Heading to Catawba Sat/Sun

[Rod Holder]

It looks like the weather for tomorrow and Sunday will be decent…8 mph out of the SW Sat, 15 SW on Sunday. I had friends fish out of Huron on July 4th going northeast from 29 to 41 feet of water in one trolling pass and punched a three man ticket. A different friend last Sat/Sun fished near Kelley’s Island shoal but the high marks they saw and targeted were sheep and whites. They left for deeper water without putting anything down near the bottom. In the vicinity of 28.5/34.5 lat/long lines, northwest of the one dumping ground they put out bouncers/harnesses near the bottom and got a three man limit. When the the fish were cleaned they had gobies and perch in their stomachs, not minnows or smelt. In hindsight my friend had wished he had put out harnesses near the bottom back by the shoal. There are other reports to be found at walleye central which kind of confirm the fish are to be found just about anywhere.
We gave some consideration to going to Sterling but I swayed my brother into going to Catawba so we could fish Kelley’s and also northwest of Rattlesnake if we felt like it as well as the fact of only being able to keep five if fishing MI waters of Erie. I have an assortment of Stinger scorpions, the standard gold blade, red bead harnesses which have been working, as well as Ripsticks to put behind either a snap weight or on a 5’ lead behind a bouncer. I’ll post a report when we get back.

[FishDaddy09]

We went out of Catawba on wed. We fished from Green south and then north of south bass. We only boated 4 walleye. There were very few other boats out and we didn't mark many fish. Were going sun to the west sister area.

[KI Jim]

I'll be fishing Kellys this wekend also. There are a lot of fish around there right now. Best areas are just east-off Cedar Point and Huron. I understand the perch are also there.

Good Luck!

KI (Kellys Island) Jim

[Rod Holder]

We fished on the east side of Kelley's Island Shoal, both boats. Didn't do too bad but not as good as when I was there in early June. My brother's boat put 17 in the box and my two companions and I got 15. For awhile we were neck and neck but my brother's son pulled in two just before we quit. In hindsight, I think we should have gone southeast toward Cedar Point but we were catching fish, just not at a frenzied pace by any means. Largest was about 6#. Made my brother's day and he bought ice cream for the rest of us for his honor of catching largest walleye. Let me tell you, the baa-baa's were out in major numbers. Tried going faster and adding more weight to keep things near the bottom while doing 2 mph. I gave up on Ripsticks as only sheephead were after it. Put a spoon behind a 2 ounce bouncer on a setback of 45' and got two walleyes, two sheeps. Wished I had deployed the scorpion sooner (copper green puke). Everyone on this trip had a great time even though we missed limiting out. Didn't fish this morning as the wind had really picked up and the waves were coming in so we drove home early. We might have fished east of Catawba in sheltered water but I don't believe we'd have caught much there if we were in too close. Maybe that decision was wrong but that's OK.
Oh yes, the mayfly carcasses were all over the water like a film there were that many.

[KI Jim]

I fished North of Kellys on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Saturday evening we fished some rockpiles, doing the slow troll bottom bouncer method. Have a full boat, wife and 4 kids. Pulled 4 'eyes and 4-10 lb class sheepies in about an hour and a half.

Sunday morning, son Matt (13) and I went out about 2 miles north of Kellys (near Gull Shoal). Started fishing at 8:00-quit at 10:30 with a nice 2 man limit. Last fish was a 28 1/2 " 7 1/2 lb class fish. Had a really nice walleye drift. Caught 4 down near bottom (4 turns up) and caught all the rest down about 30 feet 51-46 FOW.

Great morning!

JIm

[Rod Holder]

Jim, did you launch from Mazurik's Sunday morning? We went to the Catawba Island State Park launch there on the west side and the waves we saw were enough to give my brother a good case of hesitation on going out and we decided we'd head home. I was thinking we should have gone back to the Mazurik launch. Immediately east of Catawba should have been fairly protected from the larger waves and the Bass Islands may have given you protection from the larger waves we saw at the Catawba launch. That's nice you got a 7 pounder and that was what I'd been hoping for on Saturday but our only 7-10 pounders were baa-baa creatures.