Juls WFA Blog
Feeling Fortunate...:)
by Capt Juls on 02/02/16It is with great pleasure that I can announce that I have been added to the newly created "Great Lakes Pro Staff" for Smithwick, Bandit, and Bomber Lures!
Mathew Hougan has worked tirelessly for the past year to get more exposure and lures in the hands of Lake Erie fishermen.
If you have followed my blogs on a regular basis, you would know that the Perfect 10's and Bandits have worked very well for us here in the Western Basin. I want to add more Bombers to my arsenal and give those a try this season too. :)
Matt tells me there is new and exciting products to be added this season, (still a secret), so I'm also looking forward to finding out what's in store for us. I love surprises. :)
Thank you Matt for the opportunity to be a part of an exciting new program!
Job well done, Sir!
Capt Juls
Thank You Everyone!
by Capt Juls on 01/22/16Just wanted to say thank you to all my customers... those that have booked another trip with me, and those that are trying it for the first time this season.
Just a note...April and May are all booked up!! There are plenty of openings for the rest of the season though, so don't delay in booking your trip...the fishing is good all summer!
I'll be at the Columbus Fishing Expo on February 12th-14th, sharing a booth with Capt. Kevin Swartz...right next to the Off Shore Tackle booth. Stop on by and say, "Hi" if you are going. I'd love to talk fishing with you! :)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Awesome Day Fishing Open Water Jan. 9th, 2016!
by Capt Juls on 01/10/16I was invited to fish with my Facebook friends, Ron Schlosser and is brother, Bob, yesterday, and I enthusiastically said, "Yes!"
I had to work a the animal shelter in the morning, so I got up at 2am and went in early, around 4am, to let the dogs out before cleaning the cat rooms. When I was almost done, I sent Ron a text to let him know that I could meet them at Big Bopper's for breakfast at 7 or 7:15am, instead of the planned 8am meeting time.
He said, "Bob just got in the shower, so we should be there by 7:15".
I got to Bopper's at 7am and went to the bathroom to change out of my dirty sweats and into my cold weather gear (minus my Mustang suit, of course), and ordered my breakfast. I was almost done when the guys arrived, so I told them I wanted to go hit the gas station at the end of the road, and would be right back.
When I got back, they were just finishing breakfast. They finished up, and I told them I would meet them over at Mazurik's.
Once there, they uncovered the boat, and readied it. I climbed into my Mustang suit, and grabbed my two RS Nets out of my Jeep. Ron and Bob wanted to try them out. They want to replace their nets, and knew I had these new RS Nets, so I offered to let them try them out for this trip. They were impressed with the quality, and liked how they handled, while landing fish. I think they might just end up getting one.
We headed out of the launch towards Starve Island, because my friend Capt. Nate Estrada was out with friends the day before and told me they had gone 9 for 15 in that area with Bandits, Deep Husky Jerks, and Perfect 10's.
The brothers were not as familiar with the island area as they are with the Huron area, so I said, "Why don't you let me drive?" And, I was surprised when Bob said, "Okay" and got up to let me sit down. (WoooHooo!!...I just wanted to drive a Ranger with an Evinrude G2 on the back!)
After being thoroughly impressed with the performance of the G2, we got to the spot in a speedy fashion. We chose a contour line to set up on and went with the waves for the first pass in 30' of water.
With the information from Nate's prior trip, we set the baits at varying depths with a couple of Husky Jerks on the outside Offshore boards at 35 back, Bandits at 90-120 back, and Perfect 10's with 2oz's of weight at 30/30 and 40/40 back.
We picked up two little "eater fish" in the first pass, but it was pretty slow for us. The radio chatter noted that people were catching fish on many different colors and style baits, so it was just a matter of finding a reasonably sized pod of active fish. There didn't seem to be a big school at Starve... Nate phoned me to tell me he had good marks over by Green Island, so we picked up after we finished that first pass and were no longer marking any fish on the screen, and headed west.
We set up on the south side of Green...about a mile and a half away from the island, and went with the waves towards it. We had some marks, but nothing to write home about. We had a good pull back, but lost it. We caught one more there before heading back to the east side of starve to try our luck again. This time we set up further east of where we started, and made a pass heading north.
