Steelhead and Walleye Make up East Erie Creel Follow the Fish
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+ THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO t FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2005 w w SECTION C, PAGE 7 + Steelhead and walleye make up east Erie creel Follow the Fish By STEVE POLLICK Ontario, Canada BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR “They have been hammer- walleye and various sizes of ing steelhead off Wheatley on sheepshead to some serious FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio the Canadian side,” noted walleye and a smattering of Lake — Some hefty walleye, the Johnson after a long spell of steelhead. N.Y. likes of which haven’t been trolling with little steelhead But finally the freshening St. Clair seen in any numbers on west- action. “There must be a pock- breeze said it was time to pick ern Lake Erie since late spring, et of colder water up there.” up and rock and roll back to Detroit and a sprinkling of chrome- Not that the local waters were safe harbor, which turned out Lake Erie plated steelhead make it worth without these strong, silver- to be about a 90-minute trip. A Erie trolling on Down East. sided trout. An eight-pounder cooler of photogenic fish Ashtabula Harbor East of Cleveland, that is. that had just come aboard was helped smooth out the ride. Geneva State Park Well east. part of the day’s proof. Contact Johnson at Fairport Harbor From the mouth of the The trip offshore had a few www.thumpercharter.com or Michigan Eastlake Grand River here, 40 miles more fish tales to spin, as well. 440-639-0185. Ohio Wildwood Park from the downtown skyscrap- For instance, we made one ■ Toledo Penn. ers and pro sports stadiums, long downwind troll and The recent cooling trend Cleveland fishing guide Ron Johnson almost never were out of bait- and northerly breezes have pointed his 31-foot Tiara, fish. Cloud after cloud of bait helped cool Lake Erie water Thumper, north-northeast. cluttered and colored the temperatures somewhat — last And he didn’t stop for 25 miles. screen on the depth electron- week’s 80-degree surface tem- Johnson was looking for ics. “It’s been a good year for perature was down to 77 at fish — walleye and steelhead, a bait,” noted Johnson. Indeed. midweek — and yellow mix of which have been the Some years trollers would perch at least are starting to story Down East this summer. beg to see just a few such respond. Enough steelies are showing up clouds of baitfish — likely At Fairport Harbor, the in the catch to make it interest- smelt or emerald shiners in this perching was excellent just ing, but the numbers are not case. “Look at that,” said John- three miles off the Grand River high enough to call it a “steel- son, pointing to a 25-inch wall- mouth in 47 feet of water at head summer” like last year. eye that the party had just midweek. The reason is weather. landed. It had slammed a In western Lake Erie, Kel- Every fisherman knows about Michigan Stinger spoon, but leys Island has been the focal weather, but the impact of this had a gullet full of baitfish to point for perching, with fish long hot 90-plus-degree sum- boot. being taken off the island’s mer on the lake and fish activi- Last and not least on the southwest, northwest, and ty has been dramatic. Johnson day’s lesson list: How often do northeast corners. The Toledo demonstrated that in spades you hear that fish get real Ship Channel also has been when he dropped down an active ahead of a storm front? productive, especially around electronic temperature probe Bingo. the Toledo Harbor Light and on one of his downriggers: The marine weather chan- Turning Buoy near the chan- Surface temperature — 80.2 nel at midday was jabbering nel’s outer end. degrees. Temperature at 60 feet about a strong line of thunder- Walleye fishing in the west- — 78 degrees. Amazing. Think storms down the west end of ern basin has been slow, with about it — that is a gargantuan the lake — gusts to 40 knots, little angler activity for them, gulp of water to heat that small craft seek safe harbor, the though a growing number of warm, that deep. It is a testa- whole nine yards of admittedly the super-abundant 2003 class Ohio fisheries biologist Phil Hillman ment to the power of the sum- prudent warnings and precau- are reaching the magic 15-inch with an eight-pound steelhead. mer sun. tions. minimum keeper length. At 63 feet the