By Mark Cahlik

Wonderful weather and great fishing is the topic of this week’s article. Finally, the sun is shining and the walleye have continued to bite just as good as they have all year. The whole Western Basin has been producing record amounts of walleye, and it doesn’t much matter whether you have been trolling or casting.

The hottest spot we have found lately has been between West Sister Island and Middle Sister Island. This is where we are usually fishing at this time of year. The numbers of pounds of walleye that anglers have been catching have been huge and this has been, by far, the best fishing in years.

I personally fished this past week and it was like the fishing days back in the 80’s — fast and furious with plenty of fish ready to bite at any given time.

There have been thousands of boats out on the lake and they have been drifting and casting. “Weapons,” the small spinner rigs tipped with a piece of nightcrawler, are still the best lure combination to be casting right now. After casting a spinner rig, allow for a 10 to 15 second count before starting to retrieve the lure.

Some days the walleye have been on the surface and sometimes they have been a little deeper. Don’t be afraid to vary your count. You can play with different variances of counts until the walleye start to bite. Even when the wind has been a fairly calm, a 1-ounce weight has been the most effective.

Trollers have had a great week, as well as the casters. Anywhere west of the “kidney” has been on fire this week bite wise. The “kidney” is on your charts so just pay attention to where you are and you will find it. Tru-Trips diving planers with Silver Streak spoons have continued to work best. When the winds have not cooperated, anglers have chosen to use “spoonszillas,” which are spoons with a small worm harness attached.

The nightcrawlers provide a little scent to entice the walleye into taking the hook. The spoonzillas help when the bite is a little slower than usual. You will want the Tru-trip and the spoonzillas to be around 50 to 90 feet behind the boat. Directly out in front of Cedar Point has proven to be a Mecca for trolling anglers.

The yellow perch have started to bite just west of Kelly’s Island and out at Carpenter’s Point, Lucy’s Point and Sugar Island. Golden minnows have been working well. We have heard of some guys catching yellow perch off the Old Bay Bridge with pieces of nightcrawlers as bait.

Catfish remain steady off the Old Bay Bridge, night or day. Anglers have been using a variety of different baits to lure the catfish in. Nightcrawlers, raw shrimp and manufactured catfish baits are all catching catfish.

It’s been great to see all the people and boats in and around Port Clinton lately. This has been a history-making season so far, which has been great for The Walleye Capital of the World.

To wrap up this week’s fishing report: Keep whackin’ and stackin’ ‘em and we will keep cleaning them for you. Be safe out there and don’t forget to relax and have a little fun.