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10-09-2004, 10:48 AM
Following the fish: Fall fishing is fine in northwest Ohio
By STEVE POLLICK
BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
For the best of fishermen, autumn may well be the ideal time of year, especially to catch big fish.
That is because cooling weather and waters generally cause fish to put on the feedbag, laying up some reserves for winter, and because cooling water in some cases drives such warm-water baitfish as gizzard shad closer to shorelines, where pursuing gamefish such as walleye are more accessible.
Too, much of the general fishing population — not to mention recreational boaters — have called it a season and left prime waters to the diehards. Following is a summary of what to look for in the region between now and when the last boat is pulled.
LAKE ERIE
Walleye: Good walleye fishing is under way right now for trollers in the western end of Lake Erie in just 15 to 25 feet of water, which means fairly nearshore fishing well inside of West Sister Island and as close as the Toledo Water Intake.
The fishery should stand up well into November, as the supply of baitfish — gizzard shad and emerald shiners — appears to be good.
But the Big Deal for walleye likely will begin in earnest at month’s end, with trolling well east of the Bass Islands/Kelleys Island, specifically from Ruggles Reef east to Vermilion and Lorain. Reports of seven- and eight-pound walleye already were coming in this week, and the fish should grow in size and number as more and more larger females return to the western basin to stage and feed over winter, before next spring’s spawning.
"The later it gets, the better it gets," said Travis Hartman, a Lake Erie biologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. "It’s mostly a crankbait bite." Nearshore waters 30 feet deep or less are targets for such trolled baits as Reef Runners, Rattlin’ Rogues and Husky Jerks.
An after-dark fishery also is popular for those who know how, as shad move inshore to find warmer water, and the big walleyes follow them in. A bite will develop on the Huron pier too, including casting crankbaits after dark. Hartman noted, however, that the night pier-fishing has been inconsistent at best since the mid 1990s.
The big female walleye, tagging studies show, have spent the months since post-spawn in May moseying off to Buffalo, following preferred cooler water temperatures and big schools of another popular baitfish, smelt. Now they are on the return side of the annual loop. "They’ll be at the sandbar — northwest of Lorain, northeast of Vermilion, about five or six miles offshore — by the end of the month," Hartman noted.
The biologist said tagging studies have shown the fish that spawn in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers and on Erie’s western basin reefs wander as far as Buffalo and up to Saginaw Bay.
Smallmouth bass: These prized gamefish tend to move inshore in fall and put on a feed for winter, which is good news for smallie fans, many of whom had less than memorable summers fishing for them in 2004.
Hartman suggests the east side of Kelleys, West Reef and the slot between Middle Bass and Sugar islands as possible hunting grounds for smallies this fall. Target the waters 20 feet deep or shallower with tube jigs or drop-shot rigs with goby-colored, four-inch plastic worms or goby imitations. Smallmouths examined by biologists have been feeding more heavily on gobies than traditional crawdads.
Watch for a stretch of calm weather and clear water for best fall smallmouth action.
Yellow perch: Lake Erie is not lacking for numbers of yellow perch, but many complaints have been aired lakewide this summer about small size.
Hartman said that is because of several big year-classes just coming into their own, all of which far outnumber the larger, more preferred "jumbo" perch that are older but fewer in number.
So put up with sorting for your limit of 30 perch, knowing that the smaller throwbacks will be fish- fry-ready in the next year or two. Bigger fish tend to show up more in late September into October, Hartman said, because they may school up together moreso than earlier, and it is easier to locate a pod of consistently bigger fish as they follow emerald shiner schools.
Choice perching sites include the Marblehead area, C-Can, West Sister Island, the Toledo Ship Channel from the Toledo Harbor Light to the Turn-Around Buoy, and the Toledo Water Intake and "Gravel Pit."
Steelhead trout: Discussed in detail here last week, steelie anglers should be in for another very good season, starting now with trolling off river mouths and casting from beaches and pierheads. As fall progresses and the fish run upstream, anglers will switch to fly-fishing tackle or drifting spawn bags in the streams.
The Vermilion River is the nearest "target" river for steelies, with most steelhead-stocked streams lying from Cleveland on east. Any Lake Erie tributary, including the Maumee River and its downtown tributary, Swan Creek, will have a run of some strays, however.
