Fishing with John, Bill, and Dave 8/24/2020

John, Bill, and Dave were here a few weeks ago to fish with me, but we got blown off, so we rescheduled for today. They were excited to go, but I told them we were waiting for a little more light since I didn't know what the waves would be like further out from shore.

The wind was SW at 13mph at 6am, the sky was partly cloudy to mostly clear, and the air temp was 72 degrees.  We launched at 6:15 and headed back to where I was fishing for the last two days with David and Jeff.

The program was the same for the Bandits behind the Off Shore boards...2oz snap weights put on at 50' and then let out to a total length of 113, 115, 120, and 130...(a/k/a 50/63, 50/65, 50/70, and 50/80).

Dipsey program was the same as yesterday too...1 setting at 54 and 64 and the 3 setting at 75 and 100. One rod started with a Ripplin Redfin, but it didn't do anything, while the three spoons were catching fish. So, the crank came off and another spoon was put on.

We were trolling over 46-47' of water to start, but as our NE troll took us up towards the line it was 41 feet.

At some point, we must have hit a pod of fish that inhaled the four Bandits at the same time, because the boards never got out of line and the rod tips were identical, so we never knew we were dragging walleye around for who knows how long. Uffda.  We only found out when we got up to the line and had to pick everything up to make a run back...(the waves were too big for my boat to go into them, comfortably, so I make another run back to make another pass through).

It was then, and only then, did we find out we had those 4 fish hanging out there. We were two fish short of their 3 man limit, and 2 hours left to go, so I was confident we could get our 4 person limit in the next pass.  However, the last fish in the net was not a happy one, and went ballistic. It knocked the crank out of my fingers and then flopped back up and somehow pushed the hook into my finger. Just a freak accident. (This is why I do not allow customers to handle fish in the net. I have a ton of experience handling fish, so if it can happen to me, it will definitely happen a lot more to a less experienced handler.)

It didn't really hurt once the hook was cut off, so I told them we could stay out and fish the last two hours if they wanted. But, I could see Dave out of the corner of my eye motioning to the other two that we should go in, so I could take care of my finger. They agreed with him and said we should go in. So, we went in 2 hours early with two fish short of their limit.   They said that it broke their Erie catch record by 12 fish, so they were happy with the day's catch and didn't mind going back in.  I wasn't going to argue and was relieved to not have to fish with a hook deep in my finger.

We headed in and they took their fish to Port Clinton Fish, CO to be cleaned, and I took the boat home to drop it off before heading back out to Marblehead to have the hook removed by my doctor, who fit me in during his lunch break. Thanks Doc! Much appreciated!

To tell the truth though...the needle with the anesthetic hurt more than anything else. My finger doesn't hurt like I thought it would.  No more than all the other cuts I get on my hands doing this job anyway. We all know what that feels like. :)

Anyway....it was a fun day, and they said they had a great time, so that makes me happy.

Tomorrow is a scheduled day off, so I'll be cleaning that boat again. Wednesday is a teaching trip for a woman who booked a charter, so that should be fun. It looks like Wednesday might be the only good day looking towards the weekend. Looks like big winds on the way....deep sigh.

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls