Casting Report - 7/11/10

[PZeiler]

Fished NW of west sister in 28 ft water. Started at 7:30 and the morning started of with a bang with 4 fish in the cooler and 3 throwbacks in first 20 minutes. 1 hour later only 6 fish in the cooler. The little bit of breeze we had stopped and nothing wanted what we were offering. Fish 3 more hours without a keeper. We continued to catch a small fish here and there. Moved around the general area for some time. Then headed in closer east of gravel pit. The algea bloom was starting to cover the water in streaks. A light breeze started out of the south east. The fish started biting again - yellow perch, white perch, sheephead, catfish, and walleye. Ended the day with 11 keepers and 15 throwbacks. 2 keepers 24" - 25". All walleye, large and small were caught were on gold. Some of the Colorado gold blades that worked included, hammered deep cut #5, diamond cut #4, #4 baitfish with either a green or a brown/orange scale pattern. Nothing else work. Mark a lot of fish in almost every location. When we were cleaning the fish, they were all full of fat - so they have been eating good.

[BILLY JOE]

thanks for report

[cycleguy]

Not being from the area, but enjoying the reads…. and planning on next summer, when you and others talk about casting, it sounds like a spinner rig? Weighted in what manner? I don't see much of that on smaller lakes by me. Thanks!!

[Hoytman86]

Not being from the area, but enjoying the reads…. and planning on next summer, when you and others talk about casting, it sounds like a spinner rig? Weighted in what manner? I don't see much of that on smaller lakes by me. Thanks!!

It's basically a Carolina rig. Egg sinker goes on the main line, tie on a snap swivel and attach your harness. Casting, bottom bouncing whole drifting or trolling are all going to use some variation of this setup. Casting harnesses are usually going to have an 18" leader, bouncer harnesses are generally 36" long and trolling can be 5-6' leaders. Usually casting harnesses are going to be a single blade, gold is always a good color to start with. Most commercially made harnesses are going to have two hooks (some have one, some have 3) and you put the noise of the night crawler on the front hook then put the second hook through its body. Make sure you straighten them out to get the best possible presentation and prevent spinning up of your line.

Mayfly rigs, more commonly known as "weapons", are going to be similar to casting harness. The exceptions are that you use a partial crawler, they usually have small (size 3 and under) blades, single hook and there's a bead tied into the loop and you put your sinker over the loop, the bead keeps it from sliding down to the blades. I'm not entirely familiar with weapon fishing, so hopefully someone else can add to and/or correct anything I've said.

Good luck!

[Hoytman86]

Not being from the area, but enjoying the reads…. and planning on next summer, when you and others talk about casting, it sounds like a spinner rig? Weighted in what manner? I don't see much of that on smaller lakes by me. Thanks!!

It's basically a Carolina rig. Egg sinker goes on the main line, tie on a snap swivel and attach your harness. Casting, bottom bouncing whole drifting or trolling are all going to use some variation of this setup. Casting harnesses are usually going to have an 18" leader, bouncer harnesses are generally 36" long and trolling can be 5-6' leaders. Usually casting harnesses are going to be a single blade, gold is always a good color to start with. Most commercially made harnesses are going to have two hooks (some have one, some have 3) and you put the noise of the night crawler on the front hook then put the second hook through its body. Make sure you straighten them out to get the best possible presentation and prevent spinning up of your line.

Mayfly rigs, more commonly known as "weapons", are going to be similar to casting harness. The exceptions are that you use a partial crawler, they usually have small (size 3 and under) blades, single hook and there's a bead tied into the loop and you put your sinker over the loop, the bead keeps it from sliding down to the blades. I'm not entirely familiar with weapon fishing, so hopefully someone else can add to and/or correct anything I've said.

Good luck!

[PZeiler]

Glad to see some of you replying to my post. I know most of the posters on this site discuss trolling but I usually cast when I walleye fish. I have all the gear to troll, but I haven't trolled in 4 years. I enjoy the feel of the bite, the weight and fight on the lighter rod and the frustration trying to figure out why the worm is missing on my lure sometimes when I get it back into the boat. I have been fishing for walleye on Erie since 1966 (I'm currently 56). I have experienced the years of 10 fish/day limits and have personally caught and released more the 100 walleye in a day twice (once jigging and once casting)in my life - and yes - my arm was tired at the end of the day. I started making Lake Erie Hellions when I was 10 years old. (Anyone remember them?) I make all of my harnesses and I am always experimenting. I will still use weight forwards and from time to time I will even throw a golden nugget.

Everything Wakina says is true. (Well said Wakina). I would also add that I find that the speed that you are retrieving a "weapon" makes a big difference. You must take into consideration how fast your boat is drifting as well when you think about your retrieval speed. On windy days, I actually will reel and then stop reeling allowing the drift of the boat to create the blade action.

In regard to fishing the swing, I find that you will get the most hits as the lure is transitioning from the "sideways" track to where the lure falls in-line with the drift of the boat.This is because the lure tends to speed up as it becomes more in-line with the boat.

My latest reports are telling me that anywhere from the area I was fishing in my original post over to about a mile NW of A Can have been producing. I had a buddy who caught 34 keepers casting on Tuesday morning in this general area.

I'm now heading off to Lake Ontario for a few days of salmon fishing in Point Breeze, New York.

Good Luck to all of you on Lake Erie.

[Hoytman86]

So many fisherman, so many different styles. I've never intentionally "fished the swing". I'm sure the boat was contributing to my cast, drag, reel up slack, repeat fishing motion while casting, but it's amazing to me that so many fisherman conquer this fishery with so many different styles. I like trolling, I like catching more fish faster due to covering more water and having 2 rods in the water per person, but there's no denying there's nothing like feeling that strike on a medium-light rod and fighting that fish to the boat. Hell, even when I went on a trolling trip in April, the captain (who I'll not name) was adamant that he preferred trolling got really pumped when a fish hit the crank while he was setting it out.

Good luck on Ontario. Be safe and tight lines. I'm heading up to Erie in 10 hours and I can't wait!

[PZeiler]

Salmon fishing was poor this year. 2 days of fishing we kept 7 fish. We normally find it fairly easy to get our limit. We marked very few fish. Average boat had between 0 to 6 fish. Still going back next year.

[Jawbreaker]

Salmon fishing was poor this year. 2 days of fishing we kept 7 fish. We normally find it fairly easy to get our limit. We marked very few fish. Average boat had between 0 to 6 fish. Still going back next year.

Don't feel bad. It's poor on Lk. Michigan too. Has been for a couple years. Did catch a few Perch out there this weekend though.

[Drifter]

Now we are learning something. Keep it coming.