Lake Erie limits

Cliff let me know last week that he would be up to going fishing this week, so when we were making plans to go I asked him where he wanted to go to. He was up for pretty much anything so I told him he had 3 choices:
1. an area lake for bass
2. a lake that we might catch 1 or 2 good fish- Lake Michigan- kinda where I wanted to go.
3. a lake that we have the definite possibility of catching close to limit or limit of keepable fish.
Well, he chose the 3rd possibility so I told him to be at the house by 4 am and we would head out to Lake Erie for some walleye.
I checked the usual webcams and weather sites to make sure we would have a good day. According to everything, I could determine it should have been almost flat calm and gorgeous. That's not really how it played out, we got to the landing the wind was out of the Northwest and there were 2-3 foot rollers hitting the break wall with white caps as far as the eye could see. So we sat at the launch for over an hour contemplating our next course of action. We agreed to give it until 9 and if it doesn't change we would head back to IN and hit an area lake.
Well, 9 came around so we headed out, but before we left, we decided to check out a different launch to see if it would be any better to get out there. I knew it would be easier to get out, but we still would have to cross the main lake to hide behind Kelly's island, which was our plan from the 1st launch. Long story short we did put in at the second launch and when we hit the main lake motored slowly to Kelly's to get out of the wind and be able to fish.
Once we got to where I could get set up we set up and started the troll, almost immediately we hooked up with a really nice walleye. We chipped away at our limit all day with only 3-4 missed fish, 4 gaspergoo's (sheepshead)

and 4-5 shorts that we threw back. As the day wore on the lake laid down and it really turned nice.

 However, with the lack of wind the black flies were able to find us better, they didn't get bad enough to turn on the thermacell but they were definitely around.
All in all, we had a really good day, we caught limits, nothing broke or got lost and we made it home safe.

The bigger fish here went 23 inches.

I know, I know I really need to make a brag board made for the boat. I'll probably get to it in Sept. when I put the carpet and linoleum in the boat.

Wawasee and Cedar Lake

First things first, WOW is it hot out. I started the day at Wawasee which is the largest natural lake in IN. This is what I found when I got to the launch.

The sign says "no parking"

 I again went looking to get into some white bass with no success, don't worry though I haven't given up yet. I still haven't caught a white bass this year, I am desperately trying to change that stat.
Anywho, back to the story, I started at Wawasee in the am, I caught bass on topwater, jerkbaits and draggin' plastic on the bottom. All in all, I had a pretty good day. I got some pics of my fish but the biggest one of the day I neglected to get a pic of. I caught it right in the morning on topwater and promptly released it expecting to catch it's equal or better... that didn't happen.

caught quite a few smallies this size

Someone tied a bad knot, I clipped the line as far down inside the mouth as I could

 I don't know how I ever got along without that Bimini on all my boats, man is it nice.

Well once the boats really started hitting the water and buzzing around I loaded the boat and went over to Cedar Lake. I didn't really go there to fish, the bass are pretty undersized, I went there to check the lake for duck hunting. As it turns out this will be a pretty good duck lake, the bottom is nice sand, easy to walk on. Back to the fishing, I was frogging around the lake when I tossed up into a stand of reeds. I had a blow up on my frog so I tried to reel in and toss back in the stand when I got stuck. Being the idiot I am instead of pointing the rod at the lure and pulling it back to me, I brought the tip of the rod up and pulled back on it... cleanly snapping my frog rod in two.

Dammit !??!! as soon as I got home I ordered 2 more rods just like this one.

That effectively ended my day of fishing, I motored back to the boat launch, loaded the boat and headed home.
I was thinking about Erie next week but it is all dependant on the weather. I'll get on some water somewhere.

Great bad day on Lake Michigan

Got up at oh my gosh it's early, hooked up the boat and headed west. Finally got to New Buffalo a little after sun-up, launched the boat and raced to 100 FOW.

 Stopped around 90 FOW deployed the spread and waited.... and waited.... and waited. I had something to eat, put up the Bimini and zipped in the shade making device....

It's amazing how much cooler I was with this mesh tarp on the front, I'm going to make one for the side also.

and waited.... fish on.... fish off. Pack up go home, long day on the water only to miss the only fish that hit. However, the Bimini worked great, the new kicker 5 gal tank worked great and when I loaded the boat the new roller I put in the front of the trailer in place of the old pos rubber V worked awesome. So it was a very relaxing day, after 10 or so, that's when it laid down.

 I loaded up and headed home sometime after 2pm, you can't say I didn't try.
Next week frog bass.

Went for the Whites stayed for Mr.Green jeans

Made my first trip to LOTW in Breman was suppose to be a slam dunk for white bass. I worked for the first half of the day and finally hit my first fish by a little after noon. I started using a jig head and a medium size paddle tail minnow. I was throwing it out and ripping it back through the weeds and finally hit a bass.

 Then I started froggin' in the slop and pads and found some more bass.

 Then picked up the jig again and hit a walleye, actually from right behind me on the above pic.

They have alot of walleye on this lake also, I'll have to go back and try again for the White bass. I had them hitting the surface early in the morning but I couldn't get them to hit. Oh well, I had a good day on the water and caught a couple fish to boot.
Next week, if I can get out, it'll be a day of trolling on LM.