Mid-November Fishing Update

Streams have recently been running low and clear but there are plenty of steelhead to be caught.  Perch are staged in schools along the channel and in Presque Isle Bay.  The other day, my friend and I went fishing in the bay and caught about 50 little guys and 8 keepers.  We really had to weed through them and as soon as our lines hit the water something hit it. 

Generally, November is a good month to fish if you can get out.  Many days are windy and cold but fishing is usually very good.  Hurry up and get out before the ice forms!

Emerald Shiners Moving Back into the Bay.

Today, I did a little scouting off of the South Pier.  I talked with several fisherman and they were catching a few perch.  I guess the other day was a good one for jumbos.  Today, the perch I saw were around 8 inches but the biggies should be there as there were thousands of emerald shiners migrating into Presque Isle Bay. 

Hopefully, I can get out tomorrow and catch some perch.  The water temps are now ripe for catching perch in the bay.  Our nice days are numbered so grab that rod and catch a few fish before the ice jams the channels.  Good luck!

Perch Slowly Moving Through Channel.

Sunday was beautiful with highs in the upper 70's.  I spent most of the day sitting on the North Pier fishing.  The bite was slow and the round gobies are plentiful.  I caught one nice perch in the neighborhood of 10 inches.  A fisherman next to me caught 4 nice perch, one of which was a huge 14 inches.  The jumbo's are returning but slowly.  The next few weeks should be much better fishing.

Steelhead fishing is good in the streams with a fair number of fish in the streams.  Right now, water levels are pretty low.  After the next rain the fishing will be fantastic.  I bet there are large schools of steelies waiting to run up the streams.  Good luck fishing!

Fall Fishing Report and Update- October 2011

The perch are beginning to move back through the channel.  Jumbo's have been reported, however, I have been doing quite a bit of scouting and have not seen too many caught.  Today, the weather was sunny and warm for October and I fished the North Side.  The action was fast and furious.  In fact, I could only fish with 1 rod.  I ran out of minnows well before dark.  I caught roughly 50 fish and the vast majority were very small.  I managed to catch 3 fish that were keepers in the 8 to 9 inch range. 

Generally in the fall this is what happens.  The small ones show up first and then in a couple weeks the size improves. 

Steelhead fishing in the local streams has been very good with many fresh fish in the streams.  I generally stick to panfish but after tasting my friend Bill's smoked steely recipe, I might have to go after 1 or 2. 

Bill has the best recipe for steelhead that I have ever tasted.  Thanks Bill!  He said he got it from Gander Mountain and modified it a little bit.  Hopefully, when I see him again I can get the recipe for you steelheaders. 

Bass are in until the end of the year and are still being caught in good numbers around Presque Isle and the channel.  Today, the gentleman next to me caught a largemouth about 15 1/2 inches.  He put it in his bucket as it was a legal fish (15 inches). 

The weather forecast is supposed to be great for the next few days so grab that rod and catch your favorite fish!  Good Luck!

Walleye Scattered off the Point

Saturday I had the opportunity to go out with my friend Mike in pursuit of Walleye.  The lake was pretty rough with 4 and 5 footers white capping.  We decided to slow troll and cover some territory trying to locate fish.  We hung around 50 feet and Mike set the downriggers and planers to cover all of the depths. 

We had trouble keeping the hooks baited as smaller fish kept stealing the nightcrawlers.  Managed to pull in 1 yellow perch, 5 white perch, a big silver bass, and one nice walleye at 26 inches.  Talked to another fisherman who fished all day for 2 walleyes.

White Perch- Notice the color difference with the Silver Bass (White Bass) Below.

The walleyes must be schooled farther to the east out of Shades Beach and the Northeast Marina.  I do not think they are out to the trenches yet but may be heading that way. 

The perch fisherman in 50 feet of water were reeling them in each time we passed by trolling.  Perch fishing has been excellent this year and the fish are tightly schooled from 45 to 65 feet.  Good luck fishin'

Silver or White Bass - Much brighter white than a white perch.

Panfish Abundant in Presque Isle Bay

Yesterday, my brother and I went to the peninsula to fish for panfish.  We were hoping to get into crappies but didn't.  The fish were not really biting that well but we did manage to catch 8 bluegills, a couple rock bass, and a few perch.  The perch were really tiny except for one.  I caught a nice one around 9 inches.

