jimski2

Ignition noise interferes with high speed travel picture. Try a separate battery for your sonar. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

The blue pike were not fished out. They were exterminated by smelt. Also exterminated back then were other cold water species like lake trout, ciscoes and whitefish. The unharvested smelt were finally brought under control by Canadian trawlers and trout and salmon stocking programs. Fishing does not exterminate a specie, they become scarce and fishing then stops. A few survive for the future. The cold water blue pike fry and fingerling were consumed by the smelt biomass. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Emeralds are taken mainly from the Niagara River where they spawn. When the surface water temperatures reach 65 degrees they move out to deeper water in Lake Erie. We caught a lot of emeralds in the light of our lanterns when we fished for blue pike in June till they moved deeper. I remember Ohio bait dealers setting lanterns on inner tubes to catch emeralds out deep in the summer. The lantern light attracts phytoplankton to them and the emeralds and ciscoes ride to feed on them. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

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Too much emphasis on water temperature is not the best indication of fish presence, more important indication is dissolved oxygen level of the water. Decaying biological matter removes oxygen from cold water and warm water above the thermocline. Some late summer conditions after a long hot period have the best dissolved oxygen near the warm surface water. Wave action, rain and cloudy conditions bring the fish to the surface where your fish finder will show no fish anywhere . They flee from your boat and the sonar cone is too small to indicate fish. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Go to Ohio Game Fishing site/ Ohio Fishing/ Lake Erie Fishing. Pretty good reports and stuff there. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Many times a perch will inhale your minnow, then crunch it up to scale and crush the bones. You will not see the top of your rod move but you can feel light vibrations on your line and the knot helps you feel them. If your line twists up so bad keep spare rods handy. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Palomar knots give more sensitivity to your pole than swivels and snaps. You then have a connection like a violin string. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Add in perch eyes Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Another deal is wet flies bouncing on the bottom. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

Minnows, even goldens if that is all you can get, on the mud bottom. Plastics like Maki's, twister tails, etc. Anchor up in 70 foot you need over 200 foot of anchor line. Drifting in light winds or Spot Lock electric motors that holds you over the school are the best. Wind changes while anchoring can take you off the hot spot. Most important is a good fish finder graph. If nothing is down on the bottom, keep on moving and looking for fish first. Groups of boats are not necessarily ideal if only a few boats are catching. Watch for boats catching and that is good. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United

A few boats daily fishing for perch now but no reports from them, start looking at 55 foot depths. That is where the mud bottom meets the shale bottom and the mud is where the critters that perch feed on live. You can move out to 65 and 70 foot now the lake surface temperature is at 77 degrees. The perch can suspend above the thermocline but dive deeper to feed on the bottom mud. Your fish finder may indicate fish schools ten foot solid on the bottom at this time of year and you will only be able to handle one line as the perch will be on as soon as your line hits bottom. Extra lines result in fewer fish and lost bait as you waste time rebaiting those extra lines. Good luck and remember those unharvested perch do a number on your walleye and bass populations. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United Mobile App

Barcelona brought in a couple 12 plus pound walleyes last week for the Southtowns walleye contest. The PA border was hot as the East winds for the past couple weeks caused the warm surface water to move SW and be replaced by cold upwelling water in the Eastern Basin. The cold water smelt are the main forage for the larger mature walleye. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Erie United