Juls WFA Blog
A Much Better Trip for Dion, Sabrina, and Mike This Time! (June 9th)
by Capt Juls on 06/10/13The last time I fished with these three it was a rainy and cold day in April. Dion and Sabrina had forgotten their rain gear at home in Michigan, but insisted on continuing with the trip. Mike Mink offered Sabrina his rain jacket, which she put on, and Dion wore a wind breaker jacket over his sweat suit. They were soaked and shivering by the end of the trip.
Yesterday was a much better trip for them. I immediately set a course from Mazurik's to the Canadian line where I was the day before. The program would be the same too. (See the June 8th blog for info).
We weren't even done setting all the lines out when the first fish hit and ended up in the livewell. All three were very excited now. And, it continued....we would have two of the three limits in the box within the first two hours of the day, and in the first pass.
As we neared Lucy's Point, we decided to bring all the lines in and head back East to make another pass and fill the last person's limit. This time, the fish decided to take a break and didn't bite. We caught two fish in that entire second pass and lost a couple of light biters. Of course, the sheephead never come off and Dion managed to catch a big fatty that got his adrenaline pumping, thinking he had a huge walleye on. That made for some great laughter and teasing for the rest of the day. :)
The winds were picking up by noon, so when we finished the second pass out by the line, I decided to head back over to North Bay to make a NE to SW trolling pass for the last hour of their trip. We caught one more walleye and two more sheephead to finish out the day. .
We ended up with 14 walleye and three happy customers, so I would consider that a successful day on the water.
We talked about the perch fishing and Sabrina said she had never done it, so we are planning a perch trip in the near future. I love perch fishing,....probably more than walleye fishing, so I'm definitely looking forward to that trip!
Good luck to everyone that is in town to fish the National Walleye Tour this week. The weather looks great for a fun tournament. :)
Capt Juls
June 8th Trip...Learning Trip
by Capt Juls on 06/09/13Saturday, June 8th, was scheduled as a "learning charter" for Capt. Jim Mazanec and his son Jim. They wanted to learn how to troll crawler harnesses behind inline planer boards.
They met me at my house in the morning, then we drove into town to gas up the Ranger, get some ice for the cooler, and some Mickey D's for my belly.. When we arrived at the ramp at 8am, my regular fishing partner Steve was waiting for us.
We headed to the North side of Kelly's to start the day. The conditions were perfect. After many days of blowing winds, the lake was calm for a change and made moving around a lot easier. The first pass we made was in front of North Bay where I had had successful trips earlier in the week.
Double willow leaf wire harnesses on 6' leaders behind #2 Tadpoles pulled at 1.6-1.8 in various colors was the order of the day. We marked several clouds of Mayflies floating to the surface...and, I mean BIG clouds! So, Port Clinton, its going to be a messy buggy week for us, I think. The fish didn't bite for us at N. Bay, so we moved. Were they full from gorging on the Mayflies? I don't know, but it could very well be the case.
We decided to move to the Canadian Line between Middle Island and North Bass Island, and started an East to West troll at 1.8 mph. After passing over some good marks and not getting a pull back, I tried dropping our speed down from 1.8 to 1.6 and immediately a board went back. It was pretty good fishing after the speed change and the boys had a great time.
Jim was pretty excited and asked where he could buy the boards to use on his boat. It looks like another drift/caster has been made a believer in the effectiveness of trolling. He also commented and said that it was a lot more involved than he originally thought.....we trollers get that a lot. lol
Anyway, it was a successful day on the water and I had two very enthusiastic clients that took away some knowledge to use on their boat. That's always the goal. To teach others how to use the equipment that's available to everyone. Some things can look intimidating if you've never tried it before, but with a little practice it becomes very easy and less intimidating.
Jim had seen the "Review" page on my site and sent me an email the next morning with the following. I couldn't help but feel kind of proud of myself.....thanks for the kind words Jim. :)
"My son and I went with Captain Juls on her Ranger for a trolling seminar on Lake Erie this weekend. I have fished the Lake for over 40 years and thought I knew everything about walleye fishing but, I must admit, I was wrong.
Captain Juls is the real deal! Her expertise, dedication, commitment, and integrity set her apart from most Charter Captains. We not only caught walleye, but she was constantly teaching and suggesting different techniques of how to catch those wonderful fish we all chase around the western basin for six months out of the year. I appreciated the opportunity to see how a true professional operates.
It’s apparent that Captain Juls loves what she does and is a great teacher. I look forward to the next time my son and I can get out with her for another Walleye adventure."
Captain Juls is the real deal! Her expertise, dedication, commitment, and integrity set her apart from most Charter Captains. We not only caught walleye, but she was constantly teaching and suggesting different techniques of how to catch those wonderful fish we all chase around the western basin for six months out of the year. I appreciated the opportunity to see how a true professional operates.
It’s apparent that Captain Juls loves what she does and is a great teacher. I look forward to the next time my son and I can get out with her for another Walleye adventure."
