Juls WFA Blog
Fishing with Jim, Brad, and Trent 5/4/15
by Capt Juls on 05/05/15Blog is a day late again....sorry! But, I had to clean the boat, clean my pig sty of a house, entertain the dogs, buy some garden plants and plant them, and start my seedlings in the house yesterday.
There wasn't much to talk about fishing wise other than I had a great time in the boat with these Minnesota men yesterday.
They had brought their boat down and will be fishing all week. The fishing was tough for us again, and we only caught two nice fish. I wasn't marking much in any of the spots we hit, so that kept me moving around to find other spots. When you don't have all day to find them and fish for them, it makes it a little harder....sigh.
We hit the west side of North Bass first...fish were belly to the bottom on the Onix screen. We had crawlers out from the top of the water column to about 20 feet in the water column...nada. Then, we moved to the west side of Gull Island Shoal and made a pass to the Canadian line and picked up the first fish on a Perfect 10 at 30/30, so we took off the crawlers on the other side of the boat and had 4 P-10s out, one Bandit, and one Reef Runner.
When we hit the line, we moved it back down a little further south of Gull and closer to Gull....we caught one more fish on the side of Gull, but that was it for that pass. After talking with another Captain that was fishing the same line behind me, we thought it was a good move to move over to the Mouse Island / Starve Island area and give it a try....so, we moved.
The wind was picking up and was much stronger than the winds that were forecast, so we made one pass there with one pull back, and one white bass.
I didn't like the line I was taking, and we decided to move to the lighthouse area where it was a little more protected, and finished out the last hour there.
We had three white bass there, and two pull backs that sunk the boards, but they came off before they got to the boat.
So, you can see why I wasn't in a hurry to report this one. lol
The guys were fun...especially Trent...who is a very funny guy. "Funny" in the sense that he's got the quickest one liners of anyone I have ever met. Thanks to him, it made what would have been a torturous 6 hours for me very entertaining. Thanks Trent!!
They took me to lunch, and then we said our goodbyes. I told them to keep in touch this week and if I got anything going, I would let them know. I hope the bite picks up now that this full moon phase is on the backside. I think the fish were feeding at night, because of the clear skies and bright moon, and causing the morning bite to be pretty poor, and why we were seeing the fish sucked belly to the bottom.
Anyway, my next crew will be with me for the next four days. I fished with them last year, and I know it's going to be a fun week with them in the boat....so....
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Day two with Rod, Rob, and Patrick 5/3/15
by Capt Juls on 05/03/15I picked up my Wisco Crew at 5:45 this morning, from their hotel, and headed to Mazurik's after picking up some ice from Hi Way Bait on the way there.
Launched while it was just turning light and headed to the west side of Middle Bass island to start the day. We were there yesterday morning and trolled with crawler harnesses, and picked away at fish until we had 11 in the livewell and the bite shut down on us. We didn't get any there this morning, and the marks that were there yesterday were fewer this morning. And, the ones that were there were belly tight to the bottom.
We discussed our options and they opted for fishing by Kelly's since we picked up a couple there on the way back in yesterday. We landed 6 fish there, and when too many boats were around us, and the bite slowed down again, we decided to move to another location where we caught our biggest fish yesterday. I'm not divulging that location yet, as I am headed there in the morning, and prefer to have it less crowded. lol
The program was the same as yesterday. Crawler harnesses with a 1oz inline on the outside boards at 35 & 41 back, and the number 2 Tadpoles on the middle and inside Off Shore boards 25 & 27 back. Speed was 1.0- 1.3. We were targeting 31-32 foot of water.
My crew and I said our goodbyes at the launch when we got back, and they were excited about coming back again, and that made me happy. :)
Oh, I almost forgot! While on the water today, we witnessed a beautiful wooden boat, like a Lyman or something, crash into the side of an anchored perch fishing boat. Heard the perchers yelling and screaming at the guy, and then BAM! Unbelievable! I mean, what the heck? lol Some people....sigh.
Anyway, tomorrow's trip is planned for 6am, as there are thunderstorms forecast for the early afternoon. I'm hoping we can get their fish early and get our butts off the water before the nasty stuff comes in....so....
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
p.s. Most recent pictures are on the last pages of the photo album on my site. I wish I could put the most recent at the beginning, but the site I use, that hosts my site, doesn't give me that option. grrrr....
Playing Catch up!
by Capt Juls on 05/02/15Sorry for my lack of blogging, but I was beat and in bed by 6:30 the past few nights.
Today I switched over to crawler harnesses and had much better success than I had lately on the crank baits.
My crew, from Wisconsin, learned how to run Off Shore boards in quick fashion and were setting lines by 7:15 this morning.
We were running spinners with blades that were copper, gold, anti freeze, and pink backs. While all took fish at some point or another throughout the day, the copper and the antifreeze worked best.
1oz inlines 35 and 41 back and the number two Tadpoles were run 25 and 27 back. The Tadpoles definitely out fished the inlines for us today.
