Juls WFA Blog
Perch'n with Guy and CJ 9/15/14
by Capt Juls on 09/16/14This blog is a day late, since I got home so late in the afternoon yesterday, and was too whooped to even eat dinner. lol
My clients were Guy Dodd and his buddy CJ. The original plan was to meet at Mazurik's at 6:45 for an 8 hour perch and walleye combo trip, but that was interrupted when the bait shop didn't have any shiners yet.
The minnow guy was running behind. So, I called Guy and CJ, who were already at the ramp and had them meet me at Big Boppers for breakfast. After they showed up, they said they had already eaten, but said I could. I didn't want to eat, because that messes up my trained bladder...lol So, we left.
We headed back to Hi Way Bait to wait for the minnow man to show up. Eventually, Dwight (the owner) got tired of waiting for him with a store full of minnow customers, so he packed up two tubs in the trunk of his car and headed off to the minnow boat to pick up some until the minnow truck could get to his place to deliver them. Thanks for going the extra mile for your customers Dwight...:)
Anyway, we hit the launch an hour later than planned and hit the water at 8am. I decided that we would start with perch fishing, since the walleye bite was spotty around the islands, and I thought it would be better to get a cooler full of perch first and then spend any time left to try and find some walleye. It's always easier fishing for an elusive fish when you have fish in the cooler already, right?
Well, we headed to the NE corner of Gull and set up. The first two fish caught were nice yellows, so we thought we found a good spot. It wasn't a fast bite by any means, and the boats around us were struggling, but we were still doing a little better than them, so we decided to be patient. It was still early, and it's been my experience that the bite picks up later in the morning, so we stayed put. As I suspected it would, the bite started to pick up around 10:30.
There was also a system that was showing up on the weather radar that seemed to be moving in fast around 12pm (I think?). And, since the winds were stronger than they were predicting, I figured this system was moving so fast due to more wind associated with it, and I didn't want to be caught in something out there that would throw the lake into a frenzy. So, to play to the side of safety, I suggested we move to another spot closer to home in case it did get too rough.
Well, to make a long story short....we made a long run around Kelly's and found that the system was only rain, and no additional wind...sigh. Oh well, they agreed it was better to be safe than sorry, and instead of fishing inside, I took them all the way back around the island to the north side. We headed to my numbers from a few weeks ago, and set up near some other boats that were fishing the same area. We caught two perch there, and a ton of whites and sheep, so I said, "Let's go back to the first spot"....and, we did. In hindsight we should have never left there and wasted an hour running around, because that ate up the walleye time.
However, I did catch one walleye while perch fishing, so technically they took home both species yesterday. lol
We ended up with only 71 perch, but figuring it was probably a 20:1 ratio of junk fish to a keeper perch (8-11's) we kept busy baiting hooks and jerking fish.
I decided to make up the lost time making that useless run and kept them out an extra hour....on the way in, we stopped by North Bay and made one last ditch effort and made a trolling pass with some DHJ's and a couple crawler harnesses, because Pooh Bear said he had just pulled three walleye in that area. We didn't get a pull back, so I told them it was time to go in. After 9 hours...I had to pee. lol I had too many clothes, and rain gear on, to do the deed out in the boat and our time was up anyway. They were cool with that.
These two gentlemen were really fun to fish with (CJ has a contagious giggle and seemed to be giggling all day long. I don't think I have laughed and smiled for as many hours as I did yesterday) and I'm pretty sure they had a good time too. They want to come back in the spring to fish with me again for the big walleye bite we have, so I'm looking forward to that. :)
I'm off today....boat cleaning day...and dog entertainment day, but will be back on the water for another perch trip tomorrow (Wednesday) with a group of fellas that bid on a trip donated by Jim Gammons for a charity event thrown by the Pet Harbor Safe Sanctuary in PC. Weather is looking perfect and it should be another good time on the lake.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Perch Trip 9/12/14 Has been cancelled due to unfavorable conditions.
by Capt Juls on 09/12/14Sorry...no report today! Next trip is Monday the 15th. An 8 hour trip for both walleye and perch.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Walleye before the Storm with Garren and Roger King 9/10/14
by Capt Juls on 09/10/14I picked up Garren and his Father Roger this morning at the Super 8 here in Port Clinton at 5:45, and we drove over to Huron to launch. It was still dark out when we got to the ramp, but it wouldn't be long until it was light enough to head out the channel.
After installing the navigation lights, we launched and off we went to chase some early morning walleye in front of the "Sawmill".
I was hoping there would be some eyes in close today, because the wind forecast was calling for strong off shore winds that were to increase as the morning progressed, before the rain would show up.
As it turned out, the morning was really nice. The winds stayed down until about 10:30 then they started to pick up. But, it was still not bad inside where we were. We only fished from 6:30 to 11:30, because the radar was showing the storms moving in pretty fast, and it was showing lightning strikes. The decision was made to cut it short from an 8 hour trip to just a 5 hour trip.
As for the walleye fishing...We went 5 for 6. We would have had a "Fish Ohio", but their Capt.(me) accidentally got the hooks caught in the net and set the fish free!! I was livid, but they were very sweet about it and told me not to think twice about it. I felt so bad...it would have been the biggest walleye either of them have ever caught before. Well, in fact, all the fish they caught today were bigger than any walleye they've caught before...lol
But, I really wanted them to have a picture with this one...sigh.
Garren kept saying things like, "We're just dumb hillbillies who like to fish, so we're having a great time" Dumb Hillbillies my arse! Garren is a very bright young man who served our country and did a job that involved working with lethal agents like Anthrax and the likes. No, "Hillbilly", doesn't suit him at all. He made me laugh all morning. And, his Dad was sweeter than ice cream with maple syrup and whipped cream! I loved these guys! It was just a really fun morning spending time with them in the boat.
We trolled with Deep Husky Jerks(12's) at 1.5mph in 26-28 foot of water, north of the hump that's there in front of Sawmill. We also had one bottom bouncer out with a crawler harness (#6 Colorado/copper color belly).
Neither of them had ever trolled with off shore inline planer boards before, so after a quick lesson, Garren was setting lines on one side of the boat, while I set the other side. Pops was in charge of the bottom bouncer, which was continually losing crawlers to those pesky little white perch. It did manage to catch one nice piggy walleye though, and made Pops very happy.
They are both very excited about coming back next year to try for some of the big walleye we are so blessed to have on this end of the lake during the spring season. I'll be looking forward to it too. :)
They were supposed to fish with me tomorrow too, but I sent them home due to the forecast of big winds out of the WNW...ugh.
My next trip is just a quick 4 hour walleye trip on Friday. We will be heading back to Huron to try out luck again.
Stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Went Left When we should have gone Right! Perch'n 9/7/14
by Capt Juls on 09/08/14(Sorry, I was too tired last night to blog, so I'm doing it this morning!)
