We arrived Thursday evening, we had time to go out for a couple of hours so we jigged in front of besse I caught one and my grandson caught one. We started early Friday and jigged in the same area with no luck. We went in for lunch and my wife stayed at camp so it was myself, grandson 11, and my granddaughter 15 she doesn’t like to fish but loves being on the water. Again we caught nothing, my grandson caught a huge drum and it he had a blast getting it in. We went back to camp built a fire and was enjoying the evening, our neighbor came over and told about a spot west of A can that his four person group limited out at. He said sleep in because they had nothing until 9:00 a.m. So we sat on the deck and watch the hundreds of boats go by. We ate and headed out around 7:30. This was the first time we set up to troll, my wife drove the boat and I set the rods we had a variety of color bandits out we set port side at 65, 55, 35 the other side was 60, 50, 40 she held the speed at 2-2.4 and we got our first one at 65 on blue chrome I got it in and had another one on blue chrome at 50 back. I put three blue chrome and one solid chrome, one purple and one orange. blue chrome was on fire, we got one on the orange nothing on purple we ended at 12:30 and had 14 large ones in the boat. we went in ate lunch and stretched out for a while. We headed back to the same spot around 4:30 and set up the same way, we caught another 7 and it started to rain so we called it a day at 7:00, we had a few 28″ and a lot of 26″ers. My grandson was netting one and the handle on the net broke I rapidly grabbed the end of the net and get the fish in the boat. we ended up with a total of 23 fish lost several and have a short net lol. It was a great weekend and I am looking forward to going out with Juls next month to learn more about trolling. My grand children have some great memories to look back on, we had a lot of laughs.
Category: Uncategorized
Friday and Saturday
Got on later than we wanted friday due to being stuck at a train track for nearly 2 hours adding to an already 4 hour drive. Put on at mazurik around 10 am. Head to the east side of kellys to the airport amd ran east to 33 foot. The graph was loaded!!! We made our 6 rod spread and picked up a 26 incher immediately. Then nothing forever. We tried everything. I made a move west around the islands. I seen juls loading up. Didn’t know if she was moving or was done so i kept moving and ended up on the south end of bass riggt tight to starve island where we found an super active pod. 5 passes we caught 15 eyes keeping 11 from 22 to 26 inches long.
It was so nice to have conditions to run everywhere fast. Bandits out performed and whites were best for us 75 back.
Saturday on a tip we ran to b can from wildwings. We had a eye on before the first board settled in. We had a load of misses and several lost fish and was stuck at 10 fish forever. The fish seemed to be tied to the b can as we had to keep circling it in order to catch fish. A buddy called and said he found a scho of monsters and had several over 30. So we made a run nearly to the port clinton shorline to the east side of the impact area. We got one 26 there and the sun got hot, and we needed lunch! With weather coming for Sunday we decided not to try to get in a trip ahead of storm or more so to drive home in the pending winds and rain. Saturday bandits again were best but leads from 40 to 60 back.
It was so nice to have conditions to run everywhere fast. Bandits out performed and whites were best for us 75 back.
Saturday on a tip we ran to b can from wildwings. We had a eye on before the first board settled in. We had a load of misses and several lost fish and was stuck at 10 fish forever. The fish seemed to be tied to the b can as we had to keep circling it in order to catch fish. A buddy called and said he found a scho of monsters and had several over 30. So we made a run nearly to the port clinton shorline to the east side of the impact area. We got one 26 there and the sun got hot, and we needed lunch! With weather coming for Sunday we decided not to try to get in a trip ahead of storm or more so to drive home in the pending winds and rain. Saturday bandits again were best but leads from 40 to 60 back.
Fishing Day 3 with Clayton and Todd…April 16, 2023
If you’re looking for a Day 2 report, I didn’t write one…I was too tired, sorry!
I went to bed earlier than usual, last night, because I was whooped. I wanted to get a good night’s sleep before fishing the final day with my ND crew. Clayton and Todd were up early, and ready to go when I showed up at the White Caps Motel at 5:30, to pick them up.