Speed was kept at 1.0 to 1.2 mph.
We were targeting a depth of 31-32 feet of water. We tried three different areas and that depth seemed to be the magic number when the Onix would start marking fish for us. So, I'm sure if you find that depth with some marks on your screen, you will be able to catch some too.
Sorry this is so short, but I have to get to bed. I have the same crew in the morning, and originally they wanted a short 4 hour trip after today's 8 hour trip, but they asked me at the end of today's trip if they could extend tomorrow's trip an extra two hours longer. That made me happy, because I knew then that they really had a good time. :)
So, we will start a 1/2 hour earlier tomorrow...I want to beat the AIM Tournament competitors on the water in the morning. lol
Now, it's way past my bed time already, so there you have it...in a nut shell.
See you on the water tomorrow!
Good luck and be safe!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Bill Kellerman and Tom...:)
by Capt Juls on 04/30/15Woke up to the sound of heavy rain....ugh. I knew it was going to rain all day...double ugh.
I put a smile on my face, and picked my crew up at the Quality Inn at 6:30. We hit the water out of Catawba a little before 7am and headed towards D can.
The plan was to run crawler harnesses on one side of the boat and my Perfect 10's on the other side. After the P-10's that were run 20/20 and 30/30 picked up a couple of fish, and the crawlers did nothing, I decided to pull the crawlers and run more P-10's.
To make a long story short, because I am wiped out from the weather today, we fished north of D Can, North of Niagra, North of North Bass, and west of Sugar, before ending one last pass near Mouse with only 7 fish to show for our hard work. My crew worked their butts off today, and we had great conversation, and some laughs. We were all pretty cold by the end of the trip, and our hands had a hard time pinching the releases on the snap weights and Off Shore boards....well, at least I did! lol
Because it was always raining, I didn't pull the phone out to take any pictures, so the guys sent me some before they cleaned their fish behind the hotel after I dropped them off. :)
Tomorrow's trip is with a crew that I have fished with several times before, and the weather looks to be improving for the weekend, so I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm whipped tonight though, so I'm headed to bed early....the dogs seemed depressed, because it's raining and I won't take them for a walk tonight. Poor dogs...:( I think they'll live though...:)
I did talk to a friend tonight, that did get the crawler harnesses to go for them, and they did very well, so I may give them another go tomorrow.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Bill and Ryan Quinn 4/28/15
by Capt Juls on 04/28/15I had high hopes for today's fishing trip with the Quinn men. They came to town on Saturday night and fished Sunday and Monday in an area I marked on a map for them Sunday morning over coffee and JT's Cafe doughnuts. I told them the program I had been running previously, and they went out and managed a limit each day.
They had a lot of fun, and said it was the best walleye fishing they've experienced...ever. Ryan caught one over 30 that he's having mounted, unless he gets another one that's bigger by the end of the week.
They fish the co angler side of the Pro/Am walleye tournaments...and, they fish Green Bay, Lake Michigan, Winnebago, and many other large bodies of water in Wisconsin and across the country. They are not novice anglers by any means.
Today, I felt like one though... Ugh! It was tough today!
We launched at 8:30 at Mazurik's and headed to where they had been fishing the past couple of days and made a couple passes, before we picked up a small "eater" on a crawler harness behind a bottom bouncer. We trolled on a little further and didn't mark much on the H'Bird, so I decided to make a move up to Lucy's Point, to use the wave direction to our advantage for that area.
We did mark some fish up there, but as we trolled SE from Lucy's the marks got less and less. We picked up and moved again.
This time we moved to the west side of Middle Bass to try one of my favorite spring spots inside the "triangle" between Rattle, Middle, and South Bass. Again, good marks, but no biters....sigh.
Then, we moved out northwest of Green Island. Again, good marks, but no takers. I had gotten a call from one of the Captains that he was out between Rattle and Niagra someplace and said he was getting good marks, and caught one on the Lemon Lime Crush P-10 30/30 with the 1oz. He sent a picture, so I know he wasn't lying. They had a fish that actually bit! lol
So, after trolling a little further, we picked up again and moved out towards Niagra. I didn't have them set lines this time, and we just looked around for some good marks before we wasted what time we had left. We decided it wasn't worth it, and thought we would go back to Kelly's to finish out their time on the NW corner. On the way there, we decided to try a spot near the Sandusky Bay channel, and we set up a trolling pass. We marked good fish, and we did manage to catch a 28 inch walleye. What a skinny fish for that length though. It was either a starving female or a very large male.
So, we ended the trip with only two fish to show for it. But, it wasn't a total flop. We had a great time in the boat, with a lot of laughs, and the weather was really really nice for a change.
We tried Perfect 10's, Husky's, Reef Runners, and crawler harnesses. I didn't have anything left to throw at them today...sigh.
Water temps are rising again and the highest I found was 48 degrees just west of Green. It was 46.5 by Kelly's this morning.
