Archive for the ‘Walleye Fishing’ Category

FLW Walleye Tour on VS Today

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

On the VS Channel this afternoon will be the tournament from Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago. Its airs at 12:30 pm and will run for an hour.  Get your fix now, because there will not be another walleye tourney until November 15th, which will be the tournament championship.  Of which of course I will miss because it is the deer season opener for rifle season…ugh.

Seriously you should be able to pick up some tips for walleye fishing in an inland lake environment, even though it is a rather large lake.  Will post a report after the show, unless I have left for some more perch fishing out on Erie.  If thats the case, will tape it, and check it out when I get back.

The Great Thing(s) about Birthdays

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Woke up this morning to rain coming down, so it did not take much to convince myself to scrap any fishing plans this morning and grab a couple of extra Z’s.  Course once you are up, there are times when any chance of falling back to sleep just is not going to happen, so I up I stayed.

Around 7 am the text messages started, then the emails, wall posts on Facebook, and the kind messages on the forums I belong to…etc.  Then, when I think things are starting to slow down, I get an email from DB Fishing about a new lure they are sending out to put through the trials out on Erie and later this month up on Big and Little Bay de Noc.

They are calling it the “Worm Slasher”, but how did they know it was my birthday???  They are in the mail, complete with a color chart to show what will be available in their first offering.  The great thing about DB Fishing is this, I bet if you don’t see a hot color that you really like, make the call or send up a sample, and they will get what you want painted up and in the mail within a week.

I don’t even know what this thing is going to look like, and I cannot wait to receive the package and get it wet.  You know the sad thing is about being a fishaholic, I already made up a list of the blades I want to get next spring at the Steelheader’s Boat Show at the Monroe County Fairgrounds.  Even stuck a little asterisk next to the blades I want to be custom painted.  I have enough #5 sized blades to last me a while, so next year going to concentrate on some #3’s and #4’s for the early spring bite, that is if the water is warmer next spring than it was this year!!!

Lake Erie Walleye Report for August 10th

Monday, August 10th, 2009

With all the rain on Saturday, then spending the day digging out horseshoe pits,  my fishing over the weekend just didn’t happen the way I wanted it too.  Took a good look over the perch and walleye reports that came out, and all I can say is do not put your trolling rods away just yet.

Perch action was limited with only a few reports coming back with successful news.  Those who put the little rods away and went back to trolling did pretty good getting walleyes into the box.

Best reports were between Sputnik and the Canadian line.  The guys out there were pulling meat rigs.  Just outside the bay in front of the coal plant in 22 fow fish were caught trolling Reef Runners.

If this heat continues look for the walleye to scatter and the perch fishing to pick up.  If it cools down quickly enough, its quite possible that the walleye action will continue to be productive.

Weight Forwards: Drifting for Walleye Pt:2

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Well I was right yesterday, a topic on drifting really is too much information to try and plug all  into one post.  Today will be tackle an old Lake Erie Favorite, the weight forward spinner.  More commonly known as an Erie Dearie or perhaps the Storm Hot n Tot Pygmy.  The Erie Dearie has been around for ages it seems, and although the Pygmy was very popular in its heyday, it was cut from production when the company was purchased by Rapala.  One more bait that I will include is a personal favorite of mine, perhaps because it has caught me more fish while drifting than any other bait, the Golden Nugget.  Its got a weight, and it does have spinner so it qualifies in my book.  Over the years these baits have produced lots of good quality fish, when the wind is right for drifting.

There are many ways to effectively fish these types of baits, and again like yesterday you can use spinning gear or go a lil more high tech with linecounter reels.

90% of the time your most effective fishing will come at the bottom on the lake, so using a medium or med. light spinning rod will be more than enough.  Course a good graphite rod is important if you are holding the rod, not only for detecting bites, but for keeping in close contact with the lake bottom.  You do not want to be dragging the bait, if you do, you run the risk of gathering up a chunk of zebras on your hook.  Just feel and lift, or what we call ticking along the bottom.

If the wind is really pushing you, again you can start putting out lines like you were trolling. Throw out the boards and run the long lines off the back.  With its V-twin spinners and upturned hook, the Golden Nugget is an effective bait either dragging the bottom, or pulling suspended on your long lines.

It’s during these windy times that the linecounters like the Daiwa SG 17 LCA really shines.  The Sealines allow you to adjust your depth to where the fish are.  If you are start nailing fish at say 18 foot of water in a depth of 26 feet.  Drop almost all your lines to the same depth you were running when you started catching fish.  I say “almost” all your lines, because if possible you should always keep at least one line on the bottom, and if possible one line a bit higher up in the water column, just to cover all your bases.