Capt Juls
June 4th Trip...Great Time With Two Great Guys!
by Capt Juls on 06/05/13I was meeting my regular customer, Steve Chapman, and his son Jeremy at Mazurik's ramp at 8am, so I got up at 5am and made them some dark chocolate brownies and Deviled Egg salad for sandwiches later in the day.
I stopped off at the gas station to top off the tank in the boat, and headed to Hi Way Bait and Tackle to pick up some ice. I took in some of the still warm brownies for the guys working and they appreciated that very much. Guess who didn't have to pay for ice! lol
Larry Lambert was at the shop, and gave me some fishing info, but it meant that I had to switch out my regular crawler harness set ups for his custom made double willow leaf crawler harnesses. These harnesses would allow me to run the boat at a faster speed, which would help in the rougher conditions than the marine forecast was calling for. They sure missed that one. The forecast said "1 foot or less" for wave heights, but it was sure more like 3-5's on our way out to the starting spot on the NE corner of Kelly's!
We set in at the green can between the shoal and the NE tip of the island and set a course for a SW troll in front of North Bay. The fish were stacked in there.
Shortly after setting lines out, we caught the first walleye of the day. A nice 29 inch fish. In that first pass we would catch and box 6 walleye and miss 3 others. We also caught a few sheephead to keep things interesting.
We were running our baits with 2oz Tadpoles and inline weights behind Off Shore boards at a speed between 1.6 and 1.8 (with surges to 2.0) mph.
Colors were all over the board from Perch pattern, pinks, purples, and oranges, so color wasn't a factor yesterday. They liked them all.
We made another run up to make another pass, but this time, though we were still marking fish, they were not biting as quickly. We missed a couple more light biters and caught 4 more walleye to finish out their trip with 10 in the box that went 40 pounds. They were both very happy customers.
We had talked about the perch fishing on the lake, and I told them that I love to perch fish, so they are bringing their wives up on the 16th of June to do a little perch'n. That will be a great day if we can find a nice school of them around the islands.
They treated me to a couple of drinks and an early dinner at Ciao Bella, a new italian restaurant in town, for my birthday, and they headed home.
It's always a fun day on the water with these two and I always look forward to fishing with them.
It's my birthday today, so I am on shore writing articles that have deadlines, and hoping to get my grass cut before I have to work tonight (happy birthday to me, right? ha!)
I have a trip in the morning...if the conditions are right. They are an older couple staying out on Kelly's Island for the week, so if it's going to be too rough I will cancel it. I won't know until I get to the ramp in the morning. If I don't show up at the ramp on the island by 8am they know I'm not coming and will go have breakfast. :)
The forecast is calling for NE winds again, which makes it rougher than normal for a 15mph wind out there.
Have a great day everyone!
Capt Juls
Tuesday June 4th....headed out this morning
by Capt Juls on 06/04/13
I was up early to make some dark chocolate brownies for my charter today, along with some deviled egg salad sandwiches...so, now the house smells like chocolate eggs. lol
Have a great day everyone...I'm going fish'n with two of my regular customers, so it should be a really fun day! :)
You'll hear about it later....conditions today are:
TODAY...NORTHEAST WINDS 10 KNOTS OR LESS. WAVES 1 FOOT OR LESS. Sunny with a high near 65
I have 5 days left in June that are available for charters..
by Capt Juls on 05/29/13
I changed my work schedule around, so I could fit more charters in, so the dates available to you now are Saturdays, 22nd & 29th....and Sundays 16, 23, 30th.
Book your "Adventure" asap...first person to hold a date with a 100.00 deposit gets the date. (It's the only fair way to do it). :)
Capt Juls
Memorial Day Fishing Trip with the Jacksons
by Capt Juls on 05/28/13May 27th, 2013
Charlene Jackson called me on Friday of last week, and said that she had seen my article in "The Beacon", (a local paper that I write a weekly fishing report for).
Last weekend, when they were here fishing on another charter boat, she picked up the paper in the hotel and took it home to Indiana with her.
She said that she and her husband owned a smaller boat and wanted to learn how to troll with it. I said, "Well, that's what I do best, and if you're good students, by the end of the 6 hours you will know how to run crawler harnesses behind OST boards and use spoons behind dipsies and jet divers."
My Ranger 621 is only a couple feet bigger than their boat, so it was a perfect fit for them. And, as I had promised, by the end of the 6 hours they were both running their respective sides of the boat without my help, except for a little guidance here and there to tweak things.
We started the morning off by launching at Mazurik's. We dropped in at American Eagle Shoal, but didn't mark anything, so we moved on out to the south side of Gull Island Shoal and didn't mark anything there either, so we moved once again....this time to Lucy's Point.
We set a trolling pass to the North side of Northbass Island, and I went about teaching them how to set up the rods with dipsies and jet divers. I explained how the dipsies have left and right side capabilities and explained the depth chart and how it works. I recently bought some 40 Tru-Trip Jet Divers that I was looking forward to trying out, since the radio is always on fire with announcements from the "Pooh Bear" and his other fleet of Captains saying things like, "40 Tru-Trips 45' and 50' back...another double", or "another one in the box"..."Just got a triple"!
