Biggest Fish to date 2006:

Walleye #10.25 Steelhead #14.25 Coho #9.10 King #27 Lake Trout #19 Sm. Bass #6.25 Brown Trout #9

2006 Fishing Summary:

The year started well for us in the Bay fishing for Steelies. We boated our largest Steelie within recent years in there, a 14.25# beast that ate a new Dreamweaver Super Slim. This was the largest Steelhead we have ever landed in the spring on Lake Erie. From Erie, we ventured to Lake Ontario and won the Spring Scotty Tournament. We spent three days there just thumping Kings on a new program that I implemented in 2006. We had outstanding Walleye fishing on Lake Erie all season but we did not have a good summer Steelhead fishery. However, the fall Steelhead fishig improved in September and peaked in November. Team VQ won the first Erie Pro Am Tournament by a comfortable margin in August. We boated 57 Steelies and Eyes over the 2-day period and used a variety of tactics to with the 5K check. The VQ finished the season in November by boxing out each of the last 2 trips. A total of 36 Steelies were boated and a bunch were lost. A good year!!

New in 2007 will be the addition of another boat. Recently, I purchased a 36ft. Tiara that has a 14ft. beat and will accomodate 6 anglers. The new boat will have many features and benefits of a large boat. Large enclosed head, large cabin area, huge fish fighting cockpt, radar, speed and the quality that comes with the Tiara Boat name. My current boat will remain in service and be used for charters as well. So, my customers will have 2 boats to choose from in 2007. Thank You God for providing a safe and bountiful year in 2006..

November 25th

A gorgeous November day on Lake Erie. Fishing in T shirts????? Fishing was steady all morning. 18 Steelies landed by 1PM and had another 12 bites. Released 3 of the fish because we were boxed out by noon. Fished 6-9 f.o.w. on the west side today. Further west than Friday. It was nice to be able to see today without "the fog". Shallow Nitro Shiners worked well today in the "ugly" as well as several other colors. Today was the last trip for the V.Q. However, I may sneak out again on a small boat if the weather allows. Water temps. were 43.1-44.1 degrees.

November 24th

Started in P.I. Bay where fishing has been good this season. However, fog, GLASS still water,clear water and the occasional weed hampered the fishing bite. By 11am, were 2 for 6 and decided to head west to the tribs. We had a flat glass Lake and the fog lifted enough to see about 1,000 ft. for the run west. It was a good move even though we could not see the shore until the end of the trip. We managed to hook up 22 fish there and land 16 of them and end the day with an 18 fish box. Not bad for Nov. 24th. The one pic. below shows the fog and calm waters from the Bay. It was so foggy, we could not see Trout Run Marina until the end of the day. There was also a couple other boats fishing that made it interesting when we saw them.

November 18th

November 12th

Definitely Carhart Gear weather.....Fished today under windy cold conditions but the fishing was pretty good again. Winds were out of the NE at a stiff 20-25knots and this caused a lot of floating weed debris in the bay which hindered our efforts. (Baits get weeds on them constantly and need brought in, cleaned and sent back out) However, we managed to have about 20 bites in 5 hours of fishing efforts. We boated 7 including 5 good fish. We had many Steelies rip out baits, run line out and then come unhooked for no good reason. Oh well, that's Steelie fishing. It was still a very good morning of fishing under tough weather conditions and running only 6 lines. Again, the Super Slim spoon in the Buffalo Bill color took the majority of the bites. WOW what an awesome bait this has been this Fall. The V.Q. will be back out this coming Saturday.

November 4th

After a winter storm hit Erie, I was a bit skeptical about what our morning would be like. It took me longer to put all my winter clothes on, drive to the boat, shovel it and de-ice her than it did to box-out this morning. When I greeted Dave Mull (Editor of Great Lakes Angler Magazine, an awesome fishing publication) my first words were: "I bet you are wondering what you are doing here" It wasn't long and he knew why.... I was also privleged to fish with Matt and Jimmy from the "STORM WARNING" (these guys are really avid anglers and take it serious) Needless to say, we had a good crew. Awesome fishing: We landed 15 Steelhead and missed as many by 11:15am. We kept 12 fish and released 3. A 30 plus bite morning is not too shabby considering the weather conditions we have recently had. I figured Dave was slightly impressed when he decided that he would be back on Nov. 18th with his own rig in tow. Our biggest fish was a 10# 8oz. Hen that fought brilliantly.

