Fishing Reports

04/18/2007
Hello, it is Wednesday morning and I thought I had better write a report after being gone all winter, and because the weather has been so bad this spring. We have been open for about 3 weeks but there hasn’t been anything to report till now. I think the weather is starting to become a little more stable now, and the fish just started biting the last two days. The fish that I know about are being caught on Kelleys Shoul and over by Cedar Point. The guys that caught the fish off Kelleys Shoul were fishing for big walleyes, and they caught some, (they were pretty tight lipped about them) so I figured they did pretty good. They were buying #5 Blades so they must be tying harnesses. The guys over by Cedar Point said that they must have handled 100 fish yesterday. They were drifting and using Purple Hair Jigs and minnows. I don’t know the sizes though. Two guys were in this morning buying minnows and they said they caught 60 Perch yesterday. So they are biting too. Got to go we are starting to get busy. Good fishing, & good luck, Don.

07/16/2006
Hi, It’s Sunday, July 16th, 2006, and here we are in the midst of summer fun in the sun. Don talked me into going walleye fishing Friday, as the fish were so close in, he hated not to go, and get our limit. I think I should get my work done first, too bad fishing won out. West of Green Island in 30ft of water, we trolled since we didn’t get out there until 11:00am, it was flat when we started out, and we knew we didn’t have a whole lot of time, had to pick up the grandkids later in the day. Portside he put the 40 jet 35ft back, and on the starboard side 45ft back, clipped the small planer board on each time, then put out 100 more feet of line. Our speed with our drift bags out was 1.8. The linecounters straight out the back were 55 and 65 feet with size 30 jets on them, he said we could have used 20’s for better results, as the fish were high. We trolled North and he picked up the first 6 on the first troll. We were using Stinger spoons, a large Pooh Bear Chartreuse, Pooh Bear Purple, Monkey Puke, and a small Pooh Bear Chartreuse. When we turned and came back, it was my turn to crank them in, we had our 2 limits and was back to the dock by 1:30. The walleye average was 17 inches, nice eaters. My brother-in-law, Larry Lambert of Blue 777’s, fishes using the #1 dipsey divers on the back of his boat setting at 3, 45 ft back and on the other side setting at 1 ½, 35 feet back. He uses 40 jets on small planer boards, 40-45 one side, 55-60 the other side. His speed Is 1.9 to 2.0. He gets his fish, and is back in early too. The drift fisherman are not to be counted out, we saw nets bobbing up and down the whole time we were out there, and have heard a lot of bragging fish stories out in the store, about being done by 9:30, 10:00, etc in the morning, with their limits. Perch are still being caught by Ballast Island, east of Middle Bass, north, east and Southeast of Kelley’s Island. This summer heat has not hindered the fishing at all. If you haven’t taken that family vacation, I would suggest a few days at Lake Erie. The family can fish in the morning, and can be done by noon, to take that dip at the beach or at the pool. Good Luck and Good Fishing. Marcy, Don’s fishing buddy.

