Juls WFA Blog
Fishing with Dennis, Dan, and Dominic 7/16/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/16/22I woke up before the alarm clock again, so I got up and took my coffee and animals outside to the back deck. The deck had been drizzled on, so I check the RadarScope app to see if there was rain in the area. It showed there was, and that it would be around until early to mid-morning. That did not make me happy...I had just cleaned the boat, yesterday....deep sigh.
I was meeting Dennis and his two sons Dan and Dominick at the local Walmart, since they were at a campsite, and it was the easiest place for me to meet them.
I left the house at 3:50, so I could drive through town and get the ice before meeting them, but didn't anticipate a train stopped on the train tracks down the road.
I pulled up to it, and waited, then, I started to panic a little, because if it didn't move, I was going to have to try and turn the truck and boat around in a very tight area, in the dark, while it's raining. My mirrors were hard to see out of because of the water on them. Sometimes, those trains can sit there for hours, blocking the intersection, and sometimes, they just wait for another train to go by, and then move. Well, another train did go by, but the stopped one didn't start moving after the other one was long gone. I had to try and turn around. Ugh!
I tried turning one way, and backing up, but nixed that idea before it was too late, when I realized I would get stuck in an awful position.
Once I was back on the road, I started just backing down the road, but I couldn't see well enough to do that for a 1/2 mile, to the RT2 on ramp, so I pulled up to the tracks again, and assessed the situation one more time.
This time, I turned it to the right, into a little driveway, that was blocked by a gate. I was hoping that it was long enough to let me get the boat straight enough, to allow me to back up in the gravel by the tracks, on the other side of the road, and not trap me. There was just enough driveway there, to allow me to do that....and, I just missed their mailbox by inches, but I got by it....whew!
I'm VERY good at backing a trailer, but that experience had my hands shaking when I was done. lol
So, once on RT2, I head to the gas station to get ice. I was still early, and had 20 minutes before I had to meet my crew. Oh, and before I forget, in yesterday's report, I mentioned that the two "boys" were teens, and would probably have a hard time getting up that early. Well, come to find out, they are 27 and 30 years old, so Dennis and the "boys" actually beat me to the store's parking lot this morning, and were there at 4:25. :)
They jumped in my truck, and we headed to Huron to launch. It was raining, and I asked them if they brought rain gear....none of them did, but they said it would be okay. I said it wouldn't be more than a drizzle, on and off, until mid-morning, so it shouldn't be too bad.
We launched, but it was too dark to head out on the lake. There's no sense going out there when you can't set up, so we sat at the courtesy dock for another 15 minutes. Other boats were launching too, but none had ventured out yet either. When the sky lightened a little, we got underway.
I wasn't going to make the run back to Lorain, so instead, we hit the Huron dumping grounds. We set up over 40 feet of water with the usual Bandits behind Off Shore boards, and dipsey program I've been running for the past 4 days.
Dipsies on the zero setting were started at 54 and 60 back. The two settings were set at 90 and 100 back.
Three Bandits per side, were run with 2oz Guppy weights at the 50 mark and run out to a total of 130, 125, and 120 on both sides. Colors were Blue Chrome, Green Lantern (2), Chrome Furmi-Nuff (3). All of these caught fish. At one point, one of my Chrome Furmi's got out of tune, so in a hurry, I just grabbed a Chrome Perch and swapped it out, since I had two others running out there. The Perch took the next fish.
The cranks took bigger fish, and the spoons took the most fish. But, I question that, because I think we dragged some fish on the cranks for a while, before suspecting something was up, and checked them. So, is it really fair to say the spoons did better? I think not. ;)
We had 17 of our 24 when I decided to pull everything and make a run back, to make another pass. By then, it was going on 9am, and the bite was slowing down for us. We had two hours to go, so I figured we could fill our limits in that time.
To make a long story shorter, I told them, "We go in when we get the last fish, or 11am, whichever comes first"...and, the last keeper came in at exactly 10:59! Ha! Yay!
It was a learning trip for this family of fishermen, who wanted to learn what they were doing wrong when pulling inline planer boards. They had only used dipsies once before, so I showed them how I do everything, and then had them doing everything, and talking them through things, and in no time at all, they were working like a well oiled machine.
They were amazed at how fast we were catching, too. And, I figured out that they didn't have the Precision Trolling Data app, to help them know where their baits were. I told them, "That's the troller's bible. If you don't know where your baits are in the water column, you're fishing blind, and wishing fish to your baits". I showed them the app, and how it works...so, Dan downloaded it right then, and there, so they have it the next time they go fishing. I think it will make all the difference in their results.
