Perch and Walleye Fishing in September

Walleye fishing has been hit and miss for me between Kelly's and Huron lately. One day I'll get them going and the very next day they don't want anything I throw at them. It gets frustrating, but they are out there. We are marking them, and on one day your buddies will get them running the same program you are, and you (or, I should say, "I") can't. 

Lately, I've been running Bandits and Deep Husky Jerks behind 2 and 3 oz inlines and snapweights. The 2oz inlines are running anywhere from 75 to 140 back, so there's no magic number to give you. The 3oz snapweights are being run 30/30 and 30/45 back. Meaning, I let 30 feet of line out, attach the snapweight, and then let out another 30-45 feet before attaching my Off Shore inline planer board.

Friends running the big boats are running dipsies off the corners of their boats with 2 and 3 settings 75-95 back with big spoons, and catching walleye. So, I've readied my dipsies and will have them in the boat for the next walleye trip on Saturday. Monday will be a short 4 hour perch trip, with the same group as I'll have out walleye fishing on Tuesday.

I've been getting a lot of emails asking me if the algae bloom has turned the walleye off? And, my reply is, "No, it's not".  We have had calm days where the bloom looks like thick pea soup on top of the water. But, guess what? We are catching walleye under that carpet of green. Many of us charter captains feel that the thick algae is giving the bait fish cover, or shade, to hide under and the walleye follow them under it.  So, if you find yourself fishing on a clam day, go find the thickest of that green goo and fish through it. Your baits will be swimming in clean water, while your boat gets filthy, but you will probably catch fish!

The perch bite has heated up and there are many schools of the little buggers east of the islands. There are many helpful people on the radio that will help you zero in on some biters. Just ask, and listen. Most will just give the middle numbers to their gps coordinates, which in reality is a square nautical mile, but once you're in that square mile, you can usually find where they are fishing. :)

I will be back out on the lake this Saturday to chase some walleye with a nice family. So, hopefully, this cold front will help the bite instead of doing what it usually does during a cold front. The water temps, the last time I was out, were at 76 degrees north of Cedar Point.  I'm hoping as the temps drop, those fish that have been moving in from the east will keep moving to the west, and want to eat. Fingers crossed!

I may go with smaller baits, and slow it down a little, if the regular program doesn't entice them. We have been running at 1.9-2.0mph with those crankbaits.

I'll try harder to keep up with my blog....there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day for me sometimes though. I just get plain old tired, and it's easy to just blow it off and go relax instead. 

So, until Saturday....enjoy the cooler weather!

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls