Walleye Fishing Forum - Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS https://community.walleye.com/ Post WESTERN LAKE ERIE (Far Western Lake Erie, Reefs, Bass Islands, Sandusky Bay etc.) fishing reports here. Be sure to include fishing location, time of day , lake conditions, Depth, depth that fish were caught and of course what you caught. en Sat, 11 Apr 2026 06:58:38 GMT vBulletin 60 https://community.walleye.com/images/misc/rss.png Walleye Fishing Forum - Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS https://community.walleye.com/ Fishing with Bill and Glen...4/8/2026 https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16682-fishing-bill-glen-4-8-2026-a-new-post.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:32:41 GMT Bill and Glen had scheduled a 2-day trip for Tuesday and Wednesday (4/7-4/8), but Tuesday showed up with freezing temps and gusty winds, so we... Bill and Glen had scheduled a 2-day trip for Tuesday and Wednesday (4/7-4/8), but Tuesday showed up with freezing temps and gusty winds, so we rescheduled that trip to the 18th. We did get out for Wednesday's trip, though.

The morning started early, as usual, and I was up at 2am to have my coffee and cuddle time out on the back deck with the dogs, while I checked the weather forecast for the day. The wind forecast was out of the SE, and a little gusty early, but would be lying down towards late morning. The temps were chilly early, but would also be rising as the morning went on.

I told them that we would be doing a later start, and I would pick them up at 8:20 from the Whitecaps Motel, so we could launch by 9am. We only had to stop for ice for the fish cooler.

We hit Mazurik's on time and got in line to ready the boat. The ramp was busy, due to the NWT tournament guys launching and all of the out-of-staters, who are taking advantage of some open water vacations, due to ice-covered lakes back home. :)

Luckily, all these guys know how to launch boats quickly, so it wasn't a problem getting on the water in a timely fashion.

We headed out after the V-10 warmed up enough, and headed over towards Starve, but when we got closer, I didn't like the water clarity, so I turned the Vexus to the NE to look for better-looking water with some marks in it.
There were a lot of boats trolling the north side of Kelly's, but as I passed that way, I wasn't seeing the marks on the Garmin that would make me stop and start fishing in that crowd. (I don't like crowds).

We kept going east until we hit the bottom of Kelly Island Shoal, and started marking some good fish. I kept going east past the shoal until the marks ran out, and turned the boat around to head west. The waves were more east than SE, so we would be going with the waves.

The Ulttera and the baby Merc were deployed, as was the FishHawk, and the speed was set to 1.2 on the FishHawk. The SOG was showing 1.7mph when the FishHawk was showing 1.2mph.

The water was stained, but I could make out the prop, so it was perfect.

My guys had never run Off Shore boards before, so as I set lines, I showed them how to attach them to the lines. But, as it would turn out, they were more than happy to just let me set lines all morning, due to it being kind of rough, and they were having trouble standing up in the boat.

We started out with Bandits on the starboard side and P-10s with 2oz snap weights on the port side. Leads were:
Bandits: 50-100 back unassisted
P-10s: 20/20, 30/30, 40/40, 30/45

Bandit colors were Taco Salad, Blue/Chrome, Chrome Barbie, and Khaki
P-10s: Marvin, Blue/Chrome, Purple-headed wonder bread, and Lime/Orange throat

We caught the first fish before all the lines were set, and then nothing....deep sigh.
I said (chuckling), "I hate when that happens...makes it feel like a tournament day". It was time to move, because we were heading back into the minefield of boats, and I wasn't about to deal with that.

We picked everything up and headed down to the SE side of Kelly's, where there were fewer boats, and much better marks. After resetting lines again, removing the P-10s and replacing them with more Bandits, we hit a pocket of fish that put a quick 5 more walleye in the cooler. Bill and Glen were giggling like school boys with that kind of action....and, then, as we trolled further NW....nothing. Ooof!

We picked up one more time and headed further SE to make another pass in a more westerly direction than NW, and that turned out to be the right decision, as we would end up putting the rest of their limit in the cooler and a few of mine too, before heading back in.

