I wasn’t intending on writing a follow up to yesterday's report but the conditions were so different the next day it seemed worth sharing. I launched out of the Sheffield Lake ramp at about 5:30 on Thursday evening, went out to 50 feet depth and started trolling north/northwest with crawler harnesses at 1.3 to 1.5 mph. There was a slight northwest wind, sunny with waves 1-2 feet. The most striking difference between Wednesday and Thursday evening was the almost total absence of fish on the bottom. Most of the marks were in the 10-20 foot range but it was hard to tell if the marks were walleyes or bait fish. After trolling north for about an hour and a half, it became apparent that the fish had lockjaw and nothing was really biting. I caught one short and my big excitement on the way out came with a very strong pull back that turned out to be a foul hooked white perch. As I was making my turn to head back in, I caught my first keeper on a line that was probably at about 40 feet. I ran some harnesses up top to target the marks at 10-20 feet but no hits. I was tempted to try putting on some Flicker Minnows and see if that would produce a hit but never did.
After having so much action the night before, it was a little frustrating so on the way back in I decided to go with my normal program regardless of what the fish finder said and enjoy a few beverages on the return trip. Normal program is one line on the bottom and other two between 30 and 40 feet. At some point during the return trip, the wind changed from northwest to southwest but it was hardly noticeable. However, something triggered the fish to start biting again and I caught another 8 walleyes by the time I hit 49 feet so ended up with a limit of good sized fish. Based on these two days, not sure what to expect for the rest of the holiday weekend but I will be out there with the rest of you. Good luck!