J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

I’ve been out twice since the water has gotten colder. The first time was Oct. 4th water was 62 a ten degree drop since the week before. I trolled for about 3&1/2 hours in the evening and was skunked. Saw zero fish on the screen. They just weren’t here yet.

Went out yesterday afternoon/evening (10/22). Hit the water at 4:45, air temp 68 water at 54. Headed out to 32ft of water to start a westerly troll. Was marking a lot of bait fish but no eyes. This was encouraging because last time out the screen stayed empty of all life. Went about 2&1/2 miles west then made the turn to head back east. Just after sunset. A mile into my troll back the other direction. The port side rod bent over in a way that said it’s either snagged or that’s a good one. Realizing quickly that my 15ft diving flicker shad wouldn’t snag the bottom in 36ft of water it was FISH ON!! I had a ton of line out. I tend to add line out on the rods if the action is slow. And it had been really slow. After a good bit of reeling. Enough that my arms were tired I landed a beauty. 24” and 5lbs 8oz.

Invigorated by the thought of the night bite getting hot I continued east. After dark the fish showed up. On the graph at least.🤦🏻‍♂️ I wasn’t able to get anymore to play but from straight out of the Edge water launch to passed the mouth of the Cuyahoga River my finder screen stayed full!! Stayed on the water till 9:00. Spoke with 2 other boats in the lot and they were both skunked. They also mentioned how many fish they were marking. The one guy said, “they must have been moving out of the way of our lures” there was 3 guys trolling 9 rods.

Had a great time as I always do when I’m out on the water. I’d say they water temp is right and the eyes will be in close to shore feeding for a while. Especially in the evening and at night. Just got to get out there when more of them are hungry!

Tight lines
J

View of my setup as I sit on the floor of the front deck.


Sun set on 10/4 Skunked trip


Sun set last night




Graph stayed this full or fuller after sunset.




Nice fish but only 5lbs and a half lbs. if it had some of the lead eggs guys catch them with he could have been 10lber easy 😂🤣😂🤣

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

One is better than none Jason. At least now you know what time they show up. Good luck on your next trip, and thanks for the pictures.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Very nice outing and story behind it all J! Super plump walleye and and the potential for what could have been many more had they turned on to feed! Your finder screen is jammed up with them! Way to take advantage of the opportunity to get out on the water before that crusty stuff begins to form!

J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

Thanks Fred! Hope to get out a bunch this fall. The ability to be at the launch in 10 min from my driveway has turned my focus to Eyes this year.
Tight lines
J

J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

Looks like I’ll have a few more days before that dreaded frozen stuff shows up.🤞🏻🤞🏻 Hopefully next time they are hungry.

Tight lines
J

Doug Lemmon Loc: Rochester Mills, PA

That'll make a couple nice fillets!! 😉

OJdidit Loc: Oak Creek Wisconsin

Nice eye, congrats and thanks for the pics!

CanePole Loc: Ohio

J in Cleveland, a buddy and I also were out fishing this weekend only for Small Mouth and it was tough at least for us. Spent Saturday probing for LM in the bay, east & west harbor's with not even a bite. Sunday we went out of Missouri ramp went out to the airport reef off of Kelly's and only picked up one smallmouth each about 2 lb. Water was warmer 53-54 but not many takers. Was eating breakfast at Boppers and heard 3 guys say they fished for eyes from 5:00pm till 11:00pm & they started getting bit around 7:00pm and finished with 9 fish 2 fish over 8 & 3 over 6 lbs . There never said where they were but they were more than satisfied. When we came back in around 1:30 Sunday I talked to a couple guy's that were fishing for eyes and they said they never had a bite. Good luck J.

J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

Wow sorry to hear you didn’t do more catching. I can’t remember a trip to the Bay that we didn’t catch any LM. Usually do really well in there. Best LM fishing on Erie usually.🤷🏻‍♂️. Couple nice days still coming I’m hoping to get out there again and hopefully they’ll be hungry.

Tight lines
J

J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

That fish fed my whole family with one fillet. The other I’ll be taking over to gramps this week.

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J

Papa Jack Loc: Indianapolis

24 inch walleye is awesome. That would be a PB for me.

J in Cleveland Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

He was 6oz and 4” less than my PB. The ones I’ve caught this year have been bigger that typical. Usually average about 2lbs I bet this year they’ve averaged 3 at least.

Tight lines
J

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Wow! that is a great photo of the fish finder screen. I have only seen that many fish except over a school of perch. Bait fish (herring) have blocked out my screen, but never arches like that. Totally awesome.

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Nice 👍

Buckeyepops Loc: COLUMBUS,ohio

Thanks for sharing!!