The weather was overcast and the wind was due west.  I thought the fish should have been biting better but they must have been full. 

I had to keep the small bluegills that engulfed the hook and would not live if I put them back in.  I'll clean them and them to the mess.  Good luck fishing!

Spring Perch Season at an End.

This spring was a very good perch season but now to catch jumbo perch you'll need a boat.  Bass are plentiful this year and are being caught off of both piers in good numbers.  Remember, you cannot keep largemouth or smallmouth bass until June 18.  However, the trophy season is in effect which means you can keep one fish over 20 inches.  After June 18th, you can keep four fish larger than 15 inches.

Waterway Conservation officers sometimes show up at the piers and will check your fish.  It amazes me how many people during this time of year keep small bass.  The fine is hefty so it is not worth it. 

Rock bass and White Bass are in season year round and you can keep 50 total if you wish.  Bluegills are also biting well now and are a great tasty substitute for yellow perch.  They are a little harder to clean than perch but are very sweet and tasty. 

Also remember if you net your own minnows, you are only allowed to catch 50 a day.   The other day I saw a man down at the south pier net hundreds and put them in his bucket.  Good luck fishin'

White Perch or Yellow Perch? The Differences are Clear.

Today i decided to fish the North Pier.  The wind was blowing steadily from the west and the air temperature was a very nice 75 degrees.  The channel was calm but the current was swift.  I had a very large yellow perch up to the pier and when i went to pull it up it fell off.  I caught about 10 gobies that I fed to a great blue heron and I caught a double of white perch and then a single white perch.  That was it for today.  The bite was very slow this afternoon.  A fisherman next to me gave me a yellow perch.  I'm happy he did so that I can show you a picture of a white perch and yellow perch side by side.  This is not the greatest photo because the fish were in my bucket for a couple hours while i continued to fish.

It is very easy to tell the difference between a yellow perch and white perch.  However, many people mistake white perch for silver bass.  If you eat the fish you catch, there is a big difference in the taste of white perch and silver bass.  White perch are very good; silver bass are a lot fishier tasting. 

The easiest way to tell the difference between a white perch and silver bass is by looking at their stripes on the side of the fish.  White perch only have 1 solid stripe which is high up on their back.  Silver bass, on the other hand, have five stripes on their sides and appear to be more silver in color.  There are other differences between the two fish and hopefully in the future I can post a photo of a silver bass alongside a white perch and describe them to you.  Here's to good fishin'

Perch Still Hanging on in Channel.

Yesterday, my friend Rob and I decided to do a little bit of evening fishing.  The weather was very nice and there was not a cloud in the sky.  The wind was directly from the east.  We both concluded that we would not be catching many fish.  I managed to catch a couple nice jumbo's before dark and Rob caught a couple small ones that he let go.  He also caught two mud puppies and one of them was orange!  The fish still might be in the channel but today conditions were not ideal.  We'll try again soon.  Good luck fishin'

Perch Leaving Bay through the Channel.

Yesterday was my best perch day of the year.  When I got to the South Pier it was drizzling out and it did not take long to catch fish.  The wind was blowing steadily from the east-northeast but the fish didn't seem to mind.  My brother and I were reeling the fish in one or two at a time for much of the afternoon.  I ended up keeping 24 fish some of which were huge.  They ranged in size from 8 inches to just over 14 inches.  The majority of them were around 10 inches.  We threw back lots of smaller ones. 

My brother caught the largest white perch that I have ever seen.  I think it was a citation but he didn't want to keep it so he tossed it back in.  Our final numbers:  I kept 24 fish, he kept 18.  The fish are heavy in the channel but will soon be gone.  We might have a couple more weeks tops to catch them.  Good luck fishin'

Good Perch Evening on South Pier

The water is warming up into the 50's and the big perch are heading out of the bay and into the lake.  Channel fishing on both sides has been very good and this evening did not let me down.  The wind was blowing out of the east and the current kept shifting in the channel.  I didn't think I was going to catch any but I was happy to be wrong.  I caught 5 nice perch within about 10 minutes of sitting down.  My friend Rob showed up (check out his blog too, lots of good information and hunting stuff also -Robfisherie blog) and he quickly started catching fish.  It slowed down towards dark and I ended up with 14 nice fish around 10 to 11 inchers were most of them.  Not huge but very nice perch.  The shore spring season is nearing the end.  We might have three weeks left if we are lucky.  I am going to be hitting them hard over the next couple weeks.  Good luck fishing and if you are fishing one of the piers and not catching any, try moving around to find the schools.  Bass fishing continues to be very good in the channel during the midday hours.  Remember you can only keep one fish and it has to be 20 inches until the regular bass season in June. 

