Sunday May 26th –Tues May 28th

2 of us fished between just east of West Harbor on Kelleys Island in 30-35 FOW. We limited every trip trolling spoons of traditional 40 jets. Marks were higher in the water column with leads 45-60 back early on. As the morning progressed or after a late start, the marks would move deeper and we would lengthen our leads to 65-80 back to finish the trips. We waited the weather out Memorial Day, making an evening trip. Man was it rough!

Wed May 29th
Had five aboard starting at Gull Island Shoal producing 14 fish by noon from a 7am start. Pulled the boards and ran to the Canadian Line between Lucy’s Point and Middle Island. Our tickets were filled pulling spoons with 65 back being our most productive lead. Radio chatter had many of the charters in the area pulling fish with true trips 35’ back but didn’t change our leads due to the consistent strikes.

Thurs May 30-Fri May 31st
We continued to pound the Canadian line between Lucy’s and Middle Island. The further we moved away from the pack of boats towards Middle Island the more fish we produced. Leads from 55-75 back consistently pulled fish. Thursday the action was so good, we left at 6am from East Harbor and were back and fueled up by 11am. Friday we pulled 26 of our 30 fish limit before the storm blew us off the lake. The bonus Friday was a quad hook up, all of which were walleye. It made for an interesting show with the net.

Sat-Sun June 1-2nd
Bachelor Party on Put-N-Bay. There were tons of good looking Perch at the swim up bar lol.
Spoons-

We used many of the new UV spoons. Anything that had chartreuse and purple worked great with the top producer being the watermelon UV spoon. Poor Bear Purple/Chartreuse and Kevorkian took fish as well.

Speed-
Trolled anywhere from 1.8 to 2.5. Varied speed during lull’s in the action. If the action was slow, I would bump the boats throttle up or make a slight turn and a few times it would trigger a strike.

New Equipment for 2013
Purchased a set of planner boards off skipper 9. I’ve been trolling for quite some time and have always had difficulty tolling in rough weather. I had a set of triple boards that pull hard but still kick back, snapping the fishing lines off, even with bungees in rough seas. This issue was alleviated with the new boards. Skipper 9 boards with the angle fin makes trolling in rough seas and turning the boat over school of fish much more feasible.

Hope this helps someone out. Had a great week on the shores of Erie!
- Buc-Eye