September / October Update

Hello fishing friends,
Yellow Perch fishing in the Western Basin of Lake Erie has been very good. Aside from the storms that kept us at the dock in September and October we have had good success fishing the deeper water of 26 to 30ft of near West Sister Island and off the deeper reefs. Were using Mustad # 24 snelled hooks on Perch spreaders with two hooks. The key is to find just where the perch are and how close to the bottom they are? In many cases one crank off the bottom is not enough and three is two much. We will fish a spot for 30 minutes and if it doesn't produce we move and soon or a later you'll find just the right spot. We anchor off the transom and that seems to work better as the boat doesn't drift as much from port to starboard. We use minnows that are bagged fresh but dead usually goldies or shiners. Lots of fish caught in the 8 to 10 in range and some bigger and lots of smaller throw backs. Trips are still going out until the end of October, the Yellow Perch are very healthy. There have been a few Walleye caught on the Western Basin reefs but none caught trolling as the weeds are plentiful and snag our trolling lures. We do expect to see the Walleye return to the western basin to forage for the winter and prepare 4 spring spawn. Capt. Ron