# East Harbor



## Bobofish

Has anyone checked on East Harbor for ice?


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## zero410

i was there yesterday.it was mostly iced over but not all of it.


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## TDD11

Reports on FB are that it is mostly ice covered but not ready yet.


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## DBV

Has to be getting close. Hopefully soon.


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## BFG

I would imagine the NNE winds have raised the water level in East Harbor. I can't imagine that's good for what ice is/was there.


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## Bobofish

Thanks for the update


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## Bucket Mouth

Any updates?


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## AtticaFish

I guess a couple people ventured out yesterday. From the information i got, they did not make it out from the kayak launch very far and thickest ice was 3.5" not far from shore. Reports are saying there was still some open water out in front of the shelter. I've been told there is a spring over that way. I know the weeds get thick in spots that direction also so have always avoided the area. Hope to have a better report by tomorrow afternoon.


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## DBV

I should be able to report tomorrow afternoon as well.


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## Derbyfreak230

I was out there this morning. I went out about 75 yards from the kayak ramp and had about 2.5 inches. There was a big section of open water about 100yds farther out heading towards the Pavilion


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## AtticaFish

Ice thickness reports are varying from the network of people i talk to (as usual and expected) so everyone please be safe and spud spud spud.

@DBV - If you are fishing tomorrow, send me a PM if you want and we might be able to share some info and find active fish easier.


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## thistubesforu

12 shanties when I checked it out around 4 today. None ventured too far from the kayak launch like previously stated. Had 3” right off the launch and talked to another guy there he said 3”-5” pending location. I didn’t fish was just scoping it out to possibly fish it tomorrow.


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## BFG

It'll be good to go for sure by early next week, provided we don't get a huge dump of snow with this coming storm. Remember guys....it's only 6' deep but that's over most of your heads.


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## Lil' Rob

I've only fished there a couple of times, but have done well enough to look forward to getting back. That's a 1.5 hour drive for me, so I'm hoping for some more good news as conditions hopefully improve.


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## Raeman70

Lil' Rob said:


> I've only fished there a couple of times, but have done well enough to look forward to getting back. That's a 1.5 hour drive for me, so I'm hoping for some more good news as conditions hopefully improve.


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## Raeman70

The sun has been pounding on it all day. Probably not much ice making going on today.


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## AtticaFish

Out here now. 3.5 to 4 inches ice till you get to the white ice line. 2 hits with the spud there and through. Slow bite. See some perch in buckets, nothing else though. I have a couple gills and a crappie. The bass are willing to bite though.









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## Treble

AtticaFish said:


> Out here now. 3.5 to 4 inches ice till you get to the white ice line. 2 hits with the spud there and through. Slow bite. See some perch in buckets, nothing else though. I have a couple gills and a crappie. The bass are willing to bite though.
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Sweet


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## Lil' Rob

AtticaFish said:


> Out here now. 3.5 to 4 inches ice till you get to the white ice line. 2 hits with the spud there and through. Slow bite. See some perch in buckets, nothing else though. I have a couple gills and a crappie. The bass are willing to bite though.
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Better to walk out from the boat launch or from the kayak launch?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk


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## AtticaFish

I was trying to type fast on the ice I guess.... I wrote that I saw perch and nothing else for some reason. Let me re-state that. It looked like most people were catching a few but no one seemed to be going gang busters. I had a nice variety and saw at least one giant perch caught. Could have spent a whole fun day just targeting the largemouth. They would come flying in when I used a lip less crank. Caught a couple nice ones and lost several as well. Lost a helluva crappie at the hole on one of those cranks too. They have become a favorite of mine. Slab raps and rippin raps are pretty much always tied one 1 or 2 rods. 




























