Bob Devine

Fishboy that is the sound of the sea. The whine and hum is part of downrigging and will, not like the others stated scare your fish. Enjoy your experience, I find the pop of a downrigger and the scream of a reel awesome!!

Rainbow fishing is heating up in the small fishing town of Wheatley. With the Big Boyz tournament slated for the next 2 wknds the bows have shown up and are biting and of course jumping! Good fishing is located about 6-8 miles SE of the marina in 57-61 FOW. Downriggers from 25-45 with hot colours being, Confusion, Watermelon, Geasy Chicken and Orange Crush. Dipeys are working too and are picking up bonus walleyes. 0 dipsey on #3 setting 85-135 back. LSC is giving up some good bags of bass mostly draggin tubes in 8-15 FOW. Water clarity will determine bait colour but look for rocks humps and weed patches on the slight breaklines. A Navionics chip will help lots for finding the breaklines. Musky fishing continues to improve from last yr with some big fish being caught. Try Woodies or Talonz Slashers in Perch, bass or Olive frog patterns for good results.

Clamp it, fortunatley and unfortunately my reports have been the same for the May and June. Limits of walleyes on Lake Erie from Colchester to Leamington so I have not post anything new. I will be fishing a mixed bag for the next 2 months as I will be chasing, bass, musky, steelhead and walleye on Lake Erie and LSC.

The murals look pretty cool. I used to swim a bunch as a teen in Midland bay. Probably be up that way in the next month to visit my sister in Penetang. I might even bring the boat!!

After chasing walleyes for most of the spring I got a chance last last few days to do some musky fishing. Despite a slow 2006 musky fishing is starting to pick up. For those that did not hear LSC and many other waters were hit with VHS virus that killed LOTS of muskies on LSC. In 2005 I was fortunate to boat over 200 muskies and last yr word spread that things were slow, I also got the bug to fish more steelhead out of Wheatley. Well anyways musky fishing is going decent again, not sure if or when we will see the double digits days of muskies again but hey many don't catch a musky in days of fishing other bodies. Now on with the report, I was fishing the Pike Creek to Puce River area in 10-14 FOW trolling Woodies and Talonz Slashers(www.fishall-lure.com) in Olive Frog and Perch patterns. Today we went 3-5 with the largest being a nice 47". For those looking to head this way during vacation time water temps are about 72 and the traffic on the water is light. Musky fishing should continue to be good with the stable weather upon us. And for those that enjoy silver bullet steelhead fishing, things around Wheatley to Erieau are starting to go good as well. And for those that enjoy a tasty meal of walleyes, the walleye fishing is still hot from Colchester to Leamington.

Try tossing some "hair jigs" to weed edges. On a recent trip to the Kawartha's we did well in 6-14 FOW. We also caught bass and muskies on the jig too. Good colours were, blk/red, blk/chrt and blk/org. 1/4 or 5-16 oz jigs. Good luck,

I run the Off Shore boards with the super snapper release OR-18 in front and the OR-16 red release on the back. Off Shore have a bunch of upgrades that make them very versatile. Last wknd while guid ea had 3 guys learn very quickly how easy to use in line boards are. Let put is this way they got plenty of practice setting boards and reeling in multiple fish.

I do have both Ont and Mich licenses but it is not necessary. That being said with the number of NE winds that we get in the spring it is worth the $35 for the Mich license. You can also purchase a 1 day Mich license that only costs $7, such a deal!!

Got out this morning with my wife for some fun fishing on the Detroit River. The jig bite is still going strong. We had a limit of walleyes by 10am. Nothing big but a great day on the water and the weather was very cooperative. Lake Erie walleyes continue to be going strong with limit catches from Colchester to Leamington. I have been running Northland Crawler harnesses with the baitfish image blades. Last weekend we went thru 120 worms and landed LOTS of walleyes. The steelhead are just starting to show up at Wheatley and Erieau and I am looking forward to some high flying excitement!!

Not sure what part of the western basin you are going to fish but here is my report from Colchester to Leamington. HOT HOT and HOT. I have been running Northland crawler harnesses with a #4 or 5 Rainbow blade. I have been fishing many different depths from 12-35 fow and doing well.

Here is a picture of Mark Kuliks boat that we were fishing in on Sunday on the Detroit River.