We drove to the Speedway on the other side of town, to gas up and get ice, but they were out of ice. The cashier said, “Home City Ice didn’t deliver, so everyone is out of ice this morning”. We did try two other gas stations, but one wasn’t even open, and the other was indeed out of ice, too. So, we decided to leave the cooler in the truck and use the livewell, instead.
We launched at Catawba at 6:15 and headed north to the line. The wind was light out of the SSE, and the waves were less than a foot for our ride up there, so it was a smooth comfortable ride in the Vexus, at a cruising speed of 48mph. We set up short of where we finished yesterday, and headed towards my waypoints.
I went to bed earlier than usual, last night, because I was whooped. I wanted to get a good night’s sleep before fishing the final day with my ND crew. Clayton and Todd were up early, and ready to go when I showed up at the White Caps Motel at 5:30, to pick them up.
We drove to the Speedway on the other side of town, to gas up and get ice, but they were out of ice. The cashier said, “Home City Ice didn’t deliver, so everyone is out of ice this morning”. We did try two other gas stations, but one wasn’t even open, and the other was indeed out of ice, too. So, we decided to leave the cooler in the truck and use the livewell, instead.
We launched at Catawba at 6:15 and headed north to the line. The wind was light out of the SSE, and the waves were less than a foot for our ride up there, so it was a smooth comfortable ride in the Vexus, at a cruising speed of 48mph. We set up short of where we finished yesterday, and headed towards my waypoints.
We set up with Bandits anywhere from 40-100 back with the following colors:
Buck Fever (3) (purple back with chrome sides and belly…it’s either a Domka or DJ color…I can’t remember)
Chrome Barbie(2)
Freak Show (1) (Hammertime Custom)
One I don’t know the name of, but I think it’s a Hammertime Custom, but I can’t find the color on his site.
RC Crush (1)
Some lure colors got changed out, except the Buck Fever and Chrome Barbies…those two were hot, hot, hot! 65 and 75 back were the best leads, too.
Speed on the GPS was 1.9-2.1mph while the Fish Hawk was showing 1.3-1.4mph, at the same time.
Water temp was 53 degrees.
We caught the first fish before the second line could be set, and then we got a few more Off Shore boards out, and they started going back…we had 5 in the boat before all the lines were set.
S-turns were triggering fish, when it slowed up a bit. Sometimes, it was the fast side and sometimes it was the slow side. So, it was more of a reaction bite. We did have some short strikes, and missed a few too.
When the bite slowed, we headed south and hit an area that was east of Niagara, with no boats around. The water was more stained than where we first started, and the water temp was 55 degrees. We set up there with the same program, since it was over 33 feet of water, just like where we had started in the first spot.
The Terrova was steering us on a northerly pass, while the kicker pushed us at the same speed as previously stated. It wasn’t long, before we caught the first one in that spot…and, then we lost two. We picked up a couple more in that direction, and then turned to go in the opposite direction. The wind had picked up a little, but the waves were still less than two feet.
The fish definitely liked us going the opposite direction, because we were getting a lot of action with doubles and triples happening.
The final tally, was our 18 in the box, and almost just as many released, when I said we needed to head in. I was watching the sky and the weather coming in and figured the wind would be coming in behind the first system. I was right. As we headed in, the wind was getting stronger, and by the time we hit the ramp, the lake was white capping. We timed it right though, because we hit the ramp before anyone else, so we were loaded out with around a dozen boats behind us looking to load out too.
The wind had switched from SSE to SSW, so now the waves were going right into the ramp, which makes it a little nastier when trying to hold a boat at the dock, or pier wall, and getting it on the trailer. I will normally use another ramp if the forecast is calling for a SW wind.
The ND boys had a great time, all three days, and said they will be back again, so that makes me happy!
Mother Nature has decided to throw a tizzy fit again, for the next two days, so I’ll be on shore calibrating two reels that I had to respool, cleaning the boat, walking the dogs, running errands, and cleaning this house…fun times! Ha!
