Went out with my wife today. We fished about 2 hours and caught 4 keepers and a short. Jigging with purple 3/4 ounce. We were about a mile due north of the exit from Wild Wings marina in 16 – 17 feet of water. Had a very nice breeze for drifting. Got 3 of them in the first half hour and the bite slowed down. Water is 51 degrees there.
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5/7 report
After the rain passed through it was an absolutely beautiful day today. I actually got hot for the first time this year without running the boat heater. The lake was flat with just a slight ripple.
We were purposely targeting eaters. So we fished the same program as yesterday but moved even shallower into the 20 foot range. Water temp was 49. The Jacks did not disappoint and we had a limit of nice 16 to 20 inchers. While still cloudy Taco Salad was the best color 110 back. When the sun came out the fish came up and switched to Blue Chrome and anything white 60 to 80 back. The best speed was 1.6.
It is going to be a fantastic week but we needed to schedule some down time to catch up on some things as we are slammed non stop the next two weeks. So we will keep you posted when we get back on the water after Mother’s Day.
Good luck to all and try to share a little on here to help everyone keep catching.
Jigging… Is afternoon/evening as productive as morning…
I have very limited experience jigging for walleyes on lake Erie. It seems as if the early bite is good and perhaps the best jig bite of the day. I am not able to get on the water until about 3 on Wednesday and am wondering if there is an evening jig bite or if I’m better off trolling. Every lake has its patterns and I live a bit too far away to know of the jig bite pattern on Erie. Any advice is appreciated…
Be safe out there – boat on the rocks
Happened to see this yesterday while checking some Lake webcams. Boat on the rocks at the Marblehead Lighthouse.
Let’s make sure we check our boats out thoroughly and have all the required safety equipment before we start our season. And make sure we know what to do if a problem arises. It’s a sad sight to see this, especially knowing that most likely it could have been avoided. It is still there this morning, but in worse shape. You have to feel sad for the owner.
Cropped photo so you can see the boat easier. It’s at the left bottom of the Lighthouse.
Attached Images
5/6 report
We set up north of Niagra and road the waves toward A can.
We had our limit just past A can. We ask the guests if they would like to make another…
Fishing Two Days with Jeff, Kevin, and Dan May 4/5, 2023
I’m not going to write much about yesterday, because I would rather forget it. We only caught 2 walleye north of Lucy’s, up on the line. The marks were there, but the fish were mostly in a negative mood. I know some people caught them up there, and good for them, but they didn’t want what we had to offer, and that was Bandits, Reapers, Bill Lewis PWCs, and Crawler Harnesses.
We caught one on a Bandit and one on a crawler harness, so no pattern, and no more bites. I felt so bad, that Jeff, Kevin, and Dan had come all the way from MN for our Lake Erie walleye bite, and I couldn’t produce it for them. They didn’t complain though, and said “We’re fishermen, so we know that’s how it sometimes goes”.
I still felt awful though, so I went to bed earlier than usual, and got up with a new attitude and plan, after looking at the satellite picture from yesterday afternoon.
After deciding where I wanted to go, I talked to two people that confirmed my suspicions, and gave me a boost to my confidence that I needed. Thanks guys, you know who you are. 🙂
I picked my crew up at 5:15 from their VRBO rental, and proceeded to the Speedway on the other side of town, for gas and ice. We hit Catawba while it was still dark, but the huge full moon to the west was shining so brightly across the surface of the water, that it didn’t feel dark.
We launched a little before 6am, and let the 400 warm up before heading north. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky to the east with a warm palette of oranges, yellows, and reds. The sky was clear, the air temp around 50 degrees, and just a whisper of a wind, that put little ripples on an otherwise flat lake.
The 8 mile ride took no time at all, and was smooth as could be. I love mornings, like this morning! I wish they could all be like this….perfection. (Well, I could do without the full moon, but you get it).
We set up in 30′ of water and set all Bandits behind the Off Shore boards with longer leads of 120, 97, 80, and 70 on the port side, and 120, 93, 83, and 65 on the starboard side.
Colors that caught today were:
Wild Thing (JT Custom through FISH USA) Had 3 of these running out there
Blue Shiner (Stock Color) Had 2 running out there
Whiskey and Water (Slim Shady Custom)
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom)
Blue Chrome (stock color, of course)
All the leads took fish, but the 80 and 83 back, took the most fish.
Speed was 1.8-2.0 on the GPS but 1.5-1.6 on the Fish Hawk.
Water temp went from 49.8 to 52.3 in the 6 hours we were out there.
