10/29/13 Pre-Halloween Eve TC Walleye

Well after a two week hiatus because of kidney stones and bad weather I was finally back on the river.  With the sudden drop in temperature over the last two weeks I had been itching to get out.  Now that the planets had all aligned I had my chance.  My friend Richard showed up at my house around 6:00 pm and by 6:30 we were lines down and fishing.  I had heard scattered reports that the water had dirtied up some.  I guess my definition of dirty water is different than most other people.  Still looked pretty darn clear to me.  Good thing though was that the weeds were pretty much non existent.

I got a call from my friend and handlining mentor “Sparky” earlier today telling me he got 4 and lost 1 on a #11 Blue and Silver Rapala.  I of course set up with almost the same thing.  I was using a #11 Bleeding Blue Shad Rapala.  Very similar to the traditional blue/silver model but with a pearl finish and red hooks and lip.  Fish didn’t care.  I caught 4 on that lure on my 40 foot lead.  Richard was pretty much along for the ride for the first few hours.  Around 9:30 pm he finally hooked in to a 24 inch male that he caught on a custom painted clown pattern Rapala he painted himself.  It was the only fish he caught but it was also the biggest of the night and it made up for his slow start. 

Now for the vital statistics.  Like I said the water is still very clear and hardly any floating weeds.  Surface temp was 48 degrees and in the Edison discharge lane it was 52 degrees.  Three walleye were taken in the discharge area and the other two out in the middle of the river near the Catamaran.  We did not catch anything else, only walleye and they were hitting very light.  No hard strike, just weight at first and an occasional head shake.  Every fish was hooked on the trailing hook.  We didn’t lose any but a few were close to having the hook ripped out of their mouth.  Clear sky, no wind, cold temps but very calm.  All in all it was a pretty good night on the river.      

Weekend Report

Sorry I didn’t get this posted sooner but passing a kidney stone sucks.

Started off Friday evening down in the channel.  I was on the water by 7:01 and by 7:02 I had my first bass.  Oh Joy!!  Fortunately he was one of very few tonight.  Unfortunately the weeds were terrible, AGAIN!!  I should have known, south east winds all week were not going to help the situation.  The one big difference between this trip and the prior one was that I caught 2 walleye.  It took me 3 1/2 hours to do it but at least I got some.  Had a few head shakes and a couple of those were actually foul hooked fish.  On two different occasions my #9 Bleeding Copper Flash Rapala had scales on the hook.  The fish are down there, just need to figure out what they want to eat.  Friends Larry and Dave were out as well and they ended up with two also.

Saturday I was out collecting bugs for the HRWC (report to follow later).

Went out again Sunday morning for a different plan of attack.  I launched at LEMP and started by Celeron Island.  That proved futile so I moved up to the Horse Island Channel markers where I also caught nothing.  From there it was out to the front of Humbug marine where I again caught nothing.  Made a pass in front of Calf Island and caught (wait for it) nothing.  Went up to the Cat where I proceeded to catch more bass and another channel cat.  I would really like to know what has prompted them to move into the river the last few years.  The good thing was the the weeds weren’t much of an issue this morning.  Just no fish.  I talked to my friend Jerry later and he caught a 6 pounder on Saturday morning.  So it’s not just me, everyone I have talked to has had the same results.  The water temps need to drop about 5 to 10 degrees.  A little stain to the water might help some too.  Five feet of visibility is a bit much.

Spent Sunday night at Heritage hospital passing a 5mm kidney stone.  If you have never gone through this trust me you don’t want too.  This isn’t the first time I have had to deal with it and I hope to never have to again.

2013 Walleye Hatch

Around this time every year I start poking around the Michigan and Ohio news sites trying to find any info on the Lake Erie Walleye Hatch.  I did find some preliminary info on The Columbus Dispatch website.  So far it looks like the 2013 Hatch will be a little below average.  Not great but it’s better than some of the non-existant hatches we have had in the last 10 years.  This years hatch is more in line with the 2007 hatch.  Like a lot of other anglers I keep praying for another hatch like the massive one we had in 2003.  I’m afraid those years are going to be few and far between.  With all the changes going on in Lake Erie I really wonder how much longer the perch and walleye fishery is going to survive. 

I really wish I could find something on how many walleye spawn if any in the Detroit River.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2013/09/08/perch-walleye-hatches-just-below-average.html

Boat Traffic, Bass and Weed Report 10/2/13

Normally I can deal with one of the three but when you combine all of them it makes for a miserable experience.  In this case the worst night I have had on the river all year.  When I first got to the ramp I saw a lot of trailers in the lot.  I figured they were all bass fishermen pre-fishing for the Fall tournaments.  Turns out a lot of them were the big pleasure boats getting that last trip in and burning off any gas in their tanks.  It was like the hour before the fireworks on the 4^th of July.  I hadn’t seen boat traffic like this all summer and they were out in force tonight.  So between getting bounced around by 3 and 4 foot wakes, dodging weed patches and catching smallmouth bass from 3 to 13 inches in length I was getting a little aggravated.  The weeds and the bass were so bad that I was clearing my lines every 5 minutes because of one or the other.  I was not a happy camper.

I started off up by Rotary Park first.  I thought I would give the deeper water a chance and see if any walleye were hanging along the edges.  I was marking fish but based on the number of bass I was catching I’m assuming that was what the marks were.  Either that or crescent shaped weeds floating below the surface.  After about an hour of dodging weeds and PWC’s I headed downstream to the Catamaran.  Not much difference, just bass but at least the boats were starting to thin out.  About 9:00 pm I just gave up and headed in.  I had had enough.  I’ll try again another day.

Now for the vital statistics.  Water is still ridiculously clear with a surface temp of 66.6 degrees (that should have been an indication of how my night was going to go).  Light NW wind, very few clouds and no moon.  I did talk to one person at the ramp who said he caught 5 west of Celeron Island on a #3 Rapala.  That’s right a #3, the smallest lure Rapala makes.  I didn’t see the fish so take it for what it’s worth.  I was planning on trying farther downstream this weekend in the morning.  I don’t like making that run at night.  There are a few cans down there that don’t have lights and they are very hard to see in the dark.  Maybe Sunday morning.

Hopefully duck hunting goes better on Saturday.  Early forecast is for a warm humid day and thunderstorms in the evening.  So far it isn’t looking good.