If you run out of livebait, its always good to keep some rubber or Gulp worms on board for the Erie Dearies or Pygmies, and for the Golden Nuggets, you can run fake worms, or four inch twister tails are an effective alternative as well.  Those hooks on these baits are massive compared to what you use to rig up a crawler harness.  Lots of hook gap there, unlike the smaller live bait hooks on a spinner rig.

Monday, I will cover some casting techniques that work well with both weight forward spinners and hybrid crawler harnesses.  Enjoy the weekend, go fishing.

Bottom Bouncers: Drifting for Walleye

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

I had a lot of fun last night working the Monroe Evening News’s booth at the fair last night on the web site’s “Meet the Bloggers Nite”.  Got to meet some really nice people who blog on different topics and others who were walking through the great facility built/sponsored by Monroe Bank and Trust.  Love the air conditioning by the way!!!

I had a really good question about using drifting as the primary technique for catching walleye out on Lake Erie.

The first cardinal rule about drifting walleyes is you have to enough wind to push you fast enough to entice walleye to bite.  Sometimes they want the baits slow, say .8 to 1 mph.  Sometimes they want a lot of spin on your crawler harnesses, so you look for faster winds to drop your lines down into the water.  There are ways to achieve the desired goal here, putting more fish in the box!  Either way, “if the wind ain’t blowing, you ain’t drifting”, or just wasting your time trying.

In most situations the first thing to consider is the bottom bouncers you will be using with your crawler harnesses.  I am just starting the topic off with BB’s, but will get back into the old faithfuls like Erie Dearies, Hot n Tot Pygmies and my personal fav, the Golden Nugget later.  I can tell already, this is going to be a long topic, so it might be two day, two part deal.

Ok, back to the use of bottom bouncers.  In most situations three sizes will get the job done and cover your bases at the same time. 3/4, 1 and 1.5 oz BB’s will handle most wind situations that you encounter, but with higher winds or just the need for greater control of your lines, you should not hesitate throwing down a 2 oz bouncer.  With a really good wind, you could put out a full spread of lines including 4 oz BB’s and 1.5 or 2 oz off the boards, and maybe some 1 oz off the back of the boat with your regular trolling rods.  If you are just dropping down a few lines, then stick to the first three sizes mentioned.

One of the keys, although not entirely a rule written in stone, is that you want your line to form a 45 degree angle from the tip of your rod to where it enters the water.  This gives you greater line control and really is a bit easier to notice strikes and react quickly before losing your walleye.  Line diameter is important and any 10 lb with a reel with a good drag will do the job nicely. With BB’s, if you want to go to a 14 lb mono, that’s fine.  I run Power Pro, so I match the 40 lb braid with its 10 lb diameter on all my trolling reels, just to stay in line with the trolling guides like Precision Trolling for other applications.

The nice thing about the use of bottom bouncers is the average joe can head out with a regular ol’ rod and spinning reel and still have a great day on the water. Lots of times I just use my St. Croix Avid and Premier Medium Light spinning rods with 20 lb/6 lb mono diameter Power Pro for kicking back and relaxing type fishing.  If the fish are schooled up, this can be a very effective method.

But if you want to take it a step further Daiwa makes the perfect line counter reel to really help you zero in on the depths and mood of the fish.  The Sealine SG 17 LCA is the perfect size to go on a variety of rods to use for drifting, its like the size of a Shimano 300 size or an Ambassadeur 5500/5600 casting reels.  I chose St. Croix’s Premier Glass Crankbait rod to match up with the reel, it has a moderate/fast action tip and performs great for this technique.  They also have a 7 ft Medium Light action casting rod in the Premier series that would be lots of fun with the smaller BB’s.

Types of harnesses can be a bit trickier.  In low winds when the fish seem to want a lot of spin on the harness blade, I go to the harnesses I have tied up with Smile Blades from Mack’s Lures . I like the 1.9 inch size in the mirror finish, but sometimes, specially earlier in the year when the fish are in shallow around Luna Pier, I don’t hesitate dropping down in size to the 1.1″ size.

Another good option early in the year is to drop down to a #3 or #4 colorado blade on your harnesses.  Northland has some really good color options here in both their Deep Cup and Baitfish Image holographic blades.  Sometimes its good to add a float to your rig if you are using the #4 blades,  you are depending on the wind, and sometimes “Mother Nature” doesn’t always cooperate.  If you aren’t making your own rigs, its good to make sure you buy some that come with a float of some type.  I like the Lil’ Corky’s  from Yakima Baits.  Don’t be confused by the pic of a spin n glo, but with all the options available color wise, its easy to find one that matches up with your blade color choices available on the market.