We managed to catch our 4-person limit of 24 fish, so I was much happier with today’s outcome, than yesterday, and I’m sure my crew was too! Ha!
They have another charter tomorrow, where they will go jigging, with another captain. I am off tomorrow, and have some things getting done around the home front this weekend, so I’ll be back out on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
We caught one on a Bandit and one on a crawler harness, so no pattern, and no more bites. I felt so bad, that Jeff, Kevin, and Dan had come all the way from MN for our Lake Erie walleye bite, and I couldn’t produce it for them. They didn’t complain though, and said “We’re fishermen, so we know that’s how it sometimes goes”.
I still felt awful though, so I went to bed earlier than usual, and got up with a new attitude and plan, after looking at the satellite picture from yesterday afternoon.
After deciding where I wanted to go, I talked to two people that confirmed my suspicions, and gave me a boost to my confidence that I needed. Thanks guys, you know who you are. 🙂
I picked my crew up at 5:15 from their VRBO rental, and proceeded to the Speedway on the other side of town, for gas and ice. We hit Catawba while it was still dark, but the huge full moon to the west was shining so brightly across the surface of the water, that it didn’t feel dark.
We launched a little before 6am, and let the 400 warm up before heading north. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky to the east with a warm palette of oranges, yellows, and reds. The sky was clear, the air temp around 50 degrees, and just a whisper of a wind, that put little ripples on an otherwise flat lake.
The 8 mile ride took no time at all, and was smooth as could be. I love mornings, like this morning! I wish they could all be like this….perfection. (Well, I could do without the full moon, but you get it).
We set up in 30′ of water and set all Bandits behind the Off Shore boards with longer leads of 120, 97, 80, and 70 on the port side, and 120, 93, 83, and 65 on the starboard side.
Colors that caught today were:
Wild Thing (JT Custom through FISH USA) Had 3 of these running out there
Blue Shiner (Stock Color) Had 2 running out there
Whiskey and Water (Slim Shady Custom)
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom)
Blue Chrome (stock color, of course)
All the leads took fish, but the 80 and 83 back, took the most fish.
Speed was 1.8-2.0 on the GPS but 1.5-1.6 on the Fish Hawk.
Water temp went from 49.8 to 52.3 in the 6 hours we were out there.
We managed to catch our 4-person limit of 24 fish, so I was much happier with today’s outcome, than yesterday, and I’m sure my crew was too! Ha!
They have another charter tomorrow, where they will go jigging, with another captain. I am off tomorrow, and have some things getting done around the home front this weekend, so I’ll be back out on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Still jigging
I was out today with a buddy. We tried in close off turtle creek but the water was pretty dirty still. Moved to niagara reef where we were yesterday. Picked up 7 in 5 hours. Caught all fish on purple 3/4 ounce jigs. We tried casting spinners tipped with worms but no takers. Water was 49 degrees. Hopefully a few days of sunshine will warm up enough to start a better bite
Draggin the Line with John
Got out for first time yesterday.Was a tough bite after that 3 day blow.Started out NE of kellies.Water clarity was about 18″.Fished from 10-5pm and got 10/34 lbs.Caught them from 70 -120 with speed 1.7-2.0mph.White perch color caught 3 of our fish early at 80 and 90 but that dried up and took us 5hrs to catch our last 4 fish on taco salad and Pooh bear purple at 120.Heard others struggled yesterday too.Heard the bite was much better today.But was a gorgeous warm flat day on the lake yesterday.Did catch one white bass but we did not miss a fish all day luckily.
5/4 report
We went out in the afternoon to start to put together a program after the big blow. We hit 4 places that typically hold fish this time of year. Water color was better than I expected but ranged from dirty to clean.
The fish were scattered and we picked one here and there. We did not work any one area hard but kept trying new places. We had 5 quality eyes with one still pre-spawn, 5 good eaters, and we had 4 fish hooked on the outside of the face. My guess they were slapping at it. We released the pre-spawner and the fowl hooked.
Best leads were bandits 80 back at 1.8 mph, and super rogues down 25. Taco Salad was the best Bandit color and the rogues were blue silver.
Where to stay near the islands with a boat?
Got a new boat (commander elite 20/50)this winter. Been up to Erie a handfull of times with guides and finally broke down and got a boat big enough for Erie. Within reason. I’ve been doing google searches for lodging and have found the Arlington inn? That has docks and lodging. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions for lodging with a boat and trailer, that’s safe enough to leave ur stuff in ur boat? Or a place to stay that has a dock. So u don’t have to load and unload every day?