Talked with a West Harbor charter boat captain on Saturday evening. He said the water in the Western Basin changed about two weeks ago. He said he observed "dirtier water" and thought anoxic water from the Central Basin had infiltrated into the eastern part of the Western Basin, having a big impact on the fish. Entirely possible something like this has happened. It could explain, at least partially, why the yellow perch fishing dropped off so quickly in mid to late August. I have also heard that the perch are feeding on YOY (young of year) Gizzard shad, which means perch may be present in decent to good numbers (you see good marks on your fish finder), but are not feeding along the bottom.

It's been an unordinary season thus far, in several ways. We may have to wait until October and the main water 'turnover' begins so water conditions (temperature and dissolved oxygen) become more stable throughpout the Western Basin. Until then, it's a search to find areas where yellow perch are present in good numbers but also feeding along the bottom. My guess is possibly in shallower, water, closer to shore, where the water temperature is a bit cooler and probably has more oxygen.

You can follow the current water conditions from various sources. Below is one. This kind of information is going to continure to be more readily available and from more locations, as more data gathering equipment is deployed and the data is processed quicker for release to the public.

Lake Erie Forecasted Bottom Water Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen - NCCOS - National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science