My brownies got great reviews....and, that made me happy. :)
I'll be back on the water tomorrow, in someone else's boat...so, it's not a real trip...I'll be back to guiding on Thursday, so...
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Back on the water tomorrow...
by Capt Juls on 04/27/15My customers are down from Wisconsin and have fished the last two days in an area I marked on a map for them. We will fish tomorrow from 9am to 3pm, and I will blog about our day tomorrow afternoon.
I took advantage of some rescheduled trips and got my garden mulching all done, so that monkey is off my back for the season.
I'm looking forward to getting back in the boat again.Woot! Woot!
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Tomorrow's Trip (4/26/15) is a No Go
by Capt Juls on 04/25/15I won't be on the water tomorrow. My crew decided to reschedule for better conditions in June also.
My Tuesday and Wednesday crew also decided to reschedule, so it looks like I'm going to get a lot of gardening done this week. lol
I still have Monday scheduled, since they were driving down today, and planning on fishing on their own tomorrow...then, fishing with me on Monday, and on their own again through Thursday. I wish they had better weather conditions, but at least it will be getting better each day for them.
So, anyway....that's where I stand this week. Fishing Monday unless I hear otherwise, or the weather takes a turn for the worse. And, then starting back up on Thursday. The weather forecast for next weekend is looking pretty good. :)
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Phil, Joe, and Jason 4/24/15
by Capt Juls on 04/25/15First, let me apologize for the lateness of this blog entry. I got distracted with a lot of little odds and ends work that needed to get done, and by the time I looked at the clock, it was bedtime.
Anyway, the bite was slow for us yesterday. We started out from Mazurik's and headed to the NW corner of Kelly's. We set up on the line I had fish on before this blow and picked up three fish, by the time we finished that pass.
Everyone on the radio was mentioning how slow it was for them, and struggling to figure out how to make them bite.
I figured it would be an afternoon bite, once the water came up a degree or two with the high sunshine yesterday. And, from what I heard, that happened for those in the right areas.
I figured it would be an afternoon bite, once the water came up a degree or two with the high sunshine yesterday. And, from what I heard, that happened for those in the right areas.
The water temps last Saturday were in the high 40's....and yesterday, it was back down to 45.8 where we were, so it dropped a few degrees with this cold front that is passing through this week.
We were running the Perfect 10's again, and even with all the custom colors out, that Lemon Lime Crush took 3 of the 4 fish yesterday.One fish was a smaller walleye that chomped on a crawler harness that was behind a bottom bouncer.
Reef Runners run 65-85 back, and Bandits run at 100 back were reported on the radio too...so, if you don't have the P-10's the RR's, DHJ's, and Bandits were working.
Speed was faster than I would have expected during a cold front. I figured we would need to slow it down a bit, but they wanted it just as fast, if not faster, than last week. Go figure!
We probably should have just stayed by Kelly's, in the pack, and picked at them a little more, but my crew was more than willing to go exploring with me to see if we could find other fish.
We went around the top, and down the east side of Kelly's, by the airport, to see if they were on the reef yet, but with time dwindling, I didn't see enough there to waste any time trolling there.
We went to another spot near the lighthouse and picked up a walleye willing to bite. Then, we looked at the area out in front of Lakeside and while there were good marks there, they just wouldn't bite for us.
My crew said they had a great time, and were just happy to not be working, and out on the water. They enjoyed the brownies and I sent the remainder home with them. They are well seasoned anglers with an Erie boat of their own, and their main purpose for the trip was to learn how to run the Off Shore boards. They run big boards on their boat, and wanted the flexibility of running the inline planers. So, they achieved that goal, and the four fish were just a bonus.
I have no doubt they can take what they learned on my boat and duplicate it on their boat in the future.
I have no doubt they can take what they learned on my boat and duplicate it on their boat in the future.
Phil said he would like to go fishing again sometime and would schedule another trip with me, so that made me happy. :)
Today's trip was rescheduled due to the forecast yesterday. My customer would prefer nicer conditions and a better bite, so he rescheduled it for another day in June. (Another reason this is late...I slept in this morning).
Tomorrow's trip is probably a "go", since the forecast looks to have improved since yesterday. My customer wants me to call him by 3pm today, before they take off to come here this afternoon....so....
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
The Wisconsin Crew Review From 4/16 & 17 ...:)
by Capt Juls on 04/21/15
I consider myself a “walleye junkie”. Being from Wisconsin and fishing Green bay or Winnebago on a weekly basis. Myself, my brother and a buddy of mine decided this year to book an early spring trip to Lake Erie for trophy fish. Because we had never been there before we felt it best to hire a guide for a day or two to understand the lake and what was going on and then fish ourselves for a few days after.I booked a trip with Juls and we got WAY more than expected. It’s hard to know where to start. She let me keep my ranger at her house instead of it sitting at the hotel. She made homemade brownies. She took us to the best local bait shops, showed us the best places to eat in town and went to lunch with us after fishing. (even the day after we weren’t fishing with her). She took us to the best fish cleaning place in town. She checked in with us the day after our paid trips and we were on our own. She wanted to make sure we were on fish and told us where to go and what to use.I have fished many guided trips before all over the US and Canada but I have got to tell you, Juls totally goes above and beyond anything I have seen before to make sure you have a good time.Oh by the way I haven’t even mentioned the fishing-WORLD CLASS!!!!!! We limited out every day within an hour or two. With our best day being 16 fish- 8 of them going over 30 inches.What more can you say, other than we are making this an annual trip for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks Juls!!Chris Utter- April 2015Delafield, WI
The Wind is Blowing....sigh
by Capt Juls on 04/21/15Well, it's still blowing. Monday's trip was rescheduled for a May date, and my crew that was supposed to fish today, tomorrow, and Thursday are here from MN.
