What a weird fishing year! Covid-19 has changed how we live our lives and added concerns for the future. On Saturday, August 1st, good friend Tracy Hayward and I headed to Port Clinton, Ohio with the Ranger 620 for a week of walleye fishing. This trip had been planned as a “make up” for not being able to go to Birch Lake, ON for our annual fly-in trip with pals Larry Hamlett and Mike Woods. Unfortunately, Larry needed to begin radiation treatments of a cancer discovery on a rib following the Covid delay of elective doctor visits while Mike’s older brother passed away a week before our planned departure. I had then invited Chris Speicher from Chicago to take a break from his bank manager work and join Tracy and I for a few days…all good, we thought. After the 8 plus hour drive from Cedar Rapids, Tracy and I settled in to our condo at Bays Edge for the week with high expectations. But Sunday’s weather was too windy to safely go out plus that afternoon and evening Tracy fell ill with a high temperature and spent Monday and Tuesday in bed–he was down for the count. He suggested I take our new condo neighbor friend, Tom Jones, out on the water Monday but when we got to the Lake, it was another rough, windy day. Tom, his wife Brenda and son Mason were staying the week even though their national long rifle shooting competition at Camp Perry had been canceled due to Covid. They enjoyed fishing off the deck of the condo for the variety of fish Mark Cahlik has stocked to entertain customers in between their Charter trips–all fish are catch and release. Tracy got to feeling better on Tuesday and Chris arrived Tuesday afternoon. I spent some hours Tuesday morning just “sightseeing” around Marblehead and driving over to Erie Outfitters to get their fishing report and look at some of the Hewes Craft and North River boats they sell. All reports were the walleyes were in a large group north and east of Kelly’s Island, along the US/Canada border toward the weather buoy. We were up early Wednesday morning and headed out for the nearly 13 mile run to the spot. We did not run as far as the weather buoy, another seven miles from where we started fishing on Wednesday. We were able to troll with the wind from west to east and started picking up fish! We ran Bandits, Salmo deep divers, and even tried the Fin-Wing spoons with a crawler harness for part of the day. The cranks ruled and we had our three person limit to bring back to Bays Edge Fish Cleaning. There were some Charters in the area but very few boats like ours. Both Thursday and Friday fishing continued in the same general area while the number of boats showing up to fish increased each day. We were fishing in 40+ feet of water with the fish marks from 25-35 feet down. We discovered the Rapala DH14’s Tracy brought were our ticket for catching the most fish–we ran those six baits all the same: 50 feet out, two ounce snap weight, the another 27 feet. That’s where our Precision Trolling app (you should buy this if you haven’t) said we needed to be to for a depth of 25 feet. I ran two shortie rods and one long rod off the back with the new Salmo FreeDiver 12SDR at around 130 feet back putting the baits around 30 feet down. We did catch some fish down deep but out best bites came on the Rapalas. Thursday was calm and we battled the bugs and flies to catch another three limits. However, Friday was a different day going out, fishing, and coming back to Mazurik boat ramp–I couldn’t go over 20mph in the waves or over 10mph when making our three trolling passes that day. We caught some nice fish, filled our 18 fish limit, and even had a double to finish up! The fish cleaning line at Bays Edge and uncertainty about when our fish would be ready meant Tracy and Chris cleaned our catch while I cleaned the Ranger and readied gear for the trip home Saturday. After eating out a couple nights, we decided to eat in with pizza delivery and try to relax after a day of bouncing around on the water. I want to thank Brenda Jones for fixing a nice meal for us Tuesday night and their new found friendship. I gave Mason and Tom each a new Walleye Wisdom hat to wear and we gave them some fresh walleye to take home to Wisconsin as a thank you for the Tuesday meal. I want to thank Tracy and Chris for their teamwork in the boat tending to the rods, Off-Shore planer boards, reeling in and netting the fish plus the loading gear chores so we could head home early Saturday morning! Yes, Covid-19 has changed everything about life and living. But even a few days on the water, particularly on Lake Erie, with family and friends can provide a needed break to our crazy world. We hope you enjoy the many fish pictures from the trip and thank Mike G. for posting on www.walleyewisdom.com!! Spike

Lake Erie Fishing Report August 1-8 by Gary Speicher, NPAA #128