water tem- Off Fairport Harbor the Inland, fishing action also perature was a chilly 58, so the storm-line still was a couple has been slowed by the heat. transition layer or comfort hours away, but the wind was One bright spot has been zone for fish was just three feet picking up. Likely the barome- muskellunge action at Clear thick. Not much to work with. ter was falling. Fork Reservoir near Mansfield. But Johnson is an Erie vet- The one-to-threes for “Most of the [muskie] fishing eran and had a few tricks up waves in early morning had has been in the mornings and his sleeve. Like running mini- grown to solid three-to-fives evenings,” said Larry Goedde, Dipsy Divers with two-ounce, with an occasional rogue eight- fish management supervisor PHOTOS/STEVE POLLICK in-line lead weights off his big footer thrown in, just to put for Ohio Wildlife District 2. “I Fishing guide Ron Johnson displays a double-ski planer boards. The some “Cedar Point” into suspect it has been too hot 25-inch Lake Erie walleye taken off lead weight, he explained, will attempts to stand, braced, at during the day for anglers.” Fairport Harbor. deepen a spoon trolled off a the transom. In turn, the fish A selection of multi-patterned steelhead Contact Steve Pollick at: mini-Dipsy by five feet for each action cranked up from a slow [email protected] trolling spoons. ounce. but steady sorting of smaller or 419-724-6068. GOLF HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TRANSACTIONS FOOTBALL WNBA NEC Invitational Tim Herron 36-35–71 Division changes Vienna Matthews BASEBALL Eastern Conference Jim Carter 34-37–71 Ashland Mapleton NFL Preseason W L Pct GB Major League Baseball Connecticut 24 6 .800 – WGC/PGA Olin Browne 36-35–71 Schools that have changed OHSAA divi- Delphos St. John’s AMERICAN CONFERENCE David Peoples 36-35–71 sions for the 2005-06 football season. Liberty Center MLB–Suspended Texas RHP Kevin Gry- Indiana 18 12 .600 6 Akron; par 70 boski three games and fi ned him an undis- East New York 17 13 .567 7 Garrett Willis 36-35–71 Colonel Crawford 1 Tiger Woods 32-34–66 MOVED FROM DIVISION I TO II closed amount for inappropriate actions after W L T Pct PF PA Detroit 14 15 .483 9 /2 Scott Gutschewski 34-37–71 Oberlin Buffalo 1 0 0 1.000 17 10 Vijay Singh 31-35–66 Mario Tiziani 36-35–71 Ashtabula Lakeside Mohawk an Aug. 9 game. Washington 14 16 .467 10 Henrik Stenson 34-32–66 Lorain Southview N.Y. Jets 1 0 0 1.000 10 3 Charlotte 4 26 .133 20 Mathias Gronberg 35-36–71 Caldwell American League New England 1 1 0 .500 50 50 Chris DiMarco 33-34–67 Dan Forsman 38-34–72 St. Francis de Sales Hannibal River Western Conference Davis Love III 32-35–67 Delaware Hayes TEXAS RANGERS–Recalled 1B Adrian Miami 0 2 0 .000 41 54 W L Pct GB Jay Delsing 37-35–72 Old Washington Buckeye Trail Gonzalez from Oklahoma of the PCL. Op- South Nick Dougherty 35-32–67 Jonathan Byrd 37-35–72 Dublin Scioto Steubenville Cath. Cent. Sacramento 22 8 .733 – Stuart Appleby 35-33–68 Cincinnati NW tioned RHP Scott Feldman to Frisco of the W L T Pct PF PA Seattle 17 13 .567 5 Kent Jones 34-38–72 Sugar Grove Berne Union Texas League. 1 Sergio Garcia 32-36–68 Cincinnati Winton Woods Jacksonville 1 0 0 1.000 27 17 Houston 17 14 .548 5 /2 John Cook 37-35–72 Morral Ridgedale Houston 0 1 0 .000 14 20 1 Nick O’Hern 33-35–68 MOVED FROM DIVISION II TO I National League Phoenix 14 15 .483 7 /2 Darron Stiles 36-36–72 MOVED FROM DIVISION VI TO V Tennessee 0 1 0 .000 17 20 1 Phil Mickelson 34-35–69 Scott McCarron 38-34–72 Berea WASHINGTON NATIONALS–Optioned OF Minnesota 14 17 .452 8 /2 Seneca East Indianapolis 0 2 0 .000 31 44 1 Chris Riley 36-33–69 Tommy Armour III 36-36–72 Cleveland East Brandon Watson to New Orleans of the PCL. Los Angeles 13 16 .448 8 /2 Carey North 1 Luke Donald 34-35–69 Bob Burns 37-35–72 Garfi eld Heights Purchased the contract of LHP John Halama San Antonio 7 24 .226 15 /2 Mark Hensby 35-35–70 Convoy Crestview from New Orleans. W L T Pct PF PA LAST NIGHT Bill Glasson 35-37–72 Amherst Steele Ayersville Cleveland 1 0 0 1.000 17 14 Zach Johnson 36-34–70 Justin Rose 35-37–72 Connecticut 84, Charlotte 70 Colin Montgomerie 36-34–70 Cols. Brookhaven Northwood Midwest League Pittsburgh 1 0 0 1.000 38 31 Neal Lancaster 37-35–72 Cols. Walnut Ridge FORT WAYNE WIZARDS Indiana 67, Washington 57 Kenny Perry 35-35–70 Centerburg –Announced OF Baltimore 0 1 0 .000 3 16 Houston 77, Phoenix 66 Roland Thatcher 36-36–72 Grove City Cent.