I told them not to come, because of the forecast, but they came anyway, hoping the forecast would change for the better. Unfortunately, it's not, and it doesn't look like they will get to experience our Lake Erie spring bite this year. I feel bad for them, but I have no control over the weather.
It looks like Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be a go though, so that's good for me, but bad for my MN crew. I am booked every day through the second week of June right now, so I can't get them in this weekend.
The marine forecast for tonight through the weekend is:
.TONIGHT...WEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS BECOMING SOUTHWEST 10 TO 20 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET. .WEDNESDAY...SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS BECOMING WEST AND INCREASING TO 30 KNOTS IN THE AFTERNOON. A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET BUILDING TO 5 TO 8 FEET. .WEDNESDAY NIGHT...WEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 20 KNOTS. WAVES 5 TO 8 FEET SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET. .THURSDAY...WEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FEET. .THURSDAY NIGHT...WEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS DIMINISHING TO 5 TO 15 KNOTS. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET. .FRIDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING NORTH 10 KNOTS OR LESS. WAVES 1 TO 3 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 FOOT OR LESS. .SATURDAY...NORTHEAST WINDS 10 KNOTS OR LESS BECOMING NORTH. WAVES 2 FEET OR LESS. .SUNDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS. WAVES 2 FEET OR LESS.
Fishing with Ken Braho and Family 4/18/15
by Capt Juls on 04/19/15Part two of a one day/two trip adventure....
Ken, Amy, and Tyler had jumped in my boat for the second round of fishing yesterday. They have never trolled with inline planer boards before, so it was a quick lesson setting the baits out with the snap weights and Off Shore boards. Ken's son Tyler caught on very quickly, and was left to set lines on his side of the boat while I showed Ken and Amy how to do it on their side of the boat. As usual, women only have to be told once how to do something, and Amy had it down pat. Ken, on the other hand, who I would find to be very entertaining throughout the day, needed a more watchful eye. lol (I say that in jest....he did just fine, but was fun to pick on, because he was picking on me!)
I don't need to tell you the program, because after a successful first trip in the morning, we didn't change anything.
We headed right back to the NW corner of Kelly's and set up. We picked up a fish shortly after setting lines and they had their first walleye in the boat. We trolled around for awhile, and picked up three more in that area, before I decided it was too crowded in the area now, and I wanted to go find another spot without any boat traffic.
We picked up lines and headed to the south passage between Kelly's and the mainland. After finding some dirtier water, the marks on the Onix lit up. The kind of marks that are big and fat with red and yellow in them. HOGS!
We set lines again, and trolled a west to east heading. We only got one going that direction, but when we turned and headed northeast, we got two quick fish. Finishing out the turn to head back into the current from and east to west heading, we proceeded to pick up two more fish, and now had two out of their three man limit. We finished out that east/west pass and made a turn to the south again, to head east. We trolled along, and again, it was slow going that direction.
A group of perch fishermen were heading right towards us, and finally figured out that we were trolling and got out of the way. As they passed us, we could hear them talking, and one fella figured we didn't know what we were doing and kept saying, "Those fish are right below them", and laughing. So, I opened the livewell and lifted up two big eyes and showed them what we had....that pretty much shut him up after that. And, the lady that was with them, laughed at him. lol
I kicked the speed up to 1.8 heading east with the current, because I figured the baits weren't getting the action they needed to attract the fish. As soon as I did, we hadn't gone 50 feet before the next fish was on....in sight of "Mr Big Mouth Perch Fisherman" too. hehehe
Ken caught a 32 inch walleye that he plans on having Jim McEwen mount for him. If you read my blog from two years ago, Jim is the one who gave me an eye from a trip we did, and his work is just amazing. I'm sure Ken will love the fish mount Jim does for him too. :)
We finished out their three man limit and headed in. Jim and Renee were waiting for their friends, and we loaded out. Ken informed me that he didn't have a cooler in his car (WHAT??), so after giving him some lighthearted ribbing, I drove the fish over to Bay's Edge to drop them off for them.
We said our goodbyes and I waited for my crew from yesterday to arrive there. I had told them of the bite in the south passage, because they still needed a handful of fish to finish out their limit, and they did so in quick time, and wanted to buy me lunch again for helping them. I never turn down an invite to a good restaurant! We hit Ciao Bella this time and had a nice meal.
After lunch, I said my goodbyes to them and Chris said he would email me this week to book next year's trip already, and that made me happy. :)
This has been a great week of fishing, fun, and great customers who I consider friends now. It doesn't get much better than that.
Today is a blow day for me, so I'm off to Cabelas in a little bit....
Tomorrow's trip is going to be a later start in the morning, to let the winds die down. My customers are repeats who have fished with me about a dozen times now, so I'm really looking forward to it. I hope this cold front doesn't affect the bite. We shall see....
Stay tune....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Jim and Renee McEwen 4/18/15
by Capt Juls on 04/19/15Sorry this is a day late, but yesterday was a very long day, and I had to get my grass cut before the rain comes today, so there wasn't any time left in the day to write the blog.
But, now that I have a hot cup of coffee, and had a good night's sleep, I can tell you all about it. :)
Let me preface this by saying it's a two part blog. I ran two trips yesterday, because the forecast for today (Sunday) was supposed to be crappy. So, since my Saturday and Sunday trips were both scheduled 4 hour trips, and both are friends with each other, they opted to do both their trips yesterday, so I get a day off today, and get to hit Cabelas with a friend. I need some new hooks for my Perfect 10's. Those big walleye are wreaking havoc on them. I don't think I can bend them back into shape much longer. lol
The morning started by me driving over to the hotel where my crew from the previous two days were staying. Even though they were not fishing with me today, they had asked if I could swing by, so they could follow me to Mazurik's.
As usual I was early. But, this time I was early, because I wanted to stop and show them Hi Way Bait's store. They picked up a few more cranks there and we were on our way to the launch. I showed them where we were fishing yesterday on his Humminbird, and told him that's where I was going to start. With our "good lucks" said, they launched.
My crew of Renee and Jim McEwen pulled up and jumped out of a very cool looking new Jeep, and were ready to fish...we hit the water at 6:30am.
The morning was gorgeous! No wind, no fog, warm temps, and it was going to be sunny...woot! woot! Absolutely my favorite kind of day...:)
We started on the NW corner of Kelly's, and were the first boat in line for the trolling pass. My crew from yesterday set up behind me by about a 1/2 mile. The water had cleaned up from the day before, and we weren't marking anything on the Onix, but somebody forgot to tell the fish that that means they're not supposed to be biting!
In our first pass, we caught a single, and three doubles! We had 7 walleye by the time I turned the boat around to make another pass over them. After another double we hit a triple and we were done. We had our limit of 12 fish in the first hour and a half.
Hey! Guess what program I was using....lol You guessed it...same thing I've been pulling for two weeks now. Smithwick Perfect 10's run 30/30 with the 1oz snap weights. Same colors too....Lemon Lime Crush, Halloween, Barbie, and a new one that I don't know the name of...I picked it up in the morning at Hi Way Bait. It was one of Dwight's custom colors, and I didn't ask the color. It was pink and chartreuse.
The speed was 1.5 going from west to east and 1.3 going from east to west.
Renee called their freind, Ken, and his family, that would be going out next. They were still driving in from PA, and would be at the dock around 9:15 or 9:30, so we had an hour to get in and get the fish transferred from the boat to their coolers. So, we took a nice leisurely ride back to the launch, and took care of the fish, and by that time Ken and his family were just pulling in.
They said their hello's, and told them how much fun they had this morning, and wished them luck. My new crew jumped in the boat, and we made our introductions........to be cont'd
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing Day Two with the Chris Utter Gang 4/17/15
by Capt Juls on 04/17/15It was a very foggy start to the morning. I met my crew (same as yesterday) at Catawba at 6:30 and we headed out at a super fast pace of 6 mph. You could only see about 15 yards around the boat in any direction. The lake was calm though, so it was a smooth ride. :)
We started out where we left off yesterday off the point of Catawba, west of Mouse Island, and didn't mark the fish like we did the day before. But, we weren't about to pull lines to run anywhere until the sun burned the fog off, later in the morning. We picked up 4 fish by 10:30 and I decided it was time to move.
I know the fish were moving east, so that's what we did. I'm not going to give my location yet, because it's a spot that I need tomorrow. When we arrived there, there were a lot of bugs...the kind you get up your nose and in your mouth by just breathing and talking. There were two boats way up in the distance, so we set lines and started making a "traditional pass" for that area. I just followed my waypoints from last spring.
Same program....dare I repeat myself? lol Smithwick Perfect 10's behind a 1oz snap weight run 30/30. (let 30' of line out..put the snap on...let another 30 feet of line out and attache the planer board). Colors were Lemon Lime Crush (good name, because it "crushed" them!), Barbie, and Halloween. We had two sets of triples to end the day. We had a big mess in the boat, but when a mess is made that way....who cares? Right?
I did have one crawler harness out and it did catch my first harness fish of the season. I mentioned it on the radio and got asked if I wanted to celebrate that fact tonight with him (don't know who it was?)...I won't say what else he suggested, because he was being a bad boy. lol
Anyway, we got our 16 fish with 8 fish just over the 30 inch mark, several 28's, and 29's, and the rest were just "good eaters". It was a GREAT day in the boat with Chris, Mike, and Rob today. Just a total blast! I love Wisconsin people...something about them I can just relate to...wink wink! For those that don't know...I'm originally from Wisco... :)
The weather for tomorrow looks much the same as today, so I'll be heading back to that spot in the morning. I was scheduled for a four hour trip for tomorrow and Sunday, but it looks like Sunday is going to be a blow day, so they opted to go tomorrow afternoon, after my morning trip. Everyone is happy that way.
On the way to Bay's Edge to drop off their fish this afternoon, my back caliper on the truck seized up....sigh. I just did both of the front ones last week! So, thankfully, my friend, Gary Rahm, who is a whiz mechanic, ordered the parts and had it done before 5pm this evening. I can't thank him enough!! It's good to have friends like him. I would be so screwed right now if he hadn't helped me.
Chris and the boys took me to my favorite restaurant for lunch (The Orchard) and loved the place. They expressed their gratitude for such a fun trip and said they were going to come back again next season. That made me happy. :)
Fingers are crossed that the fish will still be where I left them, and we can catch them again tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Fishing with Chris, Mike, and Rob 4/16/15
by Capt Juls on 04/16/15My crew didn't get to town until 2:30am this morning, and only got a few hours of sleep before meeting me at my house, so they could leave their Ranger in my driveway instead of the hotel. They had scheduled a two day trip with me, so they won't be using it until the weekend. I thought it a better idea to leave it here.
Anyway, what a super fun morning! We launched out of Catawba at 7am and headed up around the corner to the area by Mouse, where I have been fishing this past week. The water had really cleaned up over night, and a lot of the water I fished yesterday just looked too clean for my liking. So, we fished along the "mud line" and caught one eye right away, and had two pull backs before the Ferry crossing back from South Bass forced us to make a decision to pick up and move out of its way.
Waves this morning were 1-3 with an E-NE wind that was gradually laying down to make its switch to the SSW. By 8:30 we were fishing in 2 foot or less conditions, and the air temps were beginning to warm up.
When we moved, we only moved to the west side of the Ferry crossing, so we wouldn't be in its way again. We set lines, but I didn't mark what I wanted to see, so after about 20 minutes with no takers, we decided to pick up and move again. I wanted to see if the fish were over between Green and the Ferry dock on South Bass yet, and headed that way. While we were looking at the Onix for some sign of life, I got a call from Captain Kevin, and he told me to move back in line where we started, but to move more west....so, we did.
I think the fish that I was on yesterday have moved east, and the fish we were on today are moving out from the cans, to the east, so this is like another batch of fresh fish moving through. Hopefully, they will still be there tomorrow, because we had a blast today! After only one fish in the first hour, after we set up on this line, we had another 10 fish in about 20 minutes. We had multiple fish on several times. Woot! Woot!
We ended the day with 16 fish, but they threw the 16th fish back, because I had miscounted how many were in the livewell, and thought we already had our limit....Duh! Tomorrow, I'm pulling out the perch counter thingy to keep track. lol
The 15 fish went exactly 100 pounds at Bay's Edge fish cleaning.
Again, the program was exactly the same set up as yesterday...Smithwick Perfect 10's set 30/30 with 1oz snap weights
Colors were the Lemon Lime Crush, Blue/Chrome, Barbie, and Halloween.
The crew was happy, happy, happy, and took me to lunch at Casa Las Palmas to celebrate their good catch. Thanks guys! :)
After hitting Fisherman's Wharf on the way home, for some custom painted blades to take back to Wisconsin, I dropped the boys off to get their truck, and they headed back to the hotel.
I'm pretty sure they are either sleeping right now, or at a sports bar drinking beer...my bet is on sleeping though. lol
We will be back at it again tomorrow...same bat time...same bat channel...so....
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Fishing with Bob and LeAnn Johnson 4/15/15
by Capt Juls on 04/15/15Picked up Bob and LeAnn from their hotel at 6:30 this morning, and headed to Catawba to launch. It's nice this time of year, when I don't have to stop for ice and crawlers every morning. Sure does save on time and money. :)
We hit the same spot I was in yesterday, because I was taught a long time ago that you never leave fish to find fish...right?
We didn't have the second Off Shore board out before the first one got pulled back by a nice 6 pound (ish) walleye. We only got two more on the first pass even though we were marking a ton of big fish below us. On the second pass, we ended up with a total of only 7 fish. It had me scratching my head since we could still see the fish in the area.
The Captain of the 'Sara-J' was on the radio talking to one of his buddies about how the fish he's catching were only 4' down, so I had my crew bring a few baits up high in the water column on the next pass.