The best leads that ended up catching the most fish were 85 and 115 back. Slim Shady Customs' Gender Reveal and Fermi were good producers, as was the stock blue/chrome and chromeBarbie. Khaki let me down, and didn't catch one fish this time. Taco Salad caught a couple, and DJ Custom's RC Crush caught, but was put out kind of late, so it didn't have time to show how well it would have done.

We headed back in around 2:15, and I had an issue at the ramp. I loaded the boat on the trailer, but hit the roller wrong, so I backed off to try again, and when I did that...for some reason the power steering went out on the Big V, and it was hard to steer it. It took all of my strength to turn the motor, but I was able to get it back on the trailer and hooked up this time.

I called Dubbert's as soon as we stopped at Port Clinton Fish, Co. to have the fish cleaned, and explained what happened, and that I didn't have a trip scheduled until Saturday, and asked if they could take a look at it for me. They said they could, and that I should bring it in first thing in the morning. Whew! That's a load off my chest! I didn't want to have to drive it two hours to the other Fisherman's Central store, where they have a service dept. (The store here in PC doesn't have a service dept). So, all's well that ends well...I'm hoping it was just a fuse. A fuse that I don't know where it resides, or something else that's not too hard to fix. Fingers crossed!

My next crew are locals, so looking at Friday's forecast, calling for gusty winds and some rain, we rescheduled for Saturday instead.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls
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]]> Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS Capt Juls https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16682-fishing-bill-glen-4-8-2026-a.html Fishhawk https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16681-fishhawk-new-post.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:31:03 GMT What is latest greatest fish hawk I looked at the x2 system I like not having to run a down rigger or mounting anything on my boat is there a better... What is latest greatest fish hawk I looked at the x2 system I like not having to run a down rigger or mounting anything on my boat is there a better system out there now that uses a smaller rod with the transducer and better battery life I don?t want to buy outdated thanks in advance ]]> Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS KPI https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16681-fishhawk.html Last 4 day https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16673-4-day-new-post.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:30:06 GMT Returned home today after 4 days on the lake. We had fun but it was tough after all that bad weather last week. So... I'll make it a little short and to the point. Saturday morning could not fish as the lake was too tough. Got out early afternoon and went out of Huron. Water was chocolate milk all the way to Vermillion. Zero fish. Ran to Kelley's to find fishable water for Sunday and it looked good. Two man limit Sunday NE of Kelly's in about 4 hours. Lots of boat traffic. Water temp 38 ish. Best colors Halloween, Winderbred and IB Frozen. 11 fish Monday but it took forever to get them. Had to bump speeds around to get bites. 1.5-2.1. faster was better Sunday. Too rough for me yesterday to fish. We tried but no deal. Another fella did get them off mouse island yesterday. Lots of rough and muddy water on this trip. Hope to go back in a few weeks. ]]> Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS DW72 https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16673-4-day.html Bill Lewis Precise Walleye Crank (PWC) https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16672-bill-lewis-precise-walleye-crank-pwc-new-post.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:00:47 GMT Has anyone tried these lures? I have been looking for them but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I look. I would have thought the stores would... Has anyone tried these lures? I have been looking for them but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I look. I would have thought the stores would be loaded up with inventory this time of year. ]]> Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS Lucky Duck https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16672-bill-lewis-precise-walleye-crank-pwc.html Fishing with Keith and Jeremy...3/29/2026 https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16671-fishing-keith-jeremy-3-29-2026-a-new-post.html Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:13:00 GMT Originally, I had a scheduled trip for this morning, but my customer for the day, Vito, had to know by early morning yesterday, because he would be... Originally, I had a scheduled trip for this morning, but my customer for the day, Vito, had to know by early morning yesterday, because he would be traveling down from Wisconsin. So, at 5a.m., I gave him the forecast as I saw it, and at that time, it wasn't looking good for today. It was showing gusts on one app at 24mph and on another app as high as 30mph. And, at the time, I didn't have a good satellite pic to know how dirty the water was. Long story short...he had an alternate date in April as a backup, and chose to use that date instead, based on the forecast at the time.