Our program consisted of mainly Super Slims in the Buffalo Bill color as well as some in the red/silver pattern. Also, the Nitro Shiners and Bombers did some damage also. Bay temps. were 41.5-43.8 degrees. With a warm week ahead of us, we should have some great fishing the balance of the month.

November 1st:

Left work early to get a couple hours of fishing in. It was cold but the fishing was good. Landed numerous Steelies, a couple Largemouth Bass and a 12.5" Yellow Perch in a short time. Missed several Steelies as well. Biggest fish was brought in by my son Noah (see pic.) His 9.5# mint silver male fish ate a Super Slim in the Buffalo Bill color and fought like a heavyweight should. Good job Noah!

October 28th

MISERY: Today may have been the most miserable charter trip I have ever had. No, it was not the guys, they were a great group, it was the NW 30 knot winds, 40 degree air temp and steady cold rains. I even tried to persuade them not to come since we were on the heels of the strong storm where 60 MPH winds were forecasted. However, they were GOING FISHING ! And we did. By 11:30 am we were boxed out with 12 fish and a bonus fish for the skipper. We also landed 2 large Largemouth Bass. We lost almost as many Steelies, a nice 30 bite day in MISERABLE conditions. Again, the Super Slim spoons POUNDED the fish and took the cake. Boats are being pulled out as they miss some of the hottest fishing of the season.!!!

October 26th

Today was a great day of fishing AND IT WAS GOOD TO BE BACK ON THE WATER. Nice winds and decent temps with a good bunch of fly fishermen. These guys handled rods well and were in catch and release mode all day. We found consistent fishing all day. We landed and released 18 Steelhead and lost another 9. Biggest fish came on a double header, a 11# and 10# both came to the net minutes apart and went safely back into the Bay waters. Super Slims, pink Bombers, red Rattlin Thin Fins and Silver-Pink Rattlin Thin Fins did doom on the Steelies today. Today we had an older gentleman "Joe" who battled 5 nice Steelies from his wheel chair using a rod holding device. Joe was 5 for 5 today and this was his special day because he was recovering from a recent stroke and had little or no use of his left side. Great job Joe!!

WINDS AND POOR WEATHER HAS HAMPERED MUCH OF OUR FISHING RECENTLY. CANCELLED AND POSTPONED TRIPS....LOOK FOR REPORTS AFTER THINGS SETTLE DOWN. WE HAVE ONLY FISHED 2 DAYS RECENTLY, HOOKING 24 STEELIES AND BOATING 10 UNDER FAIR CONDITIONS. THINGS SHOULD IMPROVE AFTER COLDER TEMPS. ARRIVE.

September 16th and 17th:

Great weather and great fishing this weekend. Steelies continue to move in from their offshore hiding spots and Walleye fishing is still good. This weekend, we boated 28 Eyes and 22 Steelies and missed about 20 fish (mostly Steelies). The Steelies are just a blast and are very hard to handle. Several charged the boat and comitted suicide, several were airborn before we had the rods in our hand and several got off in mid-air. WOW what a blast they are to hook. Fish were scattered top to bottom and we took Steelies as high as 23ft and down to 68ft. Fishing should remain good into October unless we get blasted with strong winds and waves. Come fishing and get some SILVER and GOLD.

September 10th:

Had a three boat trip scheduled with a Co. from Harrisburg. Despite windy conditions, we gave it a go. Went straight out to 70-75 f.o.w. and set down on good marks. Waves were already 3-5ft. "vintage" with a forecast for 4-6's. We had two fish in the boat before all the lines were set (a good start) despite my crew trying to get their "sea legs". Ended up calling it a "half day" as the winds increased to steady 20-25knot and waves went to 4-7ft. "vintage" with some rollers pushing the 8ft. mark. We still managed to land several Eyes and lost 2 despite very unfavorable conditions. Most of our customers kept breakfast in but 4 of 6 passengers on the Reel Deal donated theirs to the Gulls. Despite "tough conditions" all boats took some fish and we only had 4 of 16 passengers get "sea sick". Everyone still had a great time on this fishing "mission" in Erie, PA.