My next trip will be Wednesday, unless the forecast changes. But, right now, it’s showing light NNW winds, so it should be fishable. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
Attached Images
04/15 Islands Trolling
My son and I spent the morning trolling the line from the monument to the Kellys cell tower. Picked up two limits of great quality eyes. Our best program was bandits 80 back running 2-2.5 sog. Candy Corn was the best color. The fish are putting up a good fight coming in, so it’s go time. The weather was perfect, which made it a wonderful day to be on the lake.
4/14 jigging
Went out with my son and daughter this morning. Much tougher than yesterday. We worked hard for 3 1/2 hours and ended with 11 nice fish. The surprise was first time fishing for my daughter in 15 years or so and she caught a 26 1/2″ spawned out female. It was her first fish of the day.
We we spent the first couple hours in front of Davis Besse in 11 feet of water and slowly worked our way out to locust reef. There just wasn’t enough wind to move the boat today. Purple 3/4 ounce jigs with nothing on them.
Tomorrow Afternoon Fishing (4/14)
We are headed up tomorrow morning from Cincinnati, and plan to do some afternoon fishing once we arrive. Going out of oak harbor area. Normally fish at first light. Anything we should do differently on an afternoon trip?
Fishing Day 2 with Greg, Dave, and Jeff…April 13, 2023
Left the house at 5:15 and picked my crew up at the White Caps Motel at 5:20. We hit town and gassed up, bought ice, and headed to the ramp to launch.
The first stop was up by Greene island and Rattlesnake. Bandits ran on the starboard side and DHJ12s ran on the port side, behind Off Shore boards.
Bandits were set at 95, 75, 65, 55, and 45 back, and the Huskies were set at 80, 60, 50, 40, and 30 back. Speed was 1.6 on the Fish Hawk and 1.9 on the GPS. The water temp, early this morning, was 44.7 degrees.
We caught one relatively quick on a “FJ Spot” (DJ Custom Eye Lures color) at 65 back, and then one on the Khaki Bandit at 95 back. Then, nothing. The marks were gone already, as we trolled north. Maybe they were south. I don’t know…I didn’t check.
I wasn’t going to waste anymore time there, this time, so we picked up and went looking, but never found anything worth setting up on. There sure is a lot of water out there, and we covered a lot of it this morning…lol
After wasting a lot of gas, I called a friend who told me where he was, and that he was on a good bite, and said I should come there…so, we did. Thanks, friend…you know who you are. 🙂
I’m not going to name you, so you won’t get bombarded with texts.
I will not say where that is, because it’s not my information to give, and I hope you understand…that’s just how I do it. If I find the fish, I can share the info, if I want to, but if someone else gives me the info, I won’t share their info without their permission. I was asked not to share it this time, so I won’t. That’s all I can say about that. Sorry!
So, I guess this will be a short, pretty much non-report, since there’s nothing really to share.
Greg, Dave, and Jeff had a great time (definitely more fun than yesterday), and caught their 3-person limit today. We lost 4 fish that came unbuttoned before we got them to the boat, too. The fish were nice and healthy and a good quality size, so they have a good amount of fish to take back to Wisconsin for their family fish fries.
Tomorrow, I have another 3-person crew from Bismark, ND. They have fished with me in the fall for perch before, so I’m looking forward to doing some trolling with them. They are great guys and another fun, laid back, group to fish with.
The weather tomorrow should be very nice, with light winds out of the south, and more sunshine in the forecast.
PSA: Don’t forget to use your sunscreen and protect your skin! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
The first stop was up by Greene island and Rattlesnake. Bandits ran on the starboard side and DHJ12s ran on the port side, behind Off Shore boards.
Bandits were set at 95, 75, 65, 55, and 45 back, and the Huskies were set at 80, 60, 50, 40, and 30 back. Speed was 1.6 on the Fish Hawk and 1.9 on the GPS. The water temp, early this morning, was 44.7 degrees.
We caught one relatively quick on a “FJ Spot” (DJ Custom Eye Lures color) at 65 back, and then one on the Khaki Bandit at 95 back. Then, nothing. The marks were gone already, as we trolled north. Maybe they were south. I don’t know…I didn’t check.
