Lake Arthur 8/21/15

Hit Arthur Firday night.  Got there around 4pm and the lake was thick with boats.  But by midnight we were pretty much the only boat on the 422 side of the lake.  Turns out is was fricking 58 degrees.  Everyone was a bit smarter than us I guess and left earlier.  Lake temp was 80 down to a balmy 78.  
 
The finger side of the 422 bridge is pretty much clogged with weeds.  Tons of them.  Lake is pea green, a bit high, a bit muddy.  So pretty much typical late summer lake conditions.  For some reason the perch had lockjaw.  I can pretty much catch perch on Arthur in a blizzard/hurricane while fighting yetis.  But not this trip.  Channels were chewing at least, which is pretty normal also.  Nothing bragging sized, biggest maybe 5lbs.  Threw the net a few times, and the only alewives were 3" minnows.  Also netted a half dozen gizzard shad, which were 6-9" maybe.  Nice baits.  Only one bullhead, which is weird.  They are usually thick after sun down.  Saw some wipers crashing but didn't have any takers.  Then again, we didn't move around trying to get them to bite, being lazy pontoon types.  
 
Decent trip, beats driving 3 hours to Erie.  (round trip)

Couldn't say.  Spent the week in Reno at a wedding which killed a couple weeks of fishing for me.  Based on the recent weather, I'd guess it hasn't changed much.  Couple more weeks of cooling temps before the weeds and algae die off enough to notice.  But again, that is guesswork, not firsthand knowledge.  Porktown's usually out that way more often, but I hear his work is making him WORK.  That's some BS there.  :(
 
Next week's trip to the DE bay just got cancelled (stupid wind) deciding between Erie and Arthur for next Friday.  If I hit Arthur I'll let you know then.

Anyone out there have a recent water temp?

They changed tomorrow's weather from cold + rain + wind to just cold + wind.  14mph wind on Arthur is manageable... sometimes.  Depends on where the wind is from and where you try to fish.  I can tell you anchoring a pontoon in that nonsense wind on Arthur which is mostly mud bottom is a nightmare.  You are really forced to fish the fingers way back in there.  It's a shame too, because the perch are hangry in the fall.  No nibbling involved.  

Not a fan of the wind while fishing either.  Every so often it works to my advantage.  Sometimes the fish are hiding in the same cove or back side of a point where I am hiding.  Other times the wind gives the perfect drift across some sort of structure that they are hiding.  Most of the time, it is me dropping F bombs at it, for pushing me into a thick weed bed, make it impossible to keep the line tight, or just plain out annoying.  If it weren't for Winter around the corner, this would be my favorite time of the year.  I'll have to give Spring the nod there.  If fish would cooperate more in the Summer, I'd be all for it.  
 
That said, cold + wind, seems to cool the water quicker, and get it to those temps we are looking for.  I think once this wind lays down our entire regional fishing reports are going to warm up a good bit.  2-3 weeks from now, I expect all of the bozos to head up and join the circus (other good guys too), while the rest of us enjoy some elbow room and some hungry pan fish, hopefully some other larger hungry fish too.  Nothing like guys heading into the woods with deer urine on them too, to give even more elbow room!

Current lake temp 65 degrees in the shallow areas.  Per a friend that muskie fishes 4 or 5 days a week there.  

crawlerman2,   A couple of friends of mine have been doing well on wipers all summer at Arthur. They were there this past Thur. fishing from a boat in that wind & caught 10 hybrids between them from 8am -6 pm along with some Bass & channels. they go mostly in the daylight & usually get at least 3-4 wipers between them. I don't fish for them so I don't know if that is good or not but it sounds good to me.Also they said that there were only a few guys where they were fishing.  sam

I would think that fish that fight that hard would be subject to a lot of stress in warmer water,I would imagaine that holds true for Musky also.  sam

Took a vacation day yesterday. Thought that I'd rip into them. Not the case. Started around 7:30 looking for wipers. Got a largemouth while father in law got a small wiper. Had a few nice hits, but didn't hold on. Around 10, figured that I'd focus efforts on perch, in a spot that I'd did rather well at this time last year. Couldn't find them at all. The wind picked up, so if they were hitting light, I couldn't detect them. Got a few small largemouth in the process. Figured that I'd go back to the wipers. Was able to get one 15"er, and nothing else for an hour. So tried the perch again in a different spot. This one was in some wind cover, that I had success in the past. Again some small largemouth and a gill. I did have some light hits, that could have been perch sucking on them and spitting. When I changed to hooking in the back to help hook up with the light hits, they seemed to stop. Figured that 10 hours was enough, and called it quits. Maybe 8 small fish in 10 hours. Nice day to be off work, but fishing is not Fall pattern for me yet. Will be soon. Temps ranged from 64-68, per my sonar. Pea soup water as noted.