Nothing....nada....zip...zero! No takers on the high program for us. So, when we picked up to move back up to make another pass, we moved to the other side of the passage. We set our lines back out to my original program of P-10's at 30/30 with the 1oz snap weight.
We trolled for about 10 minutes, and I said, "I think they want some music", so I turned on the stereo. The first song was just ending, and some Supertramp started to play. Suddenly, I hear Bob say from the bow of the boat, "Fish on!" Woot! Woot!
LeAnn grabbed the rod with the fish on, while I cleared the rod with the inside board. I looked over to check the boards on the other side, and the middle board was going back too. Bob jumped on that rod, and was able to bring it around the inside board without tangling lines.
After getting LeAnn's fish in the boat with one net, I laid it down on the floor and jumped over to help Bob get his board and snap weight off. Just as I'm grabbing the second net for Bob's fish, LeAnn starts reeling in another fish!
Luckily, the hooks came out of the second net easily, so we could net the third big fish. Going from a stagnant 7 fish to suddenly 10 with two to go is a great feeling. What fun!
The last two fish came within the next 10 mintues, so we were done by 10:30.
We drove over to Bay's Edge to get their fish cleaned before going to grab some lunch. They were heading back to Illinois this afternoon, and had a 5 hour drive ahead of them. This was the second time I have fished with Bob and LeAnn, and they feel more like "family" than customers. That makes me happy. :)
Today's weather conditions were:
5-12mph ENE winds with sunshine
Waves 2 foot or less early and 1-3's by late morning.
Water temps 45.7
Location: Mouse Island
Tommorrow's trip is day one of a two day charter so.....
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Fishing with Jim and the Two Mike's 4/14/15
by Capt Juls on 04/14/15It was a later start this morning per my customer's request, so we met at Catawba Park at 9:45 and were on the water fishing by 10:20am.
We headed out to G Can first, but I didn't like the clarity of the water there (too clean) and I wasn't marking much, so we didn't waste any time there and headed back to the Mouse/Catawba Point area and set up.
The water there was nicely stained and there were big fish marks all over the screen. It wasn't a fast bite, but we did manage to get 10 nice walleye in the boat in just 3 1/2 hours. My crew was only fishing a four hour trip, so they could get the fish cleaned and then get back to have a fish fry with friends tonight.
Jim Gammons and his friends, Mike Grier and Mike Collins, were a pleasure to fish with today. They learned how to set lines using the Off Shore boards and didn't get any tangles! I was so proud of them. lol
Same program as the past few days...Perfect 10's run 30/30 with the 1oz snap weight. Lemon Lime Crush took most of them and a custom Barbie took one. Oh wait...a purple demon Reef Runner at 50 back took one fish too. :)
The water temp in that area was 44.2 degrees.
Calm lake with cloudy skies...light NE wind.
Tomorrow's trip is a 6 hour that will start at the normal time of 7am, so...
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Fishing with Ken and Eric Vechera 4/13/15
by Capt Juls on 04/14/15First, let me apologize for the lateness of my report. But, as you read this report you'll understand why it's late.
Yesterday started out pretty early. My crew of father and son met me at my house at 6am, and we stopped for some ice at the gas station that I had paid for the morning before, but forgot to grab after paying for it....duh! The gas station believed me and let me take the ice for yesterday's charter. Thanks Kroger's! :)
Anyway....we launched out of Mazurk's and were on the water by 7am. We headed back to the area just west of Mouse Island where we had been fishing for the big spawned out females the day before. The strong winds that were forecast out of the SSW hadn't started yet, so we got one pass in going from east to west, but that ended by the time we got to the end of that pass. By then, the wind had started, so we turned the boat around and started a pass with the waves behind us.
We managed their two man limit by 10:30, so I asked if they minded if we tried another spot to fill my limit. I told them I thought the conditions might be better over there too, so they agreed. I headed over to the point at Marblehead, and while the Onix was marking some big marks, we only managed one big walleye out of there, and we decided to call it a day and came in an hour early. Ken and Eric were very happy with their day's catch and were all smiles.
On the way to the fish cleaners, we stopped at a stop light and I asked, "What's burning? It smells like rubber." Eric said, "I think it's your truck". I asked, "Do you think it's the brakes? Or, something in the engine?" To which he replied, "It's definitely not the engine"....much to my relief...whew!
After dropping their fish off, Eric took a look and determined it was probably a stuck caliper, but he wasn't sure which side was the culprit.
So, I called my mechanic friend, and told him what happened, and asked if he could fix it asap, since I need it to tow my boat everyday. He said, "Let me call and see if I can even get the parts for it first". He could, and told me to bring it over. I did. I had him do both sides, so that both sides had new calipers and pads. It was a nice break actually, because while he was working on my truck, I was able to do a little grilling and we munched on some nice steaks while we were waiting on the parts to show up. :)
So, I know you're thinking...okay, where's the report? Who cares about your stupid truck? lol
Well, I'm sure you can guess what the program was....same it has been for the past week!