The only difference between the old style jet divers and the new Tru-Trips is that the new ones have a release on them like the dipsies, so that when set properly, and a fish hits, it releases and you're not fighting the jet diver to the boat. The fish usually comes to the surface, unless it's a toad, and stays deep on its own. :)
Anyhooo...back to the story....
We caught one walleye and two sheephead at Lucy's, so we picked up and went to the west side of Northbass, where I had done so well the weekend before with Larry and Steve. This time, I pulled the crawler harness rods out of the rod locker and showed them how to hook the crawlers and explained how the lightest weights go on the outside boards and the heavier weights on the inside. Once we were set up and trolling, it wasn't long before we hooked up with some nice eaters.
It was the exact same program as last weekend with Larry and Steve. We ran 1 ounce inlines and 1 ounce Tadpoles 35 back and the 2 ounce Tadpoles 28' back. Our speed was between 1.1 and 1.3mph.
We made three passes...the first pass we caught three fish. The second pass we caught another three fish. And, the last pass we caught two fish, so now we had 9 of their 12 fish in the box.
It had started to rain with a couple hours to go, and the wind had switched from East to Southwest. The bite just seemed to go south, so we decided to move. I took a route back south around west reef and through the channel between Northbass and Middlebass Islands and stopped short of Lucy's point. We were marking some fish there, so we put the crawlers back out to see if we could catch three more fish, and finish out their limit.
An announcement on the radio had said that chartreuse was working well for someone, and the fish had moved higher in the water column. We made some quick adjustments and it wasn't long after that that a fish had hit one of our harnesses sporting a blade with a chartreuse underbelly, so I changed all the pink blades out to blades with chartreuse underbellies. Soon after doing that, we caught the last two fish and headed in.
It was a wet day, but it was a lot of fun fishing with Mr. and Mrs Jackson. They were very good students and I have no doubt that they will be able to take what they learned and use it on their home lake.
My next charter is June 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
I'll be turning the big "5-0" on the 5th, so I'm hoping 4 successful days of fishing is a great way to celebrate my birthday this year. Fingers crossed!
Wish I could make it back to Wisconsin to celebrate the milestone with my twin brother and other family, but it looks like it will just be a party with me and my dogs...again....sigh.
Customer Review found on Walleye Central...
by Capt Juls on 05/24/13I thought I would share this here, since it was a nice report. ;)
This was written by Steve Johnson who fished with me this past weekend with Larry Schmitz. Steve wrote:
| |||
 Erie TripA buddy and I just made a short trip to Lake Erie. We Drove Saturday, fished Sunday and Monday and drove back home Monday afternoon and evening. This was the 1st Lake Erie trip for both of us. I started communicating with Juls, one of Walleye Central's moderators, last August. I decided that we would use her services after our 1st email exchange. It was a wise decision. A single statement made by my buddy says it all. His comment on the way home was "I am done going to Canada and will be going back to Lake Erie and will be hiring Juls every time". We had no idea what to expect, but were very impressed with the hospitality and fishing experience she provided. She picked us up at our motel the 1st day and even agreed to joined us for dinner. We were (probably still are) novices at fishing with planer boards. She was a good teacher and was very patient with a couple of almost senior guys that needed more than a little coaching to do it right. The best part of the story was the fishing. Sunday, day one, was a little slow. We got four Walleyes and then decided to have some fun catching perch. Monday was a different story. We spent no more than 4 hours fishing for Walleyes and boated 14. Two were over 10 pounds and the top five averaged 8.5 pounds. We had a great time and will be repeating the trip, including hiring Juls if she will have us. Larry and I will go together again, he will be making a trip with his grandchildren and I will be arranging one with my wife, daughter and granddaughter. Larry and I would plan our family trips together, but we would both want to use Juls and her Ranger isn’t big enough for that. I hope I haven’t crossed the line with my comments about Juls as I didn’t ask her what I could say. If so, I trust that one of our moderators will let me know. I just told her I was going to post something here hoping to make a few Walleye Central regulars jealous. I have been to Canada and experienced a 100+ Walleye day for 2 ½ guys (don’t ask) and this was far better. I will take the quality we caught over quantity any day. |
Memorial Day has been Booked!
by Capt Juls on 05/23/13Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Jackson from Indiana....I'm looking forward to fishing with the two of you! :)
Free to fish on Memorial Day!
by Capt Juls on 05/23/13I'm off from my regular job on Memorial Day, which is very unusual, so if anyone is looking to book a charter...6 hours 350.00 up to three people...I'm available! Monday's weather looks great! Sunny and 66 degrees...waves 1 foot or less is predicted.
Still have available dates for July, August, and September too.
May 19th and 20th with Larry and Steve From Iowa....
by Capt Juls on 05/20/13Steve Johnson and Larry Schmitz drove over from Iowa on Saturday, and rested up for their two day Lake Erie adventure for walleye and perch. I however, had to work a double at the CIC club on Saturday and didn't get home and in bed till well after 11pm.