Thanks for the kind words Mark. It helps that you are one heck of a stick! I should have known when we hit the smallies on Simcoe that you would be on fish, but 2 minutes in and you and K-Dawg hooking a double header was a pleasant surprize. Timing is everything and the weather and walleyes cooperated with us. I also want to say thanks to Ken Masse who ran my boat as the camera boat.

Despite COLD weather the fishing is heating up on the Detroit River. Earlier in the week with a full moon, a gentle breeze and warm temps walleye fishing was doing very well. Strong winds and cold temps have not slowed the bite much. Went out today Arpil 6 and was greeted with a wind chill of 14 degrees and water temps cooling to 38 degrees, but it did not stop the walleyes from co-operating. It seems many of the larger fish are currently on the Ontario side of the Detroit River with smaller eaters thrown in. While on the Mich side many of those 18"-20" fish are being caught. Most are using chartruese colored jigs with a plastic minnow as a trailer.

I just put a new Minn Kota Maxxum Pro 80 US on my boat, replacing the Minn Kota 74 and the holes all lined up. You may have to check your connection? 12Volt VS 24Volt for your new Minn Kota. The plug should work, but you will probably have to get 24 volts to the motor. Not sure if you are switching from a Power Drive model to a cable drive. Your motor will be a bit heavy and awkward and would be best if you have some help. All hardware is included with your new Minn Kota. I have the lift assist and it is an ease to deploy and stow. If you are looking for a place to try that new motor the Detroit River is giving up some good catches of walleyes and you will put the new MK thru a workout. Have fun and go FISH !!

If you want drop me an email, I guide on Lake St. Clair-Erie and the Detroit River. The walleye bite is just starting and the perch bite can be good in the spring too. Not many fish perch on the river when we have such a great walleye fishery. [email protected]

Look at investing in some Reef Runners, a couple of good colours are, Eriedecscent, Cheap Sunglasses, Cht/Wonderbread, and Purple Demon. Buy both deep diver and rip sticks http://www.reefrunner.com/html/minnow_bait_colors.html

I would suggest contacting Brian Berriault from Back Water Tackle about your questions. He not only owns Back Water he guides for a variety of species. www.backwatertackle.com

I have used basic and the more advanced units and it is a choice you will have to make on your own. The extras are good for certain applications and not necessary for others. For years I used a basic Minn Kota cable motor and it worked fine. I do belive Minn Kota makes a unit that is dependable and durable. The new Minn Kota Terrova looks cool but the Minn Kota Maxxum is more for what I do. I have added an engine mounted Minn Kota for slow trolling and have really enjoyed it. Silent and powerful enough for shallow water and open water use. Good luck with your choices,

For those in the K-W area Fsihing Fanatics Tackle store opens this wknd at: 464 Albert St Waterloo Ont Mon-Wed 9-6 Thurs-Fri 9-9 Sat 9-6 -Sun 10-5 519 885-2220 Check it out http://www.fishingfanatics.ca/index.php?page=2

Although musky fishing was tougher in 2006 we did manage to catch some good ones.

When it is warm and sunny my wife enjoys fishing too!

I have 2 manual inflatable PFD's listed in the classified for sale.

I have used them on Erie for walleyes. There are 2 models a stretch model and a fatter style model. Both worked well but they pull hard and dive deep. Most of the dealers here in the SW carried them. I will look at a few shops.

Bob, I will be there next wknd, headed to Lansing for the MMA banquet Sat. For those interested many know the great sales Bass Pro has on during their 10 day Spring Classic. It is only 3 hrs west of Toronto to Windsor and from Windsor another 35 minutes once you cross the tunnel. Many say that the price of equipment is cheaper in the USA with a better selection. Now is the chance to check it out. As Bob Sr said seminars from some great anglers. If you can make it I am sure you will enjoy it. The wknd of Mar 9 10 11 there will be product reps from many of the big names in the fishing world. You can check the Bass Pro website for who is going to be there and what seminars would interest you, Some sales will NOT be listed but they do have "BLUE" light (not beer) specials during this great event. Hope to see a few there the wknd of Mar 9-11.

I used a Humminbird 987 SI last yr with the Side Imaging and was very happy with it. The screen on the Humminbirds can be seen at all angles and with polarized glasses on. The SI units are neat and can be very helpful for locating structure. Good luck with your decision,