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What’s the best site to find satellite images for Lake Erie

My alarm went off this morning, for the first time since last fall, and I woke up startled, wondering why it was going off…then, I remembered…I was going fishing! I jumped out of bed to get my coffee, and make sure the weather was still going to be nice today. To my delight, it was.

Steve called me the other day, asking if he and his friend, Mick, could get out with me today, so I checked the weather and wind forecasts, and told him, “Yes”.


I don’t usually run this early in the season, but with the mild weather upon us, I thought it was a good idea to take advantage of the nice weather, while we have it.
My boat is over in heated storage at the moment, so I left the house at 5:45 to go over to the bldg and grab her. Then, I hit the gas station, to gas up the Vexus and get ice for the coolers, and headed to Huron.


Steve and Mick drove in from MI this morning, and met me at the Huron ramp a little after 7. We were to meet at 7:30, but as usual, I was early. I had time to get everything set up, before they arrived, and was finished by the time they showed up, so we launched a little early.


We headed out of the river, and headed east towards Vermilion…searching water from 38-44′ of water. I wasn’t seeing the kind of marks I wanted to see, since Mick has never caught a walleye over 28″, and was hopeful to do that today, and I figured that the water would be a little cleaner to the east, than what I was seeing out in front of Huron.


I had already used up an hour looking, so I took a friend’s advice, who said he was working “stained” water at Huron, but was loaded with good marks…to go and fish over that way. So, off we went…headed back west.


When we got there, I could clearly see the cavitation plate, and the prop was slightly visible, so I was more positive that fishing would be okay there. The fish marks were all sitting below the 30 line, and not coming up, so I’m guessing with the clear sky last night, and the back end of a full moon, that the fish were feeding heavily overnight, and would get hungry again more towards the afternoon. And, from what I heard on the radio, it sounded like a lot of people were struggling, and asking if anything is working. The responses were few.


We set up with Smithwick P-10s on both sides, running with 2oz snap weights behind the Off Shore boards. We only put 7 nice fish in the box this morning, and lost 5 others, that didn’t hook themselves well enough.


Most of the fish came on a Fire Tiger color at 45/45…(for those new to snap weights…45/45 means, that you put a weight on at the 45 mark, and then let out another 45′ of line (total line out is 90), then, put the board on.
50/45, 45/45, 40/40 all caught.


At one point we took the P-10s off the port side and replaced them with Bandits. The Black Headed Wonder Bread at 120 back (unassisted) took two fish, and lost one . The other colors got changed out and set deeper, but the outside board was the only one to go, each time.


We were running 1.2-1.4 mph, but 1.3 was showing every time we caught a fish.
The FishHawk was showing 1.3, but the GPS was showing 1.7-1.8 mph.


Steve and Mick had a fun day, though, and said they want to come back again, soon, and will be watching the forecast. I’m looking forward to it, because they were a lot of fun to fish with. Both of them had positive attitudes and were just happy to be on the lake, on a nice day, spending time together.


I’m happy to report that everything was working the way it should be, after sitting for a couple months. However, I have to do the latest updates on the Humminbirds tomorrow, so fingers are crossed they both update without any issues. 🙂


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Got to take a friend along with me today and had a really great day on beautiful Lake Erie. We launched out of Vermilion just before sunrise and got out on the lake in time to see the sun rise over the calm waters. Headed northeast until we got to 42 fow and started checking for good marks. It wasn’t until we got out to about 47 fow that I started see the kind of marks that I liked. We pulled mostly P10’s and DDHJ’s. For the first couple hours we had a pretty consistent bite and within about 3 hours we had our limit. Speed was 1.2 to 1.6 but it seemed like change in speed triggered the bite as much or more than just a constant speed. About the time we had around 8 or 9 in the boat I noticed my outside board going off. I was running a Livingston EBS Walleye 136 in Tequila Sunrise on that board. I think it was set at 40/20. After releasing the board and letting it drift to the back of the boat I began to slowly reel it in. I wish I could say that it pulled as hard as any walleye I ever caught, but it definitely did not. In fact compared to the other ones that I caught that morning, this one came in as easy as any of them. All I can figure is that it must have been swimming towards the boat most of the time because when I was able to see it I was quite shocked at the size. My net man got the net caught on the boat on his first attempt to land her, but then was successful on his second attempt. Whew!!! It was definitely the fattest walleye I ever caught and she weighed in at 9.67 lbs. I know most of you have probably caught bigger eyes than that, but for me it was my PB!
I want to thank you all for all your input on this forum. I know for myself I wouldn’t be nearly as successful without people sharing the things they have learned, and a special thanks to Capt. Juls. So I guess in a small way this post is to give back to you all for all that I have benefitted.
Good luck to all and God Bless!

Does anyone know if Catawba or Mazurick ramps have the docks in yet.

Has anyone ventured out on the Detroit River lately? I’m curious what the water temp is? Or if there is a website to get that information. Thanks!

Just took a look at the Maumee Tackle river fishing report. Wow. Some walleye, and not small ones, were caught back around February 10-11. Not just a few, as in a two or three people. Several photos posted of people with two or three fish. Now these probably are not staging Lake spawners, but who knows. I have never heard of anyone catching walleye in the Maumee river in early February. The river fishery may be changing enough that there is now a pretty decent size resident population. Or, the mild winter and lack of ice may have brought a few fish in real early, staging for the actual spawn run coming up. Seems people are fishing a lot earlier now, including the river. Lake Erie boat fishing when there is no ice is now done in the winter, and not just a few boats. Will be interesting to see if any non-traditional areas and times of year start producing catches as people branch out and try new places and fish more in the “off season”.

Looking to see what are your favorite trolling spoons for walleyes. (manufacturer, size, colors would be appreciated) Also would like to know the time frame when spoons become more effective. Heading to the lake the second week of May and will invest in more spoons if that time frame will produce on that style bait.

Has anyone start to jig for some walleye yet

Has anyone start to high for some walleye yet

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