Juls WFA Blog
Day 3 of 4 Fishing with "Doc", Tom, and Heath 4/4/2022
by Capt Juls on 04/04/22Left the house at 4:45 and drove across town, to hook up the boat, take it to get gas and ice, and get back to the building before my crew was to meet me there at 5:45. The plan was to trailer the boat to the east and launch over there, since it was going to start raining mid-morning, and a shorter run on the water is much better than a long one. :)
I will preface this report with the fact that I was given a location by my friend, Capt Bobby Greene, last night, so it's not my information to give out. I will only say that it was to the east, and that it would have been a very long run from Mazurik's.
What I can tell you, is that we targeted 39-43 feet of water with Bandits and P-10's.
Pretty much the same program from Saturday's trip. Bandits ran on the starboard side and P-10's ran on the port side. I even left the same Bandits on that we used on Saturday.
Taco Salad ran 120 back behind the Off Shore board...
Chrome Barbie ran 97 feet back...
RC Crush was 77 back...
And, Pink Lemonade or Cotton Candy (whatever you want to call it) ran at 67 back.
P-10s with 2oz snap weights:
Marvin was at 20/20 behind the Off Shore board....
Nascar was 21/21...
Lemon Lime Crush was 17/17...(at one point we kept the weight at 17, but dropped it back to 60 total, to make it deeper...that worked too)
Blue Chrome was 24/24....
Speed was 1.2-1.4mph
Everything worked today. We had lots of doubles and fire drills going this morning, and my crew was absolutely fantastic! Luckily, they remembered their "training" from Saturday, and did everything right. It made my job so easy! All I had to do was take off boards and net the fish. lol
We only had one tangle bringing the last fish in, but that was due to a crazy fish that just didn't want to play right. It, of course, was on the outside board, and took out the other three coming in. Normally, it would be okay, but this was one hell of a tangle with the lines and three of the 4 lines had to be cut. So, we took those reels off and replaced them with 3 fresh ones I grabbed from storage, that were already calibrated, and ready to go for tomorrow.
Anyway....my crew was awesome (can't say that enough), and we had their limit by 8:30, and my 6 by 9:45, I think. It slowed down a little when we turned and changed direction, to go back over the line we were on, so we picked everything up and made a run back to where we started, and set up on our line again, going the same direction we were going the first time, which was to the east.
I have this crew for one more day, and tomorrow's wind forecast is looking very good, so we will be doing a repeat of this morning. I hope those fish decide to hang out for one more day, at least. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with "Doc", Tom, and Heath 4/2/2022
by Capt Juls on 04/02/22Steve, Tom, and Heath, along with three others I don't know the names of yet, arrived from South Dakota, yesterday.
It's always tough to tell your crew to drive that far, after a big blow, and an iffy forecast, but the first of their 4 day trip was going to be a gentle weather day, compared to what we have been experiencing the past week and a half, and the rest of the forecast looked like they would get 3 of their 4 days in, if we were lucky.
I explained to them what the conditions were, and that they could make the decision to drive all that way, or reschedule to another time. They chose to come and fish. This is a two boat deal, since there are 6 people in their group, so I teamed up with Capt's Matt and Jenn Wieland, of H & H Charters on this one. I had 3 people, and they had the other 3, so it worked out well.
I hadn't been out since the 21st of March, due to rescheduling three different crews, and it was time to get back on the water.
I left the house early, and headed to the boat, where she was kept warm and dry over in Wieland's heated storage building. I was meeting my crew at 7am at Mazurik's, since sunrise wasn't until 7:17 this morning, and the other 3 were meeting the Wieland's at their boat over in Marblehead. After gassing up my boat, and getting ice for the cooler, I drove to Mazruik's and got there at 6:10am.
I got to the head of the get-ready lanes, and....well...got things ready.
I sent Steve (a/k/a "Doc") a text at 6:25 letting him know that I was there, and was ready to go, when they were. They showed up 10 minutes later, and we were in the water by 6:45.
My first plan of attack, was to hit the east side of Kelly's, find clean enough water with fish in it, and set up with cranks baits. After driving around for a little while, taking note of water temps in different areas, we went back to a spot that had a water temp of 38.9 degrees, and was a little warmer than the other spots that we stopped and checked out. It wasn't too muddy, and I could see the cavitation plate too. I was feeling hopeful.
It was a slow start, and we only had 4 in the box, when I told them, "Let's pick these up and head to another area I want to try". They made speedy work of getting all the lines in, and we headed further east to find cleaner water. When we found the water clarity I like best, we found some pretty good marks there too, so we set up with a heading from the west to the east to start. The bite was much better in this second spot, and the guys were having way more fun there.
When the fish marks ran out, we made a turn and went from east to west, and continued to catch once we were over that pod of fish again. We ended up going 17 for 23 for the day, which is actually better than I thought it would be, so no one was complaining. The weather was beautiful, even though it was chilly. The sun was out most of the morning, which is something we haven't seen in days around here, so that was appreciated by all.
We started out with P-10s on the port side and Bandits on the starboard side. The P-10's were running with 2oz snap weights at 20/20, 30/30, 35/35, and 40/40. Bandits were running unassisted at 45 to 120 back. The Bandits caught at 120, 97, 85, 77, 63, and 45 at a speed of 1.2-1.4mph.
We changed up the P-10 side to Spro Madeye 120's, but they did nothing. Then, we switched them to Reapers, and we caught one at 100 back, but eventually, I took all of them off too, and replaced them with Bandits.
Colors that caught today were: Taco Salad (best color...we had three of those out), Chrome Barbie, RC Crush, Blue Chrome, and Sunspot.
We will be off tomorrow, and back at it on Monday and Tuesday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Lake is Chocolate Milk Right now....3/28/2022
by Capt Juls on 03/28/22It's been blowing, snowing, and churning up the lake. The rivers are dumping mud from the previous rain too.
Tuesday, will be the first low wind day in several days, and many will be headed out to go fishing. Finding fish willing to bite will be the issue, due to the muddy waters.
When the wind blows on shore, like it has been, it churns up the shallows and turns the water to chocolate milk. The bite will be tough.
