Lake Erie Perch, Sturgeon Point Marina

[jimski2]

Sturgeon Point Marina is where several boats, 16 to 18 footers have been going out all winter on nice days . Catches of up to 90 nice Lake Erie perch are regularly caught quickly.

[lineman49]

A friend of mine told me his buddie went there & could not get his 16' across the sand bar at the entrance of the harbor. This was 2-3 weeks ago. I wonder how long it will be before the launches open up this year ? I would hope early due to the fact there is so little ice this year! I know last year Sturgeon Pt. didn't open until the 2nd week of walleye because it wasn't dredged. They should start now in m o.

[lineman49]

Anybody been out of sturgeon pt lately ? How is it getting over the sand bar? Could the Sm. boat harbor ramp be used without being ticketed now ? Thanks for any info.

[lineman49]

Friend of mine went out of Sturgeon Pt. Friday. He had no problem getting over the sand bar at the enterance. He marked lots of fish suspended but no takers for perch. Fished 20' - 62' fow.

[lineman49]

FYI , perch are being caught in front of Sturg. pt. 53 - 57 fow. I will be there in the am.!

[Don Supon]

Lineman49,

I'm in Niagara Falls and would like to try this perching! Will be out on Ontario this AM, but would like to speak with you and get some information about Sturgeon Point. Please contact me at [email protected] and give a phone number to contact you with. Hopeing to hear from you so can plan an excursion for Mon or Tues.

[jimski2]

Sturgeon Point is where the lake narrows down to about nine miles across to Point Abino in Canada from sixty miles across in Ohio. The perch at this time of year are heading to the East end of the lake where the prevailing winds stack warmer waters up first and the perch can do their spawning thing, 42 to 48 degree water temperatures. The shale bottom extends out to about fifty four foot of water where the mud bottom begins. The mud bottom is what the perch prefer as it holds the critters that perch like to eat but they will move in shallow soon to spawn on the hard bottom. Use your graph on the mud bottom and look for perch within five foot of the bottom. If you find depressions on the bottom, perch like them as the currents are lessened and the perch do not have to struggle to maintain their position as food can drift by for them to grab. Use your graph to find these honey holes, and watch the other boats who may be pulling fish in over the gunwale. Please do not anchor too close as you will tangle lines and anchor lines and nasty situations arise when this happens. Have no less anchor line than three times the depth of water to anchor up. If you are not catching after fifteen minutes, pull the anchor and do more searching. Use a lightweight anchor and you will find you can do more searching since pulling heavy anchors sort of slows down the searching mode. Power up to your anchor till it is straight up and save your back and shoulders. Drifting and electric motor slow trolling works somedays also.

For rigs I like a lightweight action rod with a small sinker on ten pound braid. I will use three #4 or #6 snelled hooks. The bottom hook is tied closely next to the sinker so as to have a minnow lying in the mud. This hook generally catches three times as many fish as the other two. They are directly tied to the braid with a palomar type knot to make a solid connection that really improves the sensitivity of your pole. Snaps and swivels have little gaps that do not conduct the light taps and crunching of your minnows by the perch. There are bait dealers on both sides of Route 5 that have minnows, Dave's in Derby and Weber's in Evans. I find I can do as well with frozen emeralds that we catch off Niagara Street in Buffalo and I freeze up a bucket full for use when the warm summer waters make bait hard to obtain. The taxeaters passed a law saying you can use three poles now, but the most successful guys use one and catch more fish and lose less bait. The oldtimers say to keep bait in the water and you keep the school of perch around your boat longer. You have to figure that out.

Ice your fish in a cooler, you can clean them tomorrow.

[Don Supon]

Jimski2

I appreciate the information you provided. Now I just have to find out if the launch areas are open into the lake. Thanks again!

[jimski2]

http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_for ... #msg525685

[lineman49]

Great info. Jimski, thanks you covered it all! We did 30 on Sat. very foggy . A couple of boats did over 100 they said. We were close ,but like you said we didn't over step their area. It amazes me how you can be so close & still get so few fish at times when the next boat is killing them! lol Jimski do you just freeze the minows or do you salt them first ? I fine that they get soft & mushy when I freeze them ? Thanks.

[jayjay]

Went out Sunday,late start. Fished noon till 6.A lot of boats about a mile straight out .We went pass them ant to the left ,picked up a few .Moved to some old spots on gps about 5 miles out and picked up 50 slobs,a few smaller ones mixed in .Only bout out there ,,the way I like it.Dipped our own minnows in harbor BE CAREFULLY LEAVING HARBOR ,,NASTY SAND BAR ,,,STAY PARELLEL TO SHORE FOR AT LEAST 150'.. WHEN COMING OUT OF HARBOR ...DON'T MAKE A HARD LEFT....... Action was steady ..no real frenzies...few doubles ,one triple ....now go get'em

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[jimski2]

Drain the minnows in your wife's spaghetti colander. Put a handful in a plastic ziplock bag. A tablespoon of salt will do, seal them up in another quart sized bag with a few more and put them in the freezer. Grab a bag or two when you go out and put them in a six pack cooler with ice or cold blocks and you are good to go next July and August. You can not use them in the trout streams as they are outside the travel corridor that is exempted along the Great Lakes.

[flybuster]

there dredging the harbor starting on friday, but i went out today in hanover they put all there docks in, spent most of the day screwing around with the new boat and electronics , ran down to sturgeon for maybe two hours picked up 14 little piggies

[Don Supon]

Fished all day Tuesday from Sturgeon with a partner. Moved a lot. A slow day for most out there. Kept a dozen 9-14 inchers and a 10 lb. channel cat. Hooked only 4 under 9 in. A beautiful weather day, dead flat water conditions. Saw a lot of fishermen returning the dinks.

[lineman49]

thanks Jimski