Sunny Weather Slow Perch Day

This afternoon I went out and netted minnows and then tried again for perch.  I went down to the South Pier and there were a lot of fisherman today.  The channel was calm but still had a strong current so I could not cast out far.  I fished for nearly three hours and just caught 1 big goby.  Right before dark, though, I caught a nice jumbo perch around 12 inches.  My friend Randy caught a white perch and a big ole rock bass.  We gave the rock bass away but decided to eat the white perch and compare it to yellow perch. 

I cleaned the fish at my friends house along with about a dozen we caught the other day and then we made dinner.  The yellow perch were fantastic like usual.  The white perch I would say was very good.  It tasted mild like haddock but not sweet like yellow perch.  I would definitely keep them and fry them up again.  My friend Randy said, "Heck, if I want fish like that I will just buy some Van de Kamp's fish sticks."  He said he thought they tasted the same.  Well, perch season from the shore is almost over.  I got to fish with a couple of my friends and brother but some people are missing it.  I won't put all of their names here but one is Mike and the other is my cousin Billy.

They missed out on one of the best shore spring perch seasons in a long time.  My friend Rob slammed the fish almost every outing.  I didn't do too bad myself.  Thousands of perch have been in the channel for several weeks now and I have seen numerous limits of fish caught mostly by the old timers who get there sometimes before I even get to bed.  I am usually not a morning person and it's pretty hard to wake up and go fishing at 4:30 in the morning.  If you go to the pier this early, you will see quite a few people fishing and pulling them in one after another. 

Having said that, during the day quite a few trophy smallmouth bass have been caught.  I talked to one gentleman today that said he caught 7 fish all over 20 inches and put them all back.  I saw several whoppers caught today on grubtails and crankers.  I am not a big bass fisherman because I like to eat what I catch, however, this year looks like a banner trophy bass season. 

The only fish that I heard is not being caught in good numbers is crappie.  Maybe they will turn on soon but I talked to quite a few guys that aren't doing too well on them.  A few nice ones were pulled out of the US Border Patrol pier a few days ago.  I am going to go after them in a week or so when the water warms up a couple more degrees.  The water temperature today is right around 50.  Good luck fishin'

Perch Still Present in Channel in Good Numbers.

Today was a beautiful spring day and I decided to head down to the South Pier.  The water temperature in the bay warmed up a couple of degrees and now the invasive round goby is active and stealing the bait.  My brother and a friend Randy went fishing with me and we sat there for quite some time just catching gobies.  About a half hour before dark, the perch starting biting.  The size is smaller than just a week or so ago.  Most of the fish were around 8 inches give or take an inch so quite a few that we caught were thrown back.  We managed to put two jumbos in the bucket along with 9 keepers.  My brother also caught two mud puppies which is a good sign.  Mud puppies are a great indicator of a healthy ecosystem.  Pollutants that sink and stay in the substrate tend to kill the sensitive mud puppy.  The more mud puppies the cleaner the channel substrate.  I would have loved to take a picture of the mud puppies but did not have my camera.  They were both very large for mud puppies with no sores.  Both of them very healthy.  Good luck fishing and if you catch mud puppies, please toss them back in the water.  The gobies;  well, you can feed them to the seagulls as they love to eat them.

Big Perch Still Hanging Out in Channel.

Some real nice perch have been caught over the last couple days in the channel.  Today, I tried to fish the South Pier and had to fight a very strong outgoing current.  The fish are still there, however, it is kinda tough to catch them when your bait is rubbing up against the pier due to intense current.

I managed to catch a nice 12 inch jumbo before getting ticked off at all the weeds and trash colliding with my fishing line.  I took off well before sunset.  If you are fisherman, you know you have to take the bad days as well as the good.  Today was not too great but maybe Wednesday I will catch more.  Good luck!