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## AtticaFish

Lil' Rob said:


> Better to walk out from the boat launch or from the kayak launch?
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> Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk


We walked out from the kayak launch. Most other people did as well. There were a few that got on from the ramp or maybe from the breakwall over there. There was a pair of guys that walked WAY down towards the inlet to Erie. Looked like they stopped and fished the dredged chanel as they went. I did not get out very far past the white ice line so can't really tell you how the ice is over that way. I was able to put my spud through in one hard hit so I turned around. 

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## Lil' Rob

AtticaFish said:


> We walked out from the kayak launch. Most other people did as well. There were a few that got on from the ramp or maybe from the breakwall over there. There was a pair of guys that walked WAY down towards the inlet to Erie. Looked like they stopped and fished the dredged chanel as they went. I did not get out very far past the white ice line so can't really tell you how the ice is over that way. I was able to put my spud through in one hard hit so I turned around.
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> Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk


Thanks.

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## bigbass201

That's awesome! Glad you guys are out and getting some. I only have Sunday free this weekend and the weather is supposed to get bad. I'll have to wait and see what it does Sunday. If it's not bad I'll be out there.
If any of you guys are on MeWe look me up. It's a social media that is similar to Facebook without all the privacy violations and facial recognition stuff.

MeWe: The best chat & group app with privacy you trust.


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## matticito

AtticaFish said:


> I was trying to type fast on the ice I guess.... I wrote that I saw perch and nothing else for some reason. Let me re-state that. It looked like most people were catching a few but no one seemed to be going gang busters. I had a nice variety and saw at least one giant perch caught. Could have spent a whole fun day just targeting the largemouth. They would come flying in when I used a lip less crank. Caught a couple nice ones and lost several as well. Lost a helluva crappie at the hole on one of those cranks too. They have become a favorite of mine. Slab raps and rippin raps are pretty much always tied one 1 or 2 rods.
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Rshea❤


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## DBV

Hoping to get out to EH today.


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## TDD11

Three of us are out here right now, nothing really to show except for a bunch of dinks and two gills. My brother did catch a nice bass. There is quite the crowd


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## bigbass201

TDD11 said:


> Three of us are out here right now, nothing really to show except for a bunch of dinks and two gills. My brother did catch a nice bass. There is quite the crowd


Thanks for the update. Might pick up as the day rolls on with a storm coming in. Keep us posted. Are you able to sight fish, or is the water stained?


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## TDD11

bigbass201 said:


> Thanks for the update. Might pick up as the day rolls on with a storm coming in. Keep us posted. Are you able to sight fish, or is the water stained?


Stained, can't sight fish.


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## TDD11

Saturday, 3 of us fished from 7:15 to 5pm. We hole hopped starting around 9am, all around the pack of shanties - at least on 3 sides of it, sometimes in any openings within the pack, etc. We had tungsten jigs w/maggots and waxies. You would mark fish but not many bites, and if they did bite, it was a dink. 
I tried spots where there were no weeds at all on the graph, and places on the north side of the pack closer to shore, in 7' of water, where weeds were grown all the way to the surface. It did not seem to matter.
Likewise, I tried areas of white ice that you could not see through, and areas of clear ice that you could see right through. Did not matter.
I tried to jig different rattle baits, etc hoping to attract fish in, and then catch them on a tungsten. Did not work.

A state wildlife officier checked our licenses around 3:30, and I asked him if anyone had done well. He said of the 25+ people he checked, the most anybody had was 6 gills. I assume there were people that did better than that, but maybe not a LOT better than that? I doubt anyone smoked them. 

We kept 11 gills and 1 perch, and after comparing them to the fish we caught yesterday at a local pond, the fish from EH on Saturday were small. Maybe they looked like keepers in comparison to all the shorts we caught.

Forecast is looking a lot better than it was, looks like we will have ice here to stay for at least another week. Maybe the bite will turn on yet...


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## DBV

Similar result on Sat. Stayed for about two hours, but all I was catching was tiny bluegill and tiny perch. Really thought would catch a lot, since no ice fishing season last year. 

Could not believe how crowded it was out there. It does look we will have some good conditions for a ways out now. Fingers crossed!