Greg Companion, Ben Rewa, and Ben's Dad Denny met at my house at 6am. There was zero wind at my house, so I thought it was a nice morning. The marine forecast said "2 foot or less" for the day, but the wind website that I check said it would be blowing out of the NNE at 15 by 8am. That would be going against the current in the south passage and make it pretty rough...ugh.
After picking up minnows and hitting Mazurik's before sun up, I said we are going to wait till it's light out before we launch. The tree tops were blowing pretty good by then, and because of the wind direction, I was in no hurry to get on the water yet. These guys have fished with me before, and all own their own boats, so after discussing it, and checking the wind site (that said it would subside a little after 9am), we decided it was best to wait it out a little bit, and went and had breakfast first, to waste some time.
After breakfast, we went back to Mazurik's (8:30ish), but the lake was white-capping now, so I had the bright idea to head over to Catawba to launch, since it would be out of the wind, and I was told there was a good bite at the green can outside the launch over there. The guys were good with that decision. When we arrived, I was happy to see that there were about 25 boats out by the green can. I thought, "well, there must be a bite there if there are that many boats there this morning". But, wouldn't you know it? There wasn't....sigh
We launched and headed there....used the H'Bird to look for perch in the area, and didn't mark much. We didn't stay there and headed towards deeper water to see what was out there. We stopped and fished a little bit, and picked up sheep and white perch, along with a few small keeper perch.
It wasn't long before all the boats that were anchored by the green can picked up and moved to another location.
The lake was starting to lay down a little bit, so we headed north. I was heading to the NE side of North Bass when Ben wanted to stop on the south side of Green Island where a pack of boats were fishing. He asked, "are they just trying to stay out of the wind?" And, I said, "I think so". I asked, "Do you want to check it out?" And, he said, "Yes". So, we turned and headed towards the pack. We quietly motored around a couple boats on the outside of the pack and one of the boats gave us the signal that the fish were biting, and we should fish there.
Hitting the Spot lock, we started fishing. We gave it a 1/2 hour, but didn't have any better success than we did at our first spot, and I was ancy to get up to the NE side of North Bass where I knew there were some better sized perch. At least that was the case the other day. lol
After picking up and heading to the new area, we set up in 30' of water close to a spot I fished last week. We picked up some nicer perch than the first two areas, and at times I thought they were turning on, but it was just a tease....they would bite good and then it would be a white perch fest for the next 5-10 minutes...or, longer.
We managed to catch perch, white perch, huge white bass, sheephead and a catfish in that spot. While it kept us busy, it wasn't filling the cooler, so I said, "We should move again", and they agreed. We moved north to a little deeper water and set up over some marks that looked perch like. Unfortunately, it was the same thing....junk fish with a couple perch thrown in for good measure....sigh.
After another move, more junk and some perch, oh....and, another catfish...we moved to one last spot before heading in, as they were out of time.
We ended the day with only 50 perch to show for it, but the day on the water with these guys was fun! They have positive attitudes and great senses of humor, so even when the fishing sucked, they made it a good time. Although, Greg did whine a little bit when all the sandwiches were gone...hehehe...:)
So, a long story short....we should have just launched over at Mazurik's and rode out the rough waters until it subsided, because it turned out to be a beautiful day on the lake early in the afternoon, and my friends that went right instead of left all did pretty well south of Kelly's and out in front of Cedar Point. My numbers from a couple weeks ago are still going good too, according to a report from someone that fished them yesterday. I was SO close, but didn't go there, because a friend that was there two days ago said that that bite had died....ugh.
Oh well....sometimes you go left instead of right.....that's fishing. At least I know where to not to fish the rest of the week.
I'll see my funny guys back here in the spring, so it's all good. :)
The next trip is a two day walleye trip, so I'm looking forward to that. I love perch'n, but I need a change of pace, and trolling new waters will be just the ticket.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Walleye Trip Turned to Perch Trip 9/5/14
by Capt Juls on 09/05/14Larry Conn and his friend Greg met me at Mazurik's this morning at 6:45, and we headed out at 7am. (The days are certainly getting shorter! Its not light out until almost 7am now...ugh). Anyway, we were going to try for walleye today, but I hadn't had any decent walleye reports to go off of and have been mostly perch fishing for the past month.We gave it a quick shot anyway and headed to the north side of Kelly's.
We trolled between the green cans at Kelly Island Shoal in 33-38 foot of water. We marked some fish that looked like they could be walleye, but there were no takers.
The ride out there this morning was pretty easy, (the winds hadn't kicked up yet), but by the time we had ended that first pass, the winds were a steady 15mph and the waves were a lot more than the "2 foot or less" that the marine forecast was calling for. I would say they were strong 2-3's with some 4's thrown in for good measure.
After deciding that the walleye bite was non-existent...I told them we were going to run back in to smaller water to do some perch fishing. At least they could get some fish in the cooler to take home.
At the ramp this morning, Bob Bell pulled up and introduced himself, he is a Facebook friend of mine, and he told me that there was a perch bite happening right outside of Mazurik's again. So, I told my guys when we decided to go perch'n that that's where we were headed, because it would be more protected and there were perch there.
There was a pack of boats off of the Lakeside pier, and I was to the west of them by myself. We didn't have a great bite going by any means, but it was enough to keep us interested. Greg managed to catch a nice fat 13 incher out of there too, which surprised the heck out of me. I'm used to seeing those piggies to the north, but not inside. woot! woot! :)
We only ended up with 25 perch for the morning. It might have been more if Larry had helped and hadn't quit fishing to lay down on the front deck for a nap..lol
That was two less hooks in the water!!
And, no, he wasn't seasick.....just tired from a late night the night before.
He and Greg grew up together, but live in different parts of the country now, so they were up late catching up with each other's lives.
They still had fun and would like to come back to Lake Erie in the spring for our fabulous walleye fishing that time of year. :)
The next trip is another perch trip with one of my regular customers, Greg Companion, and his buddy, Ben Rewa, and Ben's Dad. It's always a fun time with them.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Another Perch Trip with the Chapman's 9 1 14
by Capt Juls on 09/01/14Fished today with a couple of my regular clients, Steve and Jeremy, but this time Jeremy brought his awesome wife Erika with him. They had talked about her a lot all the other times we were fishing, so it's as if I knew her already, and every good thing they said about her was true. She's definitely a lot of fun!
Anyhoo...we perched today. Headed up to the NE side of North Bass, where it was a bit bumpy today. We managed to get their limit and most of mine before the wind started blowing hard again out of the SSW. I decided it was time to pack it up and head back before it got too rough out there.
Perch size was smaller than Steve's last outing last Monday, but they were still pretty good. We sorted through a lot of little perch to get a good one (8-11's), but there were fewer junk fish to deal with, so that was a good thing.
Sorry to make this so short, but I'm tired and out of sorts right now, and need some rest. I just can't think straight anymore tonight....sigh
The next trip scheduled is Friday, so I have three days to re-group and find some walleye! Then, it's back to perch'n on Sunday up in Canada. woot woot!
