. Great marks in all areas.
Baha299
August 29, 2023 30 more yellow gold SE of G can 22 fow
I had some company today, started without anyone around the Dog, but that soon ended.
Looking north , I did see some boats around F can area and to the east of my set up.
30 more yellow gold, slow at first , dozen small throw backs, 5 farm animals, 4 white perch.
started late, very slow at first had to hold the urge to move , then the bite picked up, 4 hours to get the 30 keepers.
I thought the storms we had could have mixed it up so it would change the bite and move those golden perch, the forecast will keep this Dog home tomorrow , back soon.
Be safe,
~ Water Dog
Attached Images
9/28 bigger perch
Fished east of middle bass looking for larger fish coming in. Line in the water by 6:30. Instant action with white bass, and little walleye. By 7:00 the perch started smalls at first. The bigger fish came by 8:00. Totally shut off by 10:00. During the perch bite only 1 sheep. Crappie rig with 1/2 frozen minnow. 1 person caught about 40 perch. After throwing back everything under 9” had 17 9-11” plus a few shorts that swallowed hooks. Bigger fish were more aggressive, and could actually run a second rod for a while with a few doubles.
8/26 Report – no good
Perched from 8am-noon today. Tons of great marks, but fish seemed to have lock Jaw. Found and fished good marks around rattle, south of green and near G can.. very poor bite and felt like you had to feed it to them to get any real take. Ended up with 10 keepers over 4 hours for 2 guys.
Curious if anyone did any better but saw a ton of boats moving around, including the charter boats, so seemed like everyone had same issue. Guessing it has to do with barometric pressure after those storms.
Had nice small live Goldie’s on spreaders. If anyone had better luck today, would love to know what they tried. Will be back at it tmrw.
Fishing with Dan and Troy Boan… 8/23/2023
Dan had contacted me, to schedule a Walleye trip, but after seeing what the wind was going to do today, I called him yesterday, to tell him that where we had to go for walleye would be too rough. I didn’t want to take them to Lorain, because I hadn’t been over there in about a month, and wasn’t going to take them for a long, rough, boat ride, for a bite that may or may not exist, where I was thinking it might. “I’m not going to take your money on a guess…and, it’s going to get rougher as the morning goes on,” I said. “If you want to go perch’n over here by the islands, I would love to take you,” I added. He was receptive to that idea, and we made plans to meet at Catawba at 6:15, this morning.
I left the house at 4:30, so I could get over to Hi-Way Bait before they opened, just in case another early crowd gathered… but, that didn’t happen. There were only two others there with me, when it opened at 5am. The scoops were mostly Goldies, but they were a good size, and mixed with a few small Emeralds.
I headed down to Catawba after hitting the gas station, looking for some Cheetos, but they were out…deep sigh. I got to the ramp at 5:30, so I had 45 minutes to waste before my crew was expected. Luckily, they showed up 15 minutes early, so we launched a little after 6am, and headed back to my spot just SSW of Green.
Normally, it would have been in 27-28 feet of water, but because of the NE blow we had all day yesterday, the lake level was up on this end, and that spot was now 30 feet deep. However, it was still holding fish in the area, and the Helix showed some good marks.
I deployed the Minn-Kota, and hit the Spot-Lock, to anchor us over them.
“I usually give it 20-30 minutes, before moving,” I said. “It’s almost 6:30 now, so if we don’t get something going by 7am, we’ll move”. Then, I added the usual bet of “First yellow in the boat wins a dollar”. And, just as I said that, Dan set the hook on a fish, and exclaimed, “I’m in!”. Ha! Unfortunately, he lost it before it got to the surface. So, Troy and I still had a chance.
Then, Troy set the hook, and again, he lost it his, too. About a minute later, I said, “Winner-winner chicken dinner,” and put the first perch in through the Catch-Counter. 🙂
It wasn’t a fast bite, and like my last trip out, we were missing a lot of bites. Thankfully, the perch were in the mood for Goldies, even though I had brought along some frozen Emeralds to use too. We were using one of each on a two hook crappie rig, and figured we would let them tell us which they liked better, but it seemed to be a 50/50 split on flavor.
