The forecast wasn’t looking great really great for any days this weekend.
I decided yesterday looked to have the most promise, so off I went. With the forecast showing a north wind, I decided to try my luck off the Turkey Point and Normandale areas. I put my lines in at around 9:30 and worked that area until around 1:00 pm. Other than one little peck at one of my body baits - NADA!
Always anxious to avoid a skunk
, I decided to hop across the bay and visit the Bluff Bar. I set up my lines out in the open part of the bay to troll Into the area behind the bar and never even made it into the sheltered area behind the bar before my cross-bay trek was rewarded. 
The north wind 
picked up all afternoon but it was nice behind the bar with the shallow water breaking all the big waves.
I was flat-lining my ”go to” Berkley Hit Stik 15 body baits at between 3.8 to 4.5 mph (by GPS) with 65 lb braid 165 ft back. Most of the action happened in around 17.5 to 18 FOW, but a few struck a little shallower as I inadvertently passed over a shallow spot on the bar just as the bottom dropped off rather rapidly. From about 2:15 to 4:30 pm, I managed to get 5 in the boat in total. One other healthy specimen ripped the middle treble and split ring off the bait
when he was still about 90 feet back from the boat. He got an iron supplement 
to go with whatever else he’s been gulping for dinner.
The biggest was another personal best for me for Erie northern. That one was 37 inches and 11lb/8oz. All the specimens, ranging from 25 inches up all had nice big bellies on them from their fall feed. No musky though so far this year. I have attached pictures of 4 of the 5. One of the mid-pack specimens didn’t get a pic as my 2nd rod went off while he was still in the net so he only got a quick measure and went back in the lake. That is the closest I’ve had to a double-header so far this fall for pike. I also attached photos of the two colour patterns of the Hit Sticks I was using. The perch pattern took the big fellah, the rainbow pattern took all the rest. The close up photo of the rainbow shows the empty eyelet where the ring and treble hook used to be. - along with an assortment of healthy bite marks. Those don’t seem to deter the next taker at all. Those hooks and rings shown on the baits are upgraded from stock. I found the originals a little flimsy after my first few pike encounters and one smallish musky broke bent and pulled a ring and treble just like the “one that got away” yesterday. I used Torpedo - size 2, 2X strong hooks and find they are still bending with the punishment from the bigger specimens. I think further tweaks are forthcoming.
Sorry about the picture quality of my posts. I need to find a way to mount my phone to free up my hands to get better ones on future posts.
.
I decided yesterday looked to have the most promise, so off I went. With the forecast showing a north wind, I decided to try my luck off the Turkey Point and Normandale areas. I put my lines in at around 9:30 and worked that area until around 1:00 pm. Other than one little peck at one of my body baits - NADA!Always anxious to avoid a skunk
, I decided to hop across the bay and visit the Bluff Bar. I set up my lines out in the open part of the bay to troll Into the area behind the bar and never even made it into the sheltered area behind the bar before my cross-bay trek was rewarded. The north wind picked up all afternoon but it was nice behind the bar with the shallow water breaking all the big waves. I was flat-lining my ”go to” Berkley Hit Stik 15 body baits at between 3.8 to 4.5 mph (by GPS) with 65 lb braid 165 ft back. Most of the action happened in around 17.5 to 18 FOW, but a few struck a little shallower as I inadvertently passed over a shallow spot on the bar just as the bottom dropped off rather rapidly. From about 2:15 to 4:30 pm, I managed to get 5 in the boat in total. One other healthy specimen ripped the middle treble and split ring off the bait
when he was still about 90 feet back from the boat. He got an iron supplement to go with whatever else he’s been gulping for dinner.The biggest was another personal best for me for Erie northern. That one was 37 inches and 11lb/8oz. All the specimens, ranging from 25 inches up all had nice big bellies on them from their fall feed. No musky though so far this year. I have attached pictures of 4 of the 5. One of the mid-pack specimens didn’t get a pic as my 2nd rod went off while he was still in the net so he only got a quick measure and went back in the lake. That is the closest I’ve had to a double-header so far this fall for pike. I also attached photos of the two colour patterns of the Hit Sticks I was using. The perch pattern took the big fellah, the rainbow pattern took all the rest. The close up photo of the rainbow shows the empty eyelet where the ring and treble hook used to be. - along with an assortment of healthy bite marks. Those don’t seem to deter the next taker at all. Those hooks and rings shown on the baits are upgraded from stock. I found the originals a little flimsy after my first few pike encounters and one smallish musky broke bent and pulled a ring and treble just like the “one that got away” yesterday. I used Torpedo - size 2, 2X strong hooks and find they are still bending with the punishment from the bigger specimens. I think further tweaks are forthcoming.
Sorry about the picture quality of my posts. I need to find a way to mount my phone to free up my hands to get better ones on future posts.
.
