This is where the guys will post their most recent fishing reports.  Don't expect to see every last detail a day or two before a tournament but after the event they will tell you more about what they were doing.  Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

            

8-7-11 - The grade of fish at the weather bouy has dropped considerably but there has been a decent bite out there for the most part.  West of Middle Island and NW of West sister in the Western Basin continues to give up fish also.  We got out yesterday with our buddy from WI, Hutch.  He has been in Geneva for about 3 weeks and will be there until mid September and had an open day so we ran up to fish with him.  After he served us a great pork chop dinner Friday night we were up at 3:40 to head to the ramp at Conny.  We couldn't figure out why such an early start was needed but when we pulled into the ramp and saw 6 boats waiting to ramp and 10 or more trailers already in the parking lot it became obvious that those boys over there like to start early.  Had a great day weather wise and even with a hour and a half drought when we just flat got out of the fish we were still done and heading back towards the ramp about 11:15.  No real monster fish but had a few in the 8-9 lb range and a bunch of great eating fish in the 5-6 lb range.

 

There wasn't any one program that was better than others as we caught fish on Dipsey's, wire line and down riggers.  Worm harnesses, cranks and spoons all put fish in the boat.  Lil Ripper's in Confusion and Gold Clown probably accounted for the most fish but we had more of those out than anything else once they started to catch.  These were run off the dipseys on 75-90 foot leads on a 2 setting and 121 to 150 on a 3 setting. 

 

Anyone that knows Hutch understands you can't have a bad day on the water with this guy!  Had a blast giving each other a hard time about dropped fish, junk fish, tangles and about anything else we could think of.  Gonna try to get back up for another day yet this summer if possible and if that doesn't work out Hutch will be spending a couple of days with us when we get to WI for the championship. 

7-15-11 - Over the last 10 days or so the bite at the weather bouy on the north end of the sand bar has been very good for the most part with an unusually large grade of fish.  Spinners with 2 and 3 oz inlines back 45 to 75 have been doing most of the damage and speed has been best at 1.5 MPH.  Colors have not mattered much but pink panties has been good.  There are fish being caught east of Pelee in Canada and even west of the islands around Niagara and L Can.  Farther east in the deep water off Geneva there have been a mix of solid to excellent catches happening with some steelhead mixed in.  Farther east in PA and NY there have been good catches also.
6-15-11 - While the bite hasn't been lights out crazy it has continued to improve and has become pretty consistent.  There are still fish being caught in the western basin from the Bass Islands west and also "up the middle" has been pretty good.  Spinners have been the best with the charters using spoons and Reef Runners also to put fish in the boat.  Rick, Jim and I caught 11 right out in front of Huron 2 Saturday's ago in just a few hours with a 9.5 lb fish as the best of the day.  Lorain and ports east have been getting better and will continue to do so as the water warms.  The cool weather we have had should help keep the fish here in OH and make for a good summer of catching.
5-22-11 - The bite has remained tough in OH waters but one of these days it is going to pop and when it does it will be lights out.  We were able to find fish the last 4 days in Canadian water.  Mostly on the west side of Pelee.  Pulling spinners with Silver Streak blades was what worked for us and all of the top teams.  We caught most of our fish in 25 to 28 FOW.  Color did not seem to matter much as one blade would get hot for a little while and catch a couple then it would not take a fish for the rest of the day.  One color that was consistent was what we call Peed Pink Panties(not sure if that is the official name or not).  It is the infamous Pink Panties but with an anti freeze colored back.  Hence why we call it that. 

5-15-11 - REEF RUNNERS - Right now on Erie that is about all you need to know.  The bite continues to be tough but Reef Runner 800's back 120 to 200 with out weight or back 70-90 with weight added are about the only thing producing.  While there are not a lot of fish being caught there are some very big ones coming in.  Our largest two yesterday at the LEWT were 10.5 and 11.26 and both came on RR's.  Hopefully after we are able to get back on the lake later in the week things will improve.

