Fishing Day Two with Walter and Lisa Aude...9/10/2026

The morning started its usual way, with a coffee and dogs out on the back deck. The air temp was 66 degrees, and the sky was partly cloudy. The wind was light from the southerly direction. It was going to be a beautiful day to be on the water.

Walter and Lisa met me at my house again, but they were a little earlier then the other day, due to us driving over to Vermilion this time...it would take longer to get there than going to Huron.  They showed up right on time, and off we went.

We hit the gas station for some ice for the coolers and hit the highway. 40 minutes later we were in Vermilion. We were the only ones at the ramp, so launching was fast and easy.  We idled out of the river while this couple from Nebraska marveled at the beautiful houses and boats lining the river. Lisa kept saying, "When I hit the Powerball we can do this". :)

The plan was to head to Lorain from Vermilion and hope to run into some good marks to set up on. I stopped once when the screen was full, but I didn't think they were the right fish, or even the right flavor of fish, so we moved further north... about halfway between Vermilion and Lorain.

The Garmin was marking fish the entire way, but they looked better in this area.

The Ulterra and Baby Merc were deployed and worked in unison to steer us to the NNE at a FishHawk speed of 2.3-2.5 mph. The marks were thick, along with thick schools of forage showing up like big blobs on the screen. The fish were feeding on the schools of minnows or bugs (whatever they were), so the competition would be tough.

The Dipsies went out first. The zero settings were set to 35 and 40 to start, and the two settings were set to 60 and 70 back. BadMo, Yeck, and Scorpion spoons were used. Blue/Silver would be the dominant color for the morning.

Since Walter and Lisa fished with me earlier in the week, they already had been trained and knew the routine. Walter was happy to take over checking and setting lines, and I was confident in his abilities that I didn't need to interfere by nagging him with instructions. I only explained that we were probably going to have to keep checking the lines for itty-bitties that would be hard to see when they are just hanging there.

After the first 5 itty-bitties, the two setting at 60 back on the port side went back aggressively a few times, and Lisa jumped up to get it. Walter was always there to help his 5-foot-tall wife get the rod out of the rod holder, turn off the clicker, and pop the mechanism on the dipsey before handing her the rod.  I thought at first it was probably a big sheephead, due to her struggling to reel it in, but it wasn't acting like a sheephead.  

To all of our surprise, it was a 28 1/4" 8-pound walleye.  Luckily, it had almost swallowed the spoon, so the one little hook wasn't going to let go, and Walter landed Lisa's big fish in the net.  I didn't realize I had been holding my breath as they were trying to net it until it was in the boat, and I let out a deep sigh. lol

Lisa was so excited to have caught it, and said, "This just made my entire week!" It was only 7:30, so we had all morning to try and catch more like that. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We caught a lot of fish, but mostly small eyes, white bass, white perch, and sheephead. We would only catch a total of 5 keepers all morning.  The best leads were the zero at 45 and 50 back, and the two setting at 60 and 84 back.

One of those keepers was caught on a fast turn, when we had to get out of a ship's way.  We were only two miles out when it came out of the mouth of the river, so it wouldn't have taken long for the ship to run us over, had we stayed on the same line without noticing them. Good thing I keep my head on a swivel most of the time. Whew!

They both said they had a great two days fishing with me, even though we didn't limit, and would like to come back again...and that makes me happy!

I had two older men this morning (9/11) that I picked up from the Whitecaps...did the usual stops and hit Catawba. Launched the boat, and the power steering in the steering wheel was making a liquid, squishy-washy sound that wouldn't stop, so the trip was canceled. I wasn't going to risk the power steering going out when I'm miles out.  They understood and told me to hold their deposit for another time.

We went and grabbed breakfast and had a good chat before taking them back to the Motel.

I don't know when my next trip is, because I don't have anything scheduled until the 25th right now.  Next week is out, because I have too many vehicle appts to get both my car and truck fixed...and now, I have to get the boat down to Fisherman's Central to have the line bled, or whatever they need to do to fix this power steering issue.  It's never ending...deep sigh.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls