Juls WFA Blog
Is It Spring Yet??? I'm Bored Out of My Mind!
by Capt Juls on 12/04/15This time of year is very hard for me. My 2015 Ranger went to its new home back in November, and I have been without a boat since. I'm seriously going through fishing withdrawals.
My 2016 Ranger goes into production after Ranger's Christmas shutdown, so it won't be long before she is built. Woot! Woot!
I'm counting down the days until my first trip, and it can't come soon enough!
April and May dates are filling up fast, so if you want to get in on some trophy Lake Erie Walleye action, don't hesitate to book your trip. It's still pretty cold in April, so dress for the weather. While it can be 60-70 degrees on shore on some fortunate days, the temperature on the water is still in the high 30's to low 40's, due to the water temperature.
The dates I have left available in April are:
3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 25, 26, & 27.
The dates I have left available in May are:
3, 4, 5, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, & 31.
That's not to say that the trophy walleye fishing ends at the end of May. It doesn't. They are just no longer grouped up in the Western Basin in thick schools, where they spawn.
The fishing in June and July is pretty fantastic too, and the weather is more stable and a lot warmer. So, if you're not into fishing when it's cold out, but still want to catch big fish, June and July are the better choice for you.
We often travel up into Canadian waters, if the bite warrants it, so a Canadian license would be needed, and can be bought online, with a one day option.
However, know that you can buy a license, but when I call in to Canada to get permission to enter their waters, if you have any felonies on your record, they can turn us away. So, being given a license to fish up there doesn't mean they will give permission to let you fish up there. If that's the case, just let me know in advance, so I can make other plans on where to fish for the day. :)
It's not even Christmas yet, and I'm already planning trips in my head....lol
Deep sigh.....
I wish you all the very Merriest of Christmas's, or Holidays, and a Happy New Year!
See you in the Spring....
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Another Season Comes to an End...
by Capt Juls on 11/06/15Good morning....just a few thoughts....
It was a strange season, wrought with some bad weather sprinkled throughout, that had me scrambling to reschedule trips, but over all...it was a good season. :)
I would like to thank all my customers, both new and old, who made my season a fun one! We caught a lot of walleye and perch, and had a lot of laughs, and I'm already looking forward to next season.
My 2015 Ranger has gone on to her new home now, and the 2016 Ranger/Evinrude has been ordered for next season. Now, the hard part...waiting until spring!
I want to thank all my sponsors who have stuck with me throughout the past 15 years, and made my "life" possible, because without them, I couldn't do what I do!
Thank you Vic's Sports Center, Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Minn-Kota, Humminbird, Off Shore Tackle, EZSteps, RS Nets, World Wide Marine Ins., Costa Sunglasses, and the Jewelry Mechanic....your quality products make my job a very enjoyable experience!
I depend on all my equipment in order to do my job and keep my customers safe. Nothing gives me the confidence to do that like my sponsor's products do. So, I really can't thank them enough for what they do to make the fishing experience an exceptional one, not only for myself, but for my customers too. If I had a dollar for every positive comment made from people in my boat, I would be a rich woman! Ha! :)
While my season is over, I am still getting out fishing with friends, at least for another week, because I will be starting back at the local animal shelter next Friday, to help them for the next 4 months.
I'll also be renewing my Captain's license over the winter, because it's due for renewal in August, but I don't want to be messing with that while trying to run the business next season, so I'll get it done over the winter. I can't believe it's already going on 5 years. It's true what they say, "time sure flies when you're having fun"!
Another thing I have to get straightened out is...
I bought a new MAC computer and now it loads all my photos sideways to this site, so I have to find out how to prevent that before next season starts, because you all know how I like my pictures!
So, until next season.....I wish everyone a safe and wonderful winter season!
I'll see you in the spring!
Capt Juls
Nice Day to End the Season...
by Capt Juls on 10/30/15We got a late start to the morning, due to a train that had stopped in the middle of the tracks over in the middle of Oak Harbor, and trapped my MI crew for a 1/2 hour, before someone gave them directions around it, in order to get to my house.
We loaded up and headed to Mazurik's to launch at 11am. We headed straight for Kelly Shoal, where the plan was to troll the top of it in 15-20 foot of water with stick baits. With a dwindling northwest wind, the lake was laying down nicely, so it was a decent ride out there.
We set up on the NW side of the shoal and aimed for the green can on the west side of the shoal, staying to the inside of it as we headed to the NE corner of Kelly's Island. The Onix was showing nice marks in the 38'-36' of water, but as we came up into the shallower stuff, the marks disappeared. I kept the line though, thinking maybe the boat was scaring them to the sides where our baits were.
My crew, which was a grandfather and his 14 year old grandson, had never run Off Shore boards before, so after a quick lesson for each one, they were setting the lines by themselves. We ran Bandits, Deep Husky Jerk 12's, and a Perfect 10 with a 1oz weight off the boards, and one 4 oz bottom bouncer off the deeper corner.
We only caught two 19" walleye in a pass and a half, and they wanted to go perch fishing, since the walleye fishing was slow. Heck, I was happier than heck to see those two walleye...lol But, we went perch'n instead. The 14year old has never done a lot of fishing, and was getting bored, so I thought the perch fishing might be more entertaining. However.....
Our first spot was up on the NE corner of Gull Island Shoal, and we were getting bites, but not fast bites. The boy never brought up a fish, but the Grand Pops and I were starting to get them going.
I made the mistake of paying attention to a big white boat that was anchored off the NE buoy on Kelly Shoal, and thought, "If they have been there that long, then they must be catching over there". So, in an effort to get a better bite, so the boy could possibly catch some too, I made the move over there.
Then, I got a text from Capt Mike Sawyer which said, "Did you just pass me on Kelly Shoal? The perch fishing is BRUTAL". ....ugh...oh no. I think I made a mistake. lol After getting Mike on the phone, he said that they had dropped the hook four times in that same area, because they weren't getting them going. I told him that I was going to go try over by the stone dock on the NW corner of Kelly's, if it's no good here....so, we left.
The Stone dock was void of perch, but had a lot of gobies....deep sigh. I told Gramps that we should have stayed in the first spot, because I think the bite was just getting better and better, and we had only been there for a 1/2 hour before giving that spot up. (I tend to have less patience when someone in the boat is bored and not catching fish)....lesson learned. Set a timer, and give more time!!
The guys decided that they had had enough and would cut the trip to 4 hours instead of the 6 hours we had scheduled, because of the less than stellar fishing, and the late start to the day....they wanted to get back on the road to Detroit. So, we went in after 4 hours.
They had a good time, despite the fishing, and would like to try it in the spring or early summer. This fall bite is off whack during the day, but I'm guessing that the night bite might be getting pretty good from what I'm hearing. Don't ask me about it though, because I'm not night fishing, and don't have any details...sorry!