INLAND
Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2, makes these picks for good fall fishing:
Yellow perch: Findlay Reservoir No. 1 and, to a lesser extent, Reservoir No 2; Ferguson Reservoir near Lima and Willard Reservoir near Willard. Look for some white bass and a "mix of crappies" as well at Findlay No. 1.
Channel catfish: All the region’s upground municipal water-supply reservoirs, and area rivers and streams.
Walleye, saugeye: Try trolling with worm harnesses or drifting jigs and leeches in Findlay No. 1 or 2 for walleye, and Lima Lake at Lima and Veterans Memorial Reservoir at Fostoria for saugeye. Crankbaits such as the various Rapala models also may work well.
Largemouth bass, bluegill: All lakes and ponds at the various state wildlife areas. Fall also is an excellent time to fish for trophy keeper ‘gills, 9˝-inches or larger, at the Lake La Su An lakes in Williams County, plus plentiful catch-and-release bass that are governed by slot or length limits.
In-stream impoundments in the Mansfield area also are good choices for a short fishing trip. Try Clear Fork reservoir for bass and muskellunge, Pleasant Hill reservoir for bass, and Charles Mill Reservoir for bass and hybrid striped bass.
And if stream water levels remain decent, smallmouth bass and crappie can provide some moving-water action. The Maumee, Sandusky and Auglaize rivers all are worth a try.
Last and not least, many of the fine lakes in southeast Michigan’s Irish Hills region in northern Lenawee County provide excllent fall bass fishing.
An excellent guide to these fishing venues is available free from the Ohio Division of Wildlife by calling toll-free, 1-800-WILDLIFE. Ask for Publication 77, "Public Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Viewing Areas."
Note to readers: This is the last Following the Fish installment for the 2004 season; it will resume on Fridays in the spring. Look for Steve Pollick’s regular columns on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday through the winter. A selection of Following the Fish pages from this season can be viewed at www.toledoblade.com/outdoors.
Contact Steve Pollick at: spollick@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
Following the Fish map:
http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/pdf/TO587910.PDF
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040910/SPORTS08/40910007&SearchID=73186338365242
By STEVE POLLICK
BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
For the best of fishermen, autumn may well be the ideal time of year, especially to catch big fish.
That is because cooling weather and waters generally cause fish to put on the feedbag, laying up some reserves for winter, and because cooling water in some cases drives such warm-water baitfish as gizzard shad closer to shorelines, where pursuing gamefish such as walleye are more accessible.
Too, much of the general fishing population — not to mention recreational boaters — have called it a season and left prime waters to the diehards. Following is a summary of what to look for in the region between now and when the last boat is pulled.
LAKE ERIE
Walleye: Good walleye fishing is under way right now for trollers in the western end of Lake Erie in just 15 to 25 feet of water, which means fairly nearshore fishing well inside of West Sister Island and as close as the Toledo Water Intake.
The fishery should stand up well into November, as the supply of baitfish — gizzard shad and emerald shiners — appears to be good.
But the Big Deal for walleye likely will begin in earnest at month’s end, with trolling well east of the Bass Islands/Kelleys Island, specifically from Ruggles Reef east to Vermilion and Lorain. Reports of seven- and eight-pound walleye already were coming in this week, and the fish should grow in size and number as more and more larger females return to the western basin to stage and feed over winter, before next spring’s spawning.
"The later it gets, the better it gets," said Travis Hartman, a Lake Erie biologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. "It’s mostly a crankbait bite." Nearshore waters 30 feet deep or less are targets for such trolled baits as Reef Runners, Rattlin’ Rogues and Husky Jerks.
An after-dark fishery also is popular for those who know how, as shad move inshore to find warmer water, and the big walleyes follow them in. A bite will develop on the Huron pier too, including casting crankbaits after dark. Hartman noted, however, that the night pier-fishing has been inconsistent at best since the mid 1990s.
The big female walleye, tagging studies show, have spent the months since post-spawn in May moseying off to Buffalo, following preferred cooler water temperatures and big schools of another popular baitfish, smelt. Now they are on the return side of the annual loop. "They’ll be at the sandbar — northwest of Lorain, northeast of Vermilion, about five or six miles offshore — by the end of the month," Hartman noted.