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Perch'n with the McKenna Group 8/31/14
by Capt Juls on 08/31/14Paul McKenna set up a 4 hour trip for his friends today. It was originally supposed to be a 4 hour walleye trip, but I convinced them that they would have more fun fishing for perch, since the walleye bite is a little slower right now and we wouldn't have the time to get where we need to go to get eyes.
I fished with Dave, Jameson, and DJ today. We launched from Mazurik's at 10am and headed to the Marblehead lighthouse area, because I had gotten a text from a friend that said they were biting pretty good over there. I was told there were perch that were going 2 to a pound. But, that wasn't the case this morning for us. I gave it a 1/2 hour and we only had 3 little perch in the cooler, so we picked up and headed to Catawba where I was also told that there was a good bite going on over there. Once we wasted the time to get there we found it was too rough, so we headed back and I turned and decided to go to my numbers from last week that I posted.
We started picking up fish right away...mostly junk fish to start, but then the yellows started biting. Had we gone there right away this morning (would have been too rough out there at that time though) we might have limited out. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints, we only had a little over one ticket to bring in.
Poor DJ started feeling poorly as soon as we got way out there, so he spent most of the time laying on the bow trying to feel better. :(
As the afternoon progressed the winds laid down and the lake conditions greatly improved. The ride back in wasn't bad at all.
Tomorrow is another perch trip, so I won't be wasting any time. I'll be heading north! ha!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Perch'n with the Griffings 8/28/14
by Capt Juls on 08/28/14What started as a reservation for a walleye trip today ended up being a perch trip, because we thought it would be better with an 8 year old on board, who might get bored easily while trolling for walleye. It was the right decision, since Rudy had a lot of fun today. :)
Dean, Rudy's older brother, who's on his way to college this week, bantered back and forth over a few bets the guys all had between them. You know, the usual....first fish (Rudy)...most fish (Dean)...and biggest fish (Dad). I wasn't in the bet, thankfully, or I would have taken all their money...lol Anyway, it was funny, because Rudy kept changing the rules, so that he was always ahead, and we had to remind him that he can't change the rules....especially, since he wasn't baiting his own hooks or touching any fish! Ha! Funny stuff was said today...sigh
We fished the numbers I gave you all a couple days ago, but it was a slow start. The sheephead and white bass were awake early this morning, but the perch didn't start biting at a decent pace until after 10am.
We ended up with 60 perch (only half of what we could have taken), because we ran out of time. But, they were happy with those results, and took 18 pounds to the cleaners...enough for several family fish fries.
Chris and Dean, and Chris's second oldest son, will be back in the spring to take a walleye trip with me. I'm looking forward to that, because these guys were a lot of fun to fish with.
Tomorrow's trip is just a 4 hour walleye trip with a nice fella who has a set up like mine, but would like to learn the art of trolling a little better, so if we catch fish it's just a bonus. I haven't been walleye fishing since the end of July, due to my Canada vacation and nothing but perch trips since I got back, so I'm hoping I can find some for him tomorrow. If anyone has any Intel they would like to share...I'm all ears! Thanks in advance!
Anyhooo....stay tuned!
Capt Juls
Perch'n with the Chapman's 8/25/14
by Capt Juls on 08/25/14Today I fished with Steve Chapman, who is one of my regular customers, and his wife Cathy. Normally, he fishes with his son, Jeremy, so this was the first time I got to meet Cathy. What a great gal she is too. We had a lot of laughs at Steve's expense today. Sorry Steve! :)
We launched out of Mazurik's at 8:15(ish) and headed out to the NE corner of Gull Island Shoal. Two days ago, my other customers and I got into a good mess of bigger perch out there, so we thought we would start there first.
Well, although there were a few large perch caught there, it wasn't fast by any means, and we went through a lot of giant sheephead to get a handful of perch. I didn't want to waste that many minnows on Sheep.
I decided it was time to move a little to try and locate a bigger school of perch rather than sheep. Our second spot wasn't much better, so we moved to the west side of the shoal this time. The first spot on the west side was the same results...lots of sheep, so we picked up and started to head to Lucy's. About 1/2 way to the can at Lucy's I saw that the water was getting dirtier as we went west, so I set the Ranger down off plane to figure out where I wanted to go next.
I looked at my waypoints from last season, and chose one. I set the "go to" on the Humminbird and got back on plane. For some lucky reason, I happened to look down at the sonar at the right time and saw some good marks, so I slowed down and checked it out. The marks were unreal, and just what I had been looking for! Setting the "Spot Lock" on the Terrova (anchor), we got busy and again caught sheephead....sigh....#%@$%!!!
But, just when I was about to say, "Let's move again", Steve caught a nice fatty perch, so I kept my mouth shut and gave it some time. It's a good thing we did, because it just got better and better the longer we stayed (which is usually how it works, when you have enough patience).
Since I will not be perch fishing for a while, and those fish will probably not be there when I can get back over to them, I'm going to share my numbers with you all, because there were bunches of them, and I want everyone to have as much fun as we did today...:)
N41.40.557 W082.43.572
After 6 hours we ended with their two person limit of 60 perch that weighed in at 24 pounds. (.4# per fish average).
Cathy caught a huge legitimate 14 inch perch today. I measured it on "The Judge" ruler, so it's as accurate as can be.
She was just getting over some seasickness and Steve convinced her to start fishing again...her second fish was this monster! When she pulled it in she asked, "Is this a perch?" And, I said, "That's not a perch, that's a freak'n Peacock Bass!" lol I explained to her what she had just caught, and how it's not that common to get them that big. She had caught a "Fish-Ohio" perch. Nice!
Anyhooo....it was a great day on the water. It was a gorgeous day out there and the heat and humidity was not a factor out there. It was just beautiful...I didn't want to come in, but it was time.
I don't have anything scheduled until Thursday, unless I get a trip before then, and that one is a walleye trip, so I won't be out perch'n again for a while.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Perch'n with the Wailands 8/23/14
by Capt Juls on 08/23/14Joe and Lisa Wailand might be familiar names to those who follow my blog. They fished with me back in May for walleye. They are a really fun, and down to earth couple who anyone would be lucky to share a boat with on any day.
After getting some really nice sized shiners from Hi Way Bait this morning, we launched at Mazurik's a little before 7am. I decided we would be headed to the NE corner of Gull Island Shoal to try for some bigger perch than what I have been getting west of the islands this past week, and it didn't disappoint.
We started in one spot, but it was mostly sheep, so I moved about a 1/4 mile west towards the tip of the shoal. I marked some good fish, and set the "Spot Lock" on the Terrova (anchor).
It took a little while before they showed up in good numbers, and it was never an "up and down" situation, but they were steady enough, and the size was big enough to keep us up there. Every time I thought about moving, someone would catch a nice perch, so we just stayed.
