Tiller

Good bite off Hamburg today, started in tight found good marks straight off the creek but the bite was slow scraped together 5. Took it offshore and straight out and the stacks were there. Bite was hot and heavy with nonstop marks in 46fow. 2,3,5oz bb spread best harnesses were a blue and pink and a purple and silver. Ended with a perfect box of 15-16” fish and tossed back probably another 10 up to 23”

Made it out yesterday afternoon, plan was to run the inshore 25-35 for eyes but following some intel that was sub par and considering the lake was exceptionally calm I had to take a crack at perch. Ran out to the fence in 62 endless biomass of smelt was out there with eyes stacked concentrated 40 down but also spread throughout the rest of the column. First spot lock with a jigging rap hooked 3 eyes in less then 5 minutes but only landing 1 @27”. Cruised around a little more but it looked bleak on the perch. Decided to switch to bbing harnesses, soon as the first rod got set landed a nice 25”. Blades in any combo of blue, silver and pink took 11 eyes all good size 23-25” post spawn hens with another 27” on a harness. Bb’s in 3 and 5oz. First good day bite of the year for me

I prefer going out of Hamburg for night eyes. Sp has some great spots aswell tho. I spot lock and fan cast the area for maximum of 5 minutes then make a small move to fan cast again, once you hit pound that area until they move. Hopefully getting the boat back this week from the shop, lake is a sheet of glass right now

Jig head 1/8 or 1/4oz, gotta keep it up I just straight reel them no need to jig. Could try inside the break walls maybe? I just wait for premo conditions due to my proximity

5/12- same program launched at 2am very cold and calm. Got right up in 4fow and immediately went to work, following the surfacers pounding them cast after cast. Several occasions hooking up 4-5 consecutive casts. Variety of paddle tails and flukes all colors worked but the star was a brown top grey body. The sun lit the sky and the bite faded. off to the perch grounds I went, first spot pure mud I booted out quick, next spot had some perch but the bite was tough, picked a few jumbos. Ran out to the fence in 62fow within 30 seconds coming off plane mega stack and they wanted to play. As fast as you could get it down mixed sizes from smalls to some tank jumbos. They started getting picky when I hit about 30, good enough and headed in about noon. Great way to celebrate my 28th birthday

Paddle tails, flukes any scented plastic of that nature works good. I use to wait for all the trollers to go home before starting to cast, don’t want to be in everyone’s way. Now I just head out after everyone left, bite remains strong till day light. Several years ago I landed eyes 17 casts in row that’s a record for me

Thanks I really appreciate that

Night bite has been off to a good start. 5/6- flat lining sticks in 4-6fow good steady action boxed our 2man in less 2.5 hours. 5/8- launched at 2am solo run, not another boat on the lake. Took advantage of the space by spot lock and casting plastics. Had 6 in the box within the first hour, did some catch and release after and ended up landing about 15 more in the next couple hours till the sun peaked. Lost about 8 and missed several hits aswell. 5fow was best

5/1 found them very close to where they were the previous outing. Bite was very finicky and they were moving after every hook up. Hard to stay over them. We boxed 30 in a few hours time, 2 coming in at 14.5” and one tipped the tape at a hair over 16. Chatter at the ramp was a lot of skunkings

40s

Fished yesterday 4/27, was looking like a bust till a late miracle happened. They were shallow, one of the largest schools I may have ever seen, size class was incredible with 3 over 14.5”. Good portion spawned out but still plenty tight skein. Boxed our 2 man in about 2 hours time.

Bite was slow off Hamburg yesterday. Picked away at small roaming pods. I know some people who did exceptional. I figure it depends on the school you find with the spawn almost being full swing. Couple week lull and it’ll heat back up again. Most guys switch over to eyes by then but the post spawn bite late may-June is phenomenal.

Sp

Fished today, found plenty of big schools but the bite was tough. I’d guess about 40% of the hens I caught today were spawned out. But I did get a 15.25” that was measured by the dec. ended with 25 in a solo half day trip. This is when heading east usually shines. Trying a different area tomorrow

Back out this morning first light, flat lake and a nice overcast. From yesterday not having another boat insight to the fleet finding us today. Everyone played nice and was catching a few. Took a little bit to get them going but we hammered them. Boxed our 100 by 830 and headed in

Eastern basin

Best time of the year is here boys, first trip out today 3 hours of searching and struck the jackpot. boxed our two man in less then 2 hours. Mostly sows few nice males in the mix. Should only get better from here

The day started off as the previous 2. Hours in and miles covered with 0 to show. Starting to question why I’m even trying. Ripping up new spots and areas I normally don’t look them, At about hour 7 when almost all hope was lost, coming off of a hump into a sand flat was a mega and they weren’t moving. Could easily have gotten my 50 but called it quits at 25. Landed 4 bonus eyes keeping 1 of them. They needed a little encouragement with a perch eye tipped on a buckshot spoon.

I talked to the Dec survey kids both days and they said no one is catching any perch and quite a few guys are targeting them. Things could change any day now tho. Ill be back at it again tomorrow trying off Hamburg

Over the last two days, I’ve put in over 16 hours, from silver creek to east of sp, depths from 40-78fow. For a total of 0 perch. Haven’t even bothered to drop a line anywhere. I’ve never seen this before

An ice maker was the best investment that I’ve made, bleeding those fish right on ice and making sure they stay packed to ensure freshness total night and day difference. I on average use 15lbs of ice in the cooler and haven’t bought a bag in the last three years. Getting back in late little too tired, they keep fine to process the day after.

Fished Saturday 9/27/25. Headed way east to avoid the eyes. Had a flurry first light of good size. That died out and took it offshore running thru countless spots and depths. Nothing going. Back inshore more west, handful of my milk run spots that were completely void. 1 last spot to check before heading in. jackpot 44-46fow. Size was excellent and the bite was steady. Picked 20 real quick and called it good enough. Hopefully these cold nights coming up start kicking it off. Seems a few weeks behind imo

Add in glow colored jigging raps especially in low light conditions. Can’t go wrong with spoons either. I’ve had great success with the og classics like silver, gold, copper kastmasters and Swedish pimples. Shiver minnows and moonshine jigging spoons. Aswell as my personal favorite perch spoon the buckshot. Colors like hot orange and yellows, golds and browns and smelt patterns. Modern day spoons made in tungsten help you get down faster when the school is hot producing faster limits. General weight range I’m shooting for is 1/4-3/8oz depending on how aggressive they are and conditions such as waves and currents. Light braid in the 2-6lb range with 15’ of 6lb fluro leader on a 4’ UL rod is my standard.

For perch on Erie I exclusively use the 5/16oz 2” jigging rap. Top colors year to year consistently being the gold/balck, silver/black, rainbow trout, and goby colored. With my best color which has taken more perch then all the other baits combined being the parrot colored blue/chartreuse. That day I was using the clown color which I normally don’t use very much.