Hopefully, we can get a satellite picture before Tuesday, so we can see where the cleaner water is out there, if there is any on the west end right now. Then, it's going to blow the rest of the week again.
I had a 6 day trip that would have started yesterday, but I told them to stay home, so I won't be back out until next weekend, where I have the start of a 4 day trip with my next crew.
I will be honest with them and let them know what to expect, and let them decide if they want to drive all the way from out west to Port Clinton for a tough bite.
Hopefully, Mother Nature will start behaving and let us get back to normal fishing soon.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
She's a Blow'n....Rescheduling Some Early Trips
by Capt Juls on 03/24/22My next three groups are being rescheduled, so it will be a while before I write another fishing report.
Due to conditions, and the forecast, my trip on Friday, another on Saturday, and a 6 day trip starting Sunday, through next Friday, are all rescheduled. I couldn't see that group coming all the way over here from different parts of the country, just to sit on shore. Sure, there are going to be some charters that hit the lake, but at this time of year, with the size of my boat, I prefer to be more cautious, and let the lake do its thing. The water is still below 40 degrees right now.
Even if the wind stops blowing, the water is very dirty...making the bite a tough one.
I have another crew on standby for later in the week, next week, so if conditions improve, I'll get back on the water next week, and salvage a couple of those days. But, so far, it's not looking that good.
Mother Nature is hopefully going to go out like a lion this month, and will come in like a lamb, for April.
Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Steve Giannini 3/21/2022
by Capt Juls on 03/21/22The boat is still in heated storage right now, so I left the house at 5:50 and headed over to the building to hook her up and put the baits on the rods, that I wanted to use this morning. All P-10's to start, and Bandits on standby if the 10's didn't work.
Steve Giannini drove in from Illinois to fish with me. His son was supposed to come along, but had to work, so it was just going to be Steve this morning. His son will come when they come back at the end of April to fish with me again.
I picked Steve up at the hotel at 6:45, and we headed to Mazurik's. The boat was already gassed up and the cooler iced, so we didn't have to stop on the way to the launch. We headed out a little after 7am and headed north.
We searched for a bit and found a spot that the Solix was showing good marks between 17 and 30 feet over 41 feet of water.
We set the P-10's out behind the Off Shore boards with 2oz snap weights.
The port side was running all P-10's with white in them. Barbie, and a similar one in color with the Barbie, but with purple on the head and tail with white in the middle with three black dots on the side (I don't remember the name...I call it Purple Squirrel, but I know that's not it), and an orange headed wonder bread color. That side was set at 20/20, 30/30, and 40/40.
The starboard side, ran all chrome colors...blue/chrome/orange belly, Chrome Barbie, and some over painted concoction that didn't produce, so it was taken off and replaced with another purple squirrel, because that color was a hot one today.
The outside ran at 50/27, the middle at 50/20, and the inside at 40/40.
Everything listed above caught fish at 1.2 against the current and 1.4 with the current. Water temp in my area was 36.7 degrees.
We kept to a small spot that was producing and for the most part we didn't have too much interference with other boats, and I could keep on my line where we were catching fish. We got pushed off twice, but the right of way is the right of way, so you just have to deal with it when it happens, and regroup, and get on with it.
"My arms are getting tired", Steve said. I laughed and replied, "Well, now that you have said that out loud...you know, it's always going to be the outside board that needs reeled in from now on". Ha!
At one point, in the last half hour that we fished, I changed out the P-10's on the starboard side to Bandits. Daydream at 10 back on the outside, Sunspot at 81 back in the middle, and Khaki at 57 back. The Sunspot and the Khaki hit at the same time, and gave us a double. Steve was having such a good time!
The weather was absolutely beautiful this morning. The wind was calm, and the air temp was in the 50s. When the sun came up, it warmed things up even more. Steve was very happy to get out fishing again, after a long winter, and I was happy to be catching fish again. Last week, I thought I had forgotten how to. lol
Anyway....
We went 12 for 15 this morning, and when we reached our limit I said, "Okay, that's our limit...you have a choice...you can play catch and release if you want, or we can take these in to get cleaned, and you can get a head start back home." Steve opted for the latter, so we headed in, dropped the fish at Bay's Edge, put the boat back in storage, and hit Casa Las Palmas for lunch, and headed back to the fish cleaner to get his fish. I dropped him at the hote, and he loaded up his car and headed back to Illinois.
I love days like this. :)
We have weather moving in tonight and will be a three day blow, it looks like. My next scheduled trip is Friday with one of my regulars, Vito Centofanti, so I'll be contacting him on Wednesday afternoon about Friday's forecast, because it keeps changing. It's hard to look more than a day or two out when it comes to the forecast...just the nature of the beastie, eh? ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Gunner, Austin, and Ryan 3/17/22
by Capt Juls on 03/17/22Well, I have to suck it up and report this trip, because it's not cool to only post the most successful trips that I get in the books.
Today was one of those humbling days....deep sigh.
I got to Mazurik's at 6:10 (long before the sky would start to lighten), and got things ready for the day.
I was meeting my Illinois crew at 7am. Sunrise was to be at 7:42. Last night, there was an almost-full moon (it will be full tomorrow), shining down from clear skies, so we got the almost-full moon to the west, and the sun coming up in the east, this morning.
We hit the water a little after 7am and headed north. I'll tell you everywhere we went today, only because I sucked, and kept making the wrong decisions. I realize it happens, but it never "tastes" good when it does happen. Anyway...
We started east of Ballast and set up with all P-10's with 2oz snap weights at 20/20, 25/25, 30/30, and 35/35 behind the Off Shore boards. Speed was 1.1-1.2mph. The water temp had dropped from the day before, due to the NE wind last night moving colder surface water in.
We marked fish here and there, but they were tight to the bottom. My first guess was that they had been feeding last night, with that almost-full moon making it easy for them to see. We trolled along, and the boards started to disappear under the surface of the water and move back out of line. I had never seen that before, and didn't notice any ice on the water, so I had Gunner, Austin, and Ryan reel them in, and that's when we found crystals of ice covering everything on the boards.