Then, that darn alarm clock went off right after I closed my eyes. Or, at least, that's what it felt like. 5am came much too fast. But, when you know it's going to be a nice day out, and you get to go fishing, it's not so hard to get out of bed.
I gave myself 2 hours of wake up time to make sure my coffee did it's job and I got the boat ready. I picked up Steve and Larry at the hotel in town at 7am.
After a couple stops to pick up ice and bait, we headed to the ramp. We would be running crawler harnesses both days.
There are charters catching fish in numbers with spoons, with 40 Tru-Trips 45-50 back with Scorpion spoons. I think I have to go to the store to find these tru-trips I keep hearing about on the radio. I have the old style jets, but they claim these are much more effective, so I'll go take a look see later.
We started our day of fishing trolling between Middle Bass Island and Rattlesnake Island. There was a pack of boats between Green Island and Rattlesnake, but I prefer to stay out of those packs and fish where other boats are not cutting me off all the time. It makes it much more fun for me and my clients.
We didn't fair all that well on Saturday....only 4 eyes in the box when we decided we wanted to go perch fishing for the rest of the time left. We managed to find some, along with some white perch, whitebass, sheephead, and put about a dozen or so yellow ones in the cooler before we headed in.
Even though we didn't catch a lot of walleye, it was a fun day. The weather was gorgeous and the conditions were good.
I took the fellas to the Moose Club for their perch dinner on Saturday night. We talked about the day over a couple of beers and were looking forward to Sunday's trip.
Once I was home I received a text from Mike Knippenberg, a tournament pro and charter captain friend of mine, who was out Saturday too. He had done well up by West Reef, and shared his info with me. That spot was just a hop skip and a jump from where I started in the morning, but instead of going north after we left our first spot, I went west......sigh. That's the problem with such a big lake. It's hard to cover that much ground and you can only hope the decision you make is the right one.
Anyhoooo....to make a long story short. We used Mike's info and headed to W. Reef. Sunday morning.
The program was the same as what we were using the day before. We arrived at the numbers Mike gave me and set up a trolling pass.
We were running 1 oz inline sinkers 35' back and 2 oz Tadpoles 28' back (Tadpoles are an Off Shore Tackle inline diving weight). The colors working were all over the board....from pinks and purples to oranges, coppers, and chartreuse. The fish were hungry and didn't discriminate.
It wasn't more than 15 minutes after we set up when we got the first one in the boat with another biter directly behind that one. In the first hour we had a one man limit in the boat and started work on the second limit.
The icing on the cake was hitting a triple header of "Fish Ohio's" (fish over 28 inches) to finish the morning off right.
By 11:45 we had their two limits and two fish out of my limit, for a total of 14 walleye. The best 5 fish went 42.5 pounds and all 14 went 80 pounds.
Then, we decided to go perching for a little while before we would head in and get their fish cleaned for the trip back to Iowa.
This was the Lake Erie experience they were looking for, and they got it. They couldn't have been happier. And, I was happy I got to experience it with them.
Getting the fish cleaned..........:(
I don't usually talk badly about any business in this area, but I feel I need to warn anyone that plans to use the fish cleaner at Drawbridge Marina in town.
We took our fish there to be cleaned and I was disappointed to see this new cutter using electric knives to fillet the fish.
Had I known that I would have used another business.
While I know that some skilled fish cleaners can use an electric fillet knife, and not waste any meat, the same cannot be said for this business.
I watched him cut a 10 pound fish and missed a good 1/2 inch of meat off the back on each side, and that adds up to a lot of meat. When I said something about it he just grumbled and turned his back to me, so I told my clients what I saw and told them I was sorry I brought them there.
I will not be taking anyone else there this season either.
You can check out the days catch in the photo album on page four. It was one of those days we all dream about. The fishing was great...the company was great...and the fish cooperated. It was a perfect day in my mind.
I'd like to share an email I received long after I went to bed last night from Steve Johnson...it said:
Juls,
Thanks for a great trip. We had a great time. The fishing was great and you were an outstanding host. I would have said guide, but you did a lot more than that and it made the trip even better.
This is not trip that I will forget. I will now go to work to get Janice (wife) and Erica (daughter) to make with me. Logistically, that may not be possible until 2015, but it would be worth the wait. It would be a major event, as I suspect we would need two days to drive each way with my granddaughter.
I missed the discussion about the sloppy work on the part of the cutters. I have now seen all of the fillets and would agree that they had too much waste. I am slow but would have produced larger fillets. We can't hold that against you, and don't. It won't do anything to diminish the great time we had. I would encourage you to find somone else for the future.
Again, thanks for a great time.
Steve
This coming weekend is a busy one at the club where I work, because it basically is the start of the season and it's a holiday weekend. So, I didn't schedule any charters for next Saturday or Sunday.
I thought I was going to have to work Monday on Memorial Day, but I have off, so that day is now open for a charter if anyone is looking for a day on the water. :)
Thanks for reading my blog, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Capt. Juls
Today's Trip was Rescheduled...
by Capt Juls on 05/15/13The alarm went off at 4:30 and I got up to check the weather. The conditions weren't positive, but I readied the boat anyway. I showed up at my customer's hotel a half hour early, with boat in tow, to find out if they still wanted to go. After discussing their options, they decided it was best to leave the deposit with me and reschedule for another date either in June or September.
Yesterday they fished with Captain Mike Knippenberg, who luckily had the day off to take them out since I had another charter already scheduled. Mike impressed them with his laid back and easy going style and put them on some fish. Thanks Mike for taking such good care of my new Wisconsin friends!
As I right this, it's 8:30 in the morning and it's the second thunderstorm to roll through. More are expected throughout the day, so it was a good call to stay on shore today. The winds are stronger than yesterday, so it has to be pretty rough out there...even though from shore it looks pretty calm. :)
They said it was a very positive experience and were looking forward to coming back.
FYI: My next charter is Sunday and Monday, so there won't be anymore blog updates until Sunday night.
Capt Juls
Fun day today...
by Capt Juls on 05/14/13I waited at Mazurik's launch this morning for my Father and Son charter of Steve and Jeremy Champman. They were running on schedule, but got delayed by a train and a school bus, that made many stops to pick up children. So, they were about 15 minutes late.
We launched and headed to the SE corner of Kelly's Island, but the "slop chute" was pretty rough, so I decided to change course and head up the west side of Kelly's to get around to the North side.
I hadn't been out for about 5 days due to my work schedule, and it being Mother's Day weekend, so we would be hunting for them and figuring out a program that would work today.
After setting up by the "Carpenter's Dock", we trolled a line to the East, staying in about 32 foot of water. After about a mile, I checked my facebook messages and found one from Zak Jobes telling me that he was in North Bay and there were nice "eaters" in there (3-5 pounds), and they were protected from the wind there. So, we pulled our lines and moved about a mile up from where we were trolling. Thanks Zak! :)
We set lines again with 1 oz inlines 30 back and 2oz Tadpoles 28 back. We were using purples and pinks with blades that had either chartreuse or pink antifreeze colors on the underside of the blades. Both of those leads/combos worked well today. Our speed was kept at 1.0-1.3mph.
We went 9 for 13 fish today and had a blast.
This was Jeremy's birthday present from his Dad, and he said he had the best time he's ever had on Lake Erie, and that he would be coming back with his wife. Saying, "she would love this, this is so much fun!"
Temps were chilly this morning, but it improved all day and was 74 when we got off the water. Tomorrow is supposed to be nearing the low 80's, so hopefully that will also improve the bite tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the winds are predicted to be even stronger tomorrow, and out of the West. Today they were out of the SSW.
There was a flotilla of boats trolling the shoal area, and some out by Gull Island Shoal too. I don't think anyone had a hot and heavy bite going on but I'm pretty sure everyone out there today caught a few fish. There is also an MWC tournament this weekend that a lot of my friends are fishing in, so I know they won't be talking much.
Time to play with the dogs and then hit the hay...I'll be back at it again tomorrow with two nice fellas from my home state....Wisconsin! :)
Good luck to all who get out tomorrow. Be safe!
Capt Juls
Wind the Past Two Days....
by Capt Juls on 05/13/13
Well, it blew for the past two days out of the Northwest and the lake is very muddy today. It's muddy, but it's not "chocolate milk". There wasn't a good satellite picture yesterday, due to the clouds, so I can't see where the good water is, but I would suspect it's in and around the islands.
You can usually find somewhere to fish after a blow like this.
I had a trip planned for 1pm-7pm this afternoon. But, the person who scheduled the trip, said his Father didn't want to fish today, because of the muddy water and cold temperature.
Unfortunately, the temps were at a chilly 32 degrees this morning and will rise to only a high of 57 by 3pm today. By Wednesday of this week it should be near 80 degrees.
I have a charter tomorrow morning and Wednesday morning, along with next Sunday and Monday, so today I will catch up on housework, lawn care, and exercising the dogs.
Sorry I do not have and fishing information for you today.
Enjoy your day...smile. :)
Capt Juls
Delayed Blog....Sorry! May 5th and 9th Fishing Trips...:)
by Capt Juls on 05/09/13It's been a hectic week and a half, so I haven't had time to keep up with my blog. I apologize for that. I didn't realize so many were reading it!
Between work at my night job, my Sister and Brother in Law visiting, and getting my gardens ready for the season, I only have been out twice since April 30th.
May 5th: John Butts, a Canadian professional angler who I've known for several years, came down to deliver a boat in Michigan and then took a trip out with myself and Bob Luellen (My boat insurance man from World Wide Marine).
We had a great time, but the wind was from the east and the bite was tough for everyone. At least that's what it was sounding like on the radio.
We managed to catch a couple fish and moved around to several spots trying to locate a bigger pod of fish. They just don't seem to be in the numbers that Lake Erie is known for anymore.
