Week of Fishing

[Buc-Eye]

Sunday May 26th –Tues May 28th

2 of us fished between just east of West Harbor on Kelleys Island in 30-35 FOW. We limited every trip trolling spoons of traditional 40 jets. Marks were higher in the water column with leads 45-60 back early on. As the morning progressed or after a late start, the marks would move deeper and we would lengthen our leads to 65-80 back to finish the trips. We waited the weather out Memorial Day, making an evening trip. Man was it rough!

Wed May 29th
Had five aboard starting at Gull Island Shoal producing 14 fish by noon from a 7am start. Pulled the boards and ran to the Canadian Line between Lucy’s Point and Middle Island. Our tickets were filled pulling spoons with 65 back being our most productive lead. Radio chatter had many of the charters in the area pulling fish with true trips 35’ back but didn’t change our leads due to the consistent strikes.

Thurs May 30-Fri May 31st
We continued to pound the Canadian line between Lucy’s and Middle Island. The further we moved away from the pack of boats towards Middle Island the more fish we produced. Leads from 55-75 back consistently pulled fish. Thursday the action was so good, we left at 6am from East Harbor and were back and fueled up by 11am. Friday we pulled 26 of our 30 fish limit before the storm blew us off the lake. The bonus Friday was a quad hook up, all of which were walleye. It made for an interesting show with the net.

Sat-Sun June 1-2nd
Bachelor Party on Put-N-Bay. There were tons of good looking Perch at the swim up bar lol.
Spoons-

We used many of the new UV spoons. Anything that had chartreuse and purple worked great with the top producer being the watermelon UV spoon. Poor Bear Purple/Chartreuse and Kevorkian took fish as well.

Speed-
Trolled anywhere from 1.8 to 2.5. Varied speed during lull’s in the action. If the action was slow, I would bump the boats throttle up or make a slight turn and a few times it would trigger a strike.

New Equipment for 2013
Purchased a set of planner boards off skipper 9. I’ve been trolling for quite some time and have always had difficulty tolling in rough weather. I had a set of triple boards that pull hard but still kick back, snapping the fishing lines off, even with bungees in rough seas. This issue was alleviated with the new boards. Skipper 9 boards with the angle fin makes trolling in rough seas and turning the boat over school of fish much more feasible.

Hope this helps someone out. Had a great week on the shores of Erie!
- Buc-Eye

[walleye2go]

Great fishing and report!

Greg

[EYE TAMER]

Great Report. Glad to hear that about the Skipper 9 boards. He is going to put me together a set next week and should have them by 6/15. Heard a lot of good reports about them. Keep the great reports coming. Sounds like you had a good time at Put-N-Bay. Should of went perch fishing!!

[bowguy84]

Great to hear you did well!!!! Jims boards are the best!!!

[wetnet1]

Hey skip I just recently tried a set of amish outfitter boards and had to return them for lack of performance. Are you making these to sell or just personal boards. I have been looking for a good set. What kind of wood do you use and how long and wide are they. I have a set now but they peter out with more than three lines on them with cranks. Looking to get a nice set? I am camping at east harbor starting the 23 of june for a week

[Buc-Eye]

Eye Tamer,
Your Big John Planner reels both electric and the manual come standard with 150lb test line. Those boards pull so hard that 3 times they snapped our 150lb planner line sending our clips to the bottom of the lake. You can lose a pile of clips in hurry and if you’re using the yellow Offshore 4 packs at 20$ a rip, it will make you sick! Amish Outfitters makes 500lb planner board line. We picked ours up at Fisherman’s Warf and haven’t had a problem since. I strongly suggest getting the heavy duty line if you’re planning to run Skipper9 Boards.

As for the Put-N-Bay… The perch where schooled up tight and they wouldn’t even nibble but if you wanted a carp, from what I saw that bite was on fire!

Thanks guys! Tight Lines!

[ml1987]

I'm pretty sure you can catch those kind of carp with dough balls too!

[Redeyedrooster]

I'm pretty sure you can catch those kind of carp with dough balls too!

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! It was a bad day till I saw that!

[EYE TAMER]

Thanks Buc-Eye. I will pick up a spool at Fishermans Wharf this weekend. How far out are you running them? They pull that hard maybe I wont need my trolling bags out. Ha! Ha! Thanks for the info.

[always trolling]

I have noticed several reports saying middle island... Were is this is there another name ????? Thanks....