I assumed it was due to the decrease in water temps, so I made the decision to move. I thought we would go over to the north side of Kelly's where I had ended up yesterday, because the water was a bit dirtier there, and I thought it might be warmer. I was wrong.
As we drove over there, I noticed the temp reading was dropping even more, and it was two degrees down from yesterday. I didn't even stop there, and turned the boat and headed west of the islands. We went to E can and marked some fish between 17-25' over 28 feet of water.
We set up with P-10's on one side and Spros on the other side. When nothing happened, I had them take the P-10's off and replaced them with Bandits. We caught our first fish on a Bandit 100 back. The skunk was out of the box, but I didn't have a good feeling. We trolled another mile, with nothing to show for it.
But, then, a friend texted me and told me they had 5 up north of us a couple miles, so we picked everything up and headed that way. But, when we got there, the screen was blank, so we didn't stay long.
The next move was back towards the islands. I wanted to check West Reef, but thought that with the NE wind pushing cold water in, that that might not be the best place to look, so we headed towards the north side of Green and set up with a pass towards Middle Bass. There were marks at first, but then they soon disappeared too. Aarrrrggghhh! Come on!! lol
The last stop was down at the Starve/Ferry Lane area. We set up again, and put a snap weight on one Bandit and one Spro (running the inside boards) at 50/25, and both of those took a fish, but only the Spro's fish made it to the boat. The other got off before it was seen.
If it wasn't for the positivity, and the good nature of my crew, it would have been a miserable trip. But, they were awesome, and so much fun! They said they had fished with another Capt yesterday, and they didn't catch any fish, so they said they were already ahead. lol
They donated their two fish to my neighbor, Jerry, so they didn't have to bother with them. Neighbor Jerry was happy to get them too, and he said to say, "Thank you!"
Well, I don't have any excuses, other than I didn't find the right fish today. (she hangs her head and shakes it slowly back and forth)...
They were scheduled for two days, but with another NE wind tomorrow, they decided to head back to Illinois in the morning. I can't blame them.
They did send me a text that made me feel a little better though...it read:
"All good. You changed up the program and made educated guesses at what move to make next, and trained your crew quick on how to make moves. We'll team up on some walleyes again, when the temp is right... they don’t stand a chance."
So, I am looking forward to fishing with these guys again, because they made a bad day GREAT! :)
Saturday, is the next scheduled day, but with a 96% chance of rain/snow and gusty winds...I'm not going to run.
Sunday, is probably a "go".
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Steve and Jeremy 3/16/2022
by Capt Juls on 03/16/22Today, was the first official charter of the season, and it was with two of my regulars, Steve Chapman and his son Jeremy. Steve was my very first customer back in 2012, and has been fishing with me for several trips a season for the past 10 years now....(this is the start of my 11th season, guiding.) They feel more like family than just customers now, and we always have a great time, whether the fish cooperate, or not, on any given trip.
This morning, they drove in from Columbus. We were supposed to launch at 8am, but they didn't make it to Mazurik's until 9am. Steve just had a complete shoulder replacement last week, and he can only move so fast right now. He wanted to be out there even if he couldn't reel any fish in.
Speaking of fish. We only went 9 for 11 today. We started out with a quick three fish in the box, but then it got crowded, and the bite slowed down. I don't know if it was the number of boats in the area, or it was just the mid-morning lull that happens on days with bright moon nights. The full moon is happening this Friday, so the big cheese is getting bigger and brighter in the sky at night, which is when the walleye love to feed, since they have those "special eyeballs" and all. Usually, the bite will be good very early in the morning and then mid to late afternoon as the evening approaches.
From what I heard on the radio today, it was slow for many. But, it wasn't slow for some others. There was one boat by me that was just hammering them, but I don't know what they were doing other than running baits behind inline boards, but they figured something out, that no one else did.
My puzzle never got pieced together.....different leads were hitting, and different colors, and different bodied baits. There wasn't a pattern showing up, so I never got dialed in today.
Bandits at 120, 110, 97, 91, 75, 67, and 62 caught and the P-10's with 2oz at 25/25 and 35/35 also caught fish.
Speed was 1.2-1.4
Water temp where we were was 35 degrees.
When I did find a small pod of biting fish and caught 3 or 4 in a row, I would turn, to go back through them, and would get cut off by other boats in the area that had the right of way, so we missed the pod on the way back through. We would watch as the other boats would pick a couple up on the line I wanted to take....deep sigh.
Time to start leaving when the packs move in on me....it's not worth the mood it puts me in. I can find other fish on this big lake.
Tomorrow, I have three fellas from Illinois, and we will be heading out very early compared to today, so hopefully, that helps us with the morning bite.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Chris Utter and Jim Stedke 3/10/2022
by Capt Juls on 03/10/22This morning, was day two with my friend, Chris Utter, from Wisconsin. We were also joined by Jim Stedke, an old friend I met through Rick Lacourse 21 years ago.
We headed out of Catawba this morning, and went north towards F can, but we didn't mark any fish in that area, so we turned and headed east towards South Bass. We found good marks there in 35 feet of water, and proceeded to set up on them.
Since both my guys are seasoned anglers, I went to the bow to relax while they set the lines. Chris ran all Bandits on his side, and Jim ran some Reef Runner Skinny Sticks, Deep Rogues, and a Bandit on his side.
Chris had one on before he could get all 4 Off Shore boards out on his side, and as he was reeling that one in, another one took a board back, so we had two in the boat right away. Jim would get the third one a short time later. All in all...we went 13 for 15 in about 4 1/2 hours, before we had to head in, so Chris could get on his way back to Wisco after his fish were cleaned.
We caught fish in the south passage going both with, and against, the current at a speed of 1.2-1.4mph. Water temp today was 36.2 degrees.
Bandits were set at 100, 85, 75, and 65 on Chris's side, and Jim's Skinny Sticks that caught were running at 70 back. One p-10 (Marvin) caught one with a 2oz Guppie weight at 50/25 (total of 75' back).
It was a beautiful morning on the lake today. The wind was calm and the sun came out a few times to warm up that chilly 39 degree air temp. Fun time was had by all!