07/01/2006
Hi, it’s Saturday July 1st, Don and I got out fishing Wednesday afternoon for the first time this year. Our Lyman boat, is as great as ever, Don got her all spiffed up and really looking good, and running like a top. It took the waves to north of Kelley’s Island great. We stopped at the red buoy east of Middle Island in 13 feet of water and drifted into 26 feet. We drift fished and picked up a 22” walleye and a smallmouth bass, but the water turned flat and we decided to troll. I drove and Don got the trolling gear set up, we trolled south of Middle Island in 35 feet of water, from east to west, and got 5 more real nice walleyes, 22 to 25 inches, before we were forced off the lake by a storm coming in from Michigan. We caught those few fish on a large Pooh Bear purple Stinger spoon. We had other lures on, but that seemed the most productive. We just got to the dock and the boat covered up when the rain started, but what a great first day this year. Today, Don decided to take son Neil Vollrath, and 11 year old granddaughter Abby, from Milford Center, and myself west to the area north of West Sister. Evidently, the forecast for the day was bad because there weren’t many people on the water. It turned out to be a breezy, sunny, beautiful day, a perfect walleye-drifting day. There were people out there trolling, but we drifted, using weapons with gold blades. Abby caught her first walleye, how thrilling not only for her, but Dad, Grandpa and Grandma too. She also picked up a perch and some white bass. After approximately, 4 hours of drifting, we decided we were ready to head in with our catch of 7 walleyes and 5 perch, what a great day we had. Don and I always feel we need to make sure the store is running before we start out, so We get a later start fishing than most. The heat of the day, usually stops the fish bite, about an hour after we get out on the Lake, but to get out in the fresh air and feel the bite of that fish on the end of our line, no matter how many we catch, makes the number of fish we catch insignificant, don’t get me wrong we are thrilled to get our limits, but we always seem to have plenty in the freezer for winter fish fries, and summer get togethers. We hope you have as good of days as we have had. Good Luck and Good Fishing. Marcy Mitchell, Don’s fishing buddy.

06/17/2006
Hi, it’s Saturday, and things couldn’t be better at Lake Erie. Thanks to all of you and the greatest fishing we have had in some, say 20 years. It seems that Don and I can’t get a day of rest in the summer anymore. He has been trying to squeak out a couple of hours here and there to go get our boat ready to put in the water, hopefully we will get it in this coming week. Then we will be able to give first hand information. All fishermen are telling us how great the walleye and perch fishing is. The perch are nice size & lots of them. Al Sowards, employee of the store and his 14 buddies from The Masonic Temple in Port Clinton went out on Tibbels party boat last Sunday, to catch perch for a fund raising fish fry, and got 415 perch, after catching 6 walleye and the lake going flat. Al said they ended up with 53 ½ lbs of fillets. Also, Sheldon Fisher and 5 friends from Pennsylvania, staying in our lodging, went out with Capt. Bob Hayner and fished up around Middle Island. The first day they got 147lbs of walleye, and the second 150lbs, they were thrilled, biggest catch they could ever remember and they have been coming here for years. The hot lures for drifters seem to be bottom bouncers with 2 hook worm harnesses with gold, firetiger and sometimes purple blades, it depends on the time of day you are using them. Also, the same blades for the short casting flip n’ harnesses. Many are still using the old standby weight forwards: Erie Dearies and Crooked Eyes. The trollers seem to favor the Stinger spoons in Supermuffin, Raspberry Dolphin, and the Pooh Bear colors. It seems to me as a landlubber, so far, that at least if you get your line in the water, you have a tremendous chance of catching a fish. We look forward to you stopping at the store and being able to tell you our big fish story and the hot spot for the Day. Marcy Mitchell, Don’s fishing buddy. Good fishing, and good luck.

05/24/2006
Hello, it is Wednesday morning and we are finely having a nice warm sunshiny day today on the big lake with all the fish. That reminds me, I remember reading somewhere that Lake Erie has more fish in it than all of the other Great Lakes put together. First of all, the weather is supposed to be a lot better from now on. And second of all, and most important, the fish are biting. Looks like the weather guessers are predicting warm temperatures, low wind, and a lot less rain for the next week. We really haven’t had a lot of wind this year, but it has been very cool and wet. Now we have had enough time to get all of our yard work done be for the Holiday weekend so we can go fishing. They are catching walleyes all over the lake. I guess the hottest spot around here is north of Kelleys Island, around Gull Shoal all the way to, and next to, Middle Island. We helped with a tournament for the UAW out of Mansfield GM Saturday, and most of the fish were caught up by Middle Island. The winning box was 6 fish for 164 lbs and was caught by Mike Wilson trolling with Stinger Scorpion Spoons. He said they kept going over the same spot between Gull and Middle. He said they had their 24 fish. Some of the other fishermen were drifting with bottom bouncers and 4 foot harnesses and caught their fish. Most of the 27 boats caught fish. It was pretty rough in the morning, then calmed down in the afternoon, so the bigger boats did better. Jim Houston, who lives here in Bass Haven South said this morning that yesterday that he got his walleyes pretty quick, then went perch fishing and had his 40 perch and on his way in at 11:30 am. He is a good local fisherman that goes fishing a lot. We are looking forward to a good productive week. Good fishing, and good luck, Don. (B O A T is short for Break Out Another Thousand).