4-18-11 - The Detroit River bite was as good as we have ever hit it.  A fresh wave of fish started showing up in the Trenton Channel about Thursday and by Saturday it was very good.  Earlier in the week a 15.9 pounder was caught.  It was a true pig.  Chart and Orange jigs were probably the best color choice but just about any combo was working.  Once this weather straightens up there should be more good fishing to be had for sure in the river.

 

The bite on Erie was starting to really take off with the jigging fish coming fast.  it is going to take a few days for the water to clean up but as soon as it does things should fire right back up.

4-2-11 - To say the bite was good at Spring Valley would be an understatement.  We were catching 40-60 keepers a day and could have probably been closer to 100 if you stayed in certain areas.  All of the traditional areas gave up fish.  We handlined almost exclusively.  What was interesting this year was that there were definitive areas that had almost all males and others that had all prespawn females.  In years past it did not seem to be as much as it was this year.  not sure how much the dropping water temp had to do with this but the water lost about 3 degrees while we were there and it seemed to shut the spawn down completely.  This made the bite great though so it wasn't a bad thing.  Anyone wanting to learn river fishing could not ask for a better place to do that than Spring Valley right now.  The number of 16'+ fish in the system is crazy.  we are already looking forward to getting back there next year.

 

On Erie some females are being caught on the east side of the range pulling cranks.  Look for that bite to get better in the next week as water temps rise.  some calm winds and a couple of degrees of water temp and the fish will be going crazy.
11-13-10 - It took a little longer than most of us had hoped for the fish to start to cooperate on the western end of the lake but it is pretty darn good right now.  From Huron to the Islands are giving up fish.  A lot of eater fish in the 3 to 6 pound range and many true trophy's also.  Heard of 3 over 12 lbs caught the last 2 days.  Our biggest today was a tick over 9 lbs and we had a very nice bag of 18 fish that only took 2.5 hours to catch.  Reef Runners were our best program 60 to 100 back with Bare Naked Gold Clown being the hands down best color of the day.  Check out the pictures page for a couple from today and also for Travis' picture from Friday of a 10+ next to a 12+. 

10-17-10 - If you are going to fish the Mississippi River and it is flooded the best advice we can offer is to stay home.  It is a good place to fish when it is normal but when the water gets way high it is brutal.

 

Good news is we hear the walleyes back home are starting to bite.  Should have some reports from there here in the next week or so.
9-26-10 - Dan fished with Aaron and Wyatt humbert today for more of a test ride then fishing expedition but did find one cooperating fish and it was a pretty good one at 7.5 lbs.  See Wyatt's picture in the fish folder.  They were north Cranberry pulling Reef Runner's.  Marked a ton of fish about everywhere they stopped but with the unstable weather we have had it is not a surprise the bite was tough.

8-28-10 - Fish continue to be caught in the far east Erie waters of Ohio.  The New York bite has slowed down some after the weather has been less then ideal.  The cooler nights and lower overall day time temps should soon start the fish moving back west to set up for the fall bite towards our end of the lake.  Not trying to rush things along but that is one of our favorite times of the year for sure.


Dale Hollow water temp was up to almost 90 in the middle of August but the fish were still biting.  Most everything was suspended 30-50 foot deep of 60 to 90 FOW.  Check out the neat pictures of a nice smallmouth Ashley caught that was still carrying the remains of someone else's offerring. 

8-10-10 - Mike and Bridgets fish moved and while it took a couple of days Mike found them again over on the PA line and boated a 10 lb 6 oz beauty today.  Fishing at the lake has been good in the deep water and tougher the farther you move west.  Still some fish biting across the line in Canada if you are properly licensed for that.

