Fishing on Jon's boat;Submerged Docks at Foxhaven

Was going to fish with Jon this past Friday so went up to our lakehouse to spend the night.Went to Mon Ami for dinner and decided to head over to Foxhaven Marina to set up some of the trolling gear.Drove around a bit till I finally found his slip number,but the boat there didn't look like his boat and the dock was underwater.Called Jon and realized he was the boat on the other side of dock and had slip number off by one.Now every dock had a power box next to it and boats had an electric cord that went to their boats.Now I had to wade into water to get into his boat.With all this electricity around these submerged docks someone is going to get electrocuted.Now there was around 2" of water over dock when got there.As assembled the 6 rods noticed water going down...cool.So after got the rods done the dock had no water over it.I started to load some gear in the boat,then noticed the water coming back up again.I quickly finished loading and high stepped through a half inch of water.Got to boat bright and early Friday morning at 8:30AM.He is not a big fisherman and didn't even put boat in water in 2018 due to a health issue.Jerry soon arrived and we handed Jon our gear over the bow of boat.There was 3" of water over dock now.I told Jerry to bring his landing net and cooler due to the net Jon had was only 5' long.We got gas and proceeded to head out of west harbor channel.Mind you,there were plenty of other submerged docks in Foxhaven and the other marinas we passed.We headed almost due east between Marblehead and Kellies.Got to 33fow and set out gear and headed east.We set 4dipseys with scorpion stinger spoons.Mostly purple with copper backs.On setting 3.5 had leads of 45 and 55 and one setting had 33 and 40.We also set out two inline boards with harnesses and #2 tadpoles at 60 and 45 leads.Caught a couple junk fish at first,but then started picking at walleye.Had 7 fish when we turned around and headed west.I moved the leads some on the dipseys when the bite died or picked up on a particular rod.Was having trouble with engines running on the hot side.We were originally going 1.9-2.0mph but bumped it up to 2.3 to help cool the engines.That extra speed also cooled off the bite.After about 30min of little action slowed back down to 1.9 and started catching again.We had caught a few on the harnesses earlier but they had cooled off.I changed one board to a TT30 and spoon and was ready to change the other board,when that flag went down.I handed that rod to Jon,who had taken a break driving,and told him to reel it in.He was having difficulty getting line in,so I grabbed the rod to see what the problem was.Well,something heavy was on the line.I said its probably a big sheephead or cat and had Jerry slow the boat down.Turned out to be a 26" walleye.Jon said it was biggest walleye he had ever caught.The rig that caught it was a double willow with purple boxer front and copper back.Tadpole #2 lead was 60.Got another fish with that rod shortly after.Took us 3.5hrs to get our 18fish.Weight was 38lbs at cleaners with 15lbs of filets.Very little wind so was able to troll any direction,but got pretty buggy.But did not get hot.Great day on water.Hope others had an enjoyable and productive day on Erie last weekend also.To top it off,the dock had no water on it when got back too!!!!

Boy these water levels are something else. I have been driving up 53 at least every week since ice out. All of the road ditches and creeks are full all the time and its clear water. There are a lot of dwellings where the water level has to be so close to being a problem. Especially with basements and crawl spaces. Dealing with high water from rain is one thing, dealing with it because the lake is full is another. Boy it would concern me!.

Those docks and the electrical supply sounds like a dangerous issue for sure. Its sounds sort of like having a tide on the lake with how full it is and with the wind.

Nice report on your fishing, and your buddy Jon catching that big one! I was able to catch a limit and then some the same day. I caught all of them within a 300 yard circle on spoons at 16 ft. 2mph. Weather permitting, I will be at it again at the end of the week. Look forward to sharing info.

Kent

According to the Army Corp of Engineers,the record water level is due to the excessive rainfall throughout all the watersheds of the other great lakes.The storms and flooding we see on the news is related to the water level currently in all the great lakes.Traditionally,i have read,is that 90% of erie's water level comes from the other great lakes and is due to the snowmelt from the previous (2017-18) winter.This water level beat the 1986 record.May have something to do with the predicted global warming.If you believe in that or not.

