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