This is my last fishing report of the season....out of my boat anyway. My Ranger goes buh bye on Monday...which is sad. But, the new Ranger/G2 combo has been ordered and will be ready to fish in the Spring!
I'm perch'n off a big boat tomorrow, with a bunch of other captains, so now I get to relax and be the customer for a change. :)
I'll post a perch report tomorrow....
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Last Trip of the Season...
by Capt Juls on 10/30/15It's been a busy month, with a lot of wind, and a lot of rescheduled trips for the spring! I have been busy fishing on the big boats, working as a first mate, when it was too rough for my customers, and they wanted to reschedule, to the spring.
I have also been busy putting together my boat order for the 2016. The new Ranger will be powered by the new Evinrude G2, so I'm really excited to try that out next season. I have heard nothing but good things about the new G2. Speaking of new things, Humminbird has come out with the Helix electronics in the larger models, and the new 12's have the CHIRP technology, so those will be on the new Ranger next season too. And, of course, the Minn Kota Ulterra trolling motor! I loved that self stow and deploy this season, and couldn't be happier with it. It worked flawlessly for me all season. I'm looking forward to trying out all the new "toys" next season...it just gets better and better every year. Woot! Woot!
Today is a walleye trip, which will be tricky after this blow we just had. Gale force winds blew a lot of water out of this end of the lake, but on the bright side, the winds were out of the SW, so it didn't tear up the shoreline and make it a mud hole.
Today's forecast is calling for NW winds at 10mph or less by Noon, so it should be a decent day.
I haven't been walleye fishing, since the perch have been on fire, and the walleye bite has been spotty at best. It's been a very strange fall for walleye, and I can't remember a time in the last 15 years, that the fall bite for walleye was so poor.
We find areas with marks from 15' down to the bottom, and nothing we offer them works. In years past, if we found marks like these, we would make a run through them with our offerings and put a lot of fish in the boat. What's going on? I wish I could answer that.
We're going to hit Kelly Island Shoal today and run cranks over the top of it, to start. If we can't get any walleye going, we will break out the perch stuff, just to put some meat in the cooler for my customers.
It's a grandfather and his 14 year old grandson, so I want it to be fun for the boy.
I'll report back later today...
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Sorry! It's a day late..Perch Fishing with the MI Guys 10/10/15
by Capt Juls on 10/11/15Jeff, Don, and Ken met me at my house at 6:40am, and we loaded them in the Excursion and headed to the bait shop to get some fresh emerald shiners for a day of perch fishing. However, I was disappointed in the scoop count, and doubly disappointed with the price for the short scoop count, so I scrambled to get some frozen shiners from a friend's boat, at "Anchors Away Marina", in case we needed them, because I didn't grab any out of my freezer. Luckily, I was able to catch him before he got out fishing, and I traded some brownies for some frozen shiners, so everyone was happy. lol
We headed to the last place I had caught some nice perch a couple days before, which was up at the red buoy at North Bass. My friends, who run "Eagle Eye Charters", "Pooh Bear Charters", and "Eye Catcher Charters" were all up there too. But, the bite was slow. Nice fish...but, slow. So, I made a move south to the green can at North Bass, and didn't find any there, so we moved again. This time we traveled down between North Bass and Middle Bass to head towards Rattle Snake Island, where we all know there is still a decent bite going on. They are smaller fish, on average, but still good eaters.
The Onix marked some fish in that passage, so we stopped to drop some lines down and see if we could find out what they were, but there were no takers. We didn't stay long, because I didn't think they were perch. So, we moved further west over to the pack of boats that were sitting on West Reef, on the SW corner of North Bass.
I marked some good fish south of the pack, and SW of the red can that marks the reef, so we hit the Spot Lock on the Ulterra and started fishing. Immediately, we got bites. The first fish up was a small yellow perch, so I was confident the marks below us were a school of perch.
We caught a lot of fish there, with a lot of throw backs, but the longer we fished the bigger the perch got. When we hit 102 the bite slowed down, and we ground it out until we had 108...just 12 more to go until we hit a four person limit. But, Ken said, "Now would be a good time to go try for some walleye", and everyone agreed. So, I kept them fishing for perch while I readied everything for trolling walleye. We got all the perch stuff put away, and I got on the radio with Capt. Nate, who runs the "Chelsea IV" boat. He had gotten all of his perch at Green Island and was going to go try trolling the "picket fence" (firing range cans) for walleye.
After a quick, "what are you going to do?" conversation, he headed to "E" can, and I headed to the ''Niagra" and "D" can area. I had some great marks, that looked to be walleye, from 15-30 foot down, so we ran something in all depths of the water column. We ran Bandits, Reef Runners, and Deep Husky Jerks off of the Off Shore Boards with 2 and 3oz snap weights, and two dispsey, with the #3 setting at 35 & 41 back, off the corners of the boat with big spoons.
I wish I had a report for walleye, but those buggers will not bite anything right now. Seems to be that way all over, from what I'm hearing. Huron is a mud hole and there are a ton of marks, but no biting fish. It's a VERY strange year in that regard, but I'm hoping that after the mud, that the last blow created over in that area cleans up, the fish will put the feed bag on again. If it weren't for the little baby walleye hatchlings from this spring, I wouldn't remember what a walleye looks like! We have caught a ton of them while perch'n.
We only had one big pull back on a Deep Husky Jerk, but it was off as fast as it pulled that Off Shore board back! And, we had one 6 inch walleye caught on a big spoon off the dipsey. That spoon was almost the same size as the walleye! What was that little guy thinking? "I'm a big fish! Look at me!", he probably told himself. ;)
Anyway, it was a beautiful day on the water, with a very fun crew of gentlemen who have plenty of experience fishing the way I do, so it was easy work for me. I got to enjoy the day like I was just out fishing with my fishing friends. No instruction necessary. And, days like those are far and few between. Don't get me wrong...I like to teach people how to fish like I do, but it's always a pleasure to fish with folks who already know how to do it!
I had the day off today, (Sunday), and I have tomorrow off too. I will be back at it Tuesday through Sunday, for both walleye and perch, so please pray for good winds. We need that dirty water to clean up, so we have a chance to figure out what those finicky walleye want to eat right now.
Oh, and before I forget to mention...the bigger perch seemed to like those frozen shiners in Wintergreen rubbing alcohol over the fresh ones. Some days are like that, and other days, it's the other way around. ;)
Stay tuned....I'll try to keep you posted in a more timely fashion.
Capt Juls
Went Fun Fishing today...
by Capt Juls on 10/07/15First time out since the big blow this past weekend. The satellite picture shows the water cleaning up nicely on the west side and north side of the islands. I think Huron still needs a day or two to clean up more, before we start looking for walleye over there though.