Short report today....the dog needs my attention. He's staring at me and making squeaky noises. lol
As I sit here and write this, the wind has shifted and is starting to blow out of the NE. Tomorrow night, we are expecting 1-3 inches of snow. Boooo! And, the wind is going to blow hard Saturday and Sunday. NW on Saturday, and SW on Sunday and Monday. But, then it will all change and by mid week next week, it will start feeling like springtime again.
My next trip out will be on Wednesday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Springtime Shakedown Run with Chris Utter
by Capt Juls on 03/09/22Well, this was the first morning back on the water since December, I think. Maybe it was early January, but either way, it's been a while since I fished out of my boat. She has been tucked away inside a nice warm building all winter, keeping her batteries charged up.
Chris Utter drove down from Wisconsin to fish with me today and tomorrow. He's the fella that always brings me the venison breakfast sausage that I make my biscuits and gravy with, and he told me that he filled one doe tag just to make me breakfast sausage, so I truly feel honored to have a friend like him. :)
We launched at Mazurik's a little after 8am and headed to the SE corner of Kelly's, since there was a light NW breeze, and we could take it from there towards Huron. We stopped occasionally to check for fish marks on the Solix, but it was pretty sparse everywhere we stopped, so we kept going.
We set up out in front of the white condos, but didn't mark much once we started trolling, and only stayed there for about a 1/2 hour. We picked up and headed back to the west and finally found some willing to bite on the SE corner of the island, where we started looking earlier. Again...not marking much, and really didn't even mark the ones that did bite.
Bandits and Spro Madeye 120s run behind Off Shore boards caught us a limit of fish today (we only went 6 for 8 today in 4 1/2 hours). Baits with white and green in them did very well (RC Crush), as did the old tried and true Blue/Chrome. We caught one fish on a Red Headed Wonderbread and one a Chartreuse Wonderbread too.
The port side ran the Spros and the starboard side ran the Bandits. The Spros were set at 110 on the outside board, 75 on the middle board, and 50/30 with a 2oz Guppie weight on the inside board. The 110 back took 3 fish (RC Crush), the 75 (Redheaded W) took one fish, and the inside board never took one, and was changed out several times.
The starboard side was set by Chris, and the only setting I remember on his side was the Blue/Chrome Bandit set at 75 back, because that one caught two nice fish. His snap-weighted bandit had a good hit, but it came unbuttoned before he could get to it, and it never got touched again. We were busy with another fish at the time, and missed it.
I was playing with the speed all morning, going from as slow at 1.1mph to 1.8mph...and, when we did hook up, we were running at 1.6mph. The best direction for us was going against the south passage current (west), which at 1.6 mph against the current would have had those baits dancing pretty hard, I think.
It was a nice day to get out. The winds were light, but picked up to around 9mph from the west towards noon, which made it a little chilly, but the sun had some out, so it wasn't too bad.
We will be launching out of Catawba in the morning to try some new areas.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
"When One Door Closes...Another One Opens"...:)
by Capt Juls on 02/03/22
Big Change for 2022 coming my way....Woot! Woot!
During my 21 year professional fishing career, I have been running Ranger Boats, because of their quality and the safety, that I could appreciate when running big water here on Lake Erie's Western Basin. The 20 different Rangers I had over the years, served me well. The memories I have from all the time spent in my Rangers can never be replaced. However, it's time to make new memories, in a new boat, made by my old family....:)
Long story, shortened....
When Ranger sold to White River Marine Group, the best of the best of the Ranger craftsmen moved out, and started Vexus Boats. When that happened, I felt like the "Red Headed Step-Child" that was left behind when the "family" moved. My heart was broken.
A little over a year later, I have been given the opportunity to rejoin "my family" at Vexus Boats, through Fisherman's Central Marine.
After crawling around in the new DVX22 last week with Tyler Holben, at the Port Clinton, OH location, it was an easy decision to make. It's a great looking boat, and I think its fishability will be a positive experience for myself and my clients. I'm looking forward to this new chapter in my life, and working with my old family again.
My heart is full right now...:)
www.fcmarinegroup.com
Just a Quick Note....Available Dates for Spring...:)
by Capt Juls on 01/11/22
My typical season starts the last two weeks of March, (if the ice is out, and I'm not sure if we'll get ice this year yet), so I thought I would let you know what dates are open right now through the end of June. The rest of the season usually doesn't start filling up until June, so there's time for the later months, if that's what works better for you.
If you're interested in fishing with me this year, please contact me asap, so I can get you on the calendar! The dates are filling up, so don't get left out, because there's a lot of walleye to be caught...
March...the schedule is full, (unless all the ice is out earlier than usual, and the weather is decent.)
April...the schedule is full...thank you!
May… the schedule is full...thank you!
June…6, 9, and 13th
Later months still have a lot of availability too, if you're looking for a summer fun getaway!
Thank you! I look forward to fishing with my regular customers again, and getting to know, and fish, with new customers in 2022!
Capt Juls
Fishing Report for December 10th, 2021
by Capt Juls on 12/10/21Just a quick update on the walleye fishing in December, here on Lake Erie's Western Basin...:)
The fish are still stacked up from Cleveland to Huron, and are slowly making their way west.
Cedar Point, and north, to Kelly Island Shoal, is holding good numbers of fish right now too.
The Bass Islands are a little slower, but should start getting more active as the water temps cool even more. There were a lot of fish on the north side of Kelly's just last week.
The water temp this morning, on the south side of South Bass Island was, 38.4 degrees.
There are reports of nice sized fish being caught out of the Michigan waters of Lake Erie right now too.
The usual programs I've written about all season are still working.
Speeds are being reported anywhere from 1.3mph to 2.2mph, with 1.8-1.9 being reported the most.
December's forecast is calling for a warmer than usual month, so there might still be days you can get out. Most docks have been pulled from the launches, but there are still courtesy docks that can be used, to help you launch and load.
Good luck, if you get to get out there before Christmas....maybe I'll see you out there! Ho! Ho! Ho!
If I don't....have a wonderful Christmas, or whatever holiday traditions you follow, and I'll see you next "year"!
