Kelly's Island Drift Fishing
Fought the waves from Vermillion to PIB this weekend to hang out for a couple of days. Brought another couple that loves to fish, but are REALLY bad at it.
After 2.5 hours of cruising the rough waters, took refuge about a mile south of Kelly's. Threw in various colors of weight forward harnesses. Ended up with 9 keepers 18+ inches fishing on the bottom after about 2 hours on Saturday. Lost 12 keeper walleye close to the boat (remember that couple we brought along? It was so funny watching them try to set the hook or yank the walleye out of the water). We even had one person on the boat drop 2 keepers overboard when 'the walleye tried to bite his fingers'. Best drift fishing I have seen in 20+ years. We caught 9 fingerlings and a couple of white bass. Hooked the biggest sheep head I have personally ever seen. Snapped the line at the boat (when the new couple tried to pull the 15+ pound fish out of the water without the net).
Tried fishing the same spot Sunday morning before our trip home. Caught a couple of throw backs, a few white bass and some sheep head while fighting waves from 40+ foot boats running flat out 20 feet off our stern. No boating etiquette. Moved about 2 miles east of Kelley's and caught 5 keepers in 38 foot of water (still drifting). Wind starting picking up again, so moved toward home and drift fished off Vermillion for an hour and caught a couple of 25 inch walleye before calling it a weekend.
It is absolutely awesome to see the walleye population so healthy that you can throw in some harnesses or Erie Deerie's and test your fishing skills. This is the way I remember fishing for walleye as a kid and I have missed it for some time. I hope everyone is handling the throw backs and fingerlings carefully, so we can continue the drifting trend over the next several years.