With all of us getting a little impatient, we decided to go look for some fish. We headed to the NW corner of Kelly's Island, marked a few fish and were setting up when Nate texted me some numbers that were just a little to the NW/W of us, and said that they were catching. So, we picked everything back up and headed back towards the monument. As we approached the area from the east, we marked a lot of fish in small pods, so we set down and started trolling. We ended my part of the day at 3pm going 7 for 10 fish, with one big 10.10 pound piggy that measured 30 1/2 inches. I had to get back, because I had to be in bed early, for work the next day.
The guys let me drive the boat back in again (Thanks Ron and Bob!), and they dropped me off at the dock with my nets. Bob ran and got the their nets out of their truck and they headed back out for a little more fishing. This time, they headed closer in to the monument and I got a text telling me that they just set up and caught a triple....getting two of the three fish in the boat. Then, they finished out their limit with two more fish and headed back home to Michigan.
It was a super fun day fishing with these two gentlemen, and I couldn't thank them enough for getting me back out on the water yesterday. I'm thinking that will hold my cabin fever back for at least another three weeks. (Fingers crossed!!) And, then, by that time, it will be time for the Columbus Fishing Show, and my boat will be at Vic's Sports Center, and spring will be right around the corner. Woot! Woot!
Yes, I think I might just make it to spring now, without losing my mind..... :)
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
A Prime Trophy Walleye Weekend Has Opened Up....
by Capt Juls on 01/07/16
Had a customer call to reschedule a spring walleye trip, due to a daughter's Horse competition that same weekend.
So, Saturday April 30th and Sunday May 1st are now available.
My next available weekend wouldn't be until June, so if you want a good weekend to do some trophy walleye fishing on Lake Erie's Western Basin....contact me asap....
RNGRGAL@gmail.com or call (419)835-7347
Fishing with Ben, Mike, and Drew 12/23/15
by Capt Juls on 12/23/15Last night, I received a call from Ben Rewa, (one of my regular customers) asking me if I wanted to go fishing this morning on his boat. How could I refuse? It's the day before Christmas Eve, and it's a 60+ degree day, and the walleye are biting right now! :)
Ben, and his boss's sons, Mike and Andrew (Drew), drove in from Michigan early this morning, and picked me up at my house at 7am. We headed to Huron to launch, and were on the water by 7:30-7:45. Ben asked me where we should go, so I told him I wanted to go left out of the Huron River and hit one of my favorite spots that isn't far off shore. The Sawmill Hump just seems to hold fish most times of the year, so I figured with the chance of gusty winds arriving early, we would be sheltered there. And, if they were biting, we would hit the jackpot. Well, guess what....they were there, AND they were biting this morning.
We started out with Smithwick Perfect 10's, run without any weight, behind Offshore planer boards 50-75 back at 1.4-1.5mph in 24-26' of water.
Mike and Drew have never fished on Lake Erie before, and this was their first big water walleye experience. It didn't take long before they were fighting their first triple, and got all three in the boat. They were all smiles and having a blast!
The program was narrowed down to running the baits 50-65 back and the colors were narrowed down to the Lemon Lime Crush, Blue/Chrome, and that one that has a Purple back, goldish-green sides, and an orange belly (I'm too tired to go look up its name, but you get the idea).
We were off the water by 12:30 with 13 big walleye and one bonus steelhead. It was a really fun time with some really fun guys, and I can't thank them enough for inviting me along. I really needed to get back on the water today! :)
The boys did a fantastic job reeling in most of the fish, and setting the lines once they learned how to do it. I will be fishing with Mike and Drew again this spring, when they bring their Dad back on April 12th for a trophy walleye trip.
Well, that's definitely, most probably, my last trip out on the lake this season, so I'll see you all "Next Year"!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!
Happy Holidays to ALL!!
Capt Juls
P.S....
Just a heads up if you're looking for a Spring "Monster Walleye" Adventure...
Don't wait too long to book an April or May date, because they are filling fast!
The dates still available right now are:
April: 4, 5, 6, 13,
May: 17, 18, 26, 31
Don't wait too long to book an April or May date, because they are filling fast!
The dates still available right now are:
April: 4, 5, 6, 13,
May: 17, 18, 26, 31
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