September 9th:

Back to the trench with my crew from West V.A. Worked the same waters as Friday and the fishing was good. Landed 19 Eyes and one Steelie. Also, lost 6-7 Walleyes that came off the hooks near the net (Hate when that happens). Had a mix of sizes today including a nice Hawg of 9.3# that gobbled a metallic-glow frog Super Slim. Today was a weird weather day. The wave direction changed a couple times as, we fished through several fronts and a couple light shows (lightning). Then we had sun for a while=OK Brian, change the lure colors again, then ended up high tailing it in to port as a marine warning was issued and sky's to the northwest grew that purply-gray, with wind cranking... Time to go in after a successful day...

September 8th:

Fished a half day this afternoon at the "trench". Found decent fishing as we landed 14 Eyes and one Steelie. We also had 2 or 3 good Steelie rips that never set up. Fish were all in the top 45 feet which was a bit of a reversal from what it has been. The many days of North East winds have caused the waters to mix together and have eliminated thermoclines from the 75ft. and in waters. This means the fish may be anywhere in the water column so look for bait and marks on your fish finder.

LABOR DAY weekend: (Scotty Fall Tourney)

WASH!!! traveled to the Scotty Downrigger Fall Salmon Tournament with hopes of the weather turning more favorable than worse. It went to worse with Gail winds forecasted for the first day of the tournament with rough conditions into Sunday. (This weather was spurned on by the hurricane) We made the decision to bail instead of waiting around hoping to fish... I cancelled the rest of the team because they were still in Pittsburgh. The tournament did fish on Sunday for 4 hours after the wind settled enough but conditions were still rough and fishing was very poor. The winning team killed 2 medium sized Kings while 20 teams of the 24 teams that entered failed to land a Salmon. A poor showing and tough conditions=a good decision to bail on this event.

August 24th-26th

Fishing has slowed down a bit with the weather and winds and the front passing through. Although fishing is still good with decent catches to limits still happening with an occasional Steelhead mixed in. Walleye size remains anywhere from 17"-32". We took our biggest Walleye of the season on Saturday the 24th, a 10.25# fish.

August 19th

My crew today wanted bigger fish and Steelies, so we headed to the Trench to TRENCH' Em and we did. Three rods in the water and SCREAM, we were fast into a nice Steelie that deposited himself in my box! This continued off and on as the bite was fast, then slow as front after front went through. It rained A LOT today, however it did not extinguish the bite. Today, we killed 21 fish and missed 7. Mostly quality fish and we did not catch a junk fish which plague us when we fish inside of 60 f.ow. We worked the south side and then to the middle and worked a small pod of silver and gold all day. If it were not for the fronts, I believe we would have had a "MONSTER box" . The Dreamweaver Spoons did well again. Andy's Walleye Slapper slapped the Eyes and Steelies today as well as a doctored up magnum Dreamweaver. A great day with the clients from Pittsburgh and Maryland.

August 18th

Local people from Erie wanted to sample the fishing. So, off we go to yesterdays spot, glowed up the glow tapes and had three in the box before the 7 rods were set. I like good starts. It did not take long to get our 18 fish and we were headed in at 11AM. Today, we had to go to a lot of PURPLE and black spoons. Dreamweavers Andy's Walleye Slapper SLAPPED them today. It was a good day for the overcast-baits.

August 17th

Had clients from Altoona and the Carolinas today on a family outing. They were visiting the Splash Lagoon indoor waterpark facility and wanted to do a "little" fishing. Fish they did. They boated 36 Eyes and brought in another 6 while we were shutting things down. Thanks for the dinner crew. What a great day on Lake Erie.We mainly fished the 48-54 water depths just of Erie and used Dreamweaver Super Slims behind divers and off riggers to do the bulk of the damage. We also caught some on Deep Kabooms with lead core but did not need many of these in the water today since the diver-rigger bite was so good.

August 16th

Had 2 clients all the way from Sodus Bay NY come to see the Walleye and Steelhead fishing on Lake Erie. Gary and Sue were not disappointed. Although I was because we did not boat any quality Steelies. However, it was an action packed day for them. They boated 30 Steelies and Eyes including 10 small Steelies. We fished mainly offshore today 85-100 f.o.w. trying to target both species.

August 12 and 13th (Erie-Pro AM)

Saturday and Sunday were both excellent fishing days with perfect Lake conditions. We won the first annual Pennsylvania Sport Fishing Association's 1st annual Walleye and Steelhead Pro-AM Team Tournamnet.

Team Vision Quest boated 35 Walleyes and Steelies Saturday working the inside waters and outside waters. Sunday, we stayed outside all day except for the last hour and boated 22 fish. We weighed in 29 fish out of the allowable 34, and had the heaviest one day box weight (81#) of the tourney. Dreamweaver Super Slim spoons caught the majority of our silvers and gold, although a couple custom taped spoons did some "heavy" damage as well. (See tourney report for more details)

Below is a pic. of our HEAVY day one catch (weighed in 14 out of the 2 racks) The other pic. is of my 3 year old girl and 7 year old boy on our 2 hour pre-fish Wednesday evening trip. Maya caught her first walleye that evening and that pic. is what memories are "really" about. I have 4 kids and a step daughter and I have them training for the "future" Team Vision Quest. You will still have a spot somewhere Kev.!!, don't worry.

Aug 1,2,3,4

Back to Eyes... Despite rough water all 4 days, we continued to catch the Eyes. Limited all days except one which was shortened at 25Fish at 11AM because we were chased off the Lake from threatening lightning, wind and rain. It was good fishing and it was all very close to Port. 2006 continues to be the year of the Walleye on Lake Erie. On most trips, we still catch an occasional Big Eye but most fish still are from the 2003 class and are 17-21" fish. Currently, we are fishing just 3-4 miles from Port and in 50-60 f.o.w. Yeck 44 and 66 spoons, Dreamweaver Super Slims and Daves Deep Nitro SHiners continue to decimate the Walleye population.

July 29-30

No charters today, just my son and friends so, we pioneered well offshore to check out the Steelhead and Walleye bite offshore. Found some Eyes as figured and a few Steelhead each day. We also landed a bonus "rogue" 19# Lake Trout. It was fun to journey out in search mode in lieu of fishing the inside waters for Eyes. The Steelhead are still not abundant yet but things should change soon.

July 25th

Weird Day. Rained and Rained and then BLEW hard. The bite was a little off today and we had to come in late morning due to high waves but my crew still managed to catch some nice fish. The better feat was that none of the 6 (4 boys and 2 adults) became sea sick despite waves at heights of 4-6 ft. We were well on our way to a limit before heading to Port.

July 20-21-23

Back to Lake Erie killing Walleyes. Excellent fishing continues, we finished with limits of 24,36 and 24 fish. Sunday, we moved out to deeper water in search of bigger Eyes and some silvers and we found them. Many big Eyes including our biggest of the season, a Eye just under 10# plus several over 8#. Our 2006 season is shaping up to be the best ever. This week we will be moving offshore in search of both Eyes and Steelies. Now is the time to book a trip on Lake Erie.

July 13th-15th

Off to Sodus for the Wayne County Pro-Am. My bad luck followed us as we could not get a handle on the fish during the tourney. Fishing was tough up there and as usual, we had a good pre-fish day only to have our fish turn to vapor on Day one of the Tourney. Day 2, we followed a "HOT" lead from Capt. Paul-Free Spirit and the only good thing about it was that we outfished him on his spot. We finished 17th and did not place for the first time in 5 Lake Ontario Tourneys this year. We did manage to catch our largest King of the year there, a 27# fish taken on a Dreamweaver Magnum Green Dolphin.

July 10th-12th

Walleye fishing remained good until the 12th. With much higher winds and waves than predicted and rain, I stopped short of our spot in an effort to get the morning in without making everyone sick and catch the fish. PLAN failed, we only caught a few small Eyes and a few bonus Smallmouth Bass and called it an early day with a couple casualties on board. I guess this was my turn to have a bad day. However, my crew from Russel, PA was excellent and their company was enjoyable.

July 5th-July 8th

Walleye fishing remains strong in Erie, PA waters with limit catches common. However, we were off to Oswego, NY Lake Ontario to fish the Pro Am Tourney there. Fishing was tough overall and there were not good numbers of fish present near that Port. Most fish were taken deep down because westerly winds have pushed the warm waters into Oswego. Team Vision Quest managed to take 12th place in the Pro Division (Paid 12 spots-WHEW !!!) and finished 18th overall out of the 71 competing teams in the Pro and Am divisions. Our largest King of the trip was a hefty 25# King. Several of the teams in the top 12 ran 34 miles plus to get their fish and earn their spots. See tourney report for more details.....

June 25th-July 4th

Walleye fishing remains very good and limits are common/. Same baits, depth and location.