The biologist said tagging studies have shown the fish that spawn in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers and on Erie’s western basin reefs wander as far as Buffalo and up to Saginaw Bay.
Smallmouth bass: These prized gamefish tend to move inshore in fall and put on a feed for winter, which is good news for smallie fans, many of whom had less than memorable summers fishing for them in 2004.
Hartman suggests the east side of Kelleys, West Reef and the slot between Middle Bass and Sugar islands as possible hunting grounds for smallies this fall. Target the waters 20 feet deep or shallower with tube jigs or drop-shot rigs with goby-colored, four-inch plastic worms or goby imitations. Smallmouths examined by biologists have been feeding more heavily on gobies than traditional crawdads.
Watch for a stretch of calm weather and clear water for best fall smallmouth action.
Yellow perch: Lake Erie is not lacking for numbers of yellow perch, but many complaints have been aired lakewide this summer about small size.
Hartman said that is because of several big year-classes just coming into their own, all of which far outnumber the larger, more preferred "jumbo" perch that are older but fewer in number.
So put up with sorting for your limit of 30 perch, knowing that the smaller throwbacks will be fish- fry-ready in the next year or two. Bigger fish tend to show up more in late September into October, Hartman said, because they may school up together moreso than earlier, and it is easier to locate a pod of consistently bigger fish as they follow emerald shiner schools.
Choice perching sites include the Marblehead area, C-Can, West Sister Island, the Toledo Ship Channel from the Toledo Harbor Light to the Turn-Around Buoy, and the Toledo Water Intake and "Gravel Pit."
Steelhead trout: Discussed in detail here last week, steelie anglers should be in for another very good season, starting now with trolling off river mouths and casting from beaches and pierheads. As fall progresses and the fish run upstream, anglers will switch to fly-fishing tackle or drifting spawn bags in the streams.
The Vermilion River is the nearest "target" river for steelies, with most steelhead-stocked streams lying from Cleveland on east. Any Lake Erie tributary, including the Maumee River and its downtown tributary, Swan Creek, will have a run of some strays, however.
INLAND
Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2, makes these picks for good fall fishing:
Yellow perch: Findlay Reservoir No. 1 and, to a lesser extent, Reservoir No 2; Ferguson Reservoir near Lima and Willard Reservoir near Willard. Look for some white bass and a "mix of crappies" as well at Findlay No. 1.
Channel catfish: All the region’s upground municipal water-supply reservoirs, and area rivers and streams.
Walleye, saugeye: Try trolling with worm harnesses or drifting jigs and leeches in Findlay No. 1 or 2 for walleye, and Lima Lake at Lima and Veterans Memorial Reservoir at Fostoria for saugeye. Crankbaits such as the various Rapala models also may work well.
Largemouth bass, bluegill: All lakes and ponds at the various state wildlife areas. Fall also is an excellent time to fish for trophy keeper ‘gills, 9˝-inches or larger, at the Lake La Su An lakes in Williams County, plus plentiful catch-and-release bass that are governed by slot or length limits.
In-stream impoundments in the Mansfield area also are good choices for a short fishing trip. Try Clear Fork reservoir for bass and muskellunge, Pleasant Hill reservoir for bass, and Charles Mill Reservoir for bass and hybrid striped bass.
And if stream water levels remain decent, smallmouth bass and crappie can provide some moving-water action. The Maumee, Sandusky and Auglaize rivers all are worth a try.
Last and not least, many of the fine lakes in southeast Michigan’s Irish Hills region in northern Lenawee County provide excllent fall bass fishing.
An excellent guide to these fishing venues is available free from the Ohio Division of Wildlife by calling toll-free, 1-800-WILDLIFE. Ask for Publication 77, "Public Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Viewing Areas."
Note to readers: This is the last Following the Fish installment for the 2004 season; it will resume on Fridays in the spring. Look for Steve Pollick’s regular columns on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday through the winter. A selection of Following the Fish pages from this season can be viewed at www.toledoblade.com/outdoors.
Contact Steve Pollick at: spollick@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
Following the Fish map:
http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/pdf/TO587910.PDF
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040910/SPORTS08/40910007&SearchID=73186338365242