I texted him and said, "You know, if you come down...it will probably be nasty, and it will suck, but if you stay home, the forecast is probably going to change for the better". And that's exactly what happened. By afternoon yesterday, the wind forecast had improved for today, and the clouds parted for a good satellite pic showing a muddy lake, but also showed several areas of fishable water.

After seeing all the reports from those who went out yesterday, I wanted to go fishing anyway. It would give me a chance to make sure everything was working and get the cobwebs off my brain. I needed it. :)

I called my friend Keith, who is always ready to go fishing on a moment's notice, and he said he wanted to go, too. He asked if he could bring his friend, Jeremy, along too. "Of course", I said. That would allow us to run more lines.
I told him that I would check the forecast in the morning and decide what time to launch.

Fast forward to this morning....I checked the forecast and decided it would be decent enough to launch around 8:30. The wind was fine, and I just wanted the temperature to rise a little before heading out. By 8am, it was calling for around 40 degrees, so at 4:15, I sent Keith a text asking, "Can you guys be here at 8am?" No answer. I figured he was still sleeping.
He wouldn't wake up and respond until 8:15...deep sigh.
I told him to get here as fast as they could, because I had been waiting for hours already. Keith and Jeremy showed up at 9 a.m., and we were at Mazurik's by 9:30.

The parking lot was full, so I ended up parking my truck and trailer on the grass in a convenient spot, but a long walk from the ramp. The ramp was busy, but the bulk of the boats had already launched, so it wasn't congested.

We headed out around 9:45 and got to the east side of Kelly's at 10AM. I could see a pack of boats out east of Airport Reef that extended all the way up to the line. I don't like fishing in packs, so I stayed to the west of them and closer to the reef. I'm guessing they were out in 43-45' of water, and we started in 38'.

The surface temp was reading 36.9 degrees, and the FishHawk was reading 38.2 degrees at 18' down.

The Ulterra and the baby Merc were deployed and set to a speed of 1.4-1.5mph on the FishHawk, and a course was set to the north towards Kelly Island Shoal.

Jeremy has fished a lot, but never trolling with Off Shore boards, so while Keith set up the starboard side with Bandits and snap weights, I showed Jeremy how to attach the boards and set them out. He was struggling at first, but he's a fast learner, and once he got the hang of it, he was doing fine.

Bandits ran on the starboard side at 50/21 (total 71 back), 50/25, 50/30, and 50/40.
Bandit colors Keith ran were:
Khaki
Taco Salad
A custom purple/pink/black/silver one, I don't know the name of
And...? I'm not sure what else he chose, as I was busy training Jeremy.
The last one was changed out for another Khaki, because Khaki was super hot this morning.

Jeremy started with 4 Bandits, but I don't remember what they were. I'm going to tell you what he ended up running on his side which was catching fish.
(2) Khaki at 77 back
Marvin P-10 at 30/30 2oz
Blue/Chrome/Orange belly 40/40 2oz

Khaki definitely caught the most fish, with the blue/chrome P-10 coming in second as the best fish catcher.

We only fished for 3 hours and had 14 nice fish in the cooler. We would have been done earlier if the fish had stayed hooked. We had 5 come unbuttoned before they got to the boat.

The best speed ended being between 1.3-1.5 (SOG) / 1.0-1.2 (FishHawk)

It felt good to be back on the water and catching fish again. It has been a LONG winter, and I'm ready to get back at it again.

The next trip is scheduled for Saturday, 4/4, but we'll see...again, the forecast is looking icky. But this time, my crew is local, so we can play it by ear, and it's too far out to do anything right now. I'm hoping it changes for the better....fingers crossed! :)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls
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]]> Western Lake Erie Fishing REPORTS Capt Juls https://community.walleye.com/western-lake-erie-fishing-reports/16671-fishing-keith-jeremy-3-29-2026-a.html