Fishing with Walter and Lisa Aude...9/8/2026

They met me at my house in the morning. I went outside 15 minutes before they were to show up, and to my surprise, they were already sitting in my driveway. The plan was to hit the gas station and then head on over to Huron to launch.

We got to Huron at 6:30 and were headed out of the river by 6:45.  The weather forecast was much better than Monday was, and I had high hopes for a good bite. I had cut Monday's trip short due to a NE wind that was supposed to be east, which kept building.  My customers had a hard time moving around the boat to reel in fish, and I knew it was only going to get worse, so I called it.

We had gone 3 for 5 in about an hour and a half in those conditions, so I thought this trip would do better with the lake laid down and a light SSE wind.

The rollers were still coming in from overnight, but they were not bad at all. We took a nice easy boat ride out to about 34' of water before setting up. There were fish marks on the Garmin all the way out, so I was hopeful they would be biting.

I set the Ulterra on a course to the north, while the Baby Merc pushed us at a FishHawk speed of 2.3-2.5mph.

The dipsies were sent down first. Walter and Lisa have never used dipsies before, so I showed them how dipsies worked and how to set them. I said, "The most important thing to remember is to make sure the 'Clicker' is on when they go down, because if it isn't on, they will go down too fast and the leader will end up wrapping around the dipsey, making it useless". They caught on fast. :)

I showed Walter how to attach the Off Shore boards to the lines, with the loop trick, so that the line can be released from the front arm when a fish hits, or is coming in. For those that haven't already tried it, or figured it out...that allows the board to swing around and only stay attached by the back release...allowing it to swing to center and not have to come in over all the other lines. 

We started out with PWC Lites with 2oz snap weights, but they produced nothing. Switched out to Bandits and caught one at 70 back unassisted. That was it for the crank bite. 

Spoons kept us somewhat busy with itty-bitty walleye, white perch, white bass, and a kitty cat. We only caught three keeper walleye and one nice yellow perch all morning. The marks were plentiful, but were msotly noncommittal. Short hitting or barely hooked was the order of the day.

Lisa's absolute enthusiasm kept us feeling positive. Her personality is so freak'n cute, and infectious and kept it fun even when it got slower.  I have them again tomorrow. We Will try for Walleye again, but will be launching out of Vermilion this time

During our troll, an Off Shore board floated by. It had been in the water a long time, as the red flag was now colorless, and the foam on the back was algae-ridden. I made a turn and went back to retrieve it to see if there was a name on it, and luckily there was. It belonged to "Possessed Again Fishing Charters". I gave him a call and told him I found it. He said he had lost it in Lorain, so it had floated a long way. I told him I would mail it back to him. I'm replacing the foam and the flag for him, since it was in such bad shape. The releases looked new, though, so they can stay. :)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls