12/28 Catawba Report

[Lynn M]

It was wet, overcast and foggy most of the day, just how the walleyes like it . It was also very calm, but that didn't seem to matter. Launched out of Catawba about the time of sunrise and headed toward to an area just south of Starve Island. I trolled the south side of "the hole" for a couple hours and easily got my limit and then some of decent size eyes. Seemed to be hitting best in 32 to 35 fow. I tried the deep area and noticed some good marks on the bottom in 50 to 60 fow. I did get a 25 incher down deep with a DDHJ14 but decided to try a little jigging with a jigging rap and an Acme hyper rattle. The only thing I pulled up was a couple of snagged catfish, so maybe most of those marks were cats instead of eyes.
I left that area and wanted to try the area between Green and Rattlesnake so I headed up there until I found some good marks in 33 fow. Fished there for a couple hours, landing what was probably the largest of the day, around 6.75 lbs. The bite was fairly slow there and a guy told me at the launch that they were having pretty good success jigging and trolling around F can so I decided I would finish the day down there.
I really wanted to get some by jigging, so I tried I tried a gold Thundermist Stingnose for about a half hour and only got a very small (maybe 13") walleye using that method. I really feel lost when it comes to jigging, just never have much success. I'm sure someone on this forum could probably give me a lot of pointers on how to successfully jig for eyes in cold water conditions.
In summary, best lure was a yellow pink and purple DDHJ14 with black marks on the sides, probably pulled in 10 with just that lure. The lures that worked best were the ones with contrasting color, but yellow seemed to be a consistent catcher. Speed was 1.1 to 1.7 depending if I was trolling with the current or against it. Bite was mostly deeper, anywhere from 4 to 8 feet off the bottom depending where I was. Definitely one of my best days on Erie.
Hope you all have have a great end to 2023 and a blessed New Year!
Lynn

[itsbob]

Good job fishing.Thanks for the post.Sorry, I haven't had much success jigging either.

[DW72]

Congratulations on your great day! Thank you for sharing. Fun to read reports this time of year. I've never jigged out there other than ice fishing many years ago. Happy New Year to you and to everyone. Cheers to another great year coming up!

[Fishing Tiger]

Thank you for a great report.

Wishing you a happy New Year!

[Old Wheezer]

Thanks for the report!

[BILLY JOE]

we fish Saturday at F can was a bit ruff but got a quick 3 man limit going with the waves husky jerks and bandits 30-40-50-60 back all worked we also talked to a guy at catawba ramp that shared info about the bite there [ that was nice of him ] Monday lake was rolling with high winds

[DW72]

Hats off to you gentlemen staying on them out there this time of year. Thanks again for the reports.