It's Almost Time....:)

As many of you already know, I sell my boat in the fall, and get a new Ranger Boat every spring.  The new one is not expected to show up until the end of March this year, but don't worry....my good friend, Scott Bogen, has offered me the use of his 2016 621 for the charters I have booked in March. I can't thank him enough for his generosity in helping me out this spring. He's a life saver! Thanks Scott! 

I can't wait to get the new one. I'm very excited for this one. It's the "Bomb"!! The colors this year are going to be beautiful. (I stole the colors from a friend's boat...but, he said it was, "Okay"). :)

If you can imagine it in your mind, try to picture it....

The hull is Carbon Mist, the #1 & #3 stripes are Eclipse Black, the #2 stripe and the waterline stripe are Gunmetal Mist, the inside is Gunmetal, and the pin stripes are bright yellow. 

The 300 ETEC G2 will be dark charcoal on the main part, with silver panels and a yellow accent stripe to match the boat.

The 621 will sport the newest version of the Minn-Kota 112 Ulterra, along with a Humminbird 12 SI Mega Imaging GN2, and a 10 DI Mega Imaging GN2. The boat is loaded with many of the options Ranger offers too. 

RSNets is building me a yellow net to match my boat this year too.  That will be nice....you know how us girls like to accessorize.....woot! woot!

I can't thank all my sponsors enough for the help they have given me over these past 17 years. I absolutely could not do any of this without them. They have been more than just "sponsors" to me, they have been my "family" too. They have offered me guidance when it was needed, and have given me the encouragement to pursue my dreams...making me the luckiest woman on the planet!

I was given the opportunity to fish for a living, and it's been a true blessing in my life.  I have met some of the nicest people in the world. I have made new friends over the past 5 years, guiding, that I would have never met otherwise, and I couldn't be more grateful for them. :)

This season's schedule is filling up nicely. I have a couple openings for March left, zero for April and May, but still have open dates for June through September.  I will be gone again from August 2nd through the 13th though, for an annual fly in trip to Meta Lake Lodge up on the Northwest side of Lake Superior. It's something I look forward to every year, and count the days down from the moment I get back to Port Clinton. lol  What can I say? I love it up there. 

I predict the fishing this season will be outstanding, thanks to the 2014 hatch. All those fish are getting bigger, so it should be a lot of fun. The future looks good.

Let's just pray for stable weather this April, so we can get another good hatch for 2017, eh?  But, then I wonder....would there be enough forage for all of them, if that happens?  Hmmmm.....

My last time on the water was back in January. We had a nice warm 60 degree day, and everyone and his brother was out that day.  The Huron Launch, which has a huge parking lot, was over flowing so much, that they were parking on the grass. Mazurik's, where we launched was pretty full too.

Anyway....

I was invited to fish with Doyle and Ben, and Doyl's son that day, in Doyl's boat. Ben's son, and his two friends, were in a 16 1/2 foot something or other, fishing along side us. While many people caught limits that day, we struggled a bit, and caught a few.  We stayed out of the pack out in front of Cedar Point, where I found out later they were doing pretty well on Bandits, P-10s, Top 20's, and DHJ12's. Capt Kevin was just to the west of us, but he had customers that day, so I didn't want to crowd him either, so we just trolled along as long as the marks on the sonar stuck around.

The reason for this blog is that I learned something that day, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you.  From the beginning of my teachings on fishing Lake Erie, I was always taught that trolling slow... like .9 to 1.2mph was the preferred speed when the water temps were in the low 30's. But, what I found out that day is, that that isn't really the case at all....let me explain.

I had only fished a 1/2 day with them, and after they dropped me off, they went back out.  They fished a little longer, but then decided to go back in before Ben's son wanted to go in. So, Ben's son stayed out with his two friends until the sun started going down.  Unfortunately, their bow mount ran out of juice.  He decided instead of just packing it in, they were going to try to use the big motor to troll back to the launch from the Marblehead light house.  However, they couldn't get the speed below 1.6mph and 1.8mph. Then, the darnedest thing happened....

they started catching fish like crazy.  And, not just any fish....these fish were tanks! They caught 7 piggy walleye on that last trolling pass going those "summertime" speeds.  

So, what does that tell you? It tells me that we don't necessarily have to keep our speeds to a excruciatingly slow crawl to catch big fish in the spring. And, guess who's going to be experimenting with faster speeds this spring?  Yep, that's right...me! Was it a lucky fluke on his part that day? I don't know.  But, the results speak for themselves, so I'd be foolish not to experiment a little more....right?

I'm looking forward to getting on the water again, and getting back to work. It's been a long winter, even though it was a mild one, and I am looking forward to a fun and exciting season this year.

Thank you to,  Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Minn-Kota, Humminbird, Off Shore Tackle, Vic's Sports Center, EZEE Steps, Costa Sunglasses, RSNets USA, Bandit, Smithwick,  Bomber,  Domka Outdoors, World Wide Marine Insurance, and The Jewelry Mechanic

Stay tuned.....

Capt Juls