Some walleye were being caught NW of the Dumping Grounds in Huron before the blow, and maybe this cooler water that blew in from the NE brought some of those "east fish" back here. I guess we'll find out this weekend, or next week.
My Saturday trip just emailed me to tell me he's come down with that nasty upper respiratory "ick" that is going around, and has to cancel. I may have it refilled, but will know later tonight.
I went fun fishing with another captain this morning, and we got a two man limit of decent sized perch (9" average) on the north side of North Bass in 2 hours. It was pretty much up and down, once we got them going after about 20 minutes.
Rickard's had Emerald shiners this morning, and I heard that Hi Way Bait had got some in today too.
Good luck if you get out tomorrow...it should be a nice day. Friday looks kind of icky, but the weekend looks like it's going to be pretty nice.
Capt Juls
She's Blowing this week....deep sigh
by Capt Juls on 10/01/15
Mother Nature is mad. She's huffing and puffing. I had to cancel a three day trip this weekend, and my Tuesday and Wednesday just rescheduled to the spring. Thanks Momma N!!
On the bright side, hopefully, this will push those big walleye from from the east back over this way again. When it cleans up, the walleye bite should be back on over here! Fingers crossed!
925/-9/26/15
by Capt Juls on 09/26/15
Yesterday's trip was pretty much a bust. I had three fellas in the boat and we hit 13 spots, only to catch 23 perch in 8 hours!
Today was a little better action. Three of us hit two spots and ended up with their two man limit of 60 perch in 6 hours.
It wasn't fast catching, but there were plenty of missed bites to keep our interest. We didn't have a lot of junk fish either, so that was good.
The same two guys will be fishing with me tomorrow, for 4 hours, and we plan to hit the Rattlesnake and Green Island area again, since the winds will be out of the SE.
If you go out, don't worry about wondering where to fish, because there were a gazillion boats out there today.
Day Two with John and John 9/23/15
by Capt Juls on 09/23/15I woke up thinking what a great day it was going to be, because the lake was going to be flat, and I could run fast in my sparkly Ranger up to Canada in a speedy fashion. Even as I drove out to Big Bopper's for breakfast, the fog was a tell tale sign that there was no wind. Well, the wind was somehow out on the lake and not on shore....go figure! While it wasn't bad, I couldn't go fast like I wanted to....deep sigh.
John Nash and his friend, John Linder, loaded up the boat with their personal gear and we were off. We launched out of Mazurik's at 7am, along with a plethora of BASS US Bass Open competitors, who were prefishing for their last day before their event starts out of Sandusky tomorrow. The ramp was crowded, but it made me feel right at home, like back when I was launching to fish a tournament too. :)
We set out for a long ride up to the NE side of Pelee Island, and the Helipad up there. We stopped and fished two spots before hitting a third spot out near the dumping grounds where a handful of boats were perch'n. We caught a total of 27 really nice...really-really nice... perch up there, before I decided it was time to go try for some more down by Middle Island. The wind was picking up and the waves were now 2-3's, and it would be a following sea on our way back down. So, we took our time, and had a nice ride while they ate their brownies.
We stopped near Middle to get three more perch to round out a one person limit before setting up for some walleye trolling. They fished for those while I ate my lunch. By the time I was done with my sandwich, they had those last three fish in the box.
I turned off the Ulterra's Spot Lock and simply turned the boat around to make a pass down the west side of Gull Shoal. We ran Bandits 30/45 with 1oz Snap-weights, and 30/30 with 2oz snap-weights, and two dipsies with big spoons at 2.0-2.2mph.
The dipsie went off first, and the rod action showed a pretty good fish. We lost it when John wasn't used to tripping the dipsie, and jerked it a little too hard (twice), and the fish came off. lol
At one point we ended up pretty shallow on the shoal, because a giant sheephead sunk the Off Shore board and it took forever to get in, and I wasn't paying attention to our direction...uffda! But, as a bonus for being preoccupied, we did catch a very nice small mouth up on top of the rocks in 15 foot of water. :)
After several more sheephead and one small 12" walleye, they decided to cut their 10 hour trip down to 8 hours, and we headed in.
They both said they had a good time, had plenty of meat, and wanted to come back in the spring for some of our piggy walleye action....and, that makes me happy! :)
I'm off tomorrow, and will be on a search mission to find some Emerald Shiners for Friday's perch trip.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Perch and Walleye Fishing with John and John 9/22/15
by Capt Juls on 09/22/15After breakfast at Big Boppers, and running to Bayview to get Emerald Shiners for the perch part of the trip today, I met my crew over at Mazurik's at 7am.
John Nash and his friend, John, would be fishing for perch and walleye today. We launched and headed out to the 34/36 line to begin the day with some perch fishing. I have learned that when the walleye bite is slow, it's best to go try it AFTER you have a cooler full of perch! It's easier to not watch the boards go back when there is already a good bunch of fish fry meals sitting on ice. Ha!
Anyway, after a failed perch trip on another boat yesterday, that I was first mating on, I knew it might be really tough, but I was hopeful my gold and green little friends would be where I left them last....thankfully, they were.
It took about 20 minutes of nibbles and misses to get something going, but eventually, my crew got the hang of keeping the bait down in the mud, with a taught line. We were using the new "Skipper 9" rigs that James Allen (he makes them) sent me the other day. I really like these little rigs, because I have always been a big fan of the crappie rig style over the spreaders. These rigs keep all three minnows close to the bottom without tangling.
Anyway, it wasn't a crazy fast bite, but it was fast enough to keep everyone entertained and interested. The grade of fish was decent too. We were pulling 8-11 inch fish on average, with some smaller ones that had to go back.
We caught a lot, and I mean A LOT of little baby first year walleye out there too, so it was nice to see that. I'm just giddy with what the future of this fishery holds for those who will be here fishing in the next 10 years to come!
John did catch a nice fat 19 inch walleye too.
I didn't have my perch counter with me today, because we were going to be walleye fishing too, and if we were to get lucky and find some big fish, then I needed my bigger cooler on board. So, I did the perch counting the old fashioned way, with the clicker thingy. But, when I use that, I am guaranteed to miscount them, because I'll forget to click it, or I'll think I didn't click it, and click it again, when in reality, I had already clicked it.
So, I always get close to the count and then count them all by hand again. Well, when I did that today, I found that our "60 perch" were actually only 58 perch. We had two more to catch.
Just as we got back to fishing for those last two again, John N said, "Do we need to move for that big freighter"? I turned to look at what he was talking about and found a big freighter was indeed coming in our direction, and wasn't that far away. I never saw it! My bad....
It wasn't close enough to cause too much concern, and looked like it might go to the south of us, but because it was an empty freighter being pushed by a tug boat, I thought it was best to get out of its way, in case it changed course slightly to port, because then we would have been in trouble.
So, we finished up the perch with a 58 count. On to walleye fishing.