I had a lot of fun fishing with them, because they caught on fast, and were pretty laid back, and that makes me happy!
I'm off tomorrow, and watching Monday's forecast. Looks like some more rain and wind for Monday. I hope it changes! Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 4 of 4 Fishing with Marc and Jim 7/15/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/15/22I wasn't sure where I wanted to go out of this morning. Originally, I wanted to go out of Mazurik's, for the last day of their trip, because it was close to home. But, it has been so long since I fished around the islands, that I didn't have a clue if there were any fish around them right now, so I opted to go with a sure thing over out of Huron, instead.
Marc and Jim needed to drive back to Wisconsin today, so I didn't want to waste a morning searching for fish, when I knew where we could get them pretty fast, so they could get on the road, and home at a decent hour this afternoon.
I picked them up at the Best Western at 4:30, and we headed to Huron to launch. We were headed out of the river at 5:15, while the the sky was just getting light. When I take a pic in the morning, my camera lightens things up a lot, but I can tell you, it was a lot darker than the photo portrays...but, the bright full moon lit things up nicely on land, and on the water.
The air temp was 59 degrees, the wind was barely noticeable, and the sky was clear, so you know what that means, right? Yeah, Baby!! We got to go fast! Woot! Woot!
As we approached the end of the no wake zone, I closed the windshield, and I turned to Jim who was sitting in the passenger seat, and said, "You're going to want to take that hat off, or else you're going to lose it". Smiling, he reached up and took it off, and tucked it away for safe keeping.
Looking back at Marc, I asked, "You ready to go?" "Yeah", he said. And, with a push of the throttle, the boat got up on plane and off we went. It's not often we get to go fast with a nice smooth lake out here on Lake Erie, so when it happens, I kind of just savor the experience. I went full throttle a few times over our 18 mile one-way run, but mostly it was at a cruising speed, to save on gas. Was it worth the 95.00 gas bill today? Yes...yes, it was!
We fished the same place we fished yesterday, and caught our limit a little faster than we did yesterday. When there's a full moon, I really believe it's best to get out as early as possible, or fish late afternoon. There can often be a midday lull, when they just don't feel like eating, since they probably ate all night and morning. But, that's just been my experience.....I could be wrong.
The program was the same as yesterday, but I changed out one of the Bandits to one of Mike Schlimgen's customs called, "Chrome Furmi-Nuff". He owns Slim Shady Customs, and had a painted one that I bought, and I asked him if he could do one in Chrome for me, and he did. That color was on fire this morning. I put it on, because he said he has been using it lately, and it's been a great producer for him, so I pulled it out of the box and took one of the Carrot Tops off.
It was getting bit before the Off Shore board could get into position. After seeing that a couple of times, I changed out the other Bandit running next to it, and they were both consistently catching fish all morning.
So, we had two Chrome Furmi's on the port side, and a Carrot Top and Blue Chrome on the starboard side, which were also producing very well, too.
All Bandits were using 2oz snap weights at the 50 mark and sent out to a total of 120-130 back behind the Off Shores.
Dipsies were the same as yesterday, too. The zero setting was at 56 and 60 and the two settings were at 95 and 100. Same spoons as yesterday, too. Yeck, Stinger, and BadMo spoons, in mostly copper colors....except for the BadMo...I don't think they make any simple colored spoons, but the back was antifreeze colored, if that matters. ;)
Speed was 2.4-2.6mph.
My crew did a great job getting fish to the boat, and netting them, too. We had our 18 by 8am, and were headed back in, with a nice cooler of fish for them to take back to Wisconsin. They are looking forward to coming back again next year, so that would make it 12 years in a row fishing with me now, and that makes me happy!
I have a new crew tomorrow. A father and his two sons (teens, I think?), so that's an opportunity to make some fun family memories. We shall see....I am making them get up pretty early, and I know male teens are not fond of that. lol
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 3 of 4 with Marc and Jim 7/14/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/14/22I called, and gave my crew a wake-up call at 3:45am, like I promised. I wasn't leaving it up to the lazy front desk crew at the Best Western, to get them up. lol
I told Marc and Jim I would pick them up at 4:30, and showed up early...went in, and chatted with them over breakfast. After they were done eating, we hit the road at 4:30, and did the usual gas station stop, before heading to Vermilion to launch.
We were headed down the Vermilion River by 5:20, just as it was getting light out. The wind was light out of the north, and the air temp was 64 degrees. The sky was mostly clear, with a brightly lit full moon, sitting low in the western sky.
