6/9-6/11 island area

[Rod Holder]

Drove over from NW Indiana early Saturday so we were on the water by 11 AM EDT. Fished along the 31' contour line going NW from Rattlesnake. Lots of boats were in this general area as it is full of the '03 class. Had 20 really fast, two hours. Stayed out another two hours to do some upgrading if possible and did cull several and had our four man limit. Largest Saturday was a 5-12. Did the same thing early Sunday morning but kept just nineteen so we could go after five larger fish on Sunday late afternoon/evening. To go after the five larger walleyes, we made the run to Kelley's Island Shoal and did catch five larger fish, 4#-12oz, a couple fives, a 6#-13oz to 7#-8oz. Basically had this area to ourselves which was a surprise. These came close to the buoy marking the eastern boundary. Went back to this area again Monday morning prior to having to check out of our rooms. I had three friends with me and all three of these guys got their personal record walleye on this trip. One guy got his record walleye Monday morning just as we were running out of fishing time. The weather couldn't have been any better except for doldrums a bit Monday morning which allowed the bugs to harrass us some. We caught some sheephead and white bass but dealt with them.

We were using bouncers/harnesses both behind boards and over the side, generally near the bottom. Gold #5 Indiana blades/red beads, also orange blades with green beads worked real well. Three of our largest fish were caught on a Ripstick (red hot tiger and cheap sunglasses) put on a 6' leader off a 2 ounce bottom bouncer set back 40' behind an inline planer board. Our speed was generally 1.5 to 1.8 mph. There were two charters working the east and south sides of Kelley's shoal Monday morning. That was it.

[coopason]

Great report Rod holder,glad you guys did good. Heading up the 26th and 27 of this month.. Erie has been on fire..


Coopason

[ETT]

On Fire? Somehow that makes me think of a short term, unusual, may end anytime bite.

Erie has a huge number of '03 fish that are 17 - 21" long and hungry. It's going to stay on fire for a while. Like the next 5 years.

And then it will get good again for big fish, like in the 90s.

[unlogged Rod Holder]

Mr. Stedke, I think we need to view it as a steady simmer, not a flash in the pan. No matter what the analogy is, we had a terrific weekend. Hindsight always being 20/20, were I to do it over again, I would have made the run to Kelley's shoal Sunday morning. Might have taken a little longer to whack 24 but that 24, I'm sure, would have included larger fish. I'm feeling fairly successful having seen two guys who work with me at Mittal Steel and a bro-in-law to one of those guys all get their record walleye. These guys have all made multiple Canada trips before too. My question to them was, "Why drive over 12 hours to get to fish when you can get to the best walleye fishery in the in four and a half?"

Mike Beauchamp

"Check it out...looks like We've got a flag down on the outside board. Looks like the whole board is going under. Fish on!"

[ETT]

Freebyrd loves it when a board goes under. He shouts "BOARD SINKER", and it's on you if you're between him and the rod.

But then, I've been known to get fairly intense, when a rod goes down hard myself.