If the wind is really pushing at a good pace and you are in deeper water say later in the year, like right now even then jump up to the bigger blades.  Either run #4’s or #5’s, from Northland, Silver Streak, or something from DB Fishing.  Willow blades are also good choices for running above suspended fish and catching their attention.

The last trick for using a crawler harness is this, sometimes its good to be full of hot air.  Well any air really will do the trick, but it sounded better in my head at least. Pumping a little air into a night crawler will give it a little lift, and can be the difference between a nice walleye on the other end, or a clump of nasty ol’ zebra muscles!  Lindy makes a Worm Blower, most big stores like Bass Pro carries the product, also many of the local bait shops might be stocking the item too, call ahead though, just to make sure.

That’s bottom bouncer 101 with the use of crawler harnesses.  Might still be feeling the effects of last night’s corn dogs, so if you have any questions, email is always an option or post your comments below and I will get to them quickly

Lake Erie Walleye Report for July 30th

Friday, July 31st, 2009

What’s better than getting all three guys in the boat their Michigan limit of five fish each?  Slipping over the Ohio line and getting your extra fish per OH regulations of course.  We no sooner went over the line, in 15 min picked up our last three fish to wrap up a great day on the water.

1

The day started at Jeff’s Bait Shop needing some crawlers and new info. We launched from Sterling and made  a beeline to 23 foot of water out of the Sterling State Park launch, and then going north towards Stoney Point.  The Antifreeze blades from DB Fishing were productive early on both the port  8 oz bottom bouncer and an inline Church Board running a 2 oz keel weight.  We started switching colors trying to get a good match on the other 6 rods. 

About the same time we were off Stoney, we landed a few fish including an 18 lb carp!  What that fish was doing out there  I don’t know, it was a first for me being that deep, It had my St Croix Premier trolling rod bent over and felt like a walleye coming, and I mean big walleye until we saw it at the boat. My buddy running the net said it was a sheephead, and I saw scales when it rolled, and knew right away it was a carp.

We finally got the blade program nailed running Northland’s Holographic Baitfish Sunfish (chart/orange), Pink Panties and Antifreeze.  To keep things going while trying to new blades, I through out a Carter Casey I had picked up from Fishlander before they went out of business.  It picked up a few fish for us.

So by the point we made some circles and changed up the speed, going from 1.3 to 1.8 mph.  This helped keep the silver bass, white perch and sheephead off the lines,  while it seemed to increase the size of the fish as well.  Good mental note to keep folks, if you are marking fish and not catching, its not always the lure, make sure to vary your speed until you get the bite dialed in.

From there we made and east/west run towards the Ohio line and kept picking up fish, and again bigger fish too.  This time of the year its rare to get into a mess of 4 lb walleye in this part of the lake, but its not your normal year with the cooler temps we have had.

There were 15 walleye in the box as we crossed over the Ohio line.  We brought in the long line rods that had the Jet Divers on, remember Ohio does not allow three rods per person, only two still.  Not 15 min later, we had three more in the box, picked up and headed home.

The water/weather was great.  Not many weeds considering the storms we have had, waves never over one and half foot, and the algae was blooming.  It might have triggered the baitfish into a more active mode because the walleye definitely seemed more interested after 9:30 am.

Will be heading out one more time this weekend.

8 before 8: Lake Erie Report, July 24th

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Just a quick report before I head out to start cleaning fish.  Head straight out of the state park this morning until hitting 23 foot of water, started heading east until hitting 26 fow and going back for another pass.  During that first pass we had 8 walleye in the box before 8 am.

Hot blades on the crawler harnesses were Happy Hooker Hedgehog, #5 Northland Baitfish Image Dace Pink and Antifreeze/Antifreeze #5 from DB Fishing.  The first two produced the most fish halfway into our first pass, so we switched over on the other rods, while keeping a couple of rods open to try new blades on the crawler harnesses,  the Dace Pink really shined for its first time out.

After that, say right about 8 am things went quiet and the fishing slowed way down.  Ended up putting three more fish in the box, one on the beginning of the 2 nd pass, and two more out in front of Stoney Point in 26 fow.

Enjoy the weekend, heading out to clean fish and watch the second game of the Tigers/WhiSox doubleheader.

Bottom Bouncers, draggin’ 8 oz “Heavy Metal”

Friday, July 17th, 2009

As the walleyes will undoubtedly be heading to deeper water with the weather warming up at some point, I started thinking about heavy bottom bouncers again. I always wanted something heavier than the 4 ozers I drop off the side of the boat when running crawler harnesses.  In deeper water, they tend to drop back farther and have at times gotten tangled in my board lines when dropping down the 2 oz Bass Pro keel weights before attaching the inline boards.