After taking a right at the break wall, we headed NNW for about 8-9 miles before setting up over 50 feet of water. The marks showing on the Solix were deep this morning. I'm thinking that full moon, and the thermocline, had something to do with that behavior, but it's only a guess on my part. :)
Bandits behind the Off Shore boards were set with 2oz Guppy weights at the 50 mark, and then let out to a total of 150 and 130 on the starboard side (colors were Carrot Top and Green Lantern/red chin), and 145 and 125 on the port side (Carrot Top and Blue Chrome). Those all took nice fish multiple times.
Dipsies were set with Yeck spoons, Stinger, and Scorpion Stingers spoons....note: the Scorpions were taken off and replaced with the larger BadMo spoons, which was a good replacement.
Zero setting was 60 on both sides, and the two settings were 100 and 105. All of these took multiple fish, too.
Speed was 2.3-2.5mph
The color confusion was good in both the Yeck and Stinger spoons. The effective BadMo that we used, had an antifreeze green on the back side. I tried one with the pink antifreeze, but it did nothing, so I replaced it with another Confusion (copper with pastel colored dots), and it started catching, too.
The bite was a little faster, early, and then slowed a bit, but still very good all morning....and, the best part... there were no other boats in site. Which was nice, because I didn't have to keep turning around to see where other boats were, and who had the right-of-way. :)
My crew was busy all morning, and we each kept a nice grade of walleye for our 3-person limits. I've had Marc and Jim for three days now, and each day our cooler has gotten heavier with a better grade of fish. I'm not sure where we are headed tomorrow. The wind is only supposed to be 8mph out of the south. I may try someplace closer to home, this time.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 2 of 4 Fishing with Marc and Jim 7/13/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/13/22The morning started out much nicer than yesterday morning, since I had hot water again, and I could take a shower. I woke up a 1/2 hour before my alarm went off, so I just got up and got the coffee going. With a cup of coffee in hand, the dog, three cats, and I headed out to the back deck to take in the morning sounds, and check the weather apps. According to iWindSurf, the winds were going to be light out of the west for most of the morning.
At 4:10, I headed to the Best Western to meet Marc and Jim, who are here from Wisconsin, for a 4 day trip. I told them to be ready at 4:30, and I would pick them up. I got there early, and went down the Tik-Tok rabbit hole for about 15 minutes, before I realized it was almost 4:30. I got out of the truck and checked in the complimentary breakfast area, to see if they were almost ready, but they weren't in there. "That's weird", I thought. They always grab some chow and then head out the door to meet me. I figured they had to run back to the room for something, so I went back outside. It was now 4:30, so I shot Marc and text and asked if they were ready. No response.
At 4:35 I thought I had better give them a call to find out what's going on. The phone rings and rings, and I start getting worried. Finally, Marc answer's, "Hello?" (he sounds very sleepy)....I said, "Morning, are you guys almost ready?"
He asks, "What time is it?" I say, "It's 4:30...are you just waking up?" To which he replies, "Oh my God, we didn't get our wake-up call this morning! We'll be down as soon as we can". "Okay", I said, and hung up the phone.
With all the little fires I've dealt with this week, and put out, I just kind of chuckled at my luck, and thought to myself, "It's no big deal...and, it's not their fault...don't let it ruin your morning". They came out, but I told them to go back in and get something to eat, because I know they never take a cooler of food or drink on the boat with them, and I didn't want them getting hungry.
I can do that, because I do a 16/8 diet, so long stretches without food are easy for me now. But, they are not, so I didn't see what harm a few extra minutes would hurt at this point. They ate fast, hopped in the truck, and we were headed down RT 2, to Huron by 5am.
By 5:40 we were headed out of the Huron River to the spot where the three of us ended our trip yesterday, when we launched out of Dempsey's. It was a much shorter ride to the spot out of the river, than from all the way over in Sandusky Bay.
Yesterday, if you remember, we were trolling in an ENE direction, from 36 feet of water to 40 feet of water, with the wind behind us. It was a west wind again this morning, so we just continued with the same direction, and program, we left off with yesterday, so we started in 40 feet of water this morning, and ended in 43 feet of water by the time we finished up.
The dipsey program used the zero and two settings, as usual, but we started with the zero settings on 40 and 50 back and the two settings at 50 and 60 back. Instead of the usual 30/35 and 40/50, respectively.
Eventually, the luckiest settings were the zero setting at 47 and 54 back, and the two settings at 75 and 84 back.
