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Random Quote: 4' to 6' is still better than 9 to 5
Hey wake up!!! Any reports, anyone fishing Lake Michigan on the sw lower side of Michigan!!!! Is the launch at Saugatuck open ?? HEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!
I am going stir crazy! Need Help! Send Fast!! Any and all info!!!
I haven't been out myself but guys are launching at 95th St ramp in Chicago and fishing all the way to the Inland ship canal. Guys are getting out at Portage Indiana and the Burns ditch too and catching cohos and Browns at the Gary light house. Yesterday I saw a nice stringer of browns and cohos caught off Government pier at Waukegan too, so it's starting.
I just read this on Walleye Central talking about the far west end of Lake Erie.
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Bolles Harbor has open water in the launch area however no ramps in. 7 rigs out today.Talked to on guy and he and a friend had 6 eyes between them. Cullins Park in Toledo also was wide open(no ramps in) with 2 rigs parked there.Talk to a guy that fished the BayShore power plant on Thursday and he and a friend had 7 eyes and one Steelie.
I will be out this week and will post reports.
Michigan Guy
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Where is the BayShore power plant located? I'm curious because i didn't think there were many (if any) steelhead in the western basin. At least, I haven't found any in the summer months. I am from the Canadian side of Lake Erie and we fish for Steelies in the deeper cold waters (60 ft) on the east side of Point Pelee in the Wheatley / Erieau areas. We also catch alot of yellow perch and walleyes there as well. Leamington (where I live) is in the Western basin where the deepest it gets is around 38 feet. We catch walleye and yellow perch but I have never caught a steelhead in the Western Basin.
This time of the year there is quite a few steelhead in the western basin. Each year we get a fairly large run up the Huron river and some other tributaries here in Michigan. I know some of the rivers in Ohio get good runs in the spring also.
Thanks for the info draggen. I knew that they ran up the rivers in Ohio straight across the lake from Wheatley and Erieau. I never thought about the rivers in the Western Basin. There are a few large creeks and marshes on this side of the lake but few rivers (actually none that I know of except there are a few rivers at the far east end of the lake) for them to run in winter. The main river in South Western Ontario is the Thames River which empties into Lake St Clair.
I still think you guys got the best part of erie and st clair. I love Wheatley in july for steelhead and walleye and the perch and muskie fishing off the Thames is the best! Only a few more weeks and its go time for the walleye in ohio. come on spring!!!!! I am going crazy, this ice has got to go. Soon I will be dodging floating rail road ties and telaphone poles out in maume bay.
Draggin / Cobra,
Bayshore Power Plant is just East of Toledo. I've caught some scattered steelhead and believe it or not some small chinook salmon in the western basin in April. Never enough to target them though.
I LOVE making the run to the waters near Wheatly / Erieau for summer steelhead & walleye (or rainbows & pickeral as they are called North of the border). I've never been into either port, but making the 30 to 40 mile run to where we usually fish is a blast in a Contender.
Draggen - if you plan to come over to he Port Clinton / Catawba / Wild Wings Davis Besse area and want any info on the spring trolling bite contact me before coming down and I'll share info with you.
FreeByrd, thanks. I spend most of my spring in the maume bay aria and later out at west sister island. I love the blade bate jig bite in april on the turtle island reef. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your repots and pic's. thanks again.
Thanks FreeBryd for the info. When you make the run to Wheatley/ Erieau, do you monitor channel 6 ? I would like to say hi.
Draggen, I would really like to hear more about blade bait jigging. Is turtle island reef near West Sister Island? Is that in Ohio waters? Do you get a fishing license for Ohio, MI and Ont. to make the run to the different areas?
Yes I get all three each year and this year is going to cost me over $140 do to the sinking US dollar. Blade bait jigging is buy far my favorite way to catch spring walleye. You can cast them or just vertical jig them on the shallow reefs and they work great. The water in that area is usually real muddy in the spring do to run off from the Maumee river and any strong east winds. The vibration form the blade baits seams to work real well. If the water is clean you can jig hair jigs and do well that way too. If your interested in giving it a try let me know and you can jump in on my boat one weekend. The best times for blade baits is the last two weeks in April through the end of May. . Turtle island is right on the border of Michigan and Ohio and just north of Maumee bay. If your fishing with blade baits you must stay north of the island because there is a single hook rule for Maumee bay in the spring.
Cobra, we also make the run, but we do it via land and then launch from either Wheatley or Erieau. Last year I think we made the trip 6 times roughly. Had a blast each time. Have been doing it for 3 years now, and plan on doing it again this year.
Wont be long now for Erie. Plan to get the boat home this week and get it ready for the first trip maybe next weekend.
JD
__________________ Contender 25 - Twin 200 HPDI's - Fishing for Steelies on the north shore of Erie
Reel Naughty, yes Wheatley/Erieau is a lot of fun. I wait for it every year. It has starting to get crowded at the Wheatley launch the last couple of years especially in July/August during the rainbow (steelhead) run. On weekends you have to get there pretty early or wait til mid morning if you don't want to be stuck in a long line. Maybe we'll bump into each other (figuratively speaking) this summer. I will be watching out for the yellow CC. My boat is similar but it is white with a blue t-top and a 250 Yamaha engine (234 Cobia CC).
ICE AT LAUNCHES?? 