I haven't walleye fished in weeks, due to all the perch trips, but I knew there were still marks down at the 29/35, so we headed there and set up. John and John had never pulled Off Shore inline planer boards before, so it was a learning experience for them. I showed them the first set up with the 3oz snap weight, and then the board, and had them do the rest of the lines. They got the hang of it pretty quickly.
We ran Bandits 30/30 and 30/45 with 3oz snapweights at 1.9-2.0 mph. We also ran two dipsies on the 3 setting at 37 back with big spoons (Pooh Bear chartreuse). We picked up two small walleye on the Bandits (black/gold and Parrot), of which, one was a throw back. We also had one "bigger small one" on the spoon.
Lake conditions were beautiful. There were some residual rollers coming in from the east after yesterday's rough water, but it laid down nicely in the afternoon. There was a slight, and I mean very slight breeze from the SW, and the sun was shining.
They opted to make the 10 hour trip an 8 hour trip today, and make tomorrow's perch and walleye trip up to Canada a 10 hour trip.
We will be heading to the dumping grounds up there to the east of the Helipad, to try our luck, and then we'll search for some walleye on the return from up there.
Tomorrow's weather looks to be even better than it was today, so no one can ask for more than that! :)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Perch Fishing with the Beiser Brothers 9/14/15
by Capt Juls on 09/15/15Picked my crew up at their hotel yesterday, at Noon, and headed to Mazurik's to launch. We were headed out to do some perch fishing for a few hours for the afternoon.
After a couple of calls to captains that were already out perch'n, I decided to head to the last spot I went to earlier in the week, before the blow, which was out on the 34/36 line. It took about 20 minutes for the little buggers to find us, but once they did, it was a pretty consistent bite of decent sized perch. The average size was 9-11, with some smaller and some larger of course, but the average was a good grade.
We had to leave 15 minutes early, when Ken put a hook through his finger, past the barb, and I wasn't about to do the dirty deed of pulling it, so in we went, and he got it taken care of.
I just want to thank Bay's Edge for their neat service of picking up fish at the ramp, when you call them on the radio. (channel 19 for those that don't know about it). That sure does save me a lot of time, and is greatly appreciated!
I have the same crew today, to do some walleye fishing. However, I haven't chased any walleye since early last week, so it's a blank canvas out there for me. I have the left over shiners from yesterday, if we need to go fill the cooler again, because the walleye can't be found....anyway...we will give it our best shot. Fingers crossed! ;)
Looks like the weather is going to be very nice today, so that's a good thing.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Perch and Walleye Fishing in September
by Capt Juls on 09/09/15Well, my bad...I haven't blogged for almost 10 days! I've been very busy, and have neglected my blog. I have had a couple days off to get things done around the house and got the boat cleaned up, so I'm going to just give a few thoughts of what's going on on Lake Erie at the moment.
Walleye fishing has been hit and miss for me between Kelly's and Huron lately. One day I'll get them going and the very next day they don't want anything I throw at them. It gets frustrating, but they are out there. We are marking them, and on one day your buddies will get them running the same program you are, and you (or, I should say, "I") can't.
Lately, I've been running Bandits and Deep Husky Jerks behind 2 and 3 oz inlines and snapweights. The 2oz inlines are running anywhere from 75 to 140 back, so there's no magic number to give you. The 3oz snapweights are being run 30/30 and 30/45 back. Meaning, I let 30 feet of line out, attach the snapweight, and then let out another 30-45 feet before attaching my Off Shore inline planer board.
Friends running the big boats are running dipsies off the corners of their boats with 2 and 3 settings 75-95 back with big spoons, and catching walleye. So, I've readied my dipsies and will have them in the boat for the next walleye trip on Saturday. Monday will be a short 4 hour perch trip, with the same group as I'll have out walleye fishing on Tuesday.
I've been getting a lot of emails asking me if the algae bloom has turned the walleye off? And, my reply is, "No, it's not". We have had calm days where the bloom looks like thick pea soup on top of the water. But, guess what? We are catching walleye under that carpet of green. Many of us charter captains feel that the thick algae is giving the bait fish cover, or shade, to hide under and the walleye follow them under it. So, if you find yourself fishing on a clam day, go find the thickest of that green goo and fish through it. Your baits will be swimming in clean water, while your boat gets filthy, but you will probably catch fish!
The perch bite has heated up and there are many schools of the little buggers east of the islands. There are many helpful people on the radio that will help you zero in on some biters. Just ask, and listen. Most will just give the middle numbers to their gps coordinates, which in reality is a square nautical mile, but once you're in that square mile, you can usually find where they are fishing. :)
I will be back out on the lake this Saturday to chase some walleye with a nice family. So, hopefully, this cold front will help the bite instead of doing what it usually does during a cold front. The water temps, the last time I was out, were at 76 degrees north of Cedar Point. I'm hoping as the temps drop, those fish that have been moving in from the east will keep moving to the west, and want to eat. Fingers crossed!
I may go with smaller baits, and slow it down a little, if the regular program doesn't entice them. We have been running at 1.9-2.0mph with those crankbaits.
I'll try harder to keep up with my blog....there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day for me sometimes though. I just get plain old tired, and it's easy to just blow it off and go relax instead.
So, until Saturday....enjoy the cooler weather!
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing Aboard the Pirate Clipper 8/30/15
by Capt Juls on 08/31/15
We had a good day of fishing aboard the "Pirate Clipper" yesterday... which is 'Eye-Catcher Charters 37' TollyCraft.
The 6 man group ended the trip with a 5 man limit (plus 1),...which is great, because after the walleye bite these past 10 days, we weren't expecting to catch very many, and would have been happy with 6-10 walleye and a mess of perch.
It started out as a combo trip, because if the walleye weren't going to be cooperative, we would have switched over to Perch. But, the Walleye Gods were happy yesterday, thankfully, and let us catch a bunch!
We ran spoons on one side...those took most of the smaller fish...and bandits on the other side, behind 2 oz inline weights...took all the bigger fish. The morning bandits were 75-80 back and afternoon bandits were 120-140 back. The morning spoons were 55-60 back and afternoon was 75-100 back ...speed was 1.7kts
The customers appeared to have had a great time, and were all smiles when I saw them, as they were leaving, at Anchor's Away Marina, after the trip.
If you're searching for a great captain for a larger group than I can take (wink wink)....give Capt Eric Litton a call. For more information and rates, you can visit his website here: http://eye-catchercharters.com/index.htm
You won't be disappointed.
I may have a walleye trip tomorrow. I am just waiting on confirmation, or not, so I must get out and clean my boat now. Perch fishing makes a mess, and if you know me, you know how anal I am about keeping my Ranger clean. ;)
Otherwise, I am not booked until next weekend, with more perch and walleye trips, so....