 

Saginaw Bay is giving up fish on  spinners and cranks both.  We ran inline weights and Silver Streak blades and also Reef Runner 800 and 400 series cranks and both put fish in the boat over the last week.  North of the Charities in 50-75 FOW was where the bite was at.  The frustrating thing up there right now is all the fish are the same 2.5 - 3 lbs with an occaional kicker thrown in the mix.  We hate win it all comes down to luck on getting a kicker to bite but that is fishing.  We had a great week up there and enjoyed our company we shared the house with even if it was a little tight with 10 of us in there.
7-24-10 - Fishing remains good all across the lake.  Mike and Bridget reported in from Geneva with a good weekend and multiple fish OH's.  He reported that Silver Streak Purple Boxer colorado blade has been his best and Bridget made sure to point out the largest fish for the weekend came from her side of the boat.  Terry K found fish in the rocks at Cranberry in 15-20 FOW.  Matt went on a drifting/casting charter Thursday and they had the boat limit before 11 AM north of Pelee.  The casting fish ranged from short's under the minimum length up to 25.5" fish with most being right at 20".  It was fun to get out and throw weapons for them again.  As we have been saying all summer get out and enjoy some of this great fishing that the world's greatest fishery has to offer.
7-13-10 - 87 degree water temp couldn't stop the Gies, Davis and Davis(that would be Ashley) team from finding some good fish at Dale Hollow Lake over the weekend.  Ashley started things off right on Friday evening by landing a 21" smallmouth and a 15" crappie in addition to a smaller bass and walleye.  Pics of the 2 big fish are on the pictures page.  Some nice walleye upto 5 lbs were caught Saturday morning and Sunday morning.  All the fish were caught on Reef Runner 800 and 600 series baits in Firetiger and Purple Bare Naked.  We fished from 20 to 50 FOW.  Starting to be impressed with what Dale Hollow has to offer.

7-9-10 - The fishing at the lake contniues to be great.  Mike D. had a great report he relayed from last weekend in the Ashtabula area as he had 5 Fish Ohio's and many more over 7 lbs.  Knowing him they were probably all returned for the next guy to catch.  Good job Mike!.  Dan got a nice mess of fish up to 6.5 lbs out of Huron last weekend with a guy from work and his son.  Sounds like they kept that youngster busy.  West sister is giving up fish with a lot of throw backs which is great to hear.  Canada has also been producing good catches recently.  What better way to beat the heat then a day on the lake catching walleye?  Get out there and enjoy yourself.
6-13-10 - Two days of prefishing for the MWC is in the books and fish are being caught across a 35 mile stretch on about anything you want to try.  I really think that if you launch from Mazurik or any where east all the way to the state line you can catch fish right now.  Huron to Cleveland has been the best.  Get out there and catch some fish.  Also got a report from frequenet reader EK in NY that the fish have shown up there and are starting to be caught.

5-30-10 - Finally some stable weather and the fishing has improved right along with it.  Good catches from as far west as Niagara Reef area to Sheffield.  The larger numbers of big fish seem to be from Beaver to Sheffield with decent numbers also.  Kelly's and Middle Island have both given up good catches the last few days.  Silver Streaks Antifreeze and Pink Panties have been the best two colors recently.  Good luck if you get out!
5-23-10 - Got out last Saturday during the LEWT event and found good fishing in a location we had all to ourselves.  It was a good few hours with one fish over 9 lbs.  Unfortunately someone forgot about getting a picture of it until the fish was swimming away.  The bite has been tougher than it should be for this time of the year.  Most likely because of the changing weather and the abundance of bait that is currently out there.  The bait situation won't be changing anytime soon most likely but the weather is improving with a great forecast for the rest of this week.  The bite has been improving the last couple of days as the temps have risen and the winds diminished.  There are still a lot of fish being caught in the western basin but the average size is getting smaller for certain.  The larger fish are coming as far east as Lorain and they are scattered from there to Kelly's.  Inline's and spinners continue to catch fish but Reef Runners have shown up at the last two tournaments very strongly in the money won department.   
5-10-10 - After some big winds that sucked the water right out of the marinas on the western end most of the water west of the islands is DIRTY.  There is clean water northwest, north and northeast of Kelly's.  if the wind doesn't tear it up some more this weekend it will start to clean pretty quick.  There have been some fish caught the last 2 days but not fast and furious by any means.  It should get better each day.   

