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Went out yesterday trying for some eyes. First fished northwest of turtle creek in 15 feet of water. Never had a hit. Moved due north to 21 feet of water east of numerous trap nets and got more of the same. Marked a ton of small fish but didn’t have any minnows so moved north to 27 feet of water. Slowly picked up 5 keepers and a short. I was probably there for 3 hours but the fish turned off for the last hour. I was fishing pretty slow. Started with a crawler harness with gold hammered blade and red and white beads and a 3/4 ounce sinker. Picked up 1 with that setup in an hour so changed to a harness with white and chartreuse beads and they liked that better.

Very few boats out. Water was 75 degrees and the wind was moving me at just over .3 mph. I wish it was a little stiffer but control what you can…

The fish I caught were pretty aggressive as two of them had both hooks of the harness totally inside their mouth.

Just started fishing Lake Erie this summer. Currently have a 7ft Medium-Heavy rod, fast action. I have tried fishing Lake Erie a few times this summer (weekends) and haven’t had much luck. I do not have any planers, boards, down riggers, etc nor do I plan on using them this year.

With that being said, what do some of you recommend using? Spoons? Worm Harness? Erie Dearie? And how should I rig it? I thought about using a 2oz weight and having a lead off the top of it with a flutter spoon or worm harness? Plan on maybe drift fishing and or just cruising along about 1.8mph in 40-48FOW. Or should I just throw some 3/4oz spoons out, let them sink and slowly reel in? Am I on the right track?

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. My biggest concern is knowing how deep my lure is without a line counter.

Anybody catching perch near toledo yet, I know the eyes have moved east, can you head over towards the intake or maybe a can and still pick up eyes, took a break when the mayflys hatched but ready to get back on the water and catch some fish, I’m at bush marine in the ottawa River so want to get back out there and catch some fish,

Possibly headed to Lorain July 8,9. Looking for good place to try for some walleyes. Never fished this far east not sure where to go. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 😎

Rolled the dice when the rain stopped this morning. Bumpy morning, but the fish were biting. Found 6 good ones (eaters 15-17), about 12-15 shorties, and lots of trash. Drifted from the finger to G can. G can area was most productive. Started a little after 9a and was back at noon.

Tight lines all!

After about 20 months of drydock due to a surgery last year, got the boat in for a 4 hour shakedown cruise on the 15th with my neighbor Bob. Started around G and ended around Niagra and Cone reef area after a fish tip from my friend John. Was a little bumpy that day. Mayfly’s were not as thick at Niagra and Cone on the screen. Caught 5 keeper eyes with alot of throwbacks. Had an issue with my Helix. The transducer had started leaking fluid (sitting in the sun to long?) and was replaced this May. The Helix kept blinking and locking, so took it home last weekend, backed it up and put in the latest software update. Was fine at Home on battery there. Hooked it up in the boat Friday AM and was doing the same thing. Turns out the external GPS antennae failed so took it out of the connection and ran the internal antennae.

So neighbor Bob and I set out 6-22 to between G/F can on the range. Mayfly’s had really thinned out. Trolled between 2.5 -2.8MPH. Kept our 12 keeper Eye and alot of shorts, plenty of sheep & white ones and 2 cats, 1 of which had to be about a 10#. Was thinkin perhaps it was a Steelhead as it went wherever it wanted to for quite a while. Could not seem to keep our lines in the water but it was a fun workout with no Eye fishing for either one of us last year. We were back in the river before 11 so were able to beat most of the heat until I cleaned the boat. Dipsey settings .5/2/3.5, were 32’/42’/62′ Best spoon was a stinger Barney STD, with a close second Yeck Night rider.

A beautiful day on the lake!

The dogs woke me up 45 minutes before my alarm was to go off, so I just got up, and stayed up. A cup of coffee, out on the back deck, hit the spot. While the dogs were busy with their morning routine of sniffing the yard for any critters that may have traveled through during the night, I checked the weather apps for the day’s forecast.

I use iWindSurf for wind, Clime-NOAA for the weather/wind/precipitation, and RadarScope for incoming systems.
This time of year, when we will travel several miles out on the lake, I like to check the “Erie West Buoy”, or otherwise known as the, “Weather Bouy”, to us locals…because, it gives a good idea of what the lake will be like far off shore, and east of Kelly’s.


This morning, it was 76 degrees, and muggy, when I left the house, and headed to Mazurik’s, to meet my crew. I told them to meet me at 5AM so they could help me with a missing bolt in one of my trailer bunks. I got there at 4:30, so I could have the boat ready to go, when they got there. They showed up at 4:45.


We launched the boat, so I stayed with the boat, and they went to work on putting a new bolt in its spot on the trailer. We were headed out at 5:05am. Sunrise, right now, is 6:01, so it was still pretty dark out. I wasn’t comfortable leaving that early, but the sky was glowing yellows and oranges, against a dark purple backdrop, to the east. We would just go slower, so we could avoid the commercial nets out there.