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Tim and Matt McGlothlin 8/28-8/29/15
by Capt Juls on 08/31/15On Friday morning I picked my crew up at their hotel at 7:45...a late start, because they had not arrived in town until around 3am, giving them only a few hours rest. I had gotten up at 3am, which is my usual routine, and left the house at 5am to go on a minnow hunt for the day's bait.
We would be perch fishing, and the best bait for yellow perch on Lake Erie's Western Basin is still the Emerald Shiner. After locating some all the way over in Bay View, I made a run after breakfast to get some. They are very small scoops over there, and cost a premium price of 3.00 per, but when you're at the only store carrying them right now......you pay. What can you do, besides just shake your head as you walk out of the store?
Anyway....at 7:45 we were headed to Hi Way Bait to get ice, and then over to the ramp at Mazurik's, and in the water by 8:15.
I had been perch fishing the day before on the "Pirate Clipper", and we did okay, so I knew where to go if I really needed to get some perch, but I wanted to check out one of my favorite spots up on Gull Island Shoal first. We tried three spots up there, but there were no biting perch there, so we moved to the spot I was taken to the day before. They were on the smaller side, and my customers are 'meat hunters', so I wanted to try to get them on some bigger sized perch.
We set up just east of the monument in 29/30 foot of water and didn't catch anything in the first 15 minutes, so I lifted anchor....okay, I didn't actually "lift an anchor"... I hit a button, to turn the "Spot Lock" off on my Ulterra bowmount, and moved the boat about 100 yards to a little shallower water. I hit the button on the remote again, and we were "anchored" again. I love that Minn-Kota! It's a perch fisherman's greatest asset, if you don't like to mess with real anchors, and can have a Minn-Kota bowmount on your boat...;).
I can't even lift the humongous anchor off the ground, that the "Pirate Clipper" throws in the water, that thing weighs a ton!! I can't imagine what my back would feel like after dragging that thing up from the depths a handful of times trying to locate perch....ugh!
Anyway...I digress....after we had 35 of a 90 fish limit, we decided to make a run up to the east side of North Bass. The Pirate Clipper did well there the week before, and it's one of my go to spots for perch, so I wanted to check and see if the perch were still up there....they were. To make this part of the story shorter, we finished out our limit of perch in that spot and headed back in.
The one thing I had to endure all day was the fact that I had not made my brownies for that trip. I normally make them in the morning when I get up and have coffee, but this day, I had gotten up, showered, and left the house on a minnow quest, so they got missed. I figured they have eaten enough of my brownies, that they might have gotten sick of them (5th or 6th charter with me), and they wouldn't miss them....I was wrong!! I didn't hear the end of it all day long, and will never NOT go without the brownies again. lol
I promised that the next day I would have brownies, and I would put double the chips in them to make up for it. So, I made some as soon as I got home that afternoon. lol
DAY TWO: Saturday 8/29/15 A Perch and Walleye Combo Trip
After getting a tip on some decent sized perch at breakfast, we checked three spots out there, east of Kelly's, and didn't get anything going. I decided to take Tim and Matt out to the "Sandbar" at the 32.8/35.0 line, where I had marked what looked like good perch in several different spots on my ride back in the weekend before. I had laid down some waypoints on the Onix, just in case they would still be there, and to my surprise, they were still close to the area.
We fished for about two hours and put a three person limit in the box. They were all nice sized too. We caught fish from 8-12 inches, with the majority being in the 9-10 inch size. Perfect eaters in my book, and I'll take those over the jumbos any day.
After we caught our limit of perch, we still had a little over an hour to fish, so we headed back in towards Cedar Point, where I could get a good phone signal. I was supposed to Call Captain Eric after perch'n, because he was going to be walleye fishing that morning, and would tell me if they had a walleye bite going on. When I called, he said, "Don't come up here, I've go nothing going. We've only caught one big perch, trolling, and there's floating grass all over the place up here". To which I replied, "Great. Hmmmmm....well, I guess I'm turning left instead of right today. Thanks for the info!"
We did in fact turn the boat to the left, and headed south towards some old waypoints I had on my mapping chip from fishing the past 15 years in front of Cedar Point down to Huron. I figured if the walleye were in there, like I had been told, after they pulled the perch nets, I thought we could catch one or two small eaters and call it a "good day".
As it turned out, those small "eaters" would end up being three "Fish-Ohio's" and one good eater! Tim landed the first fish, which was a fat and healthy 28" walleye. And, we were completely happy with that one, if it ended up being the only one we would catch. But, that wouldn't be the case....
The second fish to come in was what I was expecting over there...it was a nice 22 incher.
Now, for the crazy part....it was the double on the last turn of the day that had expletives spewing out of my surprised and smiling mouth, as these two behemoths rose from the depths of the green waters. The third fish was a giant 32 inch fish and the fourth fish was a 30 incher!! Holy Walleye Batman!!!
I couldn't believe it! My guys were so happy, and had so much fun that day, that they didn't even care that I said things that would be illegal to say over the marine radio. Ha! I couldn't help it....I get excited sometimes, and I have no filter....what can I say? I try, but I can't promise to always keep a lady like composure. Forgive me...lol
We were pulling Bandits behind 2oz inline weights at 75-120 back...speed was 1.7-1.9mph. We caught three fish on the 75 foot leads and one on the 120' lead. All fish came on the Firetiger color. None of the other colors got touched that afternoon.
On the way in, I called Bay's Edge Fish Cleaning on Channel 19, and had their fish pick up service meet me at the launch to take the fish back to Bay's Edge. I only had my "Catch Counter" cooler with me, and it was too full to close the lid, so having a service like that is really appreciated.
I dropped my guys off at their hotel, and said our goodbyes. They are planning on coming back one more time in October, so hopefully, we can repeat what we did this weekend.
It was one of those days that just keeps you coming back for more. Kind of like hitting that eagle on a par 5 on a tough golf course, or a hole in one on a par 3. Gotta love it! ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Walleye Fishing Fun 8/16/15
by Capt Juls on 08/18/15I realize this is a couple days late, but it's the first chance I've had to get caught up enough to sit down and write this blog.
After driving 18 hours from Nakina, ON Saturday, we arrived home at 12am on the 16th. I had accepted an invite to fish aboard the "Pirate Clipper" that morning, so I would only be getting 4 1/2 hours of sleep, before getting up, to get ready to fish.
When I do not have charters lined up of my own, then I take the opportunity to first mate aboard the "Pirate Clipper", so I can keep fishing and learn how they do things on the big boats. Sometimes, I get to drive it, and sometimes I get to tend the lines. Either way, I have fun doing it.
The "Pirate Clipper" is the newest boat belonging to Capt Eric Litton who owns "EyeCatacher Charters", and is a beautiful 37 foot TollyCraft. So, needless to say, they fish totally differently than how I do it on my Ranger.
