Wrapped up my 2017 fishing season with one last trip to the Hot Ponds in Monroe. Met Dan aka ( Hollada) at the ramp and we headed out. Erie was almost calm but the water looked like Chocolate Milk. Good thing is the fish in the ponds don't seem to care. Got to the entrance and started tossing crankbaits. There was not a lot of current and the water was 61 degrees. Didn't get a bite so we headed further in. Got a couple short fish as we went along. We finally caught 2 a little over 4 pounds on a stretch we had did good on a couple weeks ago. We decided to put them in the live well and see what our best 5 would be. Later in the morning I noticed the current had picked up and the water was 63 degrees. We ran way up to a current break and fished in one spot for probably 30 minutes catching a fish almost every cast. When that slowed down we decided to work back down to finish the day. Dan picked up a couple on a Shaky Head so I started tossing a Texas Rig Ugly Otter. We had pretty steady action for the next hour. Even added a couple to the live well. We got back to the entrance and noticed the East wind had picked up and Erie was rolling pretty good. We weighed the 5 we had at 18.6 pounds and tossed them back. No idea how many fish we caught all day but it was a lot. Battened everything down and headed back to the ramp. Erie was a rough dirty mess. We were entertained all day by the Bald Eagles that spend the winter there. Great way to end the season. Unloaded the boat last night and will shrink wrap it today. Going to have to contend with a couple month of Florida fishing before spring.
See everyone in May.
Steve Smith
I wish it was that good for us last Sunday. It's sucked LOL.
Dan heard that but I didn't believe it. All our fish were On the bank. I swear some were on Dry Land when we hooked them. Wish we had started Flipping earlier. That was a blast. They would pick it up and not drop it.
Nice report. I am going to have to get in there one of these days.
The water was much muddier when we went... 4in deep is all you could see. :'(
I think they just liked hanging around my Ranger. :)
Next time, I'll fish from the back of it. ;D
It was amazing how tight to the bank you had to be to get bit. Thanks to Steve for saving me $50 by retrieving my hung lures! Although I do still need to buy some of that magic color he had.
I tried various bladebaits In deeper water away from shore, but no takers.
We had maybe a half foot vis, but didn't matter, cranks and beavers tossed into the snags on shore was the ticket.
One of these days I'm going to get down there.
It is an Amazing Place. To safely get in there you have to go straight out from Bolles Harbor about a mile then go North about a mile. Then you turn West to head in. When we turned the water was 39 degrees. As you approach the water temp starts to rise and you see quite a few Bald Eagles sitting in the trees. We usually stop at the mouth and fish there. There is current of warm water coming out. Shad and Silver Bass are jumping everywhere. There are a lot of Young Adult Eagles that don't have full color yet. Also many Mature Birds. This year the water is quite a bit higher than last year. The fish we caught both times have been right on the bank. Great memories to end the year with.
Hope you get there some day.
I miss not making it in there this year... I can sit here and imagine what it would have been like, I guess... ice fishing soon I think.