June 21-22-23-24

Walleye Fishing continues to be good. Limits have been common over the past several days that the Vision Quest has been out. We are currently fishing along the shoreline both East and West of Erie in 27-42 f.o.w. Best baits have been #30 jets with Yeck #44 spoons off the boards, Dave Kaboom Deep Nitro Shiners weighted and large Slide Divers with Dreamweaver Super Slim spoons and Yeck #44 spoons. We have been catching the occasional rigger fish down 24-36 ft. Look for htis fishing to remain strong until the offshore program kicks into high gear. The weather has been great so far this month. (more pics. to follow)

June 19-21

Walleye fishing remains strong and limits have been common this year. Fish are in close to shore right now and should remain within easy reach until the Lake heats up more.

June 16-17-19

Back to Lake Erie and changing to Walleye mode. Fun fished with friends, guests and my son: Noah these 2.5 days. Had decent success on the Walleyes, Bass and even a Steelhead. Fished the shoreline areas west of the Peninsula, east of the Peninsula, south side First Trench and south side of the Mountain. Boated a total of 40 Walleyes, 1 Steelie, 15 smallmouth (several trophy class) and a variety of "junk" fish. We found fish at all locations but the best fishing has been and was the 27-40 ft of water zone. This zone is predominantly made up of 16.5"-20" Walleyes. The deeper waters are holding larger fish as well but not nearly the numbers that are currently inshore. Expect the deeper water to get hotter as the water warms up.

See pics. below of our 2.5 days of fishing.

June 8th and 9th

Oak Orchard New York: Lake Ontario: Spent the 8th of June searching for a good spot to fish. Did not find any gold mines and no one else did. Caught 5 and lost a few on the prefish search mode day. Day one of the Tournament started slow. N.East winds Thursday evening cooled the water off by 5-6 degrees. We were looking at cold and clear water. After a lot of looking, we found a few fish. Enough for 6th place. See Tourney report for more details. The Vision Quest finished in 6th place overall out of 34 participation teams.

June 7th

Olcott NY: Lake O. Went back to the Coho spot today because the Kings are currently scattered and counting on a bunch was no guarantee. My clients decided that they wanted fish and not necessarily Kings. Things started fast. We landed a couple Coho right away, missed a couple then landed a small King and Atlantic(RARE) that we released. Action was spotty in the 50-65 ft. depths so we roamed out deeper and implemented a King program. No bites, so we headed back in looking for our last 2 fish. We got them on our first pass including a chunky 9#10oz. Coho. Finished with our 3-man limit, 2 put backs and a few misses. Best baits again were the small Spin Doctors with peanut and Yeck flies. Also took fish on Yeck fire-fly glow spoons.

June 1-2-3

Off to Lake Ontario to fish the Skip Hartman-Niagara Pro-AM. As usual, Friday's pre-fish was a suscess again. Because King fishing was spotty on Lake O., we decided to look closer to shore for Coho's and whatever fish we can find that wanted to die. We were looking for numbers and not size. We worked 50 f.o.w. and hammered Coho's for an hour before deciding to pull out and see what was out in deeper waters. More Coho's one good King, Laker and Steelie. We landed 12-13 fish and lost several more. Not impressed with the numbers offshore, we had our plan for day one: Beat on Coho's and then look for Lakers.

Day one was a quick silver fish box out. 12 Cohos on the deck by 7:55am. Three Laker spots later=no Lakers in the box...Day two, water and weather was crap and we decided to look offshore the first hour or so hoping to box a god King or two but..... (See Tourney report for Tourney results) The Vision Quest finished in 5th place overall out of 79 participating teams.

May 19-20-21

Off to Lake Huron to fish the Blue Water Classic. Weather and wind were bad and conditions were tough. Forgot my winter cap and should have worn carharts for this one. Prefish day was good for us. In 6 hrs. of fishing, we boated (1) Coho, 25 Pink Salmon (small ones) and (11) Lake Trout. Saturday and Sunday was tough-see Tourney report for more info. Pic below is of our pre-fish day.

May 12th 2006

Back on Lake Erie to run a "JUST CATCH SOME FISH" trip for customers from Pittsburgh and Maine. We did! Started out deeper for the Lake Trout. We landed 4 and lost one then, landed 2 nice Walleyes 6# and 7.5# and lost one. The seas were rough and we had one casualty on board, so we headed in for some faster action and calm seas. Smallmouth was our next target and Smallmouth we caught. Action was good once we settled in to the fish zone (21-25ft) Multiple doubles followed as well as the occasional single. Many Bass between 17" and 19" were landed and released. Action was good.

