Cleveland 6/21

Tried the evening bite on Sunday, with work, basebal, and softball that's all I had time for. Trolled north of the crib in 55-58 FOW from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Didn't find any fish for about the first hour. From 7:30 until 9:30 caught 7 nice walleye (largest over 7 lbs and 4 others around 4 lbs). Nice hour and a half, calm lake, beautiful sunset. All fish came on Stingers; Pooh Bear Purple and Perch behind dispies set #3 back 90 or #4 back 120. Best trolling speed 1.8 - 2.0 mph on the gps (although we did catch a couple of fish on the outside rod during turns). Good thing the fish liked the lures I had on the poles because after last weeks rains I had taken the tackle boxes out to dry things out and forgot to put them back in the boat. No boards, no extra spoons, so the fish got what was on the poles.

Fished and fishermen seemed to be scattered last night. Didn't see too many nets being lowered, although we stayed away from most of the other boats that were out there. We found one small group of fish and just continued to work back through them.

Another great evening on the water.

What/where exactly is the "Crib"? I am seeing some decent reports coming from the areas East of the islands to the Crib. I just might have to head over that way soon. There should be some steelhead action happening North of Lorain and Avon point in the next 10 days or so.

Keith-

You should write a book of fishing SNAFUs. The story you had from your second Wheatley trip last year was quite a story. Catching the abandoned gill net takes the cake, then going from no fish in 2 days to a 4 man limit in 20 minutes is the icing.

Man I can't wait to get back. Walleye are great to eat, but once you tangle with an 18 pound steelie, walleye pale in comparison.

My middle initial is "S" and it should stand for Snafu. I have had more than my share of craziness in my various fishing endevours (most of them self induced). I have forgotten nets (which usually leads to filling the boat with big fish), hooked up on gill nets, been lost in the fog (before gps), had to rebuild an outboard 15 miles off shore, but I wouldn't stop fishing for any of it.

More importantly, the "Crib" is the Cleveland water intake. It is slightly north west of down town Cleveland. I hate to say it, but I have never checked to see how far off shore it is (probably around 3 miles) and I don't have the exact GPS coordinates for it either. I do, however, have some coordinates from the waypoints around the crib that I have been fishing (their on the gps on the boat). I'll send them to you so you can get an idea on where it is. Bottom line is you're fishing just off of Cleveland. It is a little strange to be catching big walleye and look back and see the Cleveland sky line. The other interesting thing about the crib is that it has a webcam so if you want to check the water conditions all you have to do is pull up the camera and see what the lake is doing. Google the Cleveland Crib web cam and it will give you more info.

Greg, If you want to come this way and give it a shot let me know, you're always welcome on Whitswhaler.

Keith-
Thanks for the feedback and invite. I will certainly take you up on that offer. I'm thinking about devising a vest that will hold lures, salmon net, a full set of standard and metric tools, gps, homing beacon, fillet knives, deep cycle battery, marine engine rebuild guide, spare prop, depth charge (when the fishing is slow), playboy magazine (for the articles of course), Life raft, a roofie for the wife when she starts saying "when are we going to be done?", body bags.........for the fish of course aka freezer bags -shhhhhhhh.

All for 100 easy installments $19.99. If you act now and promise to tell a friend, I will throw in a wife and 4 kids.

We will talk and fish soon. It's been a week for me and looking like it will be this weekend before I can get back out.