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Lake Erie: Port
Clinton, Ohio, April 4-19, 2008 |
Day
1: April 4, 2008. The weather included drizzle, rain and wind out
of the NW. I decided to check out my equipment and fish in a
protected area. I docked at Sandusky Bay. The ice on the lake had
just gone off a couple of days ago. The water was like chocolate
milk. My goal today was to check out my equipment. I knew that my
06' Ranger (www.rangerboats.com)
was in good running order, as earlier I had my boat over at Moritz's
Sport and Marina (www.moritzmarine.com)
in Mandan, ND. They gave it the once over and a clean bill of
health. Moritz has some great mechanics working for them. I fished
for 3 hours today, used night-crawler's and shiners, spinner blades,
jigs and cranks. I should mention that my brother Al came up from
Cleveland, OH. to fish with me this weekend and next weekend. No
bites today, I'm not too concerned.
Day 2: April 5, 2008. The weather forecast is wind 15 to 20
mph SW. I drove 15 miles west to dock the boat. Today I'll fish the
reefs which are 10 miles west of Port Clinton. I heard rumors that
the guides were catching their limits. Today I'm going to do a little
fishing and just observe what is going on around me. There were over
100 boats in the area. I saw only two fish caught. That was sure
different from the reports I heard.... interesting isn't it.... I
must be doing something wrong!!! Not a fish today, I'm not too
concerned, yet.
Day 3: April 6, 2008. Today, my mission is to find cleaner
water. I docked at Marble Head state campground which is located west
of Port Clinton. Weather today is the same with one small variable,
wind gust to 30 mph, small craft advisory. I jigged, pulled spinners
and some cranks. I quit fishing around 3 pm. Not a bite today, I'm
still not too concerned, yet!! There is always tomorrow.
Day 4: April 7, 2008. Weather today is called for calm. Temp
in the 50's. I docked out of Catawba State park. My plan for today
is to fish the islands, Green Island and Bass Island. Marked a lot of
fish at 35 feet and some suspended at 20 feet. Decided to live bait
and jig. I worked these islands for 5 hours and also talked to local
fisherman. Neither I nor the locals had a bite. The
local fisherman told me they don't have the slightest idea what is
going on. Last year at this time the fish were jumping in the boat.
My question is where to go and what to do. These fish have shut down,
lock jaw. I have never seen nor been in a situation like this. I
still have not found any clean water. But there is always tomorrow.
I am still not too concerned. I feel that I am eliminating water.
(At this rate the whole western basin will be eliminated (ha).
 Day 5: April 8, 2008. Eight more days until the tournament
starts. I still have confidence in catching some fish. So last night
I sat in my motel room and went to my lap top and turned on a program
called the NavPlanner from Navionics (www.navionics.com).
I put in my Hotmaps chip for the area I am fishing. The NavPlanner
allows me to see the whole lake and its contour line just like you see
them on the GPS with one exception, you can put waypoints on your
computer and label each waypoint with what you want to do, example:
waypoint (WP) # 1, pull cranks NW to WP #2, or you can say WP #3, jig
and live bait. I did this with all the areas I intend to fish. Now
that I have a battle plan I'm going to stick to it for the next few
days, just because I put a lot of info down on the screen. Now that I
have formulated a plan I download all the info on to a SD or MMC card
using the NavPlanner, which works with many plotters such as
Humminbird, Lowrance, Eagle and many other GPS units. I use a
Humminbird 987 and Matrix 97 (www.humminbird.com).
Once the info is downloaded on the chip, I then insert the SD card in
my Humminbird 987 and let it upload. Now I have everything on my GPS
that I have on my computer. There is now a wealth of information and
a plan to follow for many days of fishing. In fact I'm going to stay
with this plan until I contact fish. Today still not a bite, not too
concerned yet; however, I am marking more fish in the areas I
selected.
Day 6: April 9, 2008. Sticking with my plan and not quitting.
Water is still dirty and winds are out of the North at 20 mph. with
waves 5 to 7 feet. I had to change the plan. Way too dangerous to be
out in the middle of the lake so I went to the southern ends of the
islands and looked for fish on the screen and searched for
different structure. Still not a bite, I also still feel confident in
catching walleye; however, these walleye are making me feel humble. I
have never gone this long without a bite.
Day 7: April 10, 2008. Talked to a few pros last night and was
wondering how they where doing and they said they didn't get any fish
yet. It made me feel a little better. I even talked to some people
that fished with some guides, and they didn't catch anything. Today
still not a bite. I still feel some confidence. I heard on the radio
that the fisherman where catching some limits of fish in the Sandusky
River. So tomorrow I will try Sandusky.
Day 8: April 11, 2008. Weather today: wind out of the NW 20
plus mph with light rain. I'm going into Sandusky Bay and go to the
river. Well I tried to get to the river, there was on obstacle in my
way, a railroad track and some low bridges. There was a lot of
current coming from the river. I drove up to the low bridge and
looked it over. I know my Ranger boat (www.rangerboats.com) will
fit under the bridge by approximately 2 feet, as long as a wave
doesn't life it up. I am also thinking what if there are some
rocks just under the water surface. I'm going to try it but drive in
on idle speed. All of a sudden the motor contacts something under
water and dies, the current turns the boat and the trolling motor
touches the other cement pillar. I go to the front of the boat to
push myself away, no damage other than the trolling motor bracket got
bent, close call. Thank God. I didn't fish today. The weather was
ugly and I need to fix the trolling motor.
Day 9 and 10: April 12-13,2008. Sticking with my
plan! The weather is still crappy and the color of water is like 2
week old coffee with cream. Also still not a fish. I'm thinking now
of my ability to catch a fish or am I just using up all my bad luck
early. ha, ha.... I must have a sense of humor at this time, I have
now gone 8 days (some not full days) without a bite. I still have
confidence in my plan.
Day 11: April 14, 2008. The weather has calmed down.
I'm sticking with my plan. I'm going to fish Green Island and some of
the other areas that I marked with my NavPlanner. The water was stain
in color, a good sign. Lo and behold I contacted my first walleye
today. I marked a lot of bait fish just on the south
side of Rattlesnake Island. 25 feet of water with bait fish 5
feet deep. With my Humminbird I could see the fish arcs in and around
the bait fish. I first tried jigging and live bait, with no
luck. Now I'm going to try pulling crank baits using my Johnson 9.9 (www.johnsonoutdoors.com)
which is equipped with a Pro Trollmaster (www.troll-masterpro.com) this
controls my speed and for steering I use my MinnKota power drive (http://www.minnkotamotors.com/index.asp) which
also has the Re-Actionsystem (www.re-actionsystem.com/)
attached to the foot control and this allows me total boat control
with instant power. Reef Runner (www.reefrunner.com)
is my favorite crank, most of my arsenal is made up of Reef Runners,
they have a great selection of colors and many styles to choose from.
Bubble gum was the color that worked today. I quit fishing early today
because tomorrow I have to be off the water by noon. My confidence
is still strong.
Day 12: April 15, 2008. The weather is calm and today I am
just going to look for cleaner water. The winds for the last few days
have been out of the north and I'm thinking the water should be
a little cleaner the farther north I go. I went a little north of
Rattlesnake Island and there were many fisherman in this area. I did a
lot of scouting and watching of other fisherman and there where fish
being caught! I was marking bait fish and suspended fish at 20 feet
over 35 feet of water. I was putting my battle plan together for the
first day of the tournament which is tomorrow morning. Tonight we
have the meeting and I get to meet my first day co-angler. I will have
three different co-angler's for the next three days.
Well the meeting is over and I'm back at my motel room studying the
NavPlanner with the Hotmaps chip. I'm going to fish the north side of
Rattlesnake to another island called Sugar Island. There are
two reasons why I chose this area, first, I saw some fish being caught
and the second reason (most important) is that while studying the
Hotmaps chip I noticed a slight difference in the contour lines and it
looks to me like this is the highway for the post spawn Walleye when
they leave the west basin and travel back to the main portion of Lake
Erie. Well, tomorrow will tell.
 Day
13: April 16, 2008.
Boats are lining up for takeoff.
First day of the tournament. Winds are out of the SW. Sticking with my
previous plan with the NavPlanner. I'm going to fish the northeast
side of Rattlesnake and work my way east towards Sugar Island.
We fished with spinner blades at first and was marking fish just off
the bottom. Not a bite. Moved out a little deeper to 30 feet of water
and pulled everything up high in the water column. I was marking bait
fish at 22 ft. so this is the area that I targeted. My co-angler
gets a slight tap on a spinner and night-crawler. He drops the rod
tip for a few seconds and sets the hook. 2 1/2 hours in the first day
and we net a 7 lb Walleye. Nothing was happening for the next hour. I
decided to drop in crank baits. We put in all colors at first and
nothing was happening. We just kept changing colors until my partner
put on a Reef Runner (Purple Demon) tipped with half of a
night-crawler. Now a 6 lb Walleye joins us in the boat. Things are
looking up. We still have about 4 hours to go. I believe the fish
were here, even though I was only marking occasional fish here
and there. Another fish joins us (Purple Demon), an 8 lb. Walleye.