Stay tuned....;)
Capt Juls
Fishing with Pete 11/9/2021
by Capt Juls on 11/09/21Pete showed up at Mazurik's all alone, so it would just be him and me this morning.
He showed up at the park a 1/2 hour early, so we were able to get on the water just as the sky was beginning to lighten. It was still dark enough to need the navigation lights on, but because the sky was mostly clear, it didn't take much sun power from the horizon, to light the sky up pretty quickly. The air temp was a crisp 43 degrees at 6:30.
We set up where I ended yesterday. The Ulterra and baby 15 were deployed, and set for a speed of 2.2mph, and running a SE to NW line. We were fishing over 34 feet of water, with Bandits running only 35-45 feet back behind Off Shore boards. Bait colors with white in them did best for us yesterday, so I just kept those bait colors on each of our 6 rods this morning.
Pete already knows how to run boards pretty proficiently, so I just told him the leads I wanted on the port side, and he got busy setting lines. Both sides started with 45 on the outside board, 40 in the middle, and 35 on the inside board.
As we were both setting out our first baits to 45 back, a fish hit mine as soon as I stopped the line from going out, and it started to dive. That fish must have been sitting on the surface to have hit that high in the water column.
Uffda...now, that I'm sitting here, and that thought just crossed my mind, I could kick myself....I should have caught that thought out there on the water. I should have tried one side "nose bleed high", to see if that was the case. I didn't target the top 5 feet of the water column after that happened, and I probably should have. But, it's easy to see now, in hindsight, but at the moment, I missed it. Lesson learned.....I'll remember that next time it happens. :)
We got the rest of the baits out and proceeded to catch 4 or 5 more nice eaters in that area. Since Pete was fishing alone today, I thought I would waste some time and drive to the north side of Kelly's to check up there. I thought to myself, "If we don't get any up there within an hour, then we can always move back down here". But, we never had to move again, because we found some up there. Same leads, and a steady pick. We had three on at one time, but while Pete reeled in one, it got off, so he grabbed the next rod, and he got that one in. The third one managed an escape and lives to see another day. Lucky fish. ;)
We had our 12 fish by 9:45, even with a leisurely drive to the north side of Kelly's earlier in the morning. So, it was a relaxing and fun morning fishing with Pete. The lake was flat, and the winds were calm....it was a grand morning! He said he would like to come and fish with me again, and wanted to bring his son, who is an avid bass angler, competing on a college bass team, so that makes me happy!
I'm off for the next 5 days, and then I have a three day trip scheduled with a couple of my regulars from Wisconsin. But, we'll see what the weather has in its forecast for next week, as it gets closer.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Rick and Kirk 11/8/2021
by Capt Juls on 11/08/21I was looking forward to walleye fishing this morning, so I was a little ancy, and left the house too early.....again.
It's hard for me to time when I should leave the house in the morning now, because I have to run to the heated storage bldg to pick up the boat first, instead of just walking out to my driveway. I miss that. But, it's also super nice for it to be in a clean and heated storage building for the cold months.
Anyway.... I was picking my guys up at the Country Inn and Suites at 7AM, so I knew I should leave by 6:00, so I could hook up the boat, go get it gassed up, and throw some bags of ice in the cooler, before heading to their hotel.
Rick and Kirk are brothers, who drove in from Indiana to fish with me. Well, actually, they were scheduled to fish with me back on April 22nd, but we didn't get the trip in due to wind. So, they rescheduled a couple of times over this past summer....only to find more wind.
But, Mother Nature was kind, and we were finally able to chase some walleye out on the lake this morning.
I showed up at their hotel at 6:30... I was a 1/2 hour early. I texted Rick, and told him I was early, and out in the parking lot, but explained that they could take their time, if they needed it.
However, Rick was already outside by his truck and boat, and ready to go, so he just had to let Kirk know. It only took him a couple of minutes to come down and jump in the truck. We hit Dempsey's launch around 6:50, and we were on our way out by 7. The brother's goal today was to learn how to run inline planer boards more efficiently, because their experience using them in their own boat, yesterday, was somewhat problematic from what he described.
We didn't run far, and worked an area from 17 feet deep out to 30 feet. We set up with Bandits set behind 3 Off Shore boards on both sides, along with one dipsey off each corner. The dispsies would prove worthless for us after 2 hours, so I removed them and put out a 4th board on each side.
The leads were short today. At one point, I had one side deeper and one side higher in the water column. Early in the morning, we were set at 20, 30, and 40 back on one side, and 50, 40, 35 back, on the other side, and caught fish on the 35 and 40 settings, and one on the 50 setting. But, as the sun got higher in the sky, I changed up one side to run deeper (as we moved out to the deeper water). The deeper side ran 110, 97, 77, and 63 back, and the higher side ran at 50, 45, 40, and 35 back. 35, 40, and 45 back were the hot leads, but 97 back also caught a couple.
Our speed was kept between 2.0 and 2.4mph. The water temp was 52.4 degrees where we were.
I had the guys setting lines, and reeling in boards, and netting their own fish...with some "instruction" from me thrown in there from time to time, because that's the only way to get someone to learn quickly. Make them do it. I have every confidence in the world, that these two will be able to jump in their own boat tomorrow and repeat what we did today
The brothers did a fantastic job this morning, and managed to boat our 3-person limits....with only one tangle to speak of, and it was a minor one at that. They said they learned a lot and are feeling more confident about using inline boards now, too. So, that makes me happy...:)
Tomorrow, I have another walleye trip, and will be headed out of Mazurik's around 7AM with Pete Knaar and his crew.
I did bring the boat home for an overnight visit with my driveway, so I could leave at a normal time tomorrow. Only going to be a low of 50 degrees overnight.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Marc and Grace 11/6/2021
by Capt Juls on 11/06/21This morning, I was meeting my crew at Mazurik's at 8:15, but as usual, I was up early and moving, so I left the house early to go and get the boat, gas it up, put ice in the perch cooler, and securing some Emeralds from Hi-Way Bait, before heading over to the ramp.
I showed up an hour early, so I putzed around in the boat, and then talked to others in the get-ready lanes, while I waited on Marc and Grace, who were driving in from the Cleveland area. Thankfully, Marc knows my habits and showed up a 1/2 hour early too.