It took 5 1/2 hours but we managed to get 90 perch that would weigh in at 32 pounds for an average of .35 pounds per fish. I was happy, and the crew was happy. The weather was perfect, and we had a lot of fun (Joe is a really funny guy, as in "Ha ha!" funny). It doesn't get any better than that....does it?
Since they met me at my house this morning, and we drove together, I dropped the fish off at Bay's Edge to be cleaned, and we went to Casa Las Palmas for lunch while we waited for the perch. After lunch, we picked up the fish and headed back to my house where we said our good byes. They said they planned on coming back in the spring for more walleye action...:)
Tomorrow's trip was rescheduled unexpectedly by the customer, so it looks like I have another day off. The next trip is Monday...for walleye.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Perch'n 8/21/14
by Capt Juls on 08/21/14My crew met me at my house at 8am this morning. We drove out to Hi Way Bait for shiners and ice, and hit Mazurik's at 8:30. We launched at 8:45 and headed up to the spot near "Taco Bell", where I had fished with another crew on Tuesday. The bite was a bit slower than it was Tuesday and the grade of perch was just a tad smaller.
We had 80 in the "Catch Counter", when I said, "We need to go...the sky is not looking good. We can fish an area near Mazurik's for the last ten, so if we need to get off the water quick, we can". They agreed and we went for a boat ride.
The lake was pretty flat when we left, so we were able to go faster than the norm around here, and it cooled everyone off. It was getting pretty hot out there. The humidity was bad too. Still I'm sure it was a lot cooler out there than it was for the folks who had to spend the day on land.
As we cleared the islands and headed south towards Mazurik's, the gray skies were opening up and dumping rain. I didn't see any lightning anywhere, so I wasn't worried about getting a little wet...which never happened. Had we left just 5 minutes later, we would have had to drive through the rain, but the timing was perfect. In fact, when we got in the south passage, the wind kicked up too, and was putting white caps on the lake (off shore SW wind). Had we stayed way out there, it would have taken longer to get in due to rougher wave conditions. Whew! I like it when I 'm right. :)
Anyhoo....we set up on some numbers I fished back on the 17th, and they caught 6 of the 10 they needed. Then, we ran out of time, and we headed back in.
They had a good time and went home with some nice perch for many dinners. We kept fish from 7-11 inches, but most of the ones we kept were 8-9's. We had a lot of throw backs, but there really was very little junk to deal with today. The green algae moved in around 1pm and the bite seemed to slow at around 1:30 (when I decided it was a good time to leave.)
The radio chit-chat revealed that there was a similar bite on the SW side of Green today and also at G can. I didn't hear how anyone did at the Catawba Green Can...sorry.
Tomorrow's charter has been rescheduled by the customer, due to the weather forecast calling for "likely" storms between 10 & 2.
The next charter will be another perch trip on Saturday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Super Fun Perch Trip This Morning...8/19/14
by Capt Juls on 08/19/14I have fished with the Boreako family once before. I took them walleye fishing out of Huron back in July. This time though, Big John wasn't able to go (work), so he sent Cathy, Joe, and his oldest son Matt with me to go perch'n this morning.
This was Matt's first time in the Ranger, and he liked it. Today was one of those days where the lake conditions allowed us to go faster than usual, so it was a fun ride.
We met at Catawba ramp this morning at 6:45 and hit the water. We went up to "Taco Bell" and started fishing at around 7:15 in 33 foot of water. The shiners from Hi Way Bait this morning were a good mix of larger and smaller ones, so the large ones we split in half. We were using two hook crappie rigs instead of spreaders.
My crew had a lot of fun catching perch this morning, and the banter between Mother and Sons was pretty humorous.
We caught 120 perch in the 8-12 inch range with probably twice that many in throw backs and white perch. There was probably close to 30 seagulls taking advantage of the poor fate of the white perch, and were fed well. As always they were entertaining in their silly antics towards each other when a fish was thrown their way.
We finished up with our limit in 3 1/2 hours and headed back in. The timing was perfect since they had only set up a 4 hour trip this morning. :)
The weather was perfect with a 5-8 mph SE wind, partly cloudy skies, and temps in the 70's. It really doesn't get any better than that!
Thunderstorms should be here this afternoon around 3pm, so I'm glad it was a short trip and the boat is clean and back under her carport for the night.
I'm off tomorrow, but will be fishing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Looks like Thursday is a 6 hour Perch trip and the rest of them are walleye trips. I'm thinking of hitting Huron again this weekend, since I haven't been there since before my vacation a couple weeks ago. If Huron is a bust, it's not that far to the weather buoy from there if the conditions allow the ride out there in a timely fashion.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Short Perch Trip Today...
by Capt Juls on 08/17/14
My crew of John Schmittroth and his gal, Betty, had scheduled a later start time this morning when he booked the trip, which was a good thing since we had rain showers this morning.
I was up at my usual time of 3:30, because sleeping in just doesn't seem to work for me. at 5am I loaded the dogs in the car and drove through a downpour over to Hi Way Bait to get some shiners, because I wasn't sure if they would run out later this morning and I wanted to make sure that I had some for today's trip.
I picked my customers up at their hotel at 9am and they followed me out to Mazurik's, where we launched at 9:30. They wanted a 4 hour trip. So, to give them more fishing time, I decided with an east wind that it would be best to fish the south passage. We set up just a mile or so NE of the launch and started fishing.
Betty has never perch fished before, and needed help learning how to use a spinning reel, feeling the bottom, setting the hook, etc. She had a bite as soon as it hit bottom, but she didn't feel it. The entire tip of the rod was vibrating with the tell tale sign, so I knew this would be challenging for her.
I cut her shiners in half and showed her how to bait the hooks, which she did on her own after that. When I thought she was getting the hang of it, then I started fishing too.
John caught the first perch and threw it down the "Catch Counter" chute to start it off...and, we started adding them at a slow pick in between the white perch bites. We had many seagulls entertaining us while waiting for me to bonk a white perch on the head and feed them. I even had the seagulls taking the white perch out of my hand. (I'm waiting on the pictures John took of that and will post in my photo album as soon as I have them). John was teasing a seagull with a perch he caught that was still on his line outside the boat and the seagull snatched it! Ha! That was funny!
Betty put her rod down, because she was getting nauseous from not looking up enough, and told us to keep fishing. As the day went on she started feeling a little better, but John decided to cut the trip short to only two hours, so she could go back in. They had a fun weekend, and were ready to go back home to Michigan anyway, so we packed it up with 22 perch in the cooler and headed in.
I drove over to Bay's Edge to drop off their fish for them, so they could hit RT2 easily after they picked up their fish.
Despite the shortened trip, it was a very fun morning.