Speed was 2.5mph
Bandits ran behind the Off Shore planer boards with 2oz Guppy weights attached at the 50 mark, and then let out to a total of 110-120 back. We caught at 120, 117, 115, 113, and 110. The crank bait fish were usually nicer fish, whereas the spoons inspired smaller fish to hit them. Fish from 6 inches to 17 inches were the typical spoon fish, while the Bandits were 17-25 inches.
We went through a lot of fish this morning to put together our 18 fish limit, but the work was a lot of fun, and my crew did a great job! They had fun, and are looking forward to going out again tomorrow, and that makes me happy. (Side note: Marc and Jim have been fishing with me a couple of times a year, for 11 years now, and I know some day, we just won't be able to do it anymore, so I like to enjoy their company, while we still all have that chance. They are great people, and easy to get along with...but, hey, they are from Wisco, so that should go without saying.)
Looks like light north winds tomorrow, so I'm going to think about where I want to fish tomorrow, and what launch we're going to use. I'll know by morning. :)
When I dropped them off at their hotel, after we were done fishing, I asked Marc, "Do you want me to give you your wake-up call tomorrow morning? I get up at 2am, so it's not a problem."
Smiling, he said, "Yes, please! That would be great....3:45".
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 1 of 4 with Marc and Jim 7/12/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/12/22Oh, what a morning! I mean that in both the good way, and the bad way.
Without going into a long story, my water heater is not working at the moment, so I had to heat water on the stove and take a sponge bath, instead of a nice awakening shower, this morning. Okay...I could deal with that. It wasn't so bad, but my hair really needs a washing. lol
Then, I get to the hotel to pick up Marc and Jim, my long time customers from Wisconsin, and as Jim walks up he says, "We don't have our Ohio fishing licenses. We were here 6 hours, and completely forgot to go get them". It was 4:45, and none of the bait shops are open that early, so I said, "No problem, the Sun's coming up later now, so we have time. We can run over to the Fisherman's Wharf...they open at 5am". We get there, and the sign on the door says, "No fishing licenses sold". Arrggghhh... Okay, take a deep breath, it's not a problem. I'll just use my phone and do it online for them....that turned into a half hour ordeal, but we got it done.
We finally get to the gas station to gas up and get ice. I'm watching the wind forecast on iWindSurf, which was calling for gusts to 30, but the buoys were only showing 10-15mph at real time. So, we went to Mazurik's first, to check the lake. It looked good, but there was absolutely nobody else there at 5:45. "That's weird", I thought. Did they know something I didn't? I thought about it for a little bit, and decided to go launch at Dempsey's, because if the wind did pick up, it was closer to where I wanted to target fish, and would be a better, more protected, ride back to the launch, than Mazurik's would have been.
We launched at 6am and headed out through Bay Point Marina and out to in front of Cedar Point. The Solix wasn't marking anything there in 35 feet of water, so I kept going east, towards the white condos....still in 35-36 feet of water. Fish started marking on the sonar just east of the condos, so I powered the big motor down and deployed the Ulterra and the baby Merc, and just kept our heading to the ENE with the waves behind us, and on the starboard corner.
Speed was set at 2.3-2.5mph
The dipsies were set first, in the usual program of the zero and two settings, at 30/35, and 40/50 back, respectively, with Scorpion Singer spoons and Yeck spoons.
EDIT, because I forgot to mention it before....
As we hit deeper water, I noticed the fish lower in the water column and moved the zeros to 46 and 54....and the two settings to 55 and 65.
Two Off Shore planer boards were run out each side, with Bandits on the port side and Flicker Minnow 11s on the starboard side. Bandits were at 80 and 55 back, and the Flickers were at 95 and 65 back. The Bandit at 80 had a huge pullback, but whatever it was, got off. The Flickers did nothing, so I changed them out to Bandits, also. This time, they were set with 2 oz Guppy weights at 50/65 (total 115) and 50/55. Both took a nice keeper walleye. The unassisted Bandits also took a walleye each, but the spoon bite was definitely the entertainer this morning.
It was pretty much non-stop action, with fish from 6" to 18". Not monsters, by any means, but we managed to put their two limits in the cooler, along with 2 of mine, before we decided to make the long run back in.
They are older gents, so I took it slow, so they wouldn't get beat up. These are the same two that rescheduled from three weeks ago, when it was really hot out, and pretty windy, and I had told them to stay home.
They both did very well, since I kept the boat from rocking too much, by going with the waves. Luckily, the fish were okay with that direction too. :)
They had fun, and are looking forward to a less windy day tomorrow.