Lemon Lime Crush Perfect 10's with a 1oz snap weight run at 20/20 and 30/30 caught the most fish. We caught a couple fish on the Purple Demon Reef Runner at 50 back too. Speed was between 1.3 and 1.9...it was all over the place as the waves built throughout the morning.
Eric sent me a text later in the day to tell me his Dad had talked about the trip on their entire 3 hour trip home, and thanked me for a great time. That made me happy. :)
Today's trip doesn't start until 10 per my guest's request, so....
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Fishing with the Memmen Family 4/12/15
by Capt Juls on 04/12/15I was supposed to meet my crew at Catawba State Park this morning at 9am, because they were driving in from the Cleveland area, but I got there early (8am) and found that the parking lot was already full. There was still a line of boats coming out of the parking lot when I drove up. Ugh!
I called Tom and his kids, and let them know they should meet me at the McDonald's, so they could follow me to another launch. We hit Mazurik's at around 9am and were on the water a few minutes later.
I wanted to try the area around Mouse Island since I launced out of M's, because last year around this time we hammered the big spawned out females that were making their way east again. It didn't disappoint, and we had their three person limit within 3 hours. I can't remember if it was Kate or Phil that caught the biggest fish of the day, but either way, it was a nice spawned out 30" female.
The Lemon Lime Crush Perfect 10, run 30/30 behind a 1oz snap weight was the ticket this morning. We only had 4 boards out, even though there were 4 of us on board, because keeping it simple with novice trollers was more organized and was less likely to lose fish due to chaos. lol
However, speaking of losing fish.....I hate to have to admit this one, but I did lose a fish for them while netting it. It was at my furthest reach and its tail was out of the net just enough to use the rim as leverage while it flipped and flopped on the surface. On about the 5th or 6th flop, I thought I had it in the net well enough to lift it, but I was wrong. It did one last ditch effort to free itself, and this time was successful. I felt bad, but they didn't seem to care, and said to me, "that's fishing". I guess when you have 10 giant walleye in the well at the time it happens, it does take that sting away. lol
After we loaded out of the water, they followed me over to Bay's Edge where I dropped off their fish for them...the scale said they had 90 pounds for their 12 fish. They said they had a great time fishing, and everyone was all smiles. I like that. :)
Anyway, it was a fun day, and if the weather allows, which I think it will...I'll be out again tomorrow trying the same area again with a Father and son crew.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with the McGlothlin Brothers 4/11/15
by Capt Juls on 04/11/15After picking up my crew, consisting of older brother Tim and younger brother Matt, (who I took perch fishing last year), we proceeded to Catawba State Park to launch.
We hit the water at 7:45(ish) and headed over to the south side of South Bass Island. We started an easterly troll on the north side of the deep hole between the ferry dock and Starve Island. We marked a lot of fish, but only got one 8 pounder to bite.
We left there, and headed to the cans. We found some decent mixing water between F and E cans, and made a pass in a northeasterly direction. We picked up two fish there, and got a phone call from a friend working deeper water to the north. He told me to come up there, so we did.
We didn't mark nearly as many fish, but we caught the remaining 5 up there. I wish I could tell you where, but since it wasn't "my spot", I don't feel it is fair to him if I were to. I hope you understand.
What I will say is, I started in 31 foot of water and didn't get a bite until we got back into 30 feet.
The Lemon-Lime Crush Perfect 10 run with a 1oz snap weight at 25/25 and 30/30 back caught the most fish today. The Halloween DHJ12 50 and 85 back caught the rest. We ran Reef Runners at 45-60 back, but didn't get a bite on any of them, (others on the radio seemed to be having success with them), so we took them off and put more Lemon-Lime P-10s out. :)
It was a slow bite for us today, but the fish were quality fish. Their 8 fish went 54 pounds at the cleaners, so it was close to a 7 pound average. The biggest fish was the last fish of the trip...it was a nice spawned out 30" female. Tim said it was his personal best, so that's pretty cool. It's always fun when people catch their biggest walleye ever when they are fishing Lake Erie.
We had a great time today, and laughed a lot. Tim and Matt are great guys and I really enjoy fishing with them. They will be back in May for another scheduled trip, and I'm looking forward to it.
The weather today was cloudy in the morning, and sunny in the afternoon. Winds were light out of the WSW, and the water temperature was still only in the high 30's to very low 40's...depending on the water clarity.
Tomorrow's trip is only a short 4 hour trip, so hopefully the bite will be a little bit faster tomorrow. I'm thinking of starting at E can and heading north from there. We shall see. ;)
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Well this week totally sucked....deep sigh
by Capt Juls on 04/09/15My crew that was scheduled for this past Monday through today (Thursday) only got to fish on Monday. Tuesday was a blow day, and they decided to go home early and reschedule for the last two open days I had in April. So, at least they will be back for some more fun.
My crew that was scheduled for tomorrow got unlucky, because Mama Nature is being huffy and puffy. I contacted them tonight and gave them the bad news, and they have already rescheduled for another month. Unfortunately, there were no days left in April. :(
