The Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch are biting along the Ohio shoreline, although emerging mayflies are slowing the action. White bass have moved into the Avon Point area and a unique bluegill bite has popped up in the Lorain Harbor area.
The Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch are biting along the Ohio shoreline, although emerging mayflies are slowing the action. White bass have moved into the Avon Point area and a unique bluegill bite has popped up in the Lorain Harbor area and along the Lake Erie shoreline around the docks and shallow rock piles. Inland anglers are doing well catching bass, catfish and walleye on area reservoirs.
The fish consumption advisories have been cancelled at Pymatuning Reservoir.
CLEVELAND AREA
Yellow perch are keeping anglers busy around Cleveland Harbor, with excellent perch fishing off Cleveland Browns Stadium in 42 feet of water. Anglers are catching a few jumbo perch and lots of smaller perch right now. The perch fishing is good from Huron to Cleveland in 38 to 44 feet of water, with the Cleveland and Lorain areas, especially off St. Anthonys on the west side of Lorain, some of the hot spots.
Jumbo perch are being caught in the 48 to 50 feet depths off Conneaut.
Walleye are biting from Huron to Fairport Harbor in 48 to 52 feet of water. Walleye are being caught from shallower water, where fishermen are also catching lots of white perch, sheepshead and white bass. Trolling anglers are catching walleye on spinner rigs and nightcrawlers, with pink-purple and a little chartreuse the top colors. Some walleye are being caught on spoons and diving plugs, especially Reef Runner lures. The best depth off Cleveland for walleye has been 65 to 70 feet.
The rock bass fishing has been very good around Cleveland Harbor casting small jigs with plastic trailers. Largemouth bass are hitting larger jigs with hair and rubber skirts and trailers, as well as plastic lizards. Black-purple jigs have been good, and green lizards.
INLAND LAKES, RESERVOIRS
The largemouth bass fishing is fair to very good on inland lakes, with anglers casting topwater lures early and late in the day, including buzz baits and frog lures. During the day, plastic worms cast to the weed edges and diving plugs casting around the rocky points. Mosquito, Nimisila and Turkeyfoot lakes have been good this week.
Mosquito Lake is still a hot spot for walleye, where jig-nightcrawler rigs cast to weed beds in 3 to 8 feet of water producing good catches. Some anglers are trolling Shad Raps and Hot-N-Tots around the south end of the lake on lead core line. Lots of small yellow perch and a few larger perch are being taken at Mosquito. Pymatuning anglers are taking walleye after dark on jig-nightcrawler rigs and casting diving plugs. Berlin Reservoir walleye are being caught while trolling Hot-N-Tots along the drop-offs in 15 to 20 feet of water.
Bluegills and catfish are biting everywhere. Some bluegills are still in the shallow bays after the spawning season. Catfish are taking traditional baits, from nightcrawlers to shrimp and chicken livers, with the bite best after the sun goes down. Good catfish lakes include Spencer and Mosquito.
Muskies and largemouth bass are being caught at Leesville Lake, as well as white bass.
WESTERN LAKE ERIE
The best walleye fishing has been north of Huron, close to the Canadian border. Schools of walleye are constantly on the move there, so look for the packs of boats trolling and casting for walleye in 43 to 45 feet of water. Good catches of walleye have been reported southeast of West Sister Island and east of Middle Sister Island along the Canadian border.
The yellow perch fishing has been erratic, but some good catches are reported off the Marblehead Peninsula and around Kelleys and Green islands. The jumbo perch caught earlier in the year are getting harder to find.
FISHING TOURNAMENTS, DERBIES
Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit/Eastern Division (Lake Erie at Sandusky): 1. Ben Sobieray and Craig Gushow (Midland, Mich.); 76.10 pounds; 2. Mike Knippenberg (Hiram, Ohio) and Ryan Buddie (Lakewood), 75.50 pounds, $5,900; 3. Conrad Grubbs (Roulette, Pa.) and Jamie Grubbs (Sheffield, Pa.), 71.77 pounds, $3,800. Big Walleye: Mark Brumbaugh (Arcanum, Ohio) and Mike Gofron (Antioch, Ill.), 11.9 pounds.