Tomorrow's trip has been rescheduled to next Monday. It's one of my favorite regulars and I know he likes better conditions, so hopefully, next Monday will be a better wind direction, and no rain for his trip. :)
Tuesday is another 4 hour perch trip, but I think we'll be launching out of Catawba and heading north to the west of the islands this time.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with the Novacek's 8/16/14
by Capt Juls on 08/16/14
Day two of fishing with the Novacek's was "one of those days". We caught a walleye while setting the first lines out (north side of kelly's) and then......nothing. It was only a four hour trip, because they had to head back to MN today, so that's all they caught. :(
From what I heard on the radio, the charters were struggling this morning too.
It felt just a like a tournament when you get a fish right away and you think, "This is going to be a good day", and then the bubble bursts. lol
Anyway, they had a good time the past two days, and Adam is the fella buying my boat, so he was happy to get to drive the boat and learn the operation of everything today. He'll be back the first weekend in October to pick her up and take her home. :)
So, no good report today guys and gals...sorry!! It happens...sigh
Tomorrow is a 4 hour perch trip, and my crew wants to go out at 9:30am, so we'll be fishing in the south passage around Mazurik's, Kelly's, and the lighthouse to give them more time fishing, and to get off the water quick if a thunderstorm happens to show up before we are done.
Stay tuned........
Capt Juls
Fishing with the Novacek's 8/15/14
by Capt Juls on 08/15/14
Yesterday was a blow day....told my crew to hold off driving in by one day.
Since they couldn't get into their hotel yet, and nothing was open, I told them I would have breakfast waiting for them. We had scrambled eggs, fried taters, bacon, and toast.
After everyone was fed and the dishes were done, we waited for it to start getting lighter out. We stopped for gas, ice, and minnows at Hi Way Bait before heading to Mazurik's to launch.
We launched at 6:30 and headed to the area up on the line between Middle and Gull to look for some walleye. I felt out of sorts since I had not been on the water since the last week of July where I had been fishing over in Huron, and just hoped I could mark something on the H'Birds.
Well, the walleye marks weren't there, so we headed to a perch spot out that way, and managed to pick at them until we had 65 perch (went 22 pounds), and that bite died. Then, we decided to try our hand at walleye fishing.
While Adam is an angler who fishes the co angler side of the FLW, his brother and Dad had never fished with Off Shore planer boards before. So, after a quick lesson we were fishing. We had a double on and both came off...we had another double on and got those two in the boat. One was an eater and the other was a Fish-O (28 1/2"). We caught one more, and then I was called on the radio to go over by Mike Johnson who runs Reel Sport Fishing Charters (his spot, so I can reveal it without his permission, but if you were on the water today you would have heard it on the radio). We caught one more over there, and that was it before their trip ended.
We caught one real nice smallmouth bass on Gull, and a bunch of huge sheephead too.
Sorry this is so short, but it's been a long day and the dogs are busting my chops to go for their walk!
I'll be out again tomorrow with the same crew, so stay tuned!
Capt Juls
I'll Be Back to Work Fishing Again 8/14...
by Capt Juls on 08/12/14Vacation time is over and it's back to fishing the big pond chasing walleye and perch.
I have a three day charter starting this coming Thursday (8/14-16). A four hour perch trip on Thursday, an 8 hour walleye trip on Friday, and another 4 hour trip on Saturday...probably perch again.
Then, I have a 4 hour walleye trip on Sunday and a 6 hour walleye charter on Monday.
It's going to be a busy weekend around here, but I'll keep you posted as best I can.
Stay tuned....:)
Capt Juls
My Canadian Fly In Vacation Blog...See Photo Album for Pics!
by Capt Juls on 08/12/14
What an incredible vacation. The fishing was awesome and better than I expected. It went by way to fast though. For those of you who have time on your hands, I kept a journal of the experience there.
Read it or don't...in a nutshell, it was a fantastic trip!
The night we left:
We left Thursday night, July 31st, at 10pm and drove straight through to Nakina, ON, which is about a 16 hour drive. I drove up with Frank, Bill, and Steve in Frank's brand new super cab F150...(Nice truck!) We arrived in Nakina at around 2pm.
We saw a black bear and one young cow moose on the way up, but that was it for furry creatures.
We stayed at the 584 B & B, where our hosts Rayleen and Larry graciously entertained us at their home. We had cocktails on the deck, and then Larry fried up the most amazing walleye dinner, along with Rayleen's pasta, potato, and coleslaw salads. It was delicious!
By 6pm we were all whooped and went to bed early. Of course, I was the first one up, since my normal sleep schedule is to bed at 8pm and up at 3:30 to run charters. After a much needed shower, I went outside to get some "dog love" from their German Shepard "Chloe". (I was missing my dogs already). She's a very friendly girl who really liked getting her ears scratched.
By 5am everyone else was up and moving around. We went upstairs for breakfast where we enjoyed some morning coffee with Bailey's, toast with homemade blueberry preserves, and other breakfast treats...continental style.
At 5:50 we said our Thank yous and goodbyes, and headed to the tiny airport located on the water's edge of a pristine lake. When we arrived, there were other groups loading to fly on one of the two Otter planes taking them to Meta Lake Lodge. Bill took a seat on that plane, while Frank, Steve, and I waited for the next one to come back for us.
It was an exciting wait for me, as I have never done a fly in before and couldn't wait to get in the air to see the Canadian landscape dotted with a gazillion lakes surrounded by pine forests. As we waited the sun was rising above the pines on the other side of the lake. It was beautiful. The air is so clean up there that everything seems magnetized.
After an hour wait, our plane came back to get us. After unloading the folks who were done with their trip, we loaded our gear on the plane. I was given the co-pilot's seat for the best views, and took advantage of it by taking a lot of pictures and videos of the awesome scenery. 25 minutes later we landed on Meta Lake, and got the first view of our camp for the next week. I LIKED it!!
The camp is made up of rustic cabins, a fish house, and a main lodge. The boats we would be fishing out of are beautiful wooden boats powered with little 15hp motors that shimmered like gold along the docks.
After getting a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage (served buffet style) in the lodge, we got busy putting our things in our cabin and the boat. Bill and Frank would be fishing together all week, as would Steve and I.
Saturday August 2nd…our first official day of fishing on Meta and Ara Lakes.
We motored from Meta Lake over to Ara Lake via a channel where we were going to troll and cast for Pike. Steve, having been there many times before, took us to all his favorite honey holes from the past trips there. He set me up with a Dare Devil spoon to try first. It didn't take long for Steve to hook up with the first Northern of the trip. The second one was a nice fat 32 inch pike.
I wouldn’t get one until we stopped by one of the islands to cast for them. My first cast with a #5 Gold bladed Mepp’s Bucktail spinner produced a nice 30 incher. My second cast caught one about 28 inches. All in all the first day we caught about 2 dozen pike and 5 walleye trolling spoons and casting Mepp’s and Silver Minnows. At some point on day one, I spied a copper colored spoon hanging on Steve’s end of the boat. He said he’s never used it. I asked, “Can I use it please? Copper colors work great in copper stained waters”. It started catching fish right away, and I was happy.