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## guppygill

Question, does anyone know if they ice fish Middle or West Harbor?


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## BFG

What's better news is that with the improving weather forecast, there will be more ice all over northern Ohio to take some of the pressure off East Harbor.


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## Raeman70

TDD11 said:


> Saturday, 3 of us fished from 7:15 to 5pm. We hole hopped starting around 9am, all around the pack of shanties - at least on 3 sides of it, sometimes in any openings within the pack, etc. We had tungsten jigs w/maggots and waxies. You would mark fish but not many bites, and if they did bite, it was a dink.
> I tried spots where there were no weeds at all on the graph, and places on the north side of the pack closer to shore, in 7' of water, where weeds were grown all the way to the surface. It did not seem to matter.
> Likewise, I tried areas of white ice that you could not see through, and areas of clear ice that you could see right through. Did not matter.
> I tried to jig different rattle baits, etc hoping to attract fish in, and then catch them on a tungsten. Did not work.
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> A state wildlife officier checked our licenses around 3:30, and I asked him if anyone had done well. He said of the 25+ people he checked, the most anybody had was 6 gills. I assume there were people that did better than that, but maybe not a LOT better than that? I doubt anyone smoked them.
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> We kept 11 gills and 1 perch, and after comparing them to the fish we caught yesterday at a local pond, the fish from EH on Saturday were small. Maybe they looked like keepers in comparison to all the shorts we caught.
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> Forecast is looking a lot better than it was, looks like we will have ice here to stay for at least another week. Maybe the bite will turn on yet...


I pretty much had the same experience. 1 keeper gill, approx 6". Was fishing with camera, tons of dink gills and perch down there. Had one keeper perch tap at a marabou jig tipped with maggot. Only tapped the marabou and swam off. I think ice is here to stay through Feb according to 30 day forecast.


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## RJDowm

How thick was ice yesterday?


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## fisher person

Ice on Sunday was still a good 4 inches. The edge at the kayak ramp is messed up though. I was first on the ice at 715am and fished till 5pm. Was good first 2 hours and last q.5 hours. Thankfully simeone put up a wood ramp to get across to shore, maybe the game warden that checked me, whoever did, a big thank you. I assume the edge is even worse today. 
I caught many gills in the 4-6 inch range and kept 9 gills in total.


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## Eye Spy

Fish had a tight lip for us today. My son and I fished off the kayak ramp and caught a few gills (only a couple keepers), a small perch and a bass. Had the camera down and saw a lot of big bass and small gills. Most of the bigger gills and bass would look but didn’t want to commit. 3”-4” of ice everywhere we drilled.


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## Derbyfreak230

guppygill said:


> Question, does anyone know if they ice fish Middle or West Harbor?


Only spots in west harbor people fish is in marinas that let you. As the rest of west harbor I've heard there's alot of current that eins through it. And for middle harbor I don't know much about. I've never seen anybody ever ice fish it


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## guppygill

Derbyfreak230 said:


> Only spots in west harbor people fish is in marinas that let you. As the rest of west harbor I've heard there's alot of current that eins through it. And for middle harbor I don't know much about. I've never seen anybody ever ice fish it


Thanks!!


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## AtticaFish

@guppygill - As was stated above, i think most of the places on West Harbor require permission to get on to protected areas in marinas that are not affected by the currents. There is one spot i have wondered about in the past but never tried it. It is a small piece of water that i think would be out of the current and actually have public access. I don't want to post it up here though and send someone there thinking it would be good to go. I've never tried it and would use EXTREME caution checking it out. I'd be happy to tell you the location if you want - just shoot me a PM.


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## UKNOWIT

Anyone have eyes on east harbor? Wasn’t sure what this wind is doing to it.


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## Derbyfreak230

I just checked it a few hrs ago, there's about 5 - 6 inches of ice and the water level dropped atleast a foot if not more.


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