5-2-10 - The fishing around the islands has been very good and as this past weekend proved they can be caught in a variety of ways also.  Any given day fish are being caught from north of the reefs to north of Kelly's and most of the usual spots in between.   Green, Rattle and up the middle have all produced fish for the last week on a pretty consistent basis.  Cranks and spinners are both catching fish.  Also heard reports of fish starting to be caught on spoons if that is what you like to pull.  Purple, chart, and pink seemed to be the best colors this weekend.  Good luck if you get out.

4-18-10 - The bite in Michigan waters of Lake Erie is changing daily but remains strong.  The key is finding the right color water and you will catch fish.  If you can clearly see your prop then it is too clean and the fishing will be tough.  The fish are moving dail as the color changes.  Fish that were in 24 FOW one day might be in 14 the next and vice versa.  The technique most everyone was using was to pull spinners behind inline weights.  Colors changed daily but oranges were good(Double Dutch), Pink Panties and Anti Freeze were probably our most consistent colors for the week.  The river bite on the Detroit is still going strong but the water is very clean and that makes jigging the most effective tactic to use. 


Have heard through the grape vine that the bite in OH waters has been real good for some while slower for others.  The best reports are starting to come from the Bass Islands area and Kelly as would be expected for this time of the year.  Rattle Snake, North Bass and Northwest Reef area along with "Up the Middle" should all produce fish for the next few weeks pretty good.  From now until the end of May is one of our favorite times to fish the island area.  If the weather cooperates it will be great fishing. 

4-10-10 - The bite on Erie is still going well.  Jigging and trolling contniue to produce fish.  One tip if you are jigging and not catching don't be afraid to move.  This time of the year it is usually more productive to keep moving to find active fish then to try to wait them out.  Look anywhere from 8 to 24 FOW and vary your depths as you move around and you should be able to find some that want to eat.  The Detroit River is also producing some very good fish right now. 
4-6-10 - The bite on Erie continues to go well.  The best times for the jig bite is EARLY.  Get on the water before or right at sunrise for best results.  Not uncommon to see guys back at the ramp at 8 AM with limits already.  Somedays the bite will continue all day but it is usually best first thing.  Not uncommon for the troll bite to stay good all day.  Trollers are still catching fish north and east of the reefs and that will continue to stay good and improve if the weather stays good.   
4-3-10 - Lake Erie is alive.  It took over 44 lbs to win the LEWT tournament today.  Congrats to the Siberts on their second consecutive LEWT opener win.  The program from most that I talked to was Reef Runner 800 series on short leads and Rip Sticks on longer leads but still high in the water column.  Also heard of fish being caught on other stickbaits.  Know of some guys that ran harnesses in prefish and some fish were caught on them but still a little bit early for those but over the next 2 weeks they will really be picking up on the worms.  North and east of the cans was the areas most commonly heard.  The jig bite on the beach and on the reefs is also on fire right now.  Hair jigs both with minnows and without have been the best.  Some coming on blade baits also.  We saw most all boats that returned to the ramp Saturday clean fish and most looked like they had their limits.  That bite should stay good for the next 2-3 weeks if not longer.  It is a great opportunity to get into fish within a mile or less of shore.
3-29-10 - Unbelievable is about the only way to describe the bite at Spring Valley.  If you have ever wanted to learn more about river fishing or a different type of technique now would be a great time to go out there and practice.  We were catching around 100 fish a day.  We decided to handline out there as that has quickly become one of our favorite ways to catch fish plus it's productive.  Colors seemed to change through out the day but quite frankly when they wanted to eat it seemed like it didn't really matter what you had out there.  Fish were being caught jigging, three way rigging, trolling with dropper weights and probably a couple of ways we're not aware of.  The fish were actively spawning while we were there and as that wraps up they will start to shift back into their summer haunts but fishing should continue to stay good.  A lot of our fish we caught were short fish so the future for the IL River looks great.