The day was beautiful weather-wise…70 degrees, partly sunny, and mostly calm. The wind picked up out of the south at around 4pm and made the ride in a little bumpy. After we were back at the cabin it began to rain. We enjoyed cocktails and shared stories before heading up to the main lodge for a scrumptious dinner of garlic-herbed chicken, mashed potatoes, and buttered carrots w/sautéed onions…YUM!
We were all still very tired from the ride up there, and then fishing all day, we retired to our respective beds at 8pm.
Sunday August 3rd…Day 2:
Well, it’s 3:30 in the morning, and there are mice making all kinds of racket in the walls. It’s my usual time to get up, so I get out of bed to put the coffee on….and, do nothing. There is no TV, internet, reading material, or any other technological devices to occupy my brain, so I listen to the quiet for a while and spy a notepad on the shelf. I decided to start keeping a blog about this trip to help occupy the time. I get an hour and a half each morning to myself before the other two even think about getting out of bed. Ahhhhh…..I LOVE it!
At 4am it is calm outside…no wind at all. It sounds like every Loon on the lake has something to say. From one end of the lake to the other, it’s a “song dance”…how fantastic! I feel privileged to have been awake to hear them.
Steve and Frank finally climb out of bed around 5am and have coffee. I shower and we head up to the lodge for breakfast at 7am. This morning we are having French toast with sausage. By 7:30 we are headed out on the water to spend the day fishing for pike again.
We drive the boat over to Ara Lake again, but instead of heading north when we got there, we headed south this time. Steve said there was a mid lake hump that he liked to check out when he was here, so we started there. After locating the hump we dropped a marker on the top of it in 7’ of water. The sides dropped off of it into 20’ of water. The stone hump runs east and west and is about 50’ long. We caught several Northerns there along with a few walleye. We trolled it and cast it and both presentations caught fish.
Next, we went further south into a bay at the end of the lake. The bay has three small islands in the entrance to it. We trolled around the islands first, and picked up both walleye and pike. Moving further south into the bay, we spied some pelicans setting on some rocks and trolled towards them. Frank and Bill were trolling back there too, and we would wave every time they passed us.
After leaving the bay with numerous fish caught we went back to the hump out in the middle of the lake, marked it again, and made a few more passes. This time the wind was blowing though and it seemed they only wanted the baits presented from a N/S-S/N direction. We wouldn’t get anything on an E/W or W/E trolling pass.
Next we went to a trolling spot where Steve caught a big 41” northern last year. It was near a camp that looks to be closed down for the season. (I guess they didn’t get enough business to stay operating…shame too, because it looked like a nice facility and the location was excellent). We made two passes there and didn’t even get a bump, so we moved into the channel connecting the two lakes and started trolling in there in a zig-zag pattern, back and forth, concentrating on spots that had cabbage weeds in the 8-12’ depth range.
We caught many walleye in the channel, and a couple of “hammer handles”, but I think it mostly holds walleye in there.
We finished off the day’s fishing with a troll along the island out around the corner from the camp. We picked up 2 little pike there and headed in for cocktails before dinner.
Dinner was at 6pm again and tonight we had meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, and Ohio sweet corn on the cob that another group had brought up with them, and kindly shared it with the rest of us. It was delicious.
Monday August 4th…Day 3:
After a breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast of homemade bread and blackberry preserves, Steve and I set off to explore and fish Meta Lake today instead of Ara Lake. Frank and Bill were headed back down south to the bay in Ara where we fished yesterday.
We started out in the 1st bay to the north of camp, on the east shore, casting. I was using my usual Mepp’s lure, and Steve was throwing a #6 copper Colorado bladed spinner bait.
I immediately hooked into a little northern, and shortly after a little walleye. I had Steve down 4-1 by the time he caught his first fish. Then, we were at 5-1 before he switched lures. By that time my competitive chiding would need to end, or I wouldn’t get to fish anymore. He threatened to take back all his equipment he was letting me us on this trip, because he wasn’t catching any fish!
Anyhooo….I shut up, (verbally anyway) and we started trolling around the west shore and by a couple of the islands out in the middle of Meta Lake. While I didn’t say it out loud, I know that by the time we finished fishing in Meta that I had him down 10-1. (But, whose keeping count, eh? lol)
I suggested we head back to Ara for the rest of the day instead of exploring more of Meta, because I felt Steve had more confidence in Ara producing than Meta. And, a lot of fishing is having confidence, right?
Well, a long story….shortened….I caught about 3 dozen fish that day… one was a nice 34 incher and the other was a hefty 38 inch brute. Steve ended the day with only a dozen or so fish. Tomorrow would be a new day and he will most likely kick my butt next time.
Tuesday, August 5th…Day 4:
After putting the coffee on, I stepped out on the front porch. It was a nice morning. Clear skies full of stars, no fog, a slight breeze out of the SW. Temperatures were warmer than the day before too.
At 6am we all went up for breakfast. This morning it was pancakes and sausage. We gobbled it down, because Steve and I wanted to be the first ones to the south end of Ara this morning. We made a trolling pass by the islands, where we caught that 38 incher the afternoon before, but apparently the beasts were still sleeping.
I caught a walleye and a northern in the first 5 minutes we were there. I had re-tied my copper/diamond spoon, so I wouldn’t lose it. It’s been very lucky and productive for the past three days.
After several more fish I reeled a northern up to the side of the boat by Steve, so he could reach over and take it off quick, and when he grabbed the 30# test leader, the fish shook and snapped the leader at a weak spot. My lucky lure was gone!! Oh NO!! It was too early in the morning for such a bad blow to my confidence. Lol I had re-tied the braided line, but I didn’t check the leader…ugh. My bad!! It was the only one like it he had too. Ouch!
I knew it could happen eventually, but I didn’t think it would be so early in the week…sigh. It totally blew my confidence of catching that 43” girl I have been wishing for every day. Oh well….
So, after getting my “cool” back, I tied on a different lure….a “gold something warbler thingy”. I cast it out and started trolling and immediately caught a northern. My confidence was back! I was still morning the lost lure, but I knew my week wasn’t doomed.
We ended the 4th day with several dozen fish as a storm was rolling in. At the first sign of lightning I said, “We should go”. Steve agreed. We started heading back in when we passed Bob and Ned Boytim (who are also from the Marblehead area and fishing with our group). They were waving us down. I thought maybe their motor didn’t start or something, but when we got closer Ned said, while pointing down below his boat, “They’re here; Big fish and lots of them!” Well, we couldn’t resist an invite like that, and decided we could throw a few casts before heading in. I kept and eye on the sky and kept mentioning how we should probably be heading back, because it was getting worse.
While the pike fishing was fantastic right before the storm, it also meant we would be riding back 45 minutes by water through a thunderstorm. We left Bill, Frank, Bob, and Ned and headed back. Bill and Frank were a 1/4 to a 1/2 mile behind us.