Kaboom Deep Nitro Shiners in FL red, Fire Tiger, and Baby Brown were hot. Also, a FL Red Rattlin'Thin Fin fished off a rigger down 15ft. and 80 ft. back was hot. Board lines pushed 120 and 200 back did the trick. Water temps were still cold. 44-45 out deep and 49 degrees near shore. Cold for this time of May...

April 30th 2006

Day #2 of the Tourney: It took til 10am to get all 8 rods in the water. Again, rods, nets and fish were flying and dieing. (More to be posted on Tourney report area). We ran mostly mag Dreamweaver Spoons to start our day trying to specifically target Big Salmon. It paid off and by mid morning and we were looking for one more big guy that would give us enough confidence to win it. The bite died and we went into search mode looking for one more big fish. I decided to move a little deeper and go to Dreamweaver Super Slims, a smaller more smelt like spoon. It was not long and we were into Coho's and medium sized Kings (12-17#). We also lost 6 of 8 fish at one point that included THE big guy we were looking for. (The fish wiggled the hook out of the split ring UH!!!) Lake O. was now 3-5' seas and lots of caps. The wind was howling N.E. and I was ready to put her on a one-way troll. But, as fate would have it, (see tourney report for results)

April 29th 2006

Day #1 of the Tourney: Took 2 hours to get all rods in the water. Rods, nets and fish were flying. Costly tackle day also... Good news after the smoke and blood cleared: Team Vision Quest was in first place. It did not start good early as we dropped 5 of the first 7 bites. I prompted my Team for an immediate meeting and reminded them of tournament Rule #1: "Every Fish Counts" . After the team meeting, my crew responded by boxing several good fish in a row. A good first day. Boated 14 Mature Kings, (1) Coho and a few small Kings.. Lost another 8-9 fish or so and a bunch of tackle. Day #1 leader and highest single day score in the history of the Scotty. (more will be posted on Tourney report area)

April 28th 2006

St. Catherines; Ontario: Lake Ontario Water. Today I had a charter/pre-fish excursion with my tournament team from Pittsburgh. Fished the Canada/US border off the Niagara River. Temps were 44.5-56 degrees and water color=good. It was not long before we had our first fish going and it was not long until we were in "hammer mode" Ended up boxing 10 Mature Kings from 17-22 pounds, 2 Lakers, 2 smaller Kings and 2 Coho. Lost another 8 fish and were headed back to Port early. . This was a good start and we found our spot for Day #1 of the Scotty Downriger Tournament.

April 22 2006

Wow!!! Despite water temps of 54 degrees the FISH ARE STILL THERE. Boxed 18 Steelies today and hit a total of 30 bites today. Fished from 7:30am-2:00pm. WOW!!! Landed our biggest spring-Lake Erie Bow ever, a 14.25# 34" monster that crushed a Dreamweaver Super Slim blue dolphin trailing a shallow-wide set divy...Had another diver go just before that and then later, had a diver that an angler could not remove from the rod holder because of an overly aggressive-psycho-charged fish. My guess is that is was another large BUG EATER but we dropped it while trying to remove the rod from the throbbing holder.... WOW!! Best body baits were the killer daves Kaboon Shiner (orange) AKA "garfield". Dreamweaver Super Slims-quickly becoming my favorite spoon bait, accounted for many other Bug Eaters and shots. Orange silver slims -AKA orange gangster and lemon icicle were good. The Slims have a great "slithering" action and look great while trolled slow or booked... We also had a few bites on the "original" Thin Fin in fire tiger. Erie's Steelhead compares to none-We have numbers and size. People are missing out on a tremendous fishery, espescially the inshore program in spring & fall. Next time out, I will be in Lake Ontario running trips& pre-fishing before the Scotty Spring Tournament being held April 29 & 30. Aye!!!