Well, being a farm boy, in the Maumee River water shed, I know it is due to the rain, our rivers and ditches have been full every week for 2 months. Climate change is real, it always has been, climates have changed many times and are cyclical.. Global warming due to man? Personally I am not so convinced. Hearing farm reports, the rain has been excessive in most all of the Great lakes watersheds. Remember our phone discussion about the ice piles at "The Cliffs" ? A whole lot of things can happen over a 1000 or 10,000 years.

I would say that these high water levels will be very beneficial to wetland creatures as it has expanded them quite a bit.

I believe global warm may be a real thing, but it's been going on since the ice age some 10,000 years or so now. To blame all this water on it is hard for me to believe when we are seeing temps in the mid 40s still in june.

The record high water was previously in 1986 area, old times tell me they remember being high again in the 60s. Seems almost like it's part of 25-30yr cycle to me, but I'm not an expect. But I am tired of getting my feet wet ever time getting on and off the boat.

I know alot of boats are having to wait in port Clinton for both the draw bridge and train bridge which is frustrating. Just hope they wait and have patience and keeps their cool with others while they all have to sit and wait.

Yes, I did'nt think about the bridge issue. That would be frustrating! That in itself is quite a measurement to consider. Not many years ago, the opposite was true regarding water levels. I imagine within a few years that same issue may happen again. I remember hearing many old timers talk about the floods of 1913. In Ohio quite a few people perished Over 420 and brought about a lot of flood control projects throughout the region.

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Originally Posted by branhamautomotive

I believe global warm may be a real thing, but it's been going on since the ice age some 10,000 years or so now. To blame all this water on it is hard for me to believe when we are seeing temps in the mid 40s still in june.

The record high water was previously in 1986 area, old times tell me they remember being high again in the 60s. Seems almost like it's part of 25-30yr cycle to me, but I'm not an expect. But I am tired of getting my feet wet ever time getting on and off the boat.

I know alot of boats are having to wait in port Clinton for both the draw bridge and train bridge which is frustrating. Just hope they wait and have patience and keeps their cool with others while they all have to sit and wait.

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The warming has been going on in lock-step with the amount of carbon being put into the atmosphere since the idustrial rev. You can literally graph it. Cycles are always present yes, but if you dont believe man has an influence, I guess you dont believe in science either. There is no controversy among scientists. Only politicians.

With all due respect,

We are all allowed to have our opinions on things. Some of us have lived through many different scientific ideas on what was going to happen to the Earth. I do know that in each case I have lived thru, those who really pushed the ideas, stated that there was consensus and that their science was correct and could be documented.

Seeing that any of those things did not happen, it has caused some to have their own ideas and opinions, which is part of the beauty of this country.

I think we should let people have their own opinions on things such as the weather, etc. and stay away from political talk on this awesome forum, and save it for somewhere else.

My. $.02

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Originally Posted by eriedeerie

The warming has been going on in lock-step with the amount of carbon being put into the atmosphere since the idustrial rev. You can literally graph it. Cycles are always present yes, but if you dont believe man has an influence, I guess you dont believe in science either. There is no controversy among scientists. Only politicians.

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With all due respect,

We are all allowed to have our opinions on things. Some of us have lived through many different scientific ideas on what was going to happen to the Earth. I do know that in each case I have lived thru, those who really pushed the ideas, stated that there was consensus and that their science was correct and could be documented.

Seeing that any of those things did not happen, it has caused some to have their own ideas and opinions, which is part of the beauty of this country.

I think we should let people have their own opinions things such as the weather, etc. and stay away from political talk on this awesome forum and save it for somewhere else.

