Maumee Bay - Lake Erie 4-10-06

[captain jay]

Fished Maumee Bay this morning with a friend in his boat. We had our limit in 16 minutes!!! They were on fire this morning. We spent two more hours upgrading everything to 4 to 5 lbrs, and then headed to MI waters to finish out our last two fish.

Chrome blade baits and walleye shiner "one eye's" were both deadly. Didn't require much movement. We coule let them just sit a couple inches off bottom and caught a lot of them that way. Even had a few followers come to the boat with the ones that were hooked.

We'll be back out in the morning.

Good luck,

Captain Jay

[selvig88]

Captain Jay, are the trollers doing anything in MI waters? I've never fished the maumee area. usually fish out of sterling or bolles in june,july. But i sure have the itch to get started early this year.

[captain jay]

I saw two boats trolling yesterday. I tried for 2 hours with no luck.

I did see about 10 trolling MI waters today when I was out, but I don't know if they did any good.

Head down to Lune Pier and out to Maumee Bay. The action is HOT right now. You will need an OH license though (11.00 daily).

I will be out Sat and Sun if you head out and need help.

Captain Jay

[BFG]

Captain Jay,

Assuming you were fishing in OH waters (Maumee Bay). What type of single hook do you use on those blade baits?

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/regs/fishregs/images/bayclosures.png


Just wondering....if I need to mind my own business, I apologize.


BFG

[WalleyeWiz]

Clark, the single hook regs. are in effect from the tip of Little Ceder Point to the north tip of Turtle Island.Turtle Island to the north heading out to the Harbor Light are not under the restriction of the single hook.

Great job Jay. Got your message on my cell yesterday .I will be heading out Sat. but am not sure if I am going to jig the bay or troll out east for the big girls.
Capt`n Dwayne
WalleyeWiz Guide Service

[CMFish51]

Like most - he is fishing between Turtle Island and mostly closer to the Outter Light...the Treble hook rule is not in effect out there...

[captain jay]

Thanks guys.

Dwayne.....I will get ahold of you for Saturday. I am making a promotional video. We plan to jig for a while, and then head East to get some bigger ones trolling. Tie a few up over there and hold them till I get there.

Captain Jay

And by the way, I do have some blade baits with the trebbles removed and one single hook on the tail of the lure. They will work that way, but you loose about 70% that you hook. Still fun though.

Captain Jay

[Brian S]

Does anyone have a pic of a blade bait? I'd like to give this a try but have no idea what a blade bait is.

Also, I assume you jig it? Does it require a minnow on the end?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[captain jay]

Brian,

Take a look at my photo album on this site. I have pics of several of them in there. They are the only lures I have posted. You will know them when you see them.

Do not tip them with anything. Jig them on bottom, and make sure the lure touches bottom on EVERY jig. They pick it up off bottom 80% of the time. If your jig never touches bottom, you will not get many hits.

Captain Jay

[CMFish51]

Here ya go - Vib E are my favorite type of blade bait. Gold/Tiger in 1/4 oz. seems to fill the cooler best for me. I have never had to tip the lure with any bait, but some guys will put a piece of crawler or minnow head or small mister twister off the back hook.

I usually cast out, and snap the lure back to the boat, casting updrift. 90% percent of the time, the eyes will hit on the apex of the snap, just beofre the lure drops back to the bottom. I have also caught eyes jigging it right over the side of the boat this year. Hope this helps...

http://www.vibelure.com/lures.htm
You can pick them up off the net through Bill, or any bait store in the reef complex area near Davis Besse will have em...

[Brian S]

Thanks again!

[CMFish51]

Captain Jay - Reel Naughty will be out in the are Friday morning...

Feel free to give a holler on 79

[BFG]

Thanks for the quick replies Capt. Dwayne and Captain Jay. My buddy was out that way on Sunday and saw guys at the launch (Bolles) that had blade baits with trebles on them...and these were the same boats that fished beside him in the restricted area.

My apologies, and thanks for the jigging tips! Oh...and NICE job on the 'eyes.


BFG

[captain jay]

Corey,

I was mandatoried to over time Friday, so I will not be out till Saturday morning. If you going to be there Saturday, PM or E mail me and I'll give you my cell number.

Actually, that goes for anyone else thet will be there and wants to hook up on the water.

Captain Jay

[steve ypsi]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/520/medium/MVC-014S3.JPG

[roger23]

I have been used blade baits for several years they seem to work best in spring ,I have snagged more fish than I have caught with them. I think one will bite on it if he does not get it when jerk you end up snagging one above him .I have seen many followers follow the one you catch up to the boat and many times when you net one you end up with two in the net.This is one of the years I have had the most followers seems like a lot of 18 to 21 in fish this year .

[captain jay]

Roger,

I know a lot of guys snag fish with the blade baits. Here is what I do to keep that from happening. I tell this to all my clients, and it really helps. You may already do this, but maybe someone else might learn a little.

I run fireline or some other no stretch line, and I make it a bright color like pink or yellow. That way clients who have little experience jigging can really feel the bottom, and see the slack in the line when the lure hits bottom.

Make sure the lure touches bottom on every jig, and don't just jig it and let the lure fall to the bottom. Keep the line tight, and SET the lure back down on bottom nice and easy. If you give it slack and the lure flutters all the way back down, it will get tangeled up all the time, and it will lay on it side on the bottom. If you set the lure down with a tight line, the lure will stay in it's upright position, and work perfectly every time you jig it.

I have watched other boats jig them, and seen guys snapping there pole 3 feet up, and then putting their tip back down as fast as they can. And they seem to snag more, and get tangeled up more.

Also, you will get a lot of hits while setting it back down on bottom. You know that bottom is 10 inches lower, but the lure stopped going down.....thats a clue!!

Good luck,

Captain Jay

[roger23]

I do about the samething,I use to first mate on a couple friends of mine that had charters I think a lot of customers watch to much TV and they want to SNAP JIG. I am sure you see it all to some people won't do anything you say they are paying for it . its a pain to watch thankfully the other 5 guys will gang on the one jerk you seem to get on every trip. WE had a lot of re books until the price of gas went up we use to get a lot of out of state people it seems the gas price has slowded them down . last years 3 fish limit did not help it was good for the charters because you could run half day charters and get every one to limit out .