Jumbo Perch Moving through the Channel.

The large jumbo perch are schooled up on both sides of the channel leading from Presque Isle Bay to Lake Erie.  Today I decided to try the North Pier and was not disappointed.  Quickly after getting there I put 4 jumbos in the bucket.  The current was strong and difficult to fish.  I managed to put 11 fish in the bucket; 8 jumbos and 3 about 8 inches or so.  I let a lot of smaller perch go today.  My friend Randy who was using larger minnows than mine, caught 6 real big fish 12 to 13 inchers. 

For the first time in my life I had something strange happen.  I hooked a big smallmouth bass and when pulling it in, noticed that I also had a perch on!  I have caught a ton of doubles of perch but never a perch and a bass at the same time.  And, this bass was no runt.  It was at least 17 inches.  Thanks Randy for netting and releasing it back to get a little bigger.

I also caught a large rock bass today so the warmer water fish have begun to hit.  We probably only have a few more weeks of good perch fishing left before the fish move out into the deeper Lake Erie.  Get out there and catch some!  Good Luck!

Good Perch Fishing in Presque Isle Bay

Today the wind was blowing stiff out of the west.  This afternoon it became cloudy and dark with a little bit of sprinkles.  The fish were biting pretty well off of the Border Patrol where my brother, my friend Rob, and I fished for a few evening hours.  Rob caught some nice jumbos again.  I caught quite a few fish.  I kept 9 fish and my brother kept 3.  I threw back about a half dozen.  The perch fishing has been pretty good so far this spring.  Look for it to really pick up over the next two weeks as spawning fish spawn and then feast.  Good Luck fishing!  I will be going back after them early next week.

Cold Presque Isle Bay Temperatures are Keeping Perch from Leaving.

Yesterday was blustery, windy and cold and I still got up to go fishing with my friend Rob (RobFishErie blog).  The wind was pretty strong out of the east and the rain must have been just above freezing.  We decided to try off of the Border Patrol one last time to see if the fish were still holding there.  The fishing was slow but the fish we caught were large.  Rob caught a 14 incher, and a couple just under that.  My five fish were also nice sized (a fisherman gave me two). We must have fished about five hours to catch this many fish so we think that the fish are moving out towards the piers.  Also, they appear to be done spawning so this week should be hot as the spawned out fish gorge themselves to regain the energy they spent spawning.  Gotta go for now, this afternoon is nice and the fish are gonna bite!  Come on back and see how I've done!  Good Luck!

Perch Fishing In Presque Isle Bay

Today I saw a break in the weather and decided to do a little afternoon fishing for perch.  Fishing pressure was light as storms just passed and the weather was improving.  It did not take me long to start catching fish.  I caught three nice perch within a half hour or so and then the weather took a turn for the worst.  It must have dropped about 10 degrees and the wind started blowing hard out of the east. 

I did not catch any fish for about an hour and then the weather started improving again.  The wind subsided and the waves calmed down.  The fish started biting again and I fished for a couple more hours.  I was pleased to have my brother John with me and he caught two nice perch.  I ended up keeping eight fish for a total of 10 in the bucket.  I only threw back three fish today so most of them were nice fish.  My friend Rob showed up too.  And soon he caught a few nice fish.  All in all it was a good afternoon of fishing.  The perch seem to be cooperating from Liberty Pier to the channel.  I heard a report that the fish have moved into the channel and are being caught off of the south pier now.  I have not fished the south pier yet so I cannot verify this.  I like to invite all of my friends and family to go fishing.  So far, my friend Mike has not gone and Randy won't go until it hits 60 degrees.  Now is the time to catch jumbo perch from shore so get those poles ready and give it a shot!  Good luck fishin"

Perch Showing Up in Bay

This morning I got up before light and headed out to the Public Dock.  The fish I was after was perch and the fishing pressure was very light due to high winds and black clouds.  Shortly after setting up, I hooked a small perch.  I caught two more small perch and then I caught a nice one.  I ended up catching another nice one and two more small ones before literally getting blown off the dock.  A storm moved in extremely fast and drenched me before I could even get my lines out of the water.  I was soaked by the time I got back to the car but hey, at least I did not go home skunked:)  Good luck fishing!