As we headed towards the 2 islands by the channel that connecting the two lakes we saw more and more lightning coming down. Bolt lightning. It was getting scary. When we cleared the channel on the Meta Lake side, the rain was coming down in buckets, lightning was striking all around us, and the wind was now blowing about 40 out of the SW…putting 2-3 foot waves on Meta and blowing right into the docks at camp too.
But, we’re not there yet. We still have to get across Meta in a sturdy little wooden boat first. I knew when Steve said; “Hold on!” it wasn’t good. I was sitting facing him, so I couldn’t see what was out in front…I didn’t want to see at that point.
I watched his face as he read the waves, while steering a course to safety for us.
It was incredible…it was just like the movies where a stage hand is standing outside the boat and throwing buckets of water at Steve. I couldn’t help but start singing in my head the theme song to Gilligan’s Isalnd…”The weather started getting rough, and the tiny ship was tossed” (I know those of you old enough just sang that line in your head). Ha!
Steve rode the trough across Meta as best he could and as we cleared the last point near camp, we realized the docks were being slammed by waves, which meant docking the boat would be difficult. Fortunately, two of John’s dock boys ran down to help us. We were really glad to see them too! Bill and Frank made it back shortly after us and we were glad to see them. Bob and Ned pulled over to ride it out and came in a little later.
We hit the cabin and shed our water soaked gear, and hung it up to dry. We all needed some whiskey after that experience, and had a couple of cocktails. Then, we lit a fire in the stove to heat up the cabin enough to dry the suits out.
We headed up to the lodge for dinner where we enjoyed a nice warm spinach salad, cheese bread and spaghetti.
We were all asleep by 8pm.
August 6th….Day 5:
We enjoyed a breakfast of a western omelets, potatoes, and toast with preserves before heading back down to the south end of Ara Lake for another try at those big northerns the Boytim’s found the day before.
Steve and I were the first ones there. There was no wind and there wasn’t a ripple on the water, so we could see every weed as we cast our lures. First cast with my trusty Mepps spinner and I had a fish on! Steve was throwing a Silver Minnow with a white twister tail trailer. Many fish entertained us on the line, while other giant beasts simply followed the lure back to the boat and showed us their massive sizes before returning to the safety of the weeds.
I said to Steve, “The sun is high already; those big girls aren’t aggressive enough right now. Let’s skip breakfast tomorrow and come down here early before the sun rises” He agreed, so that’s what we’re doing on Thursday. We left a marker on that weed bed, so we could find it easily in the morning.
We trolled and cast for northern and walleye all day in the south bay of Ara Lake. We would fish on and off where the marker was, trolled by the old “trapper camp” towards the SE island in the bay, and cast on the south side of that island. Many walleye, pike, and perch hang out together there.
We trolled from the island over to “pelican rock”, and then cast through the weed bed out in front of it. We picked up several fish everywhere we tried in that bay. The fishing was great! To make a long story shorter, we easily caught 50+ fish. No monsters yet, but a 33 and a 34 are darn good fighters.
Oh, and I saw my big girl beast that I predicted I would catch by the end of the week in that weed bed where our marker is, so I know she is in there. I know I will catch her eventually. She is easily over 40 inches, and I want to catch her. She is so big that when I saw her follow my lure up to the boat it made my knees shake.
We had our nightly ritual of cocktails at 5, and dinner at 6. We had fresh caught walleye for dinner with a salad, beans, and coleslaw. It was yummy!
We went to bed early, because we were going to be skipping breakfast and getting an early start in the morning.
August 7th…Day 6:
I’m up at 3:15 thanks to the mouse that ran across my bed near my pillow. My alarm was set for 3:30, so I decided to get up and start the coffee. I enjoy these couple of hours listening to my roommates snoring while I write down the previous day’s events as I remember them. I’m sure I leave out so much, because the days are filled with exciting fishing, stories at cocktail hour, and at dinner.
The scenery here is in a word, “Majestic”. It’s so quiet. If it weren’t for the snores, all I could hear is the buss from the electric light above the table, the hum from the refrigerator, and the intermittent crackle from the hot coffee pot.
There is not a breath of wind outside and in about an hour I will be able to make out the silhouette of the shoreline as it gets light out. I would like to go out on the porch to enjoy a small cigar with my coffee this morning, but the story of a bear that broke into this very cabin the year before has me hesitant to go outside in the dark! I’m sure that there are no bears near by as that bruin was deemed aggressive and put down. Still, I think I’ll just enjoy my coffee in the safety of the cabin.
I’m looking forward to skipping breakfast and getting down to the south end of Ara before sun up to see if my big girl wants to come out to play. I sure would like to get a picture of her.
Note to self…re-tie and put a fresh leader on before fishing this morning. Ha!
After prying my fishing partner out of bed with a crowbar, and plying him with coffee, he finally got in the boat at 5:45 and we were on our way. We got down to the marker buoy at 6:31…right before the sun came up. Both of us landed fish on our first casts that morning and it was gang busters for us all day. We would catch 103 fish with the biggest fish going 33, 34, 35 ½, 37 ½, 38, 38, and 40. Steve caught the 40 incher.
All of these big girls bit before the rest of the gang even showed up down there. By the time they came down after breakfast the big bite was over; just like I thought the day before. It was worth it to skip breakfast and come down early.
It was a beautiful sunrise…simply gorgeous. There was absolutely no wind what-so-ever, so we could see all the weed beds in the bay. That made it easy for us, and the reason we were able to catch so many fish. Heck, we had 59 fish by noon, and we still had 4 more hours to fish. Woot! Woot!
There was almost a full moon the night before, but it was cloudy, so it was dark. There will be an almost full moon tonight, but it’s going to be clear. Will those fish feed at night with the full moon? I’m guessing they will.
Over cocktails, Steve has talked the others into coming down early tomorrow too, hoping to get them on some of the big fish like we had. ( I hope they are biting again)
Tonight we had some really good grilled steaks for dinner, along with some mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus and broccoli.
August 8th…Day 7:
It’s the last day of fishing. Everyone has skipped breakfast and come down early to fish with us. Steve and I were the first ones there again; we had a light SE wind today, so we set a drift over the weed bed. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch anything in the first dozen casts or so. I had a hit on the second cast, but lost it right away. That told me they weren’t very aggressive and probably filled up on minnows last night. The guys in the rest of the group will not be happy they missed breakfast for this. Lol
The entire day was slower, and we only caught a couple dozen fish. But, there were some big ones again. In fact, I caught a 36 incher and cast my trolling spoon out again. Immediately it was hit and now I had my 40+ (42-43?) to the side of the boat. I finally caught her!!!
I was trying to hand Steve the net while holding the rod in my left hand, and keeping tension on the line. I was watching her, and not looking at what Steve was doing, and I didn’t drop the net when he didn’t grab it from me. I should have, because my left arm ran out of length and she got frisky and moved forward…giving herself some slack. We were using barbless hooks, so she was able to get free. I watched her swim away. I was livid. I had fished for her all week, and there she was. I had her!!! Then, she was gone. It took me a good ½ hour to shake it off and tell myself it was for the best. She is healthy and unhurt and swimming happily tonight, and I can come back and get her next year.