They did seem to like littler offerings, than big minnows on the hooks, so picking out the little minnows, or splitting the bigger ones in half, was the ticket for us.
We caught our 3-person limit in about 5 hours, so it wasn’t a fast bite. They would come and go, but didn’t stay away long enough to get me thinking we needed to move, and we stayed in the same spot from start to finish.
Dan, and his son, Troy, had a good time, and did a great job. Troy is looking forward to making a nice fish fry for his Grandparents when he gets back home, and that makes me happy!
Looks like some very not weather tomorrow with thunderstorms expected. Be careful out there.
I’m not back out until next week, unless someone is looking to do a perch trip, and the weather behaves.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I left the house at 4:30, so I could get over to Hi-Way Bait before they opened, just in case another early crowd gathered… but, that didn’t happen. There were only two others there with me, when it opened at 5am. The scoops were mostly Goldies, but they were a good size, and mixed with a few small Emeralds.
I headed down to Catawba after hitting the gas station, looking for some Cheetos, but they were out…deep sigh. I got to the ramp at 5:30, so I had 45 minutes to waste before my crew was expected. Luckily, they showed up 15 minutes early, so we launched a little after 6am, and headed back to my spot just SSW of Green.
Normally, it would have been in 27-28 feet of water, but because of the NE blow we had all day yesterday, the lake level was up on this end, and that spot was now 30 feet deep. However, it was still holding fish in the area, and the Helix showed some good marks.
I deployed the Minn-Kota, and hit the Spot-Lock, to anchor us over them.
“I usually give it 20-30 minutes, before moving,” I said. “It’s almost 6:30 now, so if we don’t get something going by 7am, we’ll move”. Then, I added the usual bet of “First yellow in the boat wins a dollar”. And, just as I said that, Dan set the hook on a fish, and exclaimed, “I’m in!”. Ha! Unfortunately, he lost it before it got to the surface. So, Troy and I still had a chance.
Then, Troy set the hook, and again, he lost it his, too. About a minute later, I said, “Winner-winner chicken dinner,” and put the first perch in through the Catch-Counter. 🙂
It wasn’t a fast bite, and like my last trip out, we were missing a lot of bites. Thankfully, the perch were in the mood for Goldies, even though I had brought along some frozen Emeralds to use too. We were using one of each on a two hook crappie rig, and figured we would let them tell us which they liked better, but it seemed to be a 50/50 split on flavor.
They did seem to like littler offerings, than big minnows on the hooks, so picking out the little minnows, or splitting the bigger ones in half, was the ticket for us.
We caught our 3-person limit in about 5 hours, so it wasn’t a fast bite. They would come and go, but didn’t stay away long enough to get me thinking we needed to move, and we stayed in the same spot from start to finish.
Dan, and his son, Troy, had a good time, and did a great job. Troy is looking forward to making a nice fish fry for his Grandparents when he gets back home, and that makes me happy!
Looks like some very not weather tomorrow with thunderstorms expected. Be careful out there.
I’m not back out until next week, unless someone is looking to do a perch trip, and the weather behaves.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Looking for advice on areas to walleye sailing out of Ashtabula
Taking a few days of vacation at Labor Day. Will be first time fishing out of Ashtabula and Geneva on the Lake. Any locations or areas of advice to begin trolling for Walleyes? Thanks
Gobio and a Red worm from the gut pile of 8-20-23
Gobie I think the eyes on top say it all, and a Red Worm I have not seen this but twice since I have been cleaning my catch.
~ anyway notice the egg patch next to the gobie.
the perch have been really healthy and a good sign for the time to come.
If you can get to G can SE and get yours.
~Water Dog
~ anyway notice the egg patch next to the gobie.
the perch have been really healthy and a good sign for the time to come.
If you can get to G can SE and get yours.
~Water Dog
Attached Images