I was making my same run when another boater cut off my pass so I
turned and was going to go back to my previous trail, I looked at my
partner and said we didn't finish the complete run, so I made a
circle and continued on my original trail and when I got to the end of
the trail and was making the turn another walleye joins us, 7 lb. We
had 50 minutes left to fish before we had to head in. We ended up
with 4 fish for the day. Three were caught on Reef Runners (Purple
Demon) and one on a spinner blade, which had some purple on it. We
finished out the day with 4 fish at 28.11 lbs. www.Liveleaderboard.com
mistakenly shows 5 fish which is a misprint. Today I
finished in 28th place.
Tonight I drove around looking for more Purple Demons and finally
found them at Happy Hooker Bait and Tackle.
I am pleased with what we caught and just wished we would have got our
5th fish.
Day 14: April 17, 2008. Weather is the same as yesterday. I
started in on the same area and we caught only 2 fish (7 lbs) in 5
hours, I think the fish moved a few miles so we reeled up to move to
another area. Now remember earlier when my big motor struck something
under water, well you guessed it. I blew up my lower unit. I believe
that whatever it was that I had bumped into must have jarred something
in the gear box. Bad, Bad luck. I told my partner we were done
fishing for the day and needed to head back with what we have. I use
the kicker motor which only pushed me 5.7 mph. Not another boat
around. We were still 5 miles from the check-in when I saw a boat
going by about 1/4 mile away and I told my partner to wave and see if
he can get their attention. They saw us and came over. It was Ted
Takasaki. Ted took my partner and our two fish back to the check-in.
I sincerely thank Ted for his assistance in helping me salvage what
weight we had for the day. Also, while I was heading in another pro
pulls up to me and offered his assistance and I told him I will make
it in, you just go and get your weight checked in, and that Pro was
Rick McLaughlin, I also must thank him for his willingness to help.
Well I made it in and weighed our fish a little late but was not
disqualified because of the help from Ted.
I knew today was going to take me out of the running for cashing a
check. I think I felt sorrier for my co-angler, for I did not meet up
to his expectations. My sincere apology to my day partner,
Jeffrey.
After weigh-in I took my boat to a repair trailer where they had a
lower unit to put on. I was on the water the next day. My major
concern for tomorrow is to get my day 3 co-angler his fish. I know I
am out of the running. I finished 130th on this day.
 Day
15: April 18, 2008. Weather is called for only 10 mph wind. I
plan on starting on the NW corner of Rattlesnake and work that area
and target the fish at 20 feet with the Purple Demon. 10 minutes into
the tournament and we had our first fish on, just for a few brief
moments and it let go. I decided to stay in this area and work it.
We ended up with 8 bites and 5 walleye weighing in at 25 lbs. This
weight kept my partner in the top 15. My place jumped to 90th
place.
Now looking back at the three days of fish (which is history) and
wondering about "what if" I would have caught my limit each day. Well
here it is in a nut shell, I would have finished in the top 30. Well
that's the way it goes.
I am also competing for point to get into the championship which will
be held in Bismarck, ND. this September. The top 50 Pros will
compete. Now I am prepping for Lake Sharpe, SD.
But fishing a tournament is not all loss. Actually, I feel I have won.
People wonder why I say that. Well, I made many new friends, got to
fish in waters I never would have fished before this and learned new
techniques for fishing Lake Erie. I guess the most important is
making new friends.
So my suggestion to you if you want to go pro is to first experience
it as a co-angler. You may wonder why I say this, well here it is.
You will gain the valuable knowledge of using a variety of different
techniques for fishing those strange waters, which may put you in
future big pay-offs. And, most importantly you will still meet new
people and make new friends.
"Happy Waters"
The FBO staff Author would like to thank the following sponsors:
Ranger boats (www.rangerboats.com),
Evenrude motors.(http://www.brp.com/en-CA/Innovation/Technology/Evinrude.E-TEC.htm)
Johnson motors (http://www.johnsonoutdoors.com)
Humminbird (www.humminbird.com)
Minn Kota (http://www.minnkotamotors.com/index.asp)
Troll Masters (http://www.troll-masterpro.com),
Amsoil (http://www.lubedealer.com/amerilube)
Navionics G (www.navionics.com)
Re-Action systems (http://www.re-actionsystem.com/)
Gibbons Fiberglass, Bismarck, ND.(www.gibbonsfiberglass.com)
Donavon Sales & Consulting, INC. (www.donavonsales.com)
Moritz Sport and Marine (www.moritzmarine.com)
Hook Line and Sinker, Beulah, ND. 701-873-2899
New sponsors are always welcomed.....
Chris Kuntz
www.kuntzwalleye.com
if you are to busy too fish, then you are just too busy,
TAKE A KID FISHING
If everyone did the most important thing in life, there would be a
shortage of fishing poles.
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