Jim and I ventured down the south shore of Lake Erie this morning. We arrived in a marina, and prepared to launch the boat in the dark. With the big lake out
of sight, we could hear the distinct wave crashing against the shore. Jim and I decided it would be best to take a look at the lake before launching the boat.
Winds were expected out of the north today, and waves weren't expected to be more than 1 to 3 feet. We drove the truck with boat still hooked up down a
dead end road toward the lake. With the headlights glaring off the lake, we could see some white caps and what looked to be 2 to 2 1/2 foot waves rolling in.
Now we had to make a decision. Either launch and fight the waves and hope it didn't get any worse, or head toward the river or north shore. Expecting the
waves might get higher as the morning wore on, we decided to cut our losses and head toward the Maumee River. Looking back now, we probably would have been
o.k. to go out of the south shore, because it never did pick up. I guess it's better to respect the big lake, than make a bad call and get caught in
something that could be a difficult position.
We finally made our way to Cullen Park off the mouth of the Maumee River around 7:15 am. We launched and decided to hit some of the marina's that lined the the main river. We also planned on hitting some of the extensive cover along the river edges. The problem with river fishing is that every piece of cover looks like it should hold fish. Which is far from the truth on the River. Although we didn't have all the necessary tackle for flipping and pitching, we managed with what we had in the boat.
The Maumee River near the mouth has a large shipping channel that runs 30 to 35 feet deep, with shallow edges, logs, rip rap, and railroad ties all along it's shores. Below is a photo looking up river as we motored along.
We started off in some of the marina's where boats are stored. Bites were sporadic, but we managed close to 30 bass for the time we were on the water. One bite stuck out more than the others. I felt my jig stop, and it appeared to have some weight on the end. I leaned back and put good hookset on it. It started to come in sideways like a stick, but still had a funny tug that I hadn't felt before. We could hardly believe our eyes as I pulled it aboard. I had caught someone's fishing rod and reel with a 15 inch largemouth still attached to it's hook alive. One of the guys who was sitting on shore in the marina said "I've seen it all now". Of-course he used some other expicit words that I can't mention in this post.
It was obvious that the fishing reel and pole had been in the water for some
time. It had zebra mussels all over it, and it was completely caked in slime. I'm figuring with the 6 to 8 foot of line that was still out gave the fish
enough room that it could still swim around and feed enough to survive. Maybe Cary from our board has been fishing the Maumee River. Cary did you lose a rod
and reel there too?
Jim and I managed some decent fish. We were only able to get bites on crankbaits, spinnerbait, and jigs. I was using HoosierHawger's homemade jigs and spiderjigs. Below is a photo of our biggest fish of the morning. It weighed in at 3 lbs. 11 ounces. It wasn't the type of day we had envisioned, but it certainly wasn't too bad of a back up plan.
We finally made our way to Cullen Park off the mouth of the Maumee River around 7:15 am. We launched and decided to hit some of the marina's that lined the the main river. We also planned on hitting some of the extensive cover along the river edges. The problem with river fishing is that every piece of cover looks like it should hold fish. Which is far from the truth on the River. Although we didn't have all the necessary tackle for flipping and pitching, we managed with what we had in the boat.
The Maumee River near the mouth has a large shipping channel that runs 30 to 35 feet deep, with shallow edges, logs, rip rap, and railroad ties all along it's shores. Below is a photo looking up river as we motored along.
We started off in some of the marina's where boats are stored. Bites were sporadic, but we managed close to 30 bass for the time we were on the water. One bite stuck out more than the others. I felt my jig stop, and it appeared to have some weight on the end. I leaned back and put good hookset on it. It started to come in sideways like a stick, but still had a funny tug that I hadn't felt before. We could hardly believe our eyes as I pulled it aboard. I had caught someone's fishing rod and reel with a 15 inch largemouth still attached to it's hook alive. One of the guys who was sitting on shore in the marina said "I've seen it all now". Of-course he used some other expicit words that I can't mention in this post.
It was obvious that the fishing reel and pole had been in the water for some
time. It had zebra mussels all over it, and it was completely caked in slime. I'm figuring with the 6 to 8 foot of line that was still out gave the fish
enough room that it could still swim around and feed enough to survive. Maybe Cary from our board has been fishing the Maumee River. Cary did you lose a rod
and reel there too?
Jim and I managed some decent fish. We were only able to get bites on crankbaits, spinnerbait, and jigs. I was using HoosierHawger's homemade jigs and spiderjigs. Below is a photo of our biggest fish of the morning. It weighed in at 3 lbs. 11 ounces. It wasn't the type of day we had envisioned, but it certainly wasn't too bad of a back up plan.