April 15th 2006

Fished good part of day with friends today. Bay temps 50-52 degrees now. Fishing was fair today. Boxed several good Steelies, lost 5 and landed 2 nice Smallmouth over 5#. Another 8 for 13 trip. Did a lot of roaming and checked out the Lake area for a while. This proved to be a mistake because we hit one Steelie out there and 2 Bass in 2.5 hours of trolling. Still Steelies holding in the Bay however, they are starting to head out into the Lake area and disperse. A red ratling Thin Fin (an oldie but goodie) accounted for many fish today. I had to pull out this weapon which has destroyed many, many silvers over the years. DreamWeaver Super Slims took some bites as well and some small spoons. Fish were scattered and once again, munching on the bilions of minnows present in the Bay waters. The wind got tough as the day went and was blowing at a steady 20knots before it was over. Also, the floating debris tested my patience and a fun trip became work because we had to keep pulling and cleaning baits. This may be the last outing in April in Erie for the V.Q. She is headed to the Scotty Downrigger Spring Tournament on April 27th-28th-29th-30th. (pics. to follow...)

April 12th 2006

Fished the Bay program again from 8am-11:45am and pecked away for a 8 for 13 morning which included a Coho Salmon. (Where did that come from)(PA stopped stocking Salmon in 2004 so, there should not be anymore in 2006 unless it was possibly a natural reproduction fish??) Not bad for less than 4-hours of fishing. Biggest fish was a beautiful 8.25# CHROME hen that my good friend Bob landed. It was gusty SW winds today and we encountered scattered showers. Water temps. were from 47.1-45.6 degrees. Dreamweaver Super Slim Spoons (blue dolphin and orange over gold) and shallow Nitro Shiners(Orange) did the damage. Yours truly lost (1) fish in the prop wash due to excessive force and we had one fish twist so many times it took the treble off the spoon's split ring in the prop wash. The score should have read 10 for 13. Oh well, a decent morning overall despite barometric drops and stormy conditions. With slowly warming temps., look for this easy Bay fishing program to come to an end soon. Until then...Sharp Hooks (pics to follow...)

April 10th 2006

Fun fished after work with a friend, his son and my son. Bay temps warmed to 47.5 degrees after 2 sunny days in a row. Worked a little harder today to locate some fish and went 5 for 8 in the 3-hours we were out. Took a nice fat Brown Trout on a Dreamweaver Super Slim-orange/silver spoon. Again, orange was what they wanted. The hi-lite was watching our 2 young boys battle a double for 15 minutes. The boys each landed 2 fish and missed a couple. The Bay is still loaded with minnows which should kep these silvers arond a little longer before they decide to enter the Lake.

April 8th 2006

Bay water temps. at 43.5 degrees, air temps at 34 degrees, wind chill 20 degrees, stiff and steady wind out of the NE at 20 knots and ice forming on my bow pulpit....... However, the fishing was HOT ! Started off with our biggest fish of the morning (8.5# Hen) smacking a orange Nitro Shiner while we only had 4 lines out. Had our second fish in the boat before the rods were all set-a great start again... Fishing remainded excellent. In fact, we were 14 for 20 by 10:20am and looking for 1 more fish for our limit when I pulled out of the hammer mode location in search of a Brown Trout or one more good fish. Roamed around for 2-more hours and went 2 for 5 including a catch and release fish. Called it quits a bit after 12PM with a box of fish. All of our fish and bites (16/26) came on shallow running Nitro Shiners and Dreamweaver Super Slim spoons. Orange and orange/silver was hot with exception of a lime glow Super Slim that did some damage.

April 2nd 2006

Today was the first fishing trip for the V.Q. in 2006. We fished from about 8:00am until 1:15pm in Presque Isle. I have been fishing the Bay-Lake area in April for over 20-years now. (A little history tid-bit) Water temps were good-43.5-45.1 and water was a nice of green color. Things started fast. Our first Steelie hit after we had 4 rods in the water. A great start to 06' . We had our 3-man limit in a reasonable amount of time despite some dry spells between bites. Finished 9 for 15 overall with the largest Steelie being a 9.25# drop-back hen. We roamed around a lot looking for higher concentrations of fish but never hit the jack pot. ie. (multiple doubles within a short period of time). Best baits were Kaboom-shallow running Shiners in orange and blue-silver insert shad color. Also, small custom taped spoons worked well run in the 5 ft. zone off boards. I only fished (1) rigger and it was 1 for 2. There was plenty of bait fish present today, like one trillion, which made fishing a little tough. Our 10 baits running in the water does not compare to what natural offerings were available. The VQ will be back at over the next weekend if not sooner.