In order to combat this I have even made my own 7 oz bb’s, by adding three 1 oz rubber core sinkers on the shaft above the weight of a 4 oz bouncer.  This was done by stripping out the rubber, and clamping them on the shaft with a pair of pliers.  They worked and with good results, but I would have had to buy more 4 oz bb’s or convert the ones I had already to make something that just wasn’t quite what I really wanted.

So being the good lil’ computer fishing junkie I have become, I did what anyone else would do……I   “Googled”.  The neighbor and his brother are going to crack up because whenever we come up with an idea out or question on the boats we always say, “google it”.

1

Long story short, I found a website up in Dearborn that sells 8 oz unpainted fixed arm bottom bouncers.  The name of the site makes perfect sense too,  bottombouncers.com .  I had to pick up a dozen last Friday to get me started. They also make a 6 oz version and every other size you can think of along with keel weights for trolling.

8 oz next to a 4 oz bb

8 oz next to a 4 oz bb

Not only will they be what I wanted for fishing in deeper water out on Erie, or when I go to Au Gres in Saginaw Bay,  they should be just right for dropping down in the Detroit River the spring bite next year.  The name of the game is control, the greater control you have of your lures, the easier the fishing will be.

2 painted black

2 painted black

Sidenote:  I got a call today from the owner Brian on Saturday, just making sure he had the info for the order right.  That’s good customer service,  and to top it off, he makes the big boys per order.  If you are need of some good Michigan made lead, check the site out, he is laid off right now, and can get the orders made up and shipped out quick.

Lake Erie: Sunday Fishing ( 7/12 )

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Had a great morning out in front of Brest Bay on Sunday.  The first pass we had 11 walleyes in the box fishing in 23 fow trolling meat rigs.  We fished out straight out from the state park, and headed north towards Stoney Point.  Lots of sub-legal walleye would seem to indicate that there will be some good fishing ahead next year.

sunday eyes

 

Because it was my brother’s birthday that day too, the fish stayed on ice over night and got cleaned Monday morning.

sundayeyes2

 

Hot blades were Reverse Muffin and Goby patterns.  Also picked some up on Purple Bubblegum, Barbie, Happy Hooker and Purple/Antifreeze.

Jet Divers: Captain Dave’s Release System

Monday, July 13th, 2009

With all the posts that I have made recently about using Jet Divers out on Lake Erie,  I remembered that my neighbor had a couple of releases he had purchased.  I went to the net to look up some information and found that they were being made right here in Monroe by Captain Dave Benore of  Kingfisher Charters.  What’s better than a Michigan product?  A local Michigan product that has been put to the test on the same waters we all fish.

Instead of just going to the site and then posting links back here on the blog, I decided to call the captain himself and get some more details first hand. A quick call Thursday evening was followed up Friday morning with a more detailed conversation.  Captain Dave has been chartering on Lake Erie since 1986, and he was informative, and took me step by step through the process, the how’s and why’s of his Jet Diver Release.

jet release2

Don’t fight the diver, just the fish is the principle behind the release being used on the Jets.  Although he did not invent the first type of release for Jet Divers, Captain Dave has refined it.  During our talk it reminded me of those old commercials on television, ” We didn’t invent the widget, we only made it better”.

That’s what the owner of Kingfisher Charters has done by taking the original concept and refining it.  His product is one of the  lighter,  weight wise on the market, and yet uses sturdy  nylon coated wire on the release. The most popular sized Jet on Lake Erie, the #20 will not sink while letting out line from your rod and reel set-up.  This helps the anglers who use the Precision Trolling guides stay on the dive curves found in the book.

The releases were put to the test on Captain Dave’s charter boat, the King Fisher II .  When he was satisfied with their performance, he began to sell them.  They have now been available for a little over a month now on his website under Captain Dave’s Jet Diver Release System, then for a short time on Ebay, and now Craig’s List.

The releases are easy to install, and you only need an electric drill with an 1/8″ bit.  Basically its drill the hole, install release and go fishing.  Each package has detailed directions, and the website also has an instructional link/page as well with pictures to help walk you through the easy steps involved.  Just click on  “  Installation Instructions ” to see what is involved.

jet release

Give them a try, the price  is right at $21.00 for six releases,  and that includes shipping through the post office. Why fight the diver and the fish at the same time?  It will also give you a better idea of the size of your fish as you bring it in, because you no longer feel the drag of the diver.  Sounds like a win win.