Last trip to Erie?

 Yep, it might be for this year, next week the hunting season kicks off with the dove opener. I put in for Huntington this year and got drawn for the first day and the 23rd pick. Then the week after that early goose opens for a week then the Sept. lull which might be more dove or maybe one more fishing trip. 

But I regress... this week I made the weekly pilgrimage to Lake Erie. Again, I put in out of Catawba Island state park, it's were I've been putting in all year. I have wanted to put in more East and try in front of Cedar Point but I just haven't been able to force myself to leave fish to find fish. 

Anyway, I got in around sunrise and fished until the West wind decided to send me home. I think I finally got kicked off around 4 with one fish short of a limit.

That being said I "had" my limit but really screwed up the net job, and I did throw back 1 that measured right at 15", so he went back. As per the last couple weeks I once again caught a perch trolling, unfortunately he took the place of my limit walleye.

why do people fish for perch??? Can't they see the size difference?

On the way home as I was going through Toledo I heard a series of 3 very loud thumps on the bottom of the truck. The only thing that I have found that might be the issue is after that the "engine brake" wasn't working. Nissan calls it the "Intelligent braking system", I brought it to Nissan Tuesday and I hope to get it back by the second week in Sept. 

They haven't called me yet with a diagnosis, but I am pretty sure that no matter what it is it should be under warranty, that would be the best outcome. 

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Supposed to rain and boat launch follies

 The weather was forecast to rain all week but Monday, so that was going to be the day I go fishing. Since it was suppose to rain all week on Erie I went to Tippy for the day. I got to the launch and prepared the boat to launch, I backed it in and was in the process of tying it off on the dock when I could hear what sounded like a hose running water into the lake. With all the houses near the launch it took me a couple seconds of looking to see the boat plug was still on the back of the boat.... the water flow I was hearing was going IN the boat. So I jumped into action by guiding the boat back on the trailer and cranking it up. Once it was cranked up and pulled out of the water the boat started to empty. 

When it was empty I put the plug in and backed in the boat for the second time. As I was watching and waiting for it to float off the trailer I remembered I forgot to unhook the crank. So for the second time it came out of the water and then for the third time it went back in... this time it stayed there until I was done fishing.

It was a pretty tough day of fishing, I did catch a couple fish but they certainly weren't picture worthy. 

It was fun and quite humbling all I could do is laugh. 

Hopefully next week will be better.

Seriously??? again.

No new news I went to Erie this week but instead of leaving of my own volition, I got blown off the lake. So, I only fished for a half day, and honestly I didn't do that bad. I started with a couple stretchers and while waiting for the kicker fish to find my lures I played with these.

The bad thing was while I was holding yet another stretcher, deciding whether or not to keep him. One of my long rods fired..... so I threw him back and fought this piece of trash. After I boarded this guy I wish I would've kept the walleye.

Staring into the sun makes me squint.... yeah it was pretty hot... yeah I still hate cooler pics... yeah that's another perch.... and yes I brought that damn rod again.

It's "that" pole

 Hit Erie on Tuesday expecting a short troll for a full limit, then it "would've been" off to do some casting for smallies. After the first hour I had finally boated my first walleye, it was a stretcher so I thought to myself, there would be some good Karma here to release the first one. Since it was under my 16" self imposed minimum size I let him go.... he had to of told everyone. I had to troll all day to boat the 3 fish that I kept, 2 just under 16 and one at the 23" mark. Once I had that kicker fish in the boat I trolled for another couple hours and decided to pack 'er in. 

By the way that spinning rod I was talking about in in the pic. It seems like every time I bring that pole with the intent to do some casting after an easy limit, that easy limit doesn't happen. I think it's the last time that rod goes to Erie.

By the way I really hate cooler pics but I was too pooped to get the board out, especially for 3 fish.

I just wish I could've run 3 more rods, that usually increases your catch rate. It's certainly alot easier to nail down color and depth patterns with more rods.
 

Double Header

 What is it with those perch pullin' freaks???? 

I was 10 minutes from the landing and decided to drop some gas in the boat. When out of the stop and rob walks a dude with cut off shorts, sleeves cut off his shirt and summer teeth. The first words out of his mouth were, "you goin' fishin'?" and I thought to myself, nope just takin' my boat out for a drive. I was cordial and says yep, he says "the perch are hittin' by preston." I said oh, I don't fish for perch. He says, "what, that's the best eatin' fish there is." I said, "why would I want to catch a perch, when there's walleye to be had?" He said "well the walleye bite is pretty slow right now, and the perch are hot." I just kept pumpin' gas and he looks at my rig and says, "you trollin'?" I said yep, he says Ohhhh, well take care, and off he went. I mean really what is up with perchers, it's like perch are the only fish in the lake. I'll keep one if it's decent size but there's no way I'm going to run 2 hours to catch perch.

So after I got put in, I noticed the waves were almost as big as they were last week so I used the same game plan. Head NW far enough to get a good couple hour SE troll. Well, not only did that work it worked too well, I could've been done by 9:17am and I only got started at around 8. So I did the smart thing and started culling my catch only fish over 19" were going to be able to make the truck ride home. It took me a little longer to make limit but I finally did around noon. Funny thing is I threw back at least a limit and a a half, going for bigger fish. All I could keep thinking was, "the walleye bite is pretty slow." Good thing it wasn't hot or I would've been done when I dropped the boat in the water.

 Bonus perch and white bass.

The white bass went back, the perch did not. 

Here's a really quick video.

 

So I was done by noon got home by 3 and had to deal with the wasp infestation in the mud room again. I knew it was imminent but there was nothing really I could do until they bored through the dry wall in the ceiling. So, Tuesday I worked and mowed and killed more wasps. Wednesday I packed my small lake and musky gear and headed to a small lake 45 minutes from the house. I wasn't going to fish all day but I did go until 4pm. I didn't catch a musky but the bass I caught froggin' were huge.

 

These are the same fish

This guy only went 'bout 3 pounds.

Now this guy went 4 and a half

 

This was the fish that let me know there were smaller fish in the lake too.

All in all it was a couple of awesome days fishing, can't wait for next week.