Blade Fishing Report: Perch fishing throttling back

9/6/2018

A mess of jumbo-size yellow perch, with a pair of walleye at left, taken on a Lake Erie trip.

■ Lake Erie/perch: The perch fishing bonanza that had been taking place over the last month of summer throttled back a bit over the past week, but the pros at Netcraft report that good limits are still out there for the taking. They recommend fishing southwest of Green Island in 25-30 feet of water, or trying the waters around “F” can in 22-24 foot depths. There have also been limits taken in the area around the Toledo Harbor Light, and near the “G” and “B” cans. The highly reliable approach for Lake Erie yellow perch calls for using weighted spreaders fished on the bottom and tipped with shiner minnows or golden shiners.

■ Lake Erie/walleye/bass: The best fishing in the western end of the lake has been found off Huron, near the area known as the dumping ground. The crew at Netcraft reports that walleye are smacking spoons rigged on Tru-Trip 40’s fished 65-80 feet back at 2.2 to 2.5 miles per hour. Fish are also being taken near the south end of the dumping ground on harnesses tipped with nightcrawlers, with three-quarter ounce to one-ounce weights and gold blades. The largemouth bass anglers have hit plenty of action near the mouth of the Portage River and in East and West harbors. The best results have come from wacky rigs. The smallmouth fishing has been good around Kelleys Island, with fish in 8-20 feet of water taking tubes and drop-shot rigs.

■ Maumee River: The waterway continues to serve up catfish for anglers working the early mornings and late evenings, and focusing their efforts on the bottom near the deeper holes in the sections around the Rossford Marina and Orleans Park. In the Buttonwood and Jerome Road portions of the river, resident smallmouth bass are hitting small spinners and imitation crayfish and minnow lures.

■ Irish Hills: A challenging summer of fishing slogs on in many of the waters of this normally productive group of lakes in southeast Michigan. Bluegill anglers on Wamplers Lake and Devils Lake have encountered spotty fishing in recent days, both in the deeper water haunts of late summer, and in the shallow, nearshore areas. Live crickets or worms fished under a float are still the best bet in the shallow water, while a heavy weight placed below the bait replaces the float in the deep water fishing rig.

■ College tournament: The YETI FLW College Fishing on Lake Erie event takes place Saturday, based out of the Shelby Street Public Boat Launch in Sandusky. The Berkley sponsored event is the third and final regular-season tournament for college anglers competing in the Northern Conference. They will compete for a top prize of a $2,000 scholarship and an invitation to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship. The start takes place at 7 a.m., with the weigh-in scheduled for 3 p.m. at the boat launch. The takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

■ North Branch Boys: The club’s 2018-19 season gets rolling with a gathering on Wednesday evening at the Toledo Zoo’s Administration Building (formerly Frank Unkle’s Restaurant), located at 2605 Broadway St. The program for this meeting includes an in-depth report on the reintroduction of Lake Sturgeon into the Maumee River. The social hour starts at 6 p.m. with a brief business meeting at 7 p.m., and the sturgeon program to follow.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.