Fishing report for the week of 05/15/05.: , ,
Fishing Report Posted: May 17, 2005

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Posted by Capt. Walt Ermansons on May 17, 2005 at 05:17:35:

Better, better.….tough! What a weird week. The first part of the week fishing was getting back to normal. We jigged up 25 really nice Walleyes Monday right in front of the Moose Club in 13 ft. of water. We were all by ourselves! The purple 5/8 oz. hair jigs made by the Taylor Tackle Co. were still the ticket. We also still caught tons of big, fat Smallmouth Bass. What a great day! The weather just could not have been any nicer.

On Wednesday we elected to try and troll up some “monsters”. We headed up to Rattlesnake Island, and spent the day just west of the West Reef red can. It wasn’t super fast but by the end of the day we had a limit catch of 24 really nice fish including two that went 30 inches! My best technique was #40 Jet Divers, 70 and 90 feet back behind the boards, using both the small and large Stinger spoons. My big Dipsy Divers accounted for about 6 or 7 fish. The best set up for me was both outside divers on a #4 setting, 60 ft. back. The lake was gorgeous! Then came Thursday.

On Thursday, the wind ripped all day. I could not believe how hard the sustained gusts were. You could see the lake just muddy up in front of your eyes, and boy did it screw things up. We had major blows in April that lasted for days, and did little to slow down the fishing or even muddy things up for that matter. Well this one day blow took its’ toll. On Friday, the only clean water we could find was up by North Bass Island. We managed to capture a few Walleyes on bottom bouncers and night crawler harnesses but it was the toughest day I have had so far this year. The talk on the radio indicated that everybody was really struggling. The best boat catch that I heard reported was 9 fish. Fishing was even worse for the trollers. With the dirty water even the best of the best trolling captains only had one or two fish. A lot of guys even had “clean” ice at the end of the day.

Such is fishing. I’m sure things will straighten up in a few days. It always does. I guess this is what keeps things interesting. We’re down to our last couple of weeks here in the western basin. We’ve been in the water since March. Hard to believe but it’s just about time to start thinking about Ashtabula in the central basin, and all the adventures that await us there! We still have a handful of open dates for the Ashtabula trips left. As always, I can be reached on my mobile number: 1-216-387-2656.

Tight lines,
Capt. Walt





[ Lake Erie & Tributaries Fishing Report ]

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