We launched, and headed towards the Marblehead lighthouse just as the sun was coming up. The big orange ball had the perfect backdrop of a clear blue, yet slightly dark, sky. It was beautiful this morning.
The air temp was around 40 degrees, I think. I didn't actually look at the temp info in my truck, but it was definitely a lot warmer than yesterday morning.
The wind was light out of the south, and forecast to be nothing more than 5-15mph.
I didn't look at the water temp though...sorry.
We set up east of the point, and about 1/3 mile from the nearest boat, after the Humminbird showed some perchy looking marks below us. I deployed the Ulterra with a touch of a button, hit another button and boom...we are "anchored" with the Spot-Lock.
Marc and his daughter Grace are the kind of people that are just happy to be on the lake and fishing, and as Marc says, "The fish are just a bonus to the day", so it just makes the fishing so much more relaxing.
We made the usual monetary bet of a dollar for the first keeper "yellow" to get in the boat. Marc won that one. Then we made a bet on the 30th fish to go in the box, and I won my dollar back. Then Marc said, "Ok, five bucks for a double of keepers...each time". I didn't think anyone was going to get that one, since it was a slow, but steady bite, this morning. However, I was wrong....I did catch a double about an hour later. So, now, I'm up 6 bucks...woot woot!
Then, we had a dollar bet on the 60th fish, and Marc won that one, so I gave him his dollar back.
The last bet was for the last fish, and it was worth 5.00 this time. Marc and I each had one coming up at the same time. Mine hit the boat first, so technically I won, but I said, "Your's is bigger, so you win". He laughed, then replied, "It's a draw".
So, I kept the 5 bucks I had won. Woot! Woot!
We only kept 81 of our 90 perch today, because of time constraints. Grace had to get back home to go to work this afternoon.
The bite was pretty light most of the time...and, most of the time, it just felt like a little more weight on the end, when I would go to jig it a little. If it felt different in any way, I would set the hook, which resulted in more catches than misses.
A bonus was two nice walleye that bit my minnows. One was maybe 3-3 1/2 pounds and the other was just a 17 incher. When you tell Marc, "Get the net"....he jumps... fast! lol Thanks Marc! :)
All in all, it was a fantastic morning on the water with two good people that I have known for a long time now. A very good day...and, that makes me happy!
I'm off tomorrow, and will be cleaning the boat. I'll be back out walleye fishing on Monday with Rick Baker and his buddy, so we'll probably be going out of Huron again.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Steve and Jeremy 11/5/2021
by Capt Juls on 11/05/21Steve and Jeremy drove in from Columbus this morning to take advantage of the nice weather that was forecast for today, and met me at the Huron boat ramp at 8:20. Capt Sam, who runs the "Porkchop Express Charters", dumped me in the water around 8am, before the crew showed up, so all they had to do was jump in the boat when they got there (Thanks, Sam!).
Due to witnessing a deer/car collision on their way up, and stopping to check if the lady was hurt, they were behind schedule by a few minutes, but we were on our way by 8:30. :)
We headed out the Huron river, towards Vermilion, and set up in 38 feet of water. The Ulterra and the baby Merc were set towards the ENE from there, so the path would allow us to visit slightly deeper water as we traveled further out. When we hit 42.7 feet, the boat was turned towards shore again, to get back to that 40' area. That seemed to be the best area for us this morning.
The Bandit colors are pictured in this post. I do not know all the names of them offhand. Most are custom colors by DJ's " Custom Eyes Lures", Mike Schlimgen's "Slim Shady Customs" , or "Domka Outdoors". Every color pictured caught fish today.
Bandits behind Off Shore boards, unassisted, between 60 and 120 back (I used 120, 91, 85, and 63 back on the starboard side and 115, 89, 77, and 63 on the port side). Speed was all over the place....sometimes it was as slow as 1.5 and sometimes as high at 2.2mph. But, most multiple bites came at a speed of 1.8.
We caught 24, but only kept our 18 that we were allowed, and headed in after only 4 hours. Even though they were in both of the brawls too, we went in early, so they could get the fish cleaned and get something to eat, before heading back to Columbus at a decent hour.
They were pleased with the grade of fish this morning, even though we didn't find any tourney fish this time. They will be back next Friday, weather permitting, to try again. :)
I originally had tomorrow scheduled for a walleye trip with my regular from Wisco, Vito Centofanti, but he had a family obligation to take care of this weekend, so he had to cancel. He's rescheduled that trip to March.
So, I thought I had tomorrow off, but while we were fishing this morning, I got a text from another regular, Marc Miller, who lives near Cleveland, and asked if I had tomorrow available for a perch trip. He's been trying all season to get his daughter Grace out with me again, and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. We all love perch fishing...:)
The winds look pretty good for a Marblehead perch trip....12-14 out of the south, so all we need are cooperative perch tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
It will be an 8:30 start out of Mazurik's.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Troy, Brad, and Taylor 10/24/2021
by Capt Juls on 10/24/21I was up early this morning, to check the weather, and make sure that the winds were still forecast to be light, and the rain wasn't coming in until this afternoon.
All was well, and my perch trip for the morning was still on.
I hit up A & J's for some Emerald Shiners, and then went out to Marblehead to fetch my boat from the heated storage building, and head over to Catawba to meet my Crew.
This morning, I was fishing with Troy, his brother-in-law Brad, and Brad's son, Taylor. They were out on their own boat yesterday and only caught 4 keeper perch over by Lakeside, so they wanted to go out with me this morning. I wasn't sure what kind of bite it would be, but since it was going to be a nice morning, I thought it couldn't hurt to try.
I met my crew at Catawba, and we were launched by 7:45. There was an extraordinary amount of foam at the launch this morning too. At first glance, one would think it was a sheet of ice, but it was just thick foam (from the wind, and algae bloom dying, I think. I don't know for sure). It was icky, to say the least.