Instead of running little Off Shore inline planer boards that attach directly to each rod line, they run the big boards that run out to the sides off of a tow line on each side, and the rod lines are then attached to the tow lines via releases, so they can run a lot more lines than I do.
The advantage I have over their big boats is the fact that I can make much smaller turns when I need to stay on a small pod of fish, and I can also move more easily from area to area, because my 300 ETEC only uses a fraction of the gas those big gas guzzlers do! Woot! Woot!
I only take up to three people on my beautiful sparkly Ranger, and the "Pirate Clipper" can take up to 8 people (6 customers and the Capt and first mate) on that boat. Capt Eric also runs a 30 foot SportCraft that is the namesake of his business...the "EyeCatcher".
So, if you have too many people to fish with me, I highly recommend that you give Capt Eric a call at 614-679-2616. It's a great boat to fish off of...and, by the way, the Captain is a great guy. :)
So, back to fishing on Sunday...
We headed out at 6:30am and headed east of Kelly's Island, to the vast water between Vermilion and Lorain. It took us an hour to get out there from Anchor's Away Marina, so the Capt just put it on Auto Pilot and we just kept a look out for floating logs and net flags.
Once we got to the area we wanted to fish, the boards were set out, and the rod lines hooked to the tow lines. We had 6 people on board the Pirate (just fun fishing with friends, so time was not an issue)....myself, Eric, Little John, Chad, Vicki, and another Chad, so we ran 12 lines. 5 Board lines on each side of the boat and one dipsey diver on each side. The starboard side ran Scorpion spoons behind Tru-Trip Jet Divers 70-75 back, and the other side ran Bandits behind 2oz inline sinkers 115 to 130 back. And, the dipseys were set on the #1 1/2 and #2 settings at 70-75 back with double willow leaf crawler harnesses. We kept the speed at 1.7-1.8kts.
The morning bite was very slow, and the chatter on the radio confirmed that it was the same for most everyone out there. We would get a fish here and there, but it wasn't the "fire drill" happening like it did the afternoon the day before for friends who were out. The fish were stacked out there. I haven't seen marks on this end of the lake like that since April and May!
Around 1pm they turned on and we were catching doubles and triples with many of them really nice fish. We had 4 that were true "Fish Ohio's". By 4pm we were headed back in. And, I was ready to go in. I was SO tired from my trip home from the Canada trip, and then fishing all day, that I knew I would be passed out as soon as I hit my bed when I got home.
I do not have any trips scheduled for August until the last weekend, so if anyone is looking for some good walleye or perch fishing right now, give me a shout! I'm dying to get back out there in the Ranger, and catch some of those big fish to the east!
I guess, unless I book some trips here soon....I won't have much to blog about until September and October. Those months are starting to fill up, and will be a great two months, if Momma Nature lets me get them all in. :)
Capt Juls
Been Gone A while...Meta Lake Lodge Vacation Was an Adventure 8/6-8/15/15
by Capt Juls on 08/18/15For those of you who have been reading my blogs for a long time, I thank you. I apologize for the lack of blogging the past two weeks, but I was up in Canada at a fly in for 9 days. But, when I did get home at midnight on the 16th, I was able to get 4 hours of sleep before heading out fishing on Lake Erie with "EyeCatcher" Charters...I didn't have a trip, so when I don't have my own trips on my Ranger, I fish as a first mate on his 37 foot TollyCraft. On Lake Erie, first mates also need a Captain's license. So, since I happen to have one, I qualify for the job. :)
This year, I didn't keep a daily blog for the Meta Lake trip. I started one, but I decided that sleeping in each morning, instead of getting up at 3am to write it, was more important. So, this will just be a shorter summary of a kind of a strange trip.
The mornings would start out with me waking up an hour and half before everyone else in camp. I would make the coffee and walk through the darkness up to the main lodge, so I could get an internet connection. I was always afraid I would meet a bear around each corner, but luckily I'm still here to write my story, so needless to say, the bears stayed out of camp...whew!
I made the coffee up in the lodge too, so the girls had some coffee to start their day, before making us breakfast.
Then, I would walk back down to the cabin as it got a little lighter out, so I could see if a bear was in camp before it saw me. lol Can you tell I'm a little "bear nervous" up there? I mean, we're surrounded by nothing but vast wilderness, and the food this camp puts out is wonderful. I can't imagine how any bear could resist the smells coming from their kitchen each day. They must be close by? Anyway....I never saw any, so that was good.
When I reached the cabin, Frank would be the next man up. He would drink his coffee, and we would play some Gin Rummy while we waited for the last two sleepy heads to wake up. We usually had about an hour to play cards before everyone got ready to go have breakfast. Poor Frank never beat me once at that game, but he's a very good sport about it. :)
The fishing was not as good as it was last year, when we were there the week before we were there this year. However, we did catch a few nice northern pike along with a ton of little hammer handle pike. Between Steve and I we caught (2) 39 inchers, a 37, 35, 34, and a 32 inch pike. They were real nice healthy fish too.
We did have a really big scare while we were there though. Frank woke up Thursday morning and wasn't feeling well. He looked horrible and was having trouble breathing. I asked, "What's wrong?" And, he replied, "I can't breathe; I feel like I'm drowning". I immediately went and woke up Steve, who happens to also be everyone's family doctor back home, so he knew what was happening right away. Cheryl, one of the camp owners, is also a nurse practitioner, so she and John were woken up to come and help. Erin, the camp manager called the airport right away and got a plane headed out asap.
The plane arrived just in time, and took back off with Frank and Steve aboard. There would be an ambulance waiting back in Nakina for them, to take Frank to the little hospital in Geraldton, ON where he would be stabilized and then flown over to Thunder Bay's bigger hospital. He remained there until Saturday morning, until he could fly home to Ohio, where his sister would be waiting to take care of him, and he could get over to the Cleveland Clinic for more tests.
I paid him a visit yesterday, and he's doing much better than I though he would be, but he will still probably need open heart surgery very soon, he said.
Steve came back that Thursday afternoon around 4pm, so needless to say, I stayed near the internet to get messages all day. I helped the female crew with stuff when I was asked if I wanted something to do. Cheryl and I gathered big rocks for a rock garden she was building for a family that had brought their father's ashes up to be placed at Meta Lake Lodge. It's out in front of the main lodge with a nice view of the lake. :)
Then, around 3pm the girls took me for a boat ride over to the "Tiki Bar", which is a sandbar off one of the little islands out a little ways from the lodge. We sat in lawn chairs and soaked our feet in the cool water. Little minnows nibbled our feet too. I hear that people pay a lot of money over in Asia to have minnows do this, and we got it done for free! The dogs also got to play in the water. Moose, who is a Newfoundland, likes to go under water to pick up rocks and bring them back to shore, has a large pile that he's pretty proud of. And, then, there's Filson...he's a Chow/Golden mix with a beautiful coat. He got a bath with really nice smelling shampoo while we were out there. We talked, drank some drinks, laughed, and just relaxed. John showed up in his boat a short time later and cooled off too. An hour later, at 4pm we all headed back in, so they could get the dinner going for the rest of the camp that would be coming in from fishing a short time later.
Did I mention the meals were fantastic? Truly, it was. Just good "home cooking" that was simply delicious! They served us breakfast, pack us lunches in little coolers that we got to choose from a menu of lunch meats and cheeses, and then served us dinner each day. How nice is that kind of package? All we have to do is eat, fish, eat, fish, eat, sleep....and, repeat each day. :)
When Steve made it back at about 4:30pm he told us everything that happened with Frank that morning, and what the prognosis was. Everyone sighed a breath of relief, and a good mood came over everyone again. We had a nice dinner, some cocktails, and went to bed. The next morning, after breakfast, Steve and I headed down to the south end of Ara Lake to fish. We had set up marker buoys on a large weed bed, and would be starting there.
My first cast out: I start trolling with my Johnson's Silver Minnow...tipped with a glow Twister Tail...and, it wasn't even in the water 30 seconds before I got a hit. This fish was big! I told Steve it was big, and he put the motor in neutral, so I could fight her easier. She was only a 39 inch fish, but she was fat! Steve netted her, gently, and now I have the picture of her to remember her by. Thank you Steve! She swam off on her release, to give someone else a catch to remember in the future. :)
It was a great vacation, and I will remember it forever. If you care to see the photos of this trip, you can find them here: http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com/Meta-Lake-2015-Pics.html
The next blog will be about the Lake Erie trip I did with Capt. Eric Litton the morning I got back from Canada. What a great fishing trip to come home to! Can't wait to tell you about it. ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with David, Justin, and Brennan 8/4/15
by Capt Juls on 08/04/15My crew met me at my house at 5:30(ish) this morning, and we loaded up and headed over to Huron to launch. We were out of the channel at 6:45 and headed over to the Sawmill area, where I was fishing two days ago, while playing first mate aboard the 'Pirate Clipper'. There were really good marks there the other day, but not nearly as many today.
I had a Grandfather, Son in Law, and Grandson on board today, and they were having a good time just being on the water.
It was a tough bite, and with last nights very bright moon, along with the clear skies, made it tough, because I think the fish were feeding last night and were not really interested in the Bandit offerings this morning. We picked up one fish, and lost another, when I talked to Mike Johnson, aboard the 'ReelSport', who told me that he had taken a couple on crawlers. So, I took two Bandits off and replaced them with a couple of Larry Lambert's double willow leaf crawler harnesses.
We were running the Bandits at 1.7- 1.9, so the double willows would allow me to maintain that speed. It worked too, because we managed to pick up three of the 6 fish caught on the crawlers. So, thank you Mike for sharing that info out there today! :)
We started out in the 22-23 foot of water first, because that's where the fish were a couple days ago. Then, we moved out around the hump to the deep sides of it and went back and forth across the top of it in 26-29' of water. The fish were all caught in the 27-28 foot.
We ran the bandits and harnesses behind 2oz Guppie in line weights at 50-60 back.
My crew worked hard for those 6 fish, and did a great job working the Off Shore boards with all my change ups trying to get something to work, so they were pretty tired by the time we were done with their 6 hours. They had a good time, even though we didn't slay the fish, and that makes me happy. :)
Tomorrow's trip has been rescheduled, because it was only a 4 hour trip and since the bite is so tough, I told them we probably wouldn't be bringing much home, and that we should wait for a better bite. He appreciated my honesty and agreed that we should wait. They live locally, so it makes it easier to just call them a day or two before...when I know it's picking up, and let them know it's time to hit the water.
I will be out tomorrow though, because if I can't fish off my boat, I'll fish off another, so I'll be working aboard the Pirate again.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Anthony, Shawn, and Chuck 7/29/15
by Capt Juls on 07/29/15My crew was driving in this morning, and I couldn't remember if I was supposed to meet them at Mazurik's at 6 or 7am this morning, so I thought I'd better be there by 6.
I stopped off to get gas, and then headed to Big Bopper's for some breakfast. This was the first time I was the first Captain there! Usually, there is a group of them already having coffee when I show up. Anyway, after a scrumptious meal of eggs benedict, I headed off to Hi Way bait to get my ice for the big cooler, and then over to Mazurik's to wait. It was going to be a beautiful day. Light and variable winds, and hot and humid temps. It was hot out there, but it's never as hot on the lake as it is on land, so for that I would be grateful.
It was pretty clear it was a 7am launch, since they hadn't shown by 6am.
I got the boat and gear ready to go and then hung out for an hour until they showed up at 7:15. We launched and called in to Canada to let them know we would be fishing over there today.
The first destination was the Wagon Wheel. It's been pretty consistent with good eaters for the past few weeks now. We ran three Off Shore boards per side with Bandits running 75 to 91 back...with 75 and 77 being the hottest.
Color didn't seem to matter much, because everything from firetiger, purple, red, black, and one that looks like the RR color "cheap sunglasses" took fish.
We kept the speed at 1.7-1.8mph.
It was a lot of fun to fish with Anthony, Shawn, and Chuck. It was Chuck's birthday today too. The best part was, they have all have had a little experience running inline planer boards, so the learning curve of how they are run in my boat was an easy job for me. They were all awestruck with the new Ulterra trolling motor on the bow of the Ranger.
When I didn't get out of my seat, and the trolling motor was deploying itself, I heard a lot of "Check that out!" And, "I've got to get one of those!" (I always chuckle, because that trolling motor is pretty darn cool, and I had the same reaction when I first tried it).
They did a great job today on walleye and sheephead. No other junk was caught, except one little 4-5 inch perch...caught on a lure bigger than it was!
We had 8 walleye in the cooler, lost one nice one (and, for those of you keeping track, it wasn't because of my net job this time) and released one illegal sized walleye.
Then, I made the decision to go up around the top and over to the east side, to where the Captain's tournament was won yesterday. Unfortunately, we only caught sheep over there. What's that old saying? "Never leave fish to find fish"? Well, I made that mistake today and paid the price.
However, these guys didn't seem to mind. They said they had a great time today, and would take what they learned from me and apply it to their trips out in their boat. And, that made me happy. :)
Tomorrow is calling for 15mph winds out of the SW, and I have a two woman crew on board for a short 4 hour walleye trip, so I thought it best to hit up Huron in the morning. I'll try the Sawmill area first and then head over to Cranberry if need be. I had heard reports of some fish over there, so we'll go check it out. In those conditions, I wouldn't be able to get up to Canada, fish, and get back, in only four hours. On the bright side...it should be a nice day again...less humid with cooler temps. Woot! Woot!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Chuck and His Boys...7/24/15
by Capt Juls on 07/24/15Okay, okay, I'm sorry I haven't blogged a lot this week. I have been getting texts and emails asking me if everything is okay, because they haven't seen a blog entry from me in a few days. Everything is fine! I'm just running short on time each day.