We ran the usual spinner program with pinks and purples and whites...same blades as my other trips (blogs) too.
________________________
May 9th: Today I fun fished with a facebook friend that answered my request for someone to fish with. We ran out of Catawba and headed up to the North side of Rattlesnake Island. We only marked a fish here and a fish there, and didn't get a bite, so we moved over to the area between Sugar Island and West Reef and didn't mark anything there either.
We set a line for the white house on the ferry dock on North Bass and gave up when we witnessed the only three other boats there getting on plane and leaving that area. That's never a good sign!
We then ran out to the line between North Bass and Middle Island and the water was super clear there. And, again, we didn't mark any fish there, so we just kept heading East to the East side of Middle Island.
We set up and trolled for awhile, but gave that up when all we caught were little white perch stealing our crawlers.
Next stop was Kelly Island Shoal. Again, really clear water and only a mark here and a mark there. We trolled for an hour and nothing but a white bass...sigh.
Another phone call and we found out my next stop at Starve Island was void of fish too! What the heck? All these fish couldn't have left the area yet. What's going on?
So, I decided to go see what was happening up by Green Island. After another long run (thank goodness the lake was like glass today), we found a pack of about 75 boats all fighting for position in one small area on the North side of Green Island. I was fun fishing today, so I decided not to play bumper boats with the crowd and kept heading West out to D Can. We marked a few more fish than we had anytime previously, and we set our crawler harnesses out.
1 oz inline 33' back took a nice 4 pounder and a 2oz Tadpole 30 back took a nice 6 or 7 pound fish. Our speed most of the day was at 1.0 but I decided to bump it up to 1.3mph and that's when we got our hits.
Our time was up too fast it seemed, and my dog's bladders needed to be relieved, so we packed it in and headed back to the launch.
It was a gorgeous day to be on the water today, but we could have used just a little more wind to help things along.
Thank you to John W. Thompson III for going fishing with me today. Your company was enjoyable. :)
So much to do and so little time it seems...I'll be out again this Saturday (fun fishing before work), but I have to work the Mother's Day Brunch at the CIC on Sunday. :(
I have a charter on Monday and Tuesday next week, so I hope to have better info for you then.
Capt. Juls
April 30th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 04/30/13
Steve Chapman and his buddy Mike arrived at my house at 8am this morning. I was already sitting in my truck waiting on them to arrive, so all they had to do was transfer their coats and personal items to my truck and jump in.
We launched out of Catawba State Park at 8:20am and headed for the East side of Rattlesnake Island.
The program was the same as yesterday:
Crawler harnesses with 1 oz inline weights 20-30' back.
#5 and #6 blades that had chartreuse or pink metallic undersides were the hot colors. My bead combos that were most popular were the Pink Lemonade combo and the purple/chartreuse combo.
Speed was 1.0.
Conditions today: Sunny, 70's, light SSW winds, water clarity in the Rattlesnake area was perfect today. Not too dirty and not too clean. :)
After I showed them how I like to have the crawlers hooked on the harnesses, how to operate the line counter reels, and put the Off Shore planer boards on the lines, we got our 6 lines out and were fishing by 8:45. We made a South to North trolling pass over 30' of water.
It wasn't long before we had a nice "eater" sized 5 pound fish on the line.
Mike was first up and reeling the fish in, and when we got it in the boat, they were both very excited at the size of it. I never get tired of hearing that...:)
After a few pictures and resetting the line, it wasn't long before there was another fish on an outside board.
Now, things get a little more exciting since neither one has ever trolled with inline boards before, and I had to quickly explain about clearing the two inside lines and what to do with them while the third person reeled in the outside board.
Both of them listened and did a great job...we netted a nice 8 pound fish. Now, they were really excited about trolling.
You have to understand...I fished with Steve and his brother Chuck last spring and they told me they only liked to jig, so we went jigging that day. This spring, I told Steve when he called that the jigging bite was over and that he would have to go trolling with me. He didn't mind, but didn't sound to excited about it either.
After that second big fish, he was converted and said, "I like trolling, this is a lot less work and the fish are bigger". (A lot less work for HIM that is..I just make it look easy...heheh)
After a turn and making a North to South pass over the fish, we didn't catch a thing, so I told them to bring the lines in and we would run up to the starting point again and reset the lines.
Once we were fishing again, we went a little ways and had a board go back, but it got off. A little further and I see a board go back and the fish let go right away, so I figured it just grabbed the crawler's butt end and I quickly grabbed the reel to let the line out about 5 feet, and then engaged the spool again. It worked...the fish grabbed it and this time it was hooked pretty good.
They were both impressed with that little trick and we netted a nice 6 or 7 pound walleye.
A little further in our pass and we hit a quad...four fish hooked up, but we only managed to get 3 in the boat.
Two fish to go and we tried the other direction again and caught one on the turn (fast side) on the inside board.
One fish to go...(or, should have been)
All three of us miscounted them as they went in the livewell and we finished with one fish short of a two man limit. They didn't even care, because that was more walleye meat in the cooler than either of them has ever had before. :)
Note to self....start using the perch counter to count fish as they go in the livewell. D'Oh!