We headed out towards G Can first. Brad, who was sitting shotgun, pointed out some perch net flags in front of us.... I was really surprised to see them so far out, because again, I have never seen the perch nets set on the west side of Catawba so close to the cans...so I slowed down to take a look to see if there were any perch in that area. But, the Humminbird didn't mark much there either, so we kept moving toward G.
We didn't find the marks I was looking for near the can, so we kept moving north and followed the "Picket Fence" line. When we got as far as Round Reef, I decided to head over the D Can, to see if anything was happening out there. No one else was there when we arrived, and there were some marks down below, so we decided to give it a try.
"Dollar for the first yellow?", I asked. They were game, so that dollar went to Troy. Brad bet 5 dollars for the first double yellows that could be kept. He won that one, and then they wanted another dollar bet on the 120th perch, so we were all scrambling to keep bait on the hooks and be on the bottom for that last fish, but the perch gods smiled upon me, and let me have that dollar....woot! woot!
At one point, Brad's rod broke right at the handle, which really surprised me, because it was bought new in the Fall. It's one of Jann's Netcraft's new perch rods, and they are nice rods. Hopefully, the other ones I bought do not follow suit. I'll take this one back, and I'm sure they will replace it for me.
I didn't have extra perch rods on the boat, so I let Brad use mine. Mine is an old rod I've had since 1987 and is very special to me, so even letting someone touch it, let alone use it, is very hard for me to do....but, it was the right thing to do, since he's the customer. I sat and twiddled my thumbs until I remembered that I had electrical tape in my glove box. There was enough rod handle there to attach my reel to it with the tape. It would just be a little awkward to use, but it would do the job just fine.
I was fishing again, so all was well in the world, except that I didn't get my rod back to use. lol
I took a picture of a little bugger that was mixed in with my minnows. Can anyone identify it? I thought at first glance it might be a baby smallmouth fry, but I'm not sure.
The crew had a good time, and will be back next June to learn how to run Off Shore boards, and that makes me happy! :)
The weather is turning to crap for the next week, and my next trip is scheduled for next Friday, but I doubt we'll get that one in either, due to wind, but I can hope. Let's all hope that November is kinder to us wind-wise, than September and October have been. Fingers crossed....:)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Clayton, Todd, and Dale 10/19/2021
by Capt Juls on 10/19/21Clayton, Todd, and Dale, who drove in from Bismark, ND this past weekend, had a perch trip scheduled with me this past Sunday, but once again Mother Nature decided to be kind of bitchy and blew, so we rescheduled for today. They have their own boat here, a nice Lund, so they were able to fish some quieter waters as they scouted around the area.
I got up early, as usual, and hit up A and J's Bait for some Emeralds. Their answering machine said they had "100% Emeralds" in their scoops, so that's where I wanted to get them from. However, that 100% was not accurate and in the 7 scoops I bought, there was at least one scoop of FatHeads (a minnow I'm familiar with from living in Wisconsin). But...no worries...I'm not complaining here, and I'll tell you why later in my report. :)
I had originally planned on a 9am launch, to let the "Frost get off the Pumpkin", before we headed out, but the air temp at 6:30 was 51 degrees, so I called Clayton and asked if they could meet me an hour earlier at Mazurik's, so we could get an earlier start. "No problem", he said. "I'll wake the others and get them moving. We just need to make a few sandwiches, and we'll see you over there".
I left the house at 6:55 and headed to the heated storage building to pick up the boat, and head to the gas station to fill it up, and grab some ice for the cooler. I brought the "Catch Counter" cooler, since I had new springs put on it two weeks ago, and a new counter put on it, yesterday. I wore the other ones out, and my counter wouldn't go above 39...the second digit in wouldn't go past 3 for some reason (probably fish slime goo in there or something). But, that's a problem when you need to keep an accurate count before heading back into the dock where the ODNR might be there waiting to count your catch.
I got to Mazurik's around 7:30 and got things ready while I waited on my crew to arrive. They showed up at 7:45, and we were on our way a short time later.
I hadn't been out perch'n since I had the two brothers from MI out 10 days ago, so I wasn't on a good bite, and I told them so. I gave them the opportunity to save their money and just take their boat out, but Clayton said, "We drove all this way to fish with you, and that's what we want to do". So, with the pressure off, I headed to the Marblehead lighthouse, where I had been hearing about some nice catches the day before.
We stopped in the area, and set up on one spot that had some fishy marks, but they turned out to be big Gobies and small walleye, so we didn't stay there long. They had told me that the day before, they had seen a perch net on the east side of the Cedar Point break wall, and a lot of marks near one end of it. "We don't know what they were though", said Todd. To which I replied, "Most likely, those were perch. Do you want to go check it out? If they're not, we can always move again". They all agreed it was a good idea, so we started heading over there.
There were a lot of Seagulls flying around, and sitting on the water, out in the middle of the passage between Marblehead and Cedar Point...where the Sandusky River flows out, and they caught my attention. I looked down at the Humminbird to find a large school of fish below us, so I immediately got the boat off plane, and stopped it. Could these be perch? Gosh, I hoped so! "Look what we have here...these marks look very good...let's try this first, before we head all the way over there", I said.
The Ulterra was deployed and the Spot-Loc was engaged to hold us over the marks on the screen. The wind was blowing out of the west, and the waves were 2 feet or less, so it wasn't bad at all. Everyone else was packed up over by the lighthouse, and we were probably between a 1/2 and 3/4 mile east of that pack, all by ourselves.
The water temp today was 65.8 degrees right there.
"Dollar for the first yellow?", I asked. "Yeah, sounds good", they replied. Todd won that dollar. But, we had a couple more bets throughout the morning, to keep it interesting, and I would end up with an extra 5 bucks in my pocket. Woot! Woot! Fun times...lol
Fish size ranged anywhere from 4 1/2 inches to 12 inches. The little ones got tossed back to have a chance to grow bigger. There were a lot of little walleye from this spring's hatch that got thrown back too. They are such cute little buggers at that stage in life...I can't help but give them a little kiss before I let them go....hoping one day, they will come back to me as a trophy walleye. :)
Clayton asked if Sheephead were good to eat, and I told him that I had never eaten one, but that I know of people that had and said they weren't that bad. So, when he caught one, he decided to keep it and fry it up, to see for himself. Todd thought that was disgusting, so I think Clayton plans on sneaking it into a fish fry, to see if Todd would even notice. I've been told that when people did serve walleye and Sheephead mixed in together, most people couldn't tell the difference. I have not tried one, and probably never will. When I have Bluegill, Perch, and Walleye to eat anytime I want, I don't think I'll be choosing to eat a Sheephead.
I secretly have a soft spot for the big dopey looking creatures anyway, and enjoy letting them go on about their merry little lives.
We ended the morning with a nice cooler of 120 perch. And, wouldn't you know it...the largest of the perch caught today came on the FatHeads. Go figure! lol
I did get on the radio when we were done, to ask if anyone in that pack was doing poorly and wanted my spot, and gave the numbers, the description of my boat, and said I would wait 5 minutes before leaving, but no one answered, or headed our way, so we left. Either they didn't have their radios on channel 79 or they were catching well enough to not want to leave their spots.
I did run into a ODNR Wildlife Officer that I see down there from time to time....he was off duty, and launching his boat with his young son, and his Dad, I think (I couldn't see who was backing up the trailer, so that's only a guess). He asked how we did, and I told him. I gave him the exact numbers we were at, so they could go there and get on them too. He thanked me, and launched his boat while we loaded out.
My guys had a good time, as did I, and they are scheduled to be back here for three days in early April, and that makes me happy!
My next trip is scheduled for Thursday of this week, with Steve and Jeremy (longtime regulars), but the forecast is showing dark red and maroon colors, which means 30+ mph winds, and another blow day, if it doesn't change drastically for the better. Uffda! I've rescheduled them so many times this season, it's not funny.
The next scheduled trip is Saturday, with Joe Wirthman and his crew. We will be chasing walleye, I think. I have to confirm that, though, since I can't remember off the top of my head if it was walleye or perch.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Bob and Bruce 10/7-8-9/2021
by Capt Juls on 10/11/21I had a three day perch trip with brothers Bob and Bruce from Michigan. They've been perch fishing with me every fall, for the past 5 or 6 years now, and always book 4 days, hoping to get all their days in. Normally, we've been able to get them all in, but this year the wind kept us off the lake for the first two days they had booked. Luckily, I had the day after their trip scheduled as a day off, so we used that one to get a third day in, so losing only one day wasn't so bad. :)
The first day (7th) we struggled to find them. We launched out of the Portage River and searched all over the area west of Catawba to the cans, and hit 5 or 6 spots, but never got into them. We ended the day with only 15 perch.
Day two (8th), while I was at A&J's bait shop waiting on them to open, so I could get some Emerald Shiners, I was given some info that there were a lot of perch up by D can, so we launched out of Catawba and headed there first. The Humminbird showed some decent marks, so I set the Spot Lock on the Ulterra and we stayed put in one spot for the next 5 hours. We caught 75 nice perch there, and when the bite died, we opted to check a spot on our way back to the ramp. We stopped off at F can to see if we could pick up a few more, but it was slow there too, and we only caught 4 more.
Day 3 (9th)...
We headed straight back to D can and set up once again, and enjoyed a beautiful day on the water. The weather was perfect, and the fish were slow to start biting, but then started biting pretty steady. They would come and go in flows, so the trick was to stay put and not get to impatient when it slowed down again. We kept 88 nice perch and threw back about half that number in little perch, little baby walleye, and white perch. We did catch one 20 inch walleye, that Bruce was excited to keep for a dinner too.
The brothers enjoyed their three days of perch'n, even with the very slow day one. Time spent together, fishing, was the most important thing to them, but catching some Lake Erie "Gold" was the icing on the cake for these two. :)
My trips for Monday and Tuesday have been rescheduled. I had to make the call yesterday, for two gents who were driving in from 6 hours away, and it was showing gusty winds for Monday, so they cancelled given that info. My Tuesday trip has been rescheduled to the 25th. My next trip is Friday, if the winds allow.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dean, Scott, and Randy 10/4/2021
by Capt Juls on 10/05/21Sorry...this is going to be a short report, because I didn't have time yesterday to get it done, and I'm short on time this morning. :)
We launched out of Huron at 7:15 yesterday morning, and headed north out of the river. The air temp was 66 degrees, winds were light out of the south, and the water temp was 68 degrees. Skies were partly cloudy with a forecast for some popup showers around 9am.
We ran out to the dump and set up in 40 feet of water and set the Ulterra on a course to the NNE, towards deeper water, at a speed of 2.2mph.
It's basically the same program I ran two days prior with Bandits behind Off Shore boards, with 20z weights on one side of the boat, and unassisted Bandits on the other side of the boat. We dialed in the unassisted side to 120 back, and put them all at that depth, since every fish caught on that side was hitting that outside board at 120 back. Once we moved the two inside baits down too, they started catching too.
The dipsey program wasn't working as well as it did two days ago, but we did catch some on them.
We caught around 30 fish, but only 18 of those were keepers, so we went in with only three of our four-person limits.
The rain did show up around 9am, and I tried to stay north of it as it passed, but we did end up catching the edge of it and got rained on. It was a good thing they all brought their rain gear, because it was more than just a sprinkle. lol
Dean, Scott, and Randy, who came down from Wisconsin last Friday with their own boat, had similar success out of Huron the day before. They wanted to fish with me to learn some tips and tricks with the planer boards, and wanted to learn how to run the dipsies, because they had never run them before, but wanted to. They mentioned they were nervous about trying them on their own, because they were afraid of tangles. They learned how easy it was to run them and were planning on buying some for their next adventure out. :)
I'm still having an issue with my 36V battery system draining superfast, so it wasn't the battery charger that got changed out the other day, after all...it's something else. Hopefully, the culprit can be found and rectified this afternoon, or tomorrow, because I have two perch trips Thursday and Friday, and I need that Ulterra's Spot Lock to last out there! Fingers crossed!
(And, before someone tells me I need to buy new batteries....no, it's not the batteries themselves....they are the Odyssey Extreme 31 AGMs...and, they are in great condition, and less than a year old! lol).
Gotta run....have a great day!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