Yeah, I’ll just keep telling myself that…heheh
I whined a little at cocktail hour, and we had a nice chicken dinner at the main lodge.
We would be flying out and heading back home in the morning.
If you made it all the way through my journal, thanks for reading it!
Thank you Meta Lake Lodge for the wonderful experience and memories!
Simply awesome, and I can’t wait to go back!
Sorry for No Blog Yesterday...
by Capt Juls on 07/30/14The website host was down yesterday afternoon, so I couldn't blog my results of yesterdays fishing with Tom and Sam.
Long story short...only three fish. Two small walleye and one 28 1/2 incher.
Unfortunately, due to my trip/vacation to Canada this Thursday night, I will not have time to update my blog with today and tomorrow's trips either.
Sorry about that, but there is only so much time in a day and I have a lot to get done before I leave.
I hope you understand. My blogging will continue in August (14th) when I resume my charters.
Thanks for understanding and have a great day!
Capt Juls
Fishing with Leah and Mark 7/27/14
by Capt Juls on 07/27/14I had emailed Leah last night letting her know what the forecast was calling for today, but said that we should make the call in the morning, so I could check the radar and see exactly where the storms were, and when they would be here. It's a good thing we didn't reschedule going off of last night's forecast, because we had a beautiful morning to fish today. It was very hot and muggy with zero wind, and the bugs did not find us (which I thought was a miracle!).
We got a late start, because they couldn't meet me at my house until 8am, so we launched out of Huron at 8:45.
I had already gone to Hi Way Bait at 5am this morning, to get a fresh batch of
night crawlers and ice. The dogs and I hit up Mickey D's for a breakfast sandwich, and then the DNR road by my house for an early morning walk.
When I got home, I still had two hours to waste, so I cleaned the house. It was nice coming home to a clean house after a day of fishing, so I could just relax. That doesn't happen very often.
Anyhooo....On the drive over to Huron, I told them, "It was kind of slow yesterday, but we did catch their limit. They fished for 7 hours though, so since you're only doing 4 hours today, we might not limit out, but we should catch some". They asked if the option to extend the trip was on the table, if they needed it, but I explained that the forecast was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so that was probably not a possibility. We would just have to do the best we could in the time frame we had to work with.
Leah had bought this trip for Mark's birthday, and wanted to catch some fish....the Fish Gods must have been in a good mood, because we started catching fish as soon as we got the baits in the water. They had their limit in 3 1/2 hours with one "Fish-Ohio", 3 fish that went 26" or better, and the rest of them were really nice sized eaters (two were on the small side, but chunky 16 inchers). They couldn't have been happier with the catch today. :)
I was actually quite surprised that the bite was as good as it was, because I was really expecting to just get lucky and get 6-8 fish in that time frame.
Same program Peeps! Crawler harnesses with #5 & #6 Colorado blades 41-51 back with 1 oz inlines, and 35 back with the #2 Tadpoles at 1.6 mph.
I also had one bottom bouncer with a 5oz weight on it working the bottom, that managed to catch two walleye on it. (Those were the smallest of the bunch). The bigger fish were all suspended higher up in the water column.
We loaded out, drove back to my house, and they transferred their fish to their cooler to take to the fish cleaners. It was 15-20 minutes later that the skies opened up and a thunderstorm passed through dumping heavy rains.
I feel fortunate to have had such luck on my side today.
1. To get a limit for two people in only 4 hours...
2. To get the boat back under the canopy in the driveway before it rained. WoooHoooo!!! There was a lot of lightning and thunder with that quick little storm, so even if I had extended their trip, it would have forced us off the water anyway.
Leah and Mark were great. They were tired from their adventure at the Ohio State Fair yesterday, getting home late, only to get up early to go fishing with me. They were troopers and managed to get most of the fish that hooked up this morning. :)
Tomorrow is a day off for me, I thought I had a trip, but I goofed and put a name down on the calendar before getting the deposit....my bad. But, it's supposed to blow tomorrow anyway, so I would have ended up rescheduling...so there's no harm/no foul.
I will use that time to finish two articles due, and get packed for my fly in trip to Canada next week.
The next trips are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday...then, I'm leaving Thursday night for a vacation I have been waiting for since I was a little girl dreaming of the far north woods.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with the Takos Men...7/26/14
by Capt Juls on 07/26/14Back on the 17th of this month, I took Andy Takos and his wife Tasha out for a little walleye action out of Huron, and that was the day Tasha caught her first fish of her life...and, it was a "Fish-Ohio". Today I took Andy and his Father Steve out for some walleye fishing and had another good day. No "Fish-O's" today, but we did catch their limit of nice eaters all in the 3-5 pound range.
It was a tougher bite today than it was the last time Andy fished with me, but we still managed to pick one up here and there between all the whities that were stealing our crawlers. We lost a couple big piggy fish, that just didn't hook up very well, and came off before we could even see them.
We started out in front of Sawmill, and got 8 before we ran out of time on their 6 hour trip, so I offered the option of adding an hour to move over to the Cranberry area, and they took the option. We set up over there and fished 38-39 foot of water, running the harnesses with the same program high up in the water column. 1oz 41-51 back and #2 Tadpoles 35-60 back. We also had a bottom bouncer out for a while, but removed that when all it did was feed the white perch our expensive crawlers over and over again.
A friend of mine on Facebook, Scott Keeley, had sent me some custom colored cranks that he wanted me to try out for him, so after I took the bottom bouncer out of the line up I sent the shad styled bait out 70 feet (12' down) to see what it would do. Scott asked me what color I would like them painted, and I told him, "Pink Lemonade". He did a nice looking paint job on them and I was happy to try them out for him. It wasn't out 5 minutes and took a nice plump 5 pound fish. I set another one out on the other side, but we only fished for another 20 minutes, before we finished up with their limit, and headed back in.
If you're headed out that way, be wary of huge floating logs, and keep a look out for them. That can be very dangerous for "go fast" boats. ;)
I only got the one picture of Andy and the sunrise, because the junkfish were keeping us busy throughout the day, and then when we got back to the launch, and transferred the fish to their cooler, I was busy wiping the Huron River grime off my hull, and completely forgot to get a picture of him with his Dad...my bad.
Tomorrow's trip is up in the air right now. The couple fishing with me was supposed to be at my house at 8am, but the forecast is calling for showers and thunderstorms "likely" after 11am....right in the middle of our 4 hour trip. I don't mind fishing in the rain, but when there's lightning, it's a "no go". And, I can only go by forecasts...so, I'll see if they want to make that call tonight, or wait until the morning to see what the radar looks like.
Anyhooo....I'll keep ya posted...
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