05/11/2006
Hello, it is Thursday evening and we had too much wind to fish here today. It blew about 20 to 30 mph out of the west all day. Tonight the wind is supposed to switch to the south and let up to 20 mph, with waves expected of 2 to 4 feet. Tomorrow (Friday) it is supposed to die some more in the afternoon to 5 to 15mph, with waves of 1 to 3 feet. Saturday the wind will switch to the southeast then east at 5 to 15mph, with waves 2 feet or less. Sunday winds will be northeast, with 1 to 3 feet waves building to 2 to 4 feet. Each day there is rain likely. We were catching walleyes and perch before the wind blew today, and since the wind was out of the west, the natural flow of the lake, it might not have stirred the water too much to slow the fishing down. So it looks like we could have a fishable weekend now but I would bring my raincoat. Hopes this helps you, good fishing, and good luck, Don.

04/28/2006
Hello, it is Friday morning here at the wonderful Lake of Erie. It is beautiful today. The wind is out of the northeast about 5 to 10-mph. Because the wind is coming crossed the 5o degree water of the lake it is a little chilly. It’s about 50 degrees right now. It is suppose to get to 65 today. There is no wind of any significance in the forecast for the weekend, except Sunday it is predicted to be 2 to 4’ waves. The wind will be out of the east until Tuesday. We were catching fish this week. Lots of people are perch fishing from the Marblehead Lighthouse to the southeast corner of Kelleys Island. They are getting lots of 40 fish limits with hardly any throwbacks. They say all of their fish are between 8 to 14”with lots of 12, 13,14” fish. I attribute the good perch fishing to Kevin Ramsey, and Roger Knight of the Sandusky division of the Ohio Division Of Wildlife and Gary Isbell, Biologist with the Division. Kevin was instrumental in the 2-year investigation of the commercial fishing industry in Ohio that found that they were stealing tons of perch from the lake. (Estimated at 40 tons of extra fish). Also, Gary was the one that insisted on the 30 perch limit for us, and a size limit on the commercial netters, if we were going to help the perch fishing in Lake Erie. Now the perch have rebounded so well that now we have a 40 fish per day limit. And the fish are a lot bigger. AND now the commercial fleet in Ohio has some new rules they have to abide by, like calling in to the division on their way in to tell them where they are docking and what kind and how many fish they have. They have never had to do this before. Now an officer can go and inspect his catch before he unloads it. If you would like more info on this you can read more on the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association website (http://www.lecba.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=4). Look under natural resource issues. The walleye fishermen are doing well also. Carl Carlson and his fishing buddy, Max Carsen both from Altoona, Iowa are here staying in one of our lodging units again this year, and have been fishing north of Kelleys Island since Monday. They have done well. Monday, their first day they had 6 or 7 fish. They are basically trollers, but they said they had to drift Monday because they couldn’t get slow enough with the motor, so they shut it off and drifted their harnesses. They make their own out of supplies they buy from our store, HI-Way Bait & Tackle. (I have to get a plug in once in a while.) Tuesday it was too rough to go out so they rested then went out Wednesday and fished for a limit. Both days they had several fish over 28”. Thursday they didn’t have their limit. They said they needed one more when the wind switched, and the biting just stopped. They are back out again today. I guess they started trolling Reef Runners, and caught a few on “Barbie”, then tried the harnesses and they did better. Hook up the boat, throw in the rods, and come and see us. We will do all we can to see that you catch fish in the Fresh Water Fishing Capital of the World. Good fishing, and good luck, Don.