Great Casting Weekend

I didn't even consider trolling over the weekend. We never traveled more than 2 miles away from harbor. I casted all weekend Friday evening through last night, west of Catawba. I got my limits and many of my crew too. The evenings were best. The walleye were trying to rip the rod out of your hand. Harnesses worked best when fish are high. A 2 or 3 count was a must during evenings. Saturday morning, more of them were closer to bottom and the weight forwards seemed to produce equal amounts.

Stay away from other boats. Depths from 18 to 23 fow. Pay attention to your electronics. Use a down imaging to see through the surface clutter. Any fish marked high in upper 25% counts as 4 fish down middle to low on screen. If you are marking good bait balls, it can be worth a try even if you don't see other fish marks.

When you find those high marks, start with splash count and work down with harnesses or weight forwards, until you know if they have a preference. Cast outside your boats previous drift path to reach the undisturbed fish. The evening fish definitely preferred the harness over weight forward lures. When can we do this again? Last night my daughter and I let over 3 legal limits go up to 18 inchers. My freezer is full, my wife says. So now my limit is 20 inchers plus.

Rickerd

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Originally Posted by rickerd

I didn't even consider trolling over the weekend. We never traveled more than 2 miles away from harbor. I casted all weekend Friday evening through last night, west of Catawba. I got my limits and many of my crew too. The evenings were best. The walleye were trying to rip the rod out of your hand. Harnesses worked best when fish are high. A 2 or 3 count was a must during evenings. Saturday morning, more of them were closer to bottom and the weight forwards seemed to produce equal amounts.

Stay away from other boats. Depths from 18 to 23 fow. Pay attention to your electronics. Use a down imaging to see through the surface clutter. Any fish marked high in upper 25% counts as 4 fish down middle to low on screen. If you are marking good bait balls, it can be worth a try even if you don't see other fish marks.

When you find those high marks, start with splash count and work down with harnesses or weight forwards, until you know if they have a preference. Cast outside your boats previous drift path to reach the undisturbed fish. The evening fish definitely preferred the harness over weight forward lures. When can we do this again? Last night my daughter and I let over 3 legal limits go up to 18 inchers. My freezer is full, my wife says. So now my limit is 20 inchers plus.

Rickerd

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Great report... thanks. I’m thinking about heading down that way this afternoon... would you mind sharing which port you went out out, and what compass heading to take out. This is my first time out of the Catawba area.

Thanks

I am out of Catawba Orchard Beach Association which is private. We are along the Westshore of Catawba, a bit south of Northwest Catawba Marine.

The Clinton Reef area and South of it is where we were fishing all weekend. I didn't even have a finder on last evening or sonar. I just used my Navionics to get in the neighborhood. There haven't been many boats ripping through the water, so the fish are acting natural if you don't rip through and try to drift back over your marks. When my kids were swimming same area on Saturday, water clarity is at least 5 feet, since I see their feet as they tread water.

I also took a trip to PIB on Sunday afternoon. Good marks north of the island too. I just can't vouch for their activity levels. With this stable weather and light winds, clarity is good and fish are plenty. If you are drifting for 20 mins and you know are covering water well, move to find active fish. Start high during evening and work your way down.

Harnesses in purple/ yellow and green/ yellow worked best up high. I caught a couple on weight forward high, but the harness slowed down and really turned them on.

Let us know how you do. Good luck!

Rickerd

Rickerd - Appreciate the bounce-back. We decided to stay where we had been fishing which was around the Oak Harbor area. We were catching fish, so my dad (82 yrs old) didn't want to venture into new waters to try a different area. I've always wanted to explore the Catawba area for the fishing and just the area in general. Will have to save that for the next trip - but do appreciate the information you shared.

Tight line -

Great detailed report with a lot of good information. Thank you!

Went out of West Harbor last Friday and Saturday, south channel, straight out about 1.5 miles. Most of the boats were fishing between the NW side of Kelleys and South Bass, few boats around me. Started drifting and picked up 3 walleyes on Erie dearies right away. Green and white was their preference and we got our two man limit in a few hours. Fish were near the top, we were in 25” of water.