BY MARK CAHLIK

The casting bite has been on fire in Canada this past week. Many of the casting charters have been going north to get their fish. The best spot this week has been at the Wagon Wheel. Many limit catches and a nice grade of fish have been coming from there.

I know it’s a bit of a run, but the best grade of fish is still coming from the weather buoy and Vermillion, with a nice grade of fish being caught right now. They have been running 90 to 100 back with Tru-Trips and spoons or worm harnesses at average speeds, which have been 2 to 2.2 mph.

We did have a boat stay a bit closer to home. He was working the shallows around Kelley’s Island, trolling Dead Eye’s Eye Babies and was bringing in his boat limit for a couple of days. The Eye Babies have been killing as of late, catching some quality fish when they are being run. Don’t forget you can run these behind your 40 jets as well, just not Dipseys and 50 jets anymore.

Perch is still going strong almost a month later, which is normally a lot longer for this time of year. The window this time of year is normally only a couple of weeks until fall rolls in. Many people are taking advantage of this right now because they don’t know when the bite will shut down. The best spots still seem to be G can, D can, and Green Island. We are starting to get some reports coming in off the green can, off Catawba and north of Rattlesnake Island. The grade of fish being caught is still in the 9 to 11 in range. There are not a lot of small fish coming in this year. The normal spots have not shown up this year, like around Kelleys or Marblehead Lighthouse, which is normally hot spots for perch.

Catfishing from the shore right now is almost non-existent, and what is being caught is in deep waters only. Right now, due to the water temps, the shallows are just too warm. Boaters are still catching nice catfish, though. It should pick back up as the water temps cool as we get closer to fall again.