Between getting the boat cleaned up for the next day's trip, making the brownies, doing the daily chores, and taking care of the 5 animals who let me live with them, I have very little time left before my 7-8pm bedtime. So, sometimes I'm going to miss blogging about a daily trip. I apologize for that...sincerely.
I do have time to blog today though, because I really don't seem to care that there is a light layer of dog hair on the carpeting and kitchen floor. The vacuuming can wait one more day!
I picked my crew up at 4:45 at the place they were staying. I would be fishing with Chuck and his two sons Donny and Derrick (10 and 8 years old, I think).
They wanted to get something to eat, so we headed over to Big Bopper's to have breakfast with some of the other Capt's. The morning chatter was pleasant, and the boys ate a hearty breakfast before we headed to the ramp.
We stopped to pick up some ice, and headed to Catawba State Park to launch at 6:15 AM. Off we went to the west side of the islands. I am not at liberty to say which area, because it isn't my info to give. All I can say is that it was west of the islands. I was worried that there would be too much algae over there, but it was pretty decent looking water there in the morning.
We made one pass with the Bandits running 75, 81, 91, and 120 back, and picked up one walleye right away. Then......nothing. We made a move up to between B Can and Cone Reef, and marked fish, but only had one pull back. We didn't get another fish for the next three hours. The boys were kept busy bringing lines in to check them, and to get used to using the line counter reels.
I had them scheduled for a 4 hour trip, with the option to keep fishing for another two, if the boys wanted to. I was sure they would want to go in, but they wanted to stay out and keep fishing. Hearing that made me happy. :)
We made one move south of where we were, set down to look for fish on the Onix, and got hailed by Capt Eric on the "Pirate Clipper". He said that he and "Pooh Bear" were catching fish now, and that I should move back down to where I started in the morning.
I decided to change three of the crankbaits back to crawler harnesses, with #2 Tadpoles, and set the first one out 41 back with the Purple Crusher Warrior blade (copper belly)
I thought to myself, "This might actually be good, if the crawlers go". As soon as I thought that, that first board went back, and I called Donny up to reel it in.
Both boys did a great job reeling in fish, and managed to get all of them in the boat. We only had one throw back walleye, because it didn't make the legal limit of 15 inches, and only one white perch all day. The rest of the fish were anywhere from 16-24 inches. Very "good eaters" in my book.
We ended up with 6 more keepers in that last hour and a half, to make it a total of 7 for Team Oesch. They had a good time and were grateful for the good weather Mother Nature provided for us. They are planning a nice family fish fry with their catch today. That too makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I am headed back to Canada with a gentleman, his nephew, and niece to fish the west side of Pelee. I'm hoping the grass is out of there by now. It's been a few days since I have been up there, so I'm not sure how it is up there right now. Fingers crossed...
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Jeff and Mike 7/19/15
by Capt Juls on 07/19/15Hey! I get to start this blog off differently tonight. Instead of my usual, "I picked my customers up at their hotel at...", I get to say, my customers sent me a text this morning at 5:05 that said, "We're out in front of the Best Western". As I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, I was washed over with the overwhelming feeling of failure. I let my guys down. I was LATE!!!
I had been dreaming, and the song that is my alarm was playing in the background of my dream. I was now wide awake at 5:05. It was two hours past my normal get up time, so my morning routine was now out the window.
Luckily, the boat was ready to go last night, and all I had to do was throw some clothes on, brush my teeth, and grab a few things off the counter.
I still managed to pick them up at 5:30, but I was out of sorts without my coffee and my routine. I didn't even have time to check the weather...sigh.
All I knew of the weather was that a big storm was headed this way out of Illinois, and along with it would be, big winds and damaging hail. It was expected in early afternoon. I knew I wouldn't have access to my phone app radar up in Canadian water, so I was a bit apprehensive of being so far from home if a monster storm was coming.
We stopped at Big Bopper's for breakfast, and was able to wake up a bit more. After breakfast, we hit Mazurik's and were launching by 7am. We headed up to the "Wagon Wheel" on the west side of Pelee Island, and made a pass through an area I was working a few days ago. I wasn't marking as many fish as the previous trip over there, but we did manage to catch three eyes before making a decision to move.
We ran up over the top, and took the lee side down to Mill Point, (on the southeast side of the island), where we set in on the southwest side of the point. We made a pass over the point and headed to the three humps to the northeast of it.
Two fish came off the point, before we fell off the other side. We didn't get another fish as we went over the three humps. My guess is they were probably inside to the east of Mill Point, but I didn't go there to find out.
It was now going on 11am, so without knowing the status of that storm, I decided it would be a better idea to move down to the US side of the line, where Pooh Bear, ReelSport, and many other charters were working. They didn't talk about a very good bite though, so we only made a small pass in and around that area, and caught one little 16 incher, before moving over to the west side of Gull Island Shoal.
We set in at the very top of the shoal and worked the edge in about 25-29 foot of water. We caught two more good eaters there, and for the second time this year, I screwed up my net job. A long story shortened...I wasn't in the right position to net, and with my over-reach I caught the hooks of the lure before the fish was in the net, and while trying to readjust in order to scoop the fish, it squirmed and set itself free. It would have been the largest fish of the day...other than some giant sheephead...and, was about 25-26 inches from what I saw of her. I apologized, but they didn't seem to really that it didn't make it in the boat. (They thought it was a sheephead coming in the entire time...thus, the reason I was not in the normal netting position.. D'oh!)
We were running Smithwick Bandits from 75-90 back with another one 70/70 with a 2 ounce snapweight ( for those of you who don't know what 70/70 is....let 70 feet of line out...add the snapweight...let out another 70 feet of line, and put the Off Shore board on).
We came back in an hour early, so we were only out for 7 hours today, because the sky was changing and I didn't want to get caught out in a storm (if there was indeed a storm coming). I tried to contact two friends on shore that had radar, but neither one responded in a timely fashion, so we decided to head in. The fish weren't on fire, so it wasn't a hard decision to make.
We are going to make tomorrow a longer day, and give it another shot. I have the same crew again tomorrow...thank goodness....they are so easy to fish with, and very pleasant to hang out with in a boat! They are avid fishermen from Minnesota, and already know how to run planer boards...woot! woot!
Anyway, we got on shore only to have my weather radar app tell me that that big storm had gone south of us. The clouds we saw building were just the outer edges and were not a threat.
The plan tomorrow is to run cranks again, but I'm going to set a few lines out with some "Worm-Burners" and see what happens...
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