I wanted to stay closer today, and found a big pod of fish NE of Cedar Point, in 43 feet of water, so we set up there. I was able to get all the lines set, which kind of puzzled me, so I wondered if they were even walleye….or, why the heck they weren’t biting.
Maybe, you could say, I get a little bit spoiled by these fish and expect that kind of bite all the time. lol
Anyway, as soon as I said, “I think, we should pick up and head back to the weather buoy. I don’t think the wind will be that bad up there, today.”….whoosh, the outside board on the port side went flying back. I was in the middle of putting dipsies away, when it happened, so I could only laugh, and say, “It happens every time I say I’m going to move!” The three of them laughed. It was a nice little eater around 18 inches long.


We caught another one, but I didn’t want to spend the morning taking little fish off, and resetting lines. I was the only one setting lines yesterday and today, because my crew likes to fish, but they only get together once or twice a year, to do it. So, rather than try to train them, and have things take three times as long to set up…I did it all myself. “Let’s get out of here”, I said. We headed to the NE, for another 14 miles.


The lake was relatively flat, so I was able to let the big motor open up, and set a cruising speed of 52 mph. It wasn’t going to take long to get there. Once we did, we moved on over to the area we fished yesterday. While there were more boats up there this morning, it was still considered, light traffic. Also, they were closer to the buoy than we were, so no one would be in our path.


We set up with the same program, that was dialed in during the two previous adventures up there.


On the starboard side, the Bill Lewis “PWC Lites” ran with 2 oz Guppie weights, behind Off Shore boards, at 50/80, 50/60, and 50/40.
On the port side, the baby “Spro 85s” ran at the 50/70, 50/57, and 50/43.


Colors were the same as the previous day, too.
PWC Lites: Green Tiger (2), and Blue Shiner.
Spro 85s: Chrome Perch, Purple Glass Perch, and Blue Chrome.


Dipsies ran the Ripplin Redfin (2), Yaleye Mooneye Minnow, and a spoon.
They didn’t catch as many as the cranks behind boards did, but they caught some nice ones.
Zero setting at 47 and 50, the two setting at 65, and the three setting at 85 back.


Speed was normally held at 2.3-2.5mph, on the FishHawk. Sometimes, we went faster, and sometimes we went slower. They ate at every speed. However, let it be known, that the little baits, running behind the boards do not necessarily like to go over 2.6mph. They sometimes blow out…twist up…and, ruin the line/reel calibration, due to all the line that has to get stripped off, due to twisting. I have four reels getting respooled tomorrow. Uffda.


During one of those horrific tangles…I ended up having to handline a fish in, because the line wouldn’t go through the guides. “Get the net! We’ve got a big one here”, I yelled. And, one of them netted it, to get it in the boat. I wasn’t going to swing it like a handliner, because the dipsey rods were in the way, and she was too big to swing. I think, that one went 27 inches.

We finished at 10am with 24 walleye in the cooler, and threw back around 7 sheephead, 2 white bass, and 3 shorts.

The water temp at the buoy was 75 degrees.


My guys were very happy with their two day outing, and are going back to Wisconsin with their fishy bounty to share with their friends and family, and that makes me happy.
Jeremy said he was told about me by someone back home, that reads my blog, has his own boat he brings down here, and fishes out here any chance he gets. Jeremy said his friend was on his way down here this weekend, and will be staying out on one of the islands for the next week. So, to Jeremy’s friend, thank you for recommending me to them, and good luck next week! 🙂




I’m off tomorrow, and need to get a lot of chores done, but will be back out Monday and Tuesday.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Got a late start and I just got off the lake. Casting for 2 hours 1 – 2 miles north of Port Clinton. Caught 8 walleye half were keepers up to 18 inches though. They all went back with a lesson. I also caught 10 farm animals. The mayflies and midges are way slowed down but still shells on the surface. I think the fish are used to eating and needed my worms. Harnesses were best but a couple caught on weight forward types. 20 fow. I wish I had my daughters with me. By myself on a HOt HOt day.

Hope to see a few of you casters out there tomorrow morning.

Rickerd

Short story….lol

Fun morning, with this Wisconsin crew. Launched out of vermilion at 5:15, and hit the weather buoy area again (see 6/20/24 report)…set up by 6:20. Same program I got dialed in mid morning, yesterday, and finished in half the time, today….the fish were not as big as yesterday, but still didn’t have to measure any. Only two legit throw backs, and a handful of keeper size, that we let go, to get bigger. Same crew tomorrow. 🙂

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Took the first ferry to middle bass at 9:15 huge amount of boats over by the firing range. Packed up like they were perching. I ran back out to east point of middle bass. Started fishing at 11:30. First hour was on fire. Pulling crawler harness with 2oz snaps 40-55’ back of the boards. First pass caught several eyes 15-22, and a couple shorts. Kept 3 17-22 tossed the rest. Tons of farm, and a couple cats. Fish shut down by 12:30. Went over to perch for a bit. Caught a few. Kept 2 over 10. Went back in until 7:00. Finished out my limit pretty quick + more farm, and cats. I will start in the triangle tomorrow morning. Supposed to be an early start tomorrow as per the lunar charts. I will be on the lake at 4:30 fish should start around 5:00. Good luck, and tight lines to everyone going out tomorrow!