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Casting Erie Dearies 6/2/23

Headed out from West Harbor late afternoon towards AE Shoal. Stopped in 30 FOW between PIB and Kelley’s, closer to Kelley’s. First line in the water at 4:15. First fish was a 17 incher on the 4th cast and it was on. Ended up with 8 nice eaters in about 3 hours, the biggest being 21″

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Finally some good spinner fishing

Fished 2 1/2 hours late Friday 6/2 about a mile east of toussaint reef. Got 4 into the net, lost one at the boat and probably 3 more further back. Unfortunately my wife got skunked. She drifted a bottom bouncer and we just were not moving fast enough.

The ones I caught were on a green and white beaded spinner with gold fish scale type blade and a 1/2 ounce sinker. The water was 21 – 22 feet deep and very clear. 73 degrees at the surface. I was using a count of 8 to 10 and working it back to the boat. I would guess the fish were down 12 to 15 feet or so

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6/2 Report

We did what we try to never do. We ran 2 trips today. Our weekend trip needed to be rescheduled due to the coming wind but he was already here so we made it work.

This morning we went out at 7:00 with 3 guests from Tennessee. We went where we finished yesterday West of the Islands in 32 feet of water. We trolled at 2.5 mph pulling Bandits on port and spros on Stbd, both unassisted. The Bandits were 100 back and Spros 80. The best colors were anything with green. Sea sick frog both the white and chrome version produced well along with Parrot Head, green clown, and Gold Perch.

The downriggers were 17 to 24 down running Perch Stingers. The largest fish came on the downriggers.

We caught their 18 and was back by noon.

The second trip was with a guest from southern Ohio. We left the dock at 4:00 and was back at 9:00 with another 18. His and our limits. We ran the same program as earlier at the same place.

We were having trouble with sheep and why the faster speed. It reduced the sheep a little but they were still a nuisance.

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Fishing with Jim and Harold… June 2, 2023

I thought I was going to be late picking my crew up at 5AM, since I had to water my gardens before leaving, since we haven’t had any rain for a couple of weeks now, but I made it two minutes before I had to be there, whew!

Jim and his Dad Harold drove in from Iowa for a two day trip with me, and luckily, the weather is perfect for it. This morning, the skies were clear, the air temp was 67 degrees, and the wind was pretty much nonexistent. The lake was flat. We put in at Catawba at 5:30 and headed north again.


As a beautiful sunrise began, we set up over 31 feet of water on the west side of the islands. The Terrova steered us northwest, as the baby Merc putted along at a speed of 2.2-2.3mph. The Fish Hawk was reading a water temp of 67 degrees and a speed of 2.0mph, down below at 15 feet. The Helix was reading 69 degrees on the surface.


There was a lot of switching up on depths and colors, so I’m only going to mention what worked for us today, and save myself a lot of typing.


Bandits behind the Off Shore boards on the port side ran at 65, 45, and 35 back. Colors were “Buck Fever” (a Domka Outdoors color), and a color by Eriegardless Custom Lures called, “Bagger”.
EDIT: After looking up the color on Kelly Schmidt’s shop page, I think I was actually running two Bill Lewis PWCs, because the “Bagger” color for the PWCs is different than the one with the same name for the Bandit. The Bagger Bandit has a pink belly, and the Bagger PWC has a chartreuse belly. The one we used today had the chartreuse belly. It was a hot bait this morning…running at 35 and 45 back.


On the starboard side we ran two Bandits. The “IB Infected” (DJ Custom Eye Lure color) at 70 back and “Green Clown” (stock color) at 75 back. Each of those took several fish, too.


The dipsies/spoons were not as productive today as the cranks were, so we might just run a couple more boards tomorrow, and take out the dipsies on the three settings. They each might have caught one today. The zero setting at 30 and 36 did okay…not great, but good enough to use them again. The most productive spoon was a blue/silver/hammered Scorpion.


Jim and “Dad”, as I called him, are learning how this trolling gig works, and are liking it. We’re still working on the “turn the clicker off when reeling in” part, but other than that, they are doing a great job. They will get more practice tomorrow. 🙂


I haven’t decided if I want to launch out of Catawba or Mazurik’s yet. I’ll decide by morning.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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6-1

Dropped lines North of Kelley’s at 6am. Was almost nonstop until 4 man limit. Had to work a bit for the last 6. Harnesses 20 to 40 back. Gold and chartreuse. 1.2 to 1.5
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6/1 report

We had special guests today from southern Ohio.

We fished west of Green and picked up a 3 man limit.
We pulled Bandits and spoons but dropped the spoons as they were catching too many shorts and sheep. Besides the Bandits were getting hit non stop. We couldn’t keep a full spread out. A good problem to have but Capt. Christy didn’t get a break for the 3 hours it took to limit out. We actually played catch and release for an extra dozen or so.

The program was Bandits 80 to 90 back unassisted at 2.2 to 2.3 mph on the fishhawk. All colors caught but Seasick Frog was best followed by Gold Perch.

We had one 26 inch fatty that weighed 6.7 lbs. Most fish were 20 to 23.

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West of the islands 5/30/23

We sat out the weekend but kept reading reports on this site and others. Decided to go west this morning based on that reporting. Ended up working an area 4 miles west of South bass 31-33 ft of water. Hooked up 20 plus walleye in 4 hours keeping our 2 person limit. All fish in the 20 inch range. 5 undersize throwbacks and one 20 inch released when pulling in our gear. Lost 4 keepers bringing them in. Lots of marks on the graph. What worked for us today:

6 Rods:

– 2 offshore boards pulling a purple bandit and a perch SPRO at 80 back.
– Dipseys with perch and purple spoons. 0 setting 32 back. 2 setting 41 back.
– 40 jet diver 55 back.
– 2-2.2 mph

lots of frickin bugs but otherwise a beautiful day on lake. Fished 920am to 130 pm. Would have been done by 1130 if not for throwbacks and lost fish.

Baha299

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Fri-26 last day to fish

Friday was supposed to have winds 10-15 MPH but was our last day to fish on this trip so decided to give it a go. Launched at Catawba and headed for south bass island to use it as a wind breaker. Fished west of south bass out of the wind and caught 1 keeper and 3-4 goats. Decided to troll over to west side of green island. A lot of boats over here, guess they are trying to stay out of wind like us. Caught one west of green island but then had line tangle issue. Decided to troll with the wind. Trolled with wind till we got down to military zone then decided to turn west, fight the waves and head towards D can. Got to D can and started getting bites. My 2 companions had to handle all the fish catching and netting details because I constantly had to fight the waves and handle boat control. We trolled back and forth between D can and Niagra reef. Fished most of the day but did manage to get our limit by the end of the day. I finally got to reel in a couple towards the end of the day when we ended up getting a triple on. We trolled bandits and flicker minnows anywhere from 90 to 140 back. The colors that caught most of the fish were fire tiger and black headed wonder bread.

We were here for 5 days and were able to fish 3 1/2 days catching our limit on every day but the first day which was a half day. We had a fun and successful trip, but it would not have been successful with out the information and friends I made off of this forum. You guys really helped make this trip successful. I plan on coming back again and when I do, I will use this site to help me know where to go and I will post my results to help others like me. I appreciate everyone that helped me make this a successful first trip. Keep up the good work.

Thanks again,
Squatch

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Fishing with Dave and Joe… May 30, 2023

Alfie, my 9mo old Golden Retriever pup, woke me up at 1:45 this morning, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I got out of bed at 2am and put the coffee on, did a few chores until the coffee was done, then took a cup of Joe out to the back deck, to check the forecast for the day. The dogs happily chewed their morning biscuit next to the fire-pit, as the flames flickered and danced, pushing the darkness away from us.

The iWindSurf forecast was calling for light winds from the ESE at less than 10mph. Looking up to see the stars, told me it was a clear sky. The air temp on land, would be reaching the low 80s by noon.


I left the house at 4:50 and headed into town to pick my crew up at the Clinton Inn and Suites. I arrived 15 minutes early, and putzed around until they came out at 5:15. We headed to the gas station for gas and ice, before heading over to Catawba to launch.


My plan this morning, was to fish out in front of Catawba, until the boat traffic got busy. I wanted to get one or two passes in before we would pick up and leave to go to another spot, and that’s exactly what we did. We managed to put 6 keepers in the cooler before leaving the area.


Since we were only fishing over 21 feet of water, instead of the 35′ I had been fishing, the leads would be shorter on the dipsies with the zero settings. Instead of 35-40 back, we only put them at 25, and 27 back. Both sported a “Bad-Mo” small arrowhead spoon. One was green and gold horizontal stripes, with a silver belly, and the other was a NASCAR looking color, with a silver belly.
The NASCAR looking color would eventually be replaced with a “Confusion” “Yeck” Spoon….that did well.


The dipsies on the three settings were set at 47 and 43 back. Yeck and Bad-Mo spoons fished behind those. A black/gold “Rippling Redfin” at 43 back caught, too.


Three Flicker Minnow 11s were running behind the Off Shore Boards, on the port side, at 80, 60, and 55. They didn’t catch anything. They were switched out to Bandits at the next spot up north.


We headed north to the area I fished yesterday, and set up with the same dipsey program as the day before. Zero setting, varied between 30 and 40, and the three settings at 47 to 55 back.


The 5 Bandits, however, were eventually all switched out to one color….”Buck Fever” (silver chrome with a purple back). The port side, all set at 65 back. They started out at 85, 75, and 65, but the 65 kept getting hit, so they all went to 65. 🙂
The two Buck Fevers on the starboard side were at 75 and 57, so I left those there. They got hit too.


Dave hired me to learn some techniques and locations. He has a smaller boat, and usually fishes closer to Turtle Creek. He wanted to learn more about the island areas we fish, so on nicer days he can come and fish over here. He was a quick learner, and was setting dipsies and planer boards, like he’s been doing it a long time, even though he’s never used a dipsey before. Joe was happy to sit back and relax, while we did all the work, and reeled in his 6 fish when it was his turn. We all reeled in fish this morning, and had a great time.


It wasn’t a fast a furious bite, but it was steady enough to keep us busy. It was a beautiful morning on the water, too. It doesn’t get much better. 🙂


I have a scheduled day off tomorrow, and my Thursday called to reschedule, due to personal reasons. He will be coming to fish in July instead.


Jen and I are probably going to go catch some fish on Thursday to take over to the “Back to the Wild” rehabilitation center, so the Eagles and other critters that eat fish have a fresh supply.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls
p.s…. no fish pics this morning…just eaters, 16-22 inches.

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