It was a super fun day and the weather was perfect. It's going to be nice throughout the weekend, so I hope everyone gets a chance to go fishing and experience some of the fun we have been having.
Good luck to you all!
Capt Juls
April 29th Fishing Report...
by Capt Juls on 04/29/13With a little nudge from Gary Zart, I opted to run crawler harnesses today instead of crankbaits. It turned out to be a great decision. :)
I picked up Dan, Eric, and Dan's two Golden Retrievers this morning at 7am from the Holiday Village Resort, and we headed over to the Catawba State Park ramp to launch.
It was warmer than the day before, and the rains had finally stopped, but it was pea soup fog on the lake. No worries though, since we have the latest Humminbird GPS and Sonar technology packed into a 10" screen in my dash. We got up on plane, but took it real slow, because we only had a 1/4 mile visibility (if that).
With the boat headed for Rattlesnake Island, we just chatted a bit and I found out that Eric is a musky fisherman, but had never caught a walleye before.
As soon as we came off plane, a black bird landed on my Terrova. It was obviously tired and lost, since it was too foggy to see any land, and needed to rest for a bit. I told it that it could have 5 minutes, as I needed my trolling motor to start fishing. Shortly after, it flew off. Unfortunately, I saw one bird dead in the water. The poor thing had run out of gas before it could find one of the islands. :(
The pressure was on now. I had to do everything possible to make sure Dan and Eric could experience Lake Erie when she's in a good mood. I wasn't to be disappointed. She produced in a good way.
We were running 1 oz inline weights 20-30 back...with 27 being a "magic" number for some reason. That number caught the most fish. Speed was .9-1.0
The color blade that worked best for us was "Monica" (dark purple with chartreuse dots on the outside and the underside was painted chartreuse.
Their two man limit was in the boat by 11:20.
Dan asked Eric, "So, do you like walleye fishing now?" Eric replied, "It's righteous...it's pretty bad ass!". We all laughed and agreed.
When the fog lifted and we could see the islands we were fishing by, it made their day. Dan and Eric enjoyed themselves immensely and said they would be back for more.
I look forward to fishing with these two gentlemen again. They were a lot of fun, and Dan's dogs were so well behaved, I forgot they were even in the boat! :)
Well, that's all for now. Time to hit the hay and do it again tomorrow.
April 28th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 04/28/13Fished the area just South of Green in the rain today with a brisk 15mph ESE wind...between Green and the Ferry Dock on Southbass Island. We pulled 5 nice walleye on Reef Runners 45-50 back at 1.5 mph. One came on a custom color Deep Husky Jerk back 60. Purple Demon and Pink Lemonade were our best colors today.
It rained pretty much all day long. There was one hour in the early afternoon where it had stopped. But, as I type this, I can hear the rain hitting the roof of my house. I sure hope it stops before tomorrow's charter. My rain gear is almost dry and I would like to keep it that way.
Mike, Sabrina, and Dion were terrific. Unfortunately, Dion and Sabrina didn't bring any rain gear with them, so they ultimately were soaked to the bone pretty fast. I don't know how they did it, but they wanted to stay out fishing and catch fish. So, we did.
They lasted the entire 6 hours and went home with a pile of fish that will make for a great fish fry with their family and friends.
Mike, who brought them down from MI with him said,
So that made my day. It's always nice to hear your efforts are appreciated. So, thank YOU Sabrina, Mike, and Dion for a great day on the water today. I can't wait to go fishing with the three of you again one day soon. I just hope it's warm and sunny for you next time. :)
Capt Juls
April 26th Fishing Report...
by Capt Juls on 04/28/13Sorry, not much to report on this day....other than fishing with two of the most entertaining fellas on the planet, the "catching" stunk for us.
We marked fish just about everywhere we went on Friday.
We started at Starve Island, then hit Kelly's, Gull, and West Reef. We slipped on down to Rattle and Green and then down to G-Can. Nothing! We just couldn't get them to bite on our offerings. The chatter on the radio, or the lack there of, was telling that other boats were not fairing well either.
We caught one white bass and that was it. I blame it on the full moon and the clear skies the night before....sigh. But, we all know that there is always someplace where the fish are biting on something. I just didn't figure out the where and what in time.
Gary Zart, of Blue Dolphin Fishing Charters, managed a limit using crawler harnesses. Leave it to Gary to be the first one on the lake to pull out the crawlers. Well done Mr. Zart! :)
Thanks Steve and Ron (Vetspet and Footdoc from Walleye Central.com) for a fantastic day of "fishing".
The flowers were a very nice surprise at the end of the day too!
I'll never forget that. :)
Capt Juls
Tuesday April 23, 2013 Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 04/24/13Yesterday morning I was up at 4:30 making sure I had everything I needed for the days charter. My fishing partners for the day would be, Mark, James, and John. James and John drove in from Pittsburgh, I think.