I wasn’t going to waste anymore time there, this time, so we picked up and went looking, but never found anything worth setting up on. There sure is a lot of water out there, and we covered a lot of it this morning…lol
After wasting a lot of gas, I called a friend who told me where he was, and that he was on a good bite, and said I should come there…so, we did. Thanks, friend…you know who you are. 🙂
I’m not going to name you, so you won’t get bombarded with texts.
I will not say where that is, because it’s not my information to give, and I hope you understand…that’s just how I do it. If I find the fish, I can share the info, if I want to, but if someone else gives me the info, I won’t share their info without their permission. I was asked not to share it this time, so I won’t. That’s all I can say about that. Sorry!
So, I guess this will be a short, pretty much non-report, since there’s nothing really to share.
Greg, Dave, and Jeff had a great time (definitely more fun than yesterday), and caught their 3-person limit today. We lost 4 fish that came unbuttoned before we got them to the boat, too. The fish were nice and healthy and a good quality size, so they have a good amount of fish to take back to Wisconsin for their family fish fries.
Tomorrow, I have another 3-person crew from Bismark, ND. They have fished with me in the fall for perch before, so I’m looking forward to doing some trolling with them. They are great guys and another fun, laid back, group to fish with.
The weather tomorrow should be very nice, with light winds out of the south, and more sunshine in the forecast.
PSA: Don’t forget to use your sunscreen and protect your skin! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
4/13 jigging
My son and I went out this morning. We started at 7:15 and had our limit by 8:30. We were about a quarter mile off shore about a quarter mile east of the green cove marina entrance in 11 to 12 feet of water. Water clarity was perfect. Purple 3/4 ounce jigs plain. I forgot to check the water temp. Quite a few boats in the area. The next couple days are going to be very good if we have enough wind to move the boat.
Fishing Day 1 with Greg, Dave, and Jeff…April 12, 2023
Well, I hate to even post this one, but a good day fishing, but not a good day catching, is worth reporting, too. My Wisco crew was very laid back, and fun to fish with today.
We left Mazurik’s at 6:30 and headed north. When we set up, the sun was just coming up over the horizon. The wind was out of the SW at around 13mph, with gusts to 20. Waves were 1-3s. Water temp was 44.3 degrees on the east of Ballast Island. We set a course to the NE at a speed of 1.3-1.6mph, on the Fish Hawk. Speed on the GPS was 1.7-2.0mph.
Marks on the sonar were good closer to Ballast, but as we ventured further out away from the islands, and towards the Canadian line, the marks were few and far between.
We set up with Bandits on both sides first, but after a dismal start, we changed up the port side to WNC Reapers. The blue chrome with groovy stripes on it took one at 57 back. Then, nothing. We decided to move closer to Kelly’s north side.
We set up again with the Bandits on the starboard side at 100, 70, 60, 50, and 40 back behind the Off Shore boards, and the Reapers set at 97, 77, 67, 57, and 47.
Fish came on the Reaper at 97, 67, and 57 back closer to Kelly’s. The Bandits only caught a plastic bag today.
We made one more move, after that pass from west to east, and when we hit the east side of the island, we moved back to the NW corner of it. This time, I decided to try the 38-40′ of water contour lines, headed north, towards Gull Island Shoal.
We changed out the Reapers to Flicker Minnow 11s, and caught a walleye at 67 back on the purple chrome/foil color. Nothing more on that pass up to the shoal and across the bottom of it, headed east.
We had good marks everywhere in that area, so it’s just a matter of time before they become hungry and active again. I hate this time of the spawn, when they are recovering…deep sigh.
We changed up colors so often, I can’t remember what caught, and what we had out. We ended up with 6 fish though, and that’s it. Not a great day of catching, but it was a great day fishing. My Wisco crew is a lot of fun, and very patient, so they made my job less stressful on a tough day.
We will try again tomorrow, but this time headed out of Catawba, and headed to the west side of the islands. The satellite picture is looking better and better every day, the water temps are coming up, the air temps are going up, the full moon is diminishing, and the winds are going to lay down a little bit again. The bite is sure to get hot here pretty soon.
