19-24 Sept 2020: The water temperature started off at 67 deg. and the air Temperature was 65 deg.  It was sunny with the Wind at 11-15 from the NW.  We started fishing North and East of Kelley’s Island with the water slightly stained.  We let out 50 ft. of line, attached a 2 oz. weight and let out an additional 65-95 foot of 10 lb. mono.  The average trolling speed was 2.0 mph.  The largest fish measured 25” on the first day.  The Blue Chrome Deep Bandit was the hot lure for all five fishing days with this group.

Fishing was a bit slow with a total of 11 fish in the well on the 19th.  We caught the first fish at 10:40 and finished at 5:45 catching the last three fish on Top 20 Lures.

Going into the next few days we let out more line on a few rods and changed up the speed from 1.8 to 2.4 and added stop and goes which triggered a couple more bites.  Blue Chrome Bandits continued to be productive along with purple, pink, and chartreuse colors.

We continued to move around and look for active fish,  We went out 6 miles East of Kelley’s Island and near the Canadian border just North East of Kelley’s.  The last day most fish were caught on Top 20 Lures.  The water temp maintained a steady temperature between 66-68 deg. with the barometric pressure at 29.99.  We ended up with a total of 51 Walleye for the first group.

  25-30 Sept 2020: The second group of 5 started fishing on the 25th and caught a nice limit of 30 walleye.  We started off trolling near Middle Island and started catching fish right away,  We later moved North East of Kelley’s and fished south towards Kelley’s Island and continued to catch fish all day in the sun.  Blue Chrome Bandits and Purple with Pink Top 20’s worked well.  We fished in 40-43 foot of water with fish suspended at depths from 27 to 39 foot. We made S-Turns and trolled from 1.9 to 2.2 mph.  The biggest fish of the day measured 25 ½”.  The water temp was 67-68 deg.

The next couple of days were windy and made fishing a bit tougher with Blue Chrome Bandits and Pink Lemonade Top 20’s being the most productive.  On the fourth day the weather was a little better and all the morning fish were caught on Blue and Black Chrome, and Sunspot Bandits.  All of the afternoon fish were caught on Black Chrome, Purple, and Pink Top 20’s.  The last day we let out more line and trolled at 2.2 mph.  Water temp stayed at 67 deg.  Clear Bandits and the Black, Chrome, Pink, and Purple Top 20’s were the productive lures.  A 26 ¼“walleye was the biggest for the group and a total of 87 Walleye were caught.

  1-6 Oct 2020:   It was too windy to fish when the third group showed up. It was cold and windy when we headed to Kelley’s Shoal and East of Kelley’s on the next day.  It was partly cloudy and the cold winds came from the South West at 11-14 mph.  The water temp dropped to 63.8 deg. All but the last two fish were caught on mostly clear and light colored Bandits.  Once again the day ended with Purple and Pink Top 20’s catching fish.  We let out 50 ft. of line, attached a 2 oz. weight and let out an additional 110-140 foot of 10 lb. mono.  We started in 42-43 foot of water and ended the day fishing closer to the reefs in 28-33 foot of water.

The cold front continued the next day with the air temp at 48 deg. and the water temp started at 62.7 deg.  The fishing got tough and it continued to be windy and cloudy with a West wind at 10-11 mph.  The fish were caught on multiple colored Bandits.  The last day for the group was the most productive with a nice limit of Walleye mostly caught on Bandits near Kelley’s Shoal.  The group had a triple and also caught a nice Steelhead.   The largest walleye was a 24” and many 22 and 23 inch fish were caught.  A total of 46 walleye were kept for the four days of fishing.

  7-12 Oct 2020:  Once again it was too windy to fish on the first day when the fourth group showed up. The water temp dropped down to 60 deg.  On the next day we fished near Kelley’s and only landed 5 Walleye using Clear, Purple Mist, and Red Head Bandits along with Marvin Top 20’s.  The most productive trolling speed was from 2.2 to 2.5 with 100 to 130 foot of line out.  Fishing picked up a bit on the fourth day,  We trolled in the North Bass chute with the waves using Traffic Light Bandits which were the main lure of choice.  The barometric pressure stayed between 29.87 and 30.14.  The last day most of the fish were caught on Clear and Pink Lemonade Top 20’s.  The water temp only came up to 61 deg. while the fourth group fished.  This was the toughest week with a lot of wind and a total of only 31 Walleye being landed.  The largest fish was a 29 ½” Walleye.

  13-18 Oct 2020:  When the fifth group arrived on the first day the wind continued to blow and we stayed ashore.  When we went out the next day it was partly cloudy and 55 deg. outside and the water temp was 60-61 deg. with the winds out of the North West.  Fishing remained tough on the second day with only a few fish getting landed.  We attempted to fish in 16+ mph. winds near North Bass Island on the third day and decided to head back in early.

The 16th and 17th continued to be windy and the Barometric Pressure came up a bit to 30.3 and the fishing on North Bass Reef improved with 33 fish getting landed the last two days.  We let out 120-140 foot of line with no weights.  We trolled with the waves going 1.7 to 2.4 mph.  Khaki, Traffic light, and Maddie Special Bandits along with Clear, Pink Lemonade, Black, and Purple Top 20’s were the hot lures.  The largest Walleye was 26” with a total of 36 Walleye.   

  19-23 Oct 2020:  When the last group arrived the water temp continued to drop a bit to 56.9 deg.  The air temp was 48 deg.  It was cloudy and rainy with a 9 mph. wind from the North East.  For the last group the barometric pressure stayed above 30.0 except for one day at 29.97.  We started the morning off fishing shallow from 17-22 foot of water letting out 50-100 foot of line.  In the afternoon the fish were suspended a bit deeper so we let out 110-130 foot of line.  Bandit colors were: Traffic Light, Maddie Special, Green, Chrome Black, and Sandstorm. Top 20 colors were: Clear, Pink Squirrel, Black, and Purple.

The fishing improved tremendously for the last group.  We fished all five days near North Bass Island.  We caught 22 fish on the first day trolling a steady 2.2 mph.  The second day was windy with high waves and the fishing slowed down.  The last three days continued to be windy and the fishing was great and we had a new record with 5 fish on at one time.  We had plenty of doubles with limits on all the last three days.  Additional colors of Bandits used were Chrome, Black Chrome, Huff Daddy, Electric Zebra, Cheap Sunglasses, Rave, and Reflection.  Some additional Top 20 colors were Sunrise, Purple &Clear, and Marvin.  The last few days we continued to let out from 110-150 foot of line, trolling 1.8 to 3.0 mph with the waves.  The largest Walleye was 24 ½” and the group kept 104 Walleye for the 5 days of fishing.