I was in the Catawba parking lot at 6:30 and my guys showed up at 6:45am, as promised. We launched at 7am and headed straight out of Catawba to the spot I ended the day on Monday in. With the South winds blowing at 15mph it would be a South to North troll for us.
After a brief explanation on how to use the OST planer boards, my crew had the lines set and we were trolling. The 1198 marked some nice fish and we proceeded to troll over marks/icons from the day before. The fish hadn't moved...thankfully.
I have to learn to keep better notes, because I'm finding as I get older the details are harder to keep track of....especially, when we are having a great time! So, I'll just give you the most memorable moments and the program we used instead of a fish by fish blow by blow.
The program was the same as the day before:
Speed was 1.3-1.5mph.
Fish came on Deep Husky Jerks at 45-50 back in Purpledescent, Clown, Sunfish(?), Pink Glass, and Blue/Chrome.
Rogues were 85-90 back and run on the outside boards since they ran the highest in the water column. Blue/Chrome and Black/Chrome both took fish.
The same as the day before with one little exception...
Do you know how when you run a Deep Rattl'n Rogue at 85-90 back it's still running higher than a Deep Husky Jerk at 50 back?
Well, I always run my Rogues on the outside boards, because they are the highest running baits.
Anyway, at some point, James, who was becoming very adept at running the boards, setting lines, and paying attention to little details, decided that he wanted that blue/chrome Rogue on the inside, because it kept firing and it was much easier to bring the inside board in than the outside board. I felt I didn't need to watch his every move any longer, so I didn't pay attention when he did this little switch. And, I'm glad I didn't.
When the outside board fired again, he laughed and said, "That figures! I put the blue ones on the inside, so I wouldn't have to get that outside board again". It was the largest fish of the day, and I gave him a high five for it. As I set the line out again, I asked him how far back he had had it, expecting him to say, "50", and he said, "85". I chuckled to myself and said, "well done" after giving him a little ribbing about line distances and lure designs. :)
Chatter on the radio that morning was all 45-50 back on DHJs, so I announced that my novice troller accidentally came upon a new depth to try. After that, several announcements of fish being caught on Clown DHJ's 80 back came across the radio from other trollers. That made James smile.
We ended our 6 hour trip going 9 for 12 and three fish short of a three man limit. It seemed like when the wind died down around 12:30, the bite slowed down too. But, my guys were very happy with the day on the water that they had. They said they learned a lot, and had a lot of fun, and had 66+ pounds of fish to share between them. I'd say a 7 pound average was a pretty good day.
Oh, and before I forget, a friend had called me when I was getting off the water and told me that when the wind died down they started making sharp turns and getting fish to trigger on the slow side, when the baits would stall... then start moving again. So, the next time the bite seems to die with the wind, give that a try. It just might work for you too. I'm certainly going to try it. I don't think my turns were big enough... :)
Thanks Mark, James, and John...it was a genuine pleasure fishing with the three of you, and I hope to be able to do it again some day!
Monday April 22, 2013 Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 04/24/13After attending the LEWT weigh in this past Sunday, I was almost discouraged about what kind of bite it would be for Monday and Tuesday. Some of the best sticks on the lake had zeroed and others struggled to get one or two fish in the boat.
It was a strong East wind on Sunday, and wasn't much better than the blow day they had cancelled on Saturday. Most complained about all the mud that was out there, but did say it looked like it was cleaning up pretty fast. That was hopeful news.
The forecast for Monday showed the winds diminishing by half, but would still be coming from the East at 10-14mph by the afternoon.
Monday morning arrived and the boat was hooked up and ready to go. My guys were coming from MI and we wouldn't be heading out until 10am. That was fine with me, because it allowed the air to warm up a bit.
Scott, Bill, and Jumbo were three very nice men who have never trolled before, let alone use Off Shore planer boards. I offered to do all the line setting, and they agreed to just reel in the fish.
They laughed and joked all day, so they made it a lot of fun for me.
At the end of the day they found that their three man limit would not fit in the tiny little cooler they had brought with them.
I suggested that they just put the walleye in standing on their heads, with the tails up, and hit up one of the many fish cleaning businesses in town.
That way, the fish would be cleaned and in a couple of bags, which would then fit in their cooler for the ride back to MI.
The program for Monday was pretty simple:
Straight out of Catawba about a 1/2 mile and a westward troll at 1/3-1.5mph.
Fish came on Deep Husky Jerks at 45-50 back in Purpledescent, Clown, Sunfish(?), Pink Glass, and Blue/Chrome.
Rogues were 85-90 back and run on the outside boards since they ran the highest in the water column. Blue/Chrome and Black/Chrome both took fish.
When the East wind picked up, along with the waves, the fish seemed to skedaddle from the line I was trolling, so I went one way and Pooh Bear (a popular capt on Lake Erie who I was chatting with all day) went the other way.
I went shallower and more west, and he went North and a little deeper. Luckily the fish had gone shallower, so I called Pooh over by me. We both finished out with our crews limits and had a very fun day on the water.
Thanks Scott, Bill, and Jumbo! :)
Capt Juls