My. $.02

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Originally Posted by eriedeerie

The warming has been going on in lock-step with the amount of carbon being put into the atmosphere since the idustrial rev. You can literally graph it. Cycles are always present yes, but if you dont believe man has an influence, I guess you dont believe in science either. There is no controversy among scientists. Only politicians.

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I'm not saying we and our behaviors haven't helped things along, but it's not something new. There has been rising temps for thousands of years, there has been more than one drastic cooling period in earth's history. Most of these phenomenons are cycles in one form or another. There are maximums and minimum and nature has a way to reset it self.

No different than rise and fall of fish populations, insects, etc.

I'm not hear to debate if global warming is a true thing, I'm just saying I dont feel like global warming is the root cause of the lakes high water level, it was this high in 1986, and then again in 60s. Yes we have a new all time high level but by a fraction of an inch, not by feet. And it's only an all time since they have been recording, about 100 years.........that's a very small dent in the timeline since the lake was formed. There is s good chance it has been even higher in the years b4 records were kept the modern way. In 15 years or so when we are are on the other leg of this cycle we will be complaining about how low the water level is.

I remember several time 5 or so years ago seeing the Portage river be nothing but mud with barely a trickle of water in the middle. Boats of 20-24 ft size were getting stuck in the mud and trashing prope. Now I've yet to see the water be in our boat basin this year

Like others, not trying to stir the water here. I will say that any change in weather can be attributed to global warming in some way. The planet isn’t happy right now. When we’re seeing 40 degree weather in June that air is likely pushed down by warm air up in the arctic. This is starting to become less what scientists say and more “just look at the ice.” Both poles are rapidly losing ice. The Great Barrier Reef just saw 2 bleaching events that killed 50% of the coral. “Oh half the GBR died? Nah, happens all the time....” (It doesn’t). Whether it’s true or not, I think the time as at least come to ask yourself, “if this IS true, what simple changes can I make to help?” I feel the same way about all the plastic in the ocean. What simple changes can I make to help? I live in Toledo and won’t put chemicals down on my lawn for the sake of the lake. Yea, I have some weeds but I’m a typical younger guy that believes the grass we plant in our yards wasn’t supposed to grow here anyway so it’s like everyone is putting zebra mussels in their yards and being proud of it. My belief is the time has come to make some changes at least to take care of the plastic in the oceans. Also, to reduce carbon emissions and pollute as little as possible. Just my thoughts. Not saying anything IS true, but it could be and if so we’re all in a world of trouble.

If you remember a few years back, when the lake was at a low point, the "scientists" said that low water levels would be the new normal. They claimed that increasing global temperatures would cause a reduction of the yearly ice cover on lake Erie. This would in turn cause increased evaporation and thus reduce lake levels.

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Originally Posted by eriedeerie

The warming has been going on in lock-step with the amount of carbon being put into the atmosphere since the idustrial rev. You can literally graph it. Cycles are always present yes, but if you dont believe man has an influence, I guess you dont believe in science either. There is no controversy among scientists. Only politicians.

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As a scientist I say amen to that. There is no controversy among thousands of scientists worldwide

True, global warming and climate change and increased CO2 in the atmosphere doesn't cause any single weather event or any single cycle. But over time it does move the trend lines, increase frequency and intensities of events, change the temp highs and lows, and change long term weather patterns. One only has to go to Glacier National Park where the glaciers are mostly gone, go to Antarctica to see the glaciers falling into the sea, go the the North pole to see the ice and permafrost melting, go to the west where species are dying in their normal growing ranges. It is sad to see people who have never cracked a physics book think they know more than scientists who have dedicated lives and careers to the scientific study of the problem. One can debate what to do about it and how to solve it. But to deny it exists is to stick ones head in the sand, ignore the natural world around you, and waste precious time we don't have. I for one don't want to lay the world that will bring on my kids and grandkids.

To assume someone has not read, or studied specific subjects without knowing them is not good form, and does reflect areas of other problems.

Can't we just discuss fishing?