Yes, some people are in the right spot at the right time, and will do very well, and catch their limits….but, for the rest of us that are over fish that do not want to participate, this blog is for them.
Keep the faith, and never give up. Don’t lose your confidence, which I know can happen. Right now, I feel like I have forgotten how to fish! But, we’re just in the right spot at the wrong time, so just keep plugging away. The lake is huge, and there is no way to cover it all, so just remember, the easy days are just around the corner.
But, this Monday, and Tuesday are going to blow again….and, Monday is a big cold front, again. Wednesday is a NW wind forecast, making for rough seas. Welcome to Lake Erie…be smart and be safe.
Tomorrow, I have the same crew, and we will try our best…that’s all we can do.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
We left Mazurik’s at 6:30 and headed north. When we set up, the sun was just coming up over the horizon. The wind was out of the SW at around 13mph, with gusts to 20. Waves were 1-3s. Water temp was 44.3 degrees on the east of Ballast Island. We set a course to the NE at a speed of 1.3-1.6mph, on the Fish Hawk. Speed on the GPS was 1.7-2.0mph.
Marks on the sonar were good closer to Ballast, but as we ventured further out away from the islands, and towards the Canadian line, the marks were few and far between.
We set up with Bandits on both sides first, but after a dismal start, we changed up the port side to WNC Reapers. The blue chrome with groovy stripes on it took one at 57 back. Then, nothing. We decided to move closer to Kelly’s north side.
We set up again with the Bandits on the starboard side at 100, 70, 60, 50, and 40 back behind the Off Shore boards, and the Reapers set at 97, 77, 67, 57, and 47.
Fish came on the Reaper at 97, 67, and 57 back closer to Kelly’s. The Bandits only caught a plastic bag today.
We made one more move, after that pass from west to east, and when we hit the east side of the island, we moved back to the NW corner of it. This time, I decided to try the 38-40′ of water contour lines, headed north, towards Gull Island Shoal.
We changed out the Reapers to Flicker Minnow 11s, and caught a walleye at 67 back on the purple chrome/foil color. Nothing more on that pass up to the shoal and across the bottom of it, headed east.
We had good marks everywhere in that area, so it’s just a matter of time before they become hungry and active again. I hate this time of the spawn, when they are recovering…deep sigh.
We changed up colors so often, I can’t remember what caught, and what we had out. We ended up with 6 fish though, and that’s it. Not a great day of catching, but it was a great day fishing. My Wisco crew is a lot of fun, and very patient, so they made my job less stressful on a tough day.
We will try again tomorrow, but this time headed out of Catawba, and headed to the west side of the islands. The satellite picture is looking better and better every day, the water temps are coming up, the air temps are going up, the full moon is diminishing, and the winds are going to lay down a little bit again. The bite is sure to get hot here pretty soon.
Yes, some people are in the right spot at the right time, and will do very well, and catch their limits….but, for the rest of us that are over fish that do not want to participate, this blog is for them.
Keep the faith, and never give up. Don’t lose your confidence, which I know can happen. Right now, I feel like I have forgotten how to fish! But, we’re just in the right spot at the wrong time, so just keep plugging away. The lake is huge, and there is no way to cover it all, so just remember, the easy days are just around the corner.
But, this Monday, and Tuesday are going to blow again….and, Monday is a big cold front, again. Wednesday is a NW wind forecast, making for rough seas. Welcome to Lake Erie…be smart and be safe.
Tomorrow, I have the same crew, and we will try our best…that’s all we can do.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Trolling 4/12- 4/13
Good Morning All,
Bringing the boat up today and Staying on Port Clinton. Looking for good starting point to begin the hunt! I can trailer to anywhere on the lake. Don’t want your honey hole (LOL) just a decent starting point. Thank you all in advance for any help.
Bringing the boat up today and Staying on Port Clinton. Looking for good starting point to begin the hunt! I can trailer to anywhere on the lake. Don’t want your honey hole (LOL) just a decent starting point. Thank you all in advance for any help.
Tight Lines,
Tom