Long Ride 7/1

[Mapleshade]

I hadn’t been out in a couple weeks. Visiting mom in PA. Saw through various posts many mentions of fish east of Kelly’s and even Huron. Just retired and am learning the area. Love being out on the lake. Fished walleye as a kid with my dad and his dad near Erie, PA. Great memories. Would give almost anything to have dad and grandpa back and on the boat for just one day!

Left Catawba and began in 45 fow east of Kelly’s. Few marks and no takers. Moved further east to spot I caught fish early last July about a mile or so SW of the weather buoy. Long Ride! 46 fow. Dipseys at 0 setting down 63 and 72 off the corners per advise found here with wonder bread and perch spoons. No crawlers. Also a blue/chrome bandit on an in-line board with 2 oz 50/75.

All marks below 35 ft. Caught 2 in the 18-20” range and a 16 incher. Also 4 undersized throw backs. Trolling eastward with west wind caught 3 on first pass and 4 on second. 2.4-2.6 mph. Just installed a hydraulic Garmin Reactor autopilot and it is the greatest thing! Have used it a couple times now.

Maybe could have caught more there. But I’m learning and wanted to try to find fish closer to the islands so I moved to just east of Kelly’s. 42 fow. Couldn’t find any takers although saw a few marks deep.

Mid afternoon the dark clouds moved in so I headed for the dock. Beat the storm.

At the cleaning station a fellow had a nice 26” monster he’d picked up neat Kelly’s Shoal. His only taker. His young kids were certainly impressed by the walleye’s teeth!

Had ‘non-fishing’ company over the Holiday Weekend and enjoyed ’boat rides’ but did not wet a line. Read of fish being caught west of Kelly’s and west of Green and Rattlesnake. May try there next time out. Such a long run to where I caught these on Friday.

Thanks again to all of you who share info. Helpful to this old novice! I’ll share everything I experience. Any advice on July fish closer to the islands would be super interesting. Expect to get out again this week.

Tight lines…

[DeBaited]

I hadn’t been out in a couple weeks. Visiting mom in PA. Saw through various posts many mentions of fish east of Kelly’s and even Huron. Just retired and am learning the area. Love being out on the lake. Fished walleye as a kid with my dad and his dad near Erie, PA. Great memories. Would give almost anything to have dad and grandpa back and on the boat for just one day!

Left Catawba and began in 45 fow east of Kelly’s. Few marks and no takers. Moved further east to spot I caught fish early last July about a mile or so SW of the weather buoy. Long Ride! 46 fow. Dipseys at 0 setting down 63 and 72 off the corners per advise found here with wonder bread and perch spoons. No crawlers. Also a blue/chrome bandit on an in-line board with 2 oz 50/75.

All marks below 35 ft. Caught 2 in the 18-20” range and a 16 incher. Also 4 undersized throw backs. Trolling eastward with west wind caught 3 on first pass and 4 on second. 2.4-2.6 mph. Just installed a hydraulic Garmin Reactor autopilot and it is the greatest thing! Have used it a couple times now.

Maybe could have caught more there. But I’m learning and wanted to try to find fish closer to the islands so I moved to just east of Kelly’s. 42 fow. Couldn’t find any takers although saw a few marks deep.

Mid afternoon the dark clouds moved in so I headed for the dock. Beat the storm.

At the cleaning station a fellow had a nice 26” monster he’d picked up neat Kelly’s Shoal. His only taker. His young kids were certainly impressed by the walleye’s teeth!

Had ‘non-fishing’ company over the Holiday Weekend and enjoyed ’boat rides’ but did not wet a line. Read of fish being caught west of Kelly’s and west of Green and Rattlesnake. May try there next time out. Such a long run to where I caught these on Friday.

Thanks again to all of you who share info. Helpful to this old novice! I’ll share everything I experience. Any advice on July fish closer to the islands would be super interesting. Expect to get out again this week.

Tight lines…

I fished 7-1 & 7-2 around Round reef & Crib reef with 3 limits each day. Casting harnesses mainly gold blades Beads in either red or very lite purple We used smaller blades as I think the fish are still in Mayfly mode. Little rough Saturday morning. But as lake laid down fishing heated up. Both days done by 11 am

[slimshady]

Don't discount the waters West of the Islands just yet. Last week I fished well west of the Islands 4 times in 23-28 FOW pulling cranks and we caught many walleyes over 4 lbs. Several 26-27" fish. One of my buddies in the same area caught a 10.5 lb fish, and another buddy had his daughters with him and they both caught their PBs pulling cranks. Bandits 35-55 back early, then 45-75 back later in the day, unassisted.

[rickerd]

great reports. I still cannot believe I didn't get out over the July 4th weekend. Oh well good to know they are still around on West side.

Rickerd

[Mapleshade]

Thanks for the feedback! Great pictures! I’m heading back to the lake tonight and hope to get out again soon. Were these fish just west of the islands or were you over as far as the D-E-F cans? Hoping to find some fish in the morning! Again…appreciate your great report!

[slimshady]

Thanks for the feedback! Great pictures! I’m heading back to the lake tonight and hope to get out again soon. Were these fish just west of the islands or were you over as far as the D-E-F cans? Hoping to find some fish in the morning! Again…appreciate your great report!

We were well west of the islands in Canadian waters. However, I think there is another wave of bigger fish making their way East. Several weeks ago, the same areas had smaller fish, whereas now we are seeing big ones again. I believe there are pods of nicer fish all over the Western Basin still. You just have to stay on them once you find them. Even in the areas that we are catching the bigger fish, we had to use cranks to get them. When we fished the very same areas with spoons or harnesses, we struggled to catch any that were over 18
inches. I think the smaller ones and the junk fish were just getting to the baits too fast. It was hard to keep a line in the water more than a few minutes without having something on.

After we switched, the avg size went from 15-16" to 20'+. We easily caught our limits and were tossing back anything under 18.

We are heading back out again tomorrow and I will let you know if they are still there.

Cheers,

Mike