Tomorrow's forecast is calling for light west winds less than 10mph out of Huron, so we will be driving over there in the morning, and launching in the river.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with John and Matt 7/8/2022
by Capt Juls on 07/08/22This morning, I had John Williams and his Son-in-Law Matt with me. Some of you might remember John from a previous trip this past May, when we had kind of a slow bite over by the cans, but he was able to get his two personal bests in one morning...the largest being a nice fat 29 incher.
Anyway, I told them I would pick them up at the White Caps Motel at 4:30, but as is my routine, I showed up there 15 minutes early. As I was texting him, to let him know they could take their time, and that I was early, I heard a tapping noise, but it was light, so, confused, I looked around and just figured my brakes were settling in after parking. "That's weird", I thought.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a silhouette in my passenger's side window...and, it scared the crap out of me! It was only John, lightly tapping on the window, to let me know they were out there already. He had tapped on my tonneau cover, on his way to the window, so the "brake noise" mystery was solved. lol
We were early, so I took the long way through town, to go get ice for the coolers. The truck and boat were already gassed up, so that saved us some time, too.
The plan was to launch at Huron again, since it's just been so good, and so easy over there, and it's cheaper to drive the truck over there than to run the big motor across the lake, like I've always done in the past, since the truck can take the 87 and the Verado drinks the good stuff.
We launched at 5am and headed out the river. The sunrise is starting to get a little later now, so I'm going to adjust my timing for that. It was still good to go at 5am, since it was a partly cloudy sky this morning, and not a full cloud coverage. Had it been cloud covered, it wouldn't have been light enough to go until closer to 5:30, but as it was....the horizon started to lighten up enough to see the lake's surface on our way out.
There was a 3mph wind out of the SW this morning, and ENE tiny rollers coming in the other way, but they were small enough that it didn't really impede how fast you could drive across the lake, so that was nice.
We headed to the same area I have been fishing for the last several weeks, and the fish were still there.
We started in 38 feet of water and finished up in 43 feet of water. The action was pretty much non-stop, but there were a lot of shorts in the mix. The final box contained mostly 16-17 inch fish, with a couple of bigger ones in there. Good eaters, that my crew was happy with.
I only set them up with the 4 dipsies/spoons, because I figured the bite would be fast again, and there's no sense adding more lines, if they are not needed. Even with only 4 lines out, we still finished up in a little less than two hours.
Started with the zero setting at 30 and 35, but eventually moved them down to between 40 and 50 feet back.
The two settings started at 40 and 50, but were then adjusted to 55 on one side and 75 on the other side. The deeper leads did better this morning.
Speed was 2.5mph
The white perch, white bass, and sheephead were minimal today, and not a big problem.
I gave them a couple options, so they could stay out, but they were good with going in to have breakfast, and getting the fish cleaned, before heading back to Cincinnati. I gave them a slower boat ride in, so they could enjoy the lake a little longer. (We stopped on the way in, to pick up a floating giant balloon, too.)
They were supposed to have a two day trip, but it's been cut short, due to the wind forecast for tomorrow, which I'm positive will be a "small craft advisory", if it doesn't change overnight, which it could, since the forecasting has been wacky lately. Strong, gusty, NE winds up to 33 mph are forecast right now. So, they went home.
Hopefully, Sunday's forecast changes a little bit....ENE 13-19 is forecast right now, and that's not fun. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
For those of you checking in....I'm still here...:)
by Capt Juls on 07/07/22I've been off all week, due to a visit to Wisconsin to attend my Father's Memorial and my Mom and Sister's birthdays. :)
I'll be back out tomorrow, Friday (8th).
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Rob and Noel 6/30/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/30/22This morning, I had a birthday girl, Noel, and her boyfriend (fiancé?), Rob, out for a dipsey learning trip. Rob had bought the dipsies, but needed some instruction on how to properly run them, so he wouldn't tangle everything up on his own boat.
Granted, dipsies can look intimidating, but they are the easiest thing in the world to run, and catch fish with, when run properly.
This morning started early. I told them I would pick them up at the White Caps Motel at 4:20, but I showed up at 7 minutes after, and there they were...ready to go! So, we left earlier than usual, and hit the gas station for the usual...topping off the gas tank, and getting ice for the coolers.
We hit Huron at 4:45. Capt Bobby Greene showed up around the same time, so I chatted with him for a bit before heading out at 5am. It was dark, but the horizon was starting to lighten up, so we could see if there were any obstacles in the river on our way out. It was pretty clean this morning, for a change, so we didn't have to dodge any debris.
We headed ENE and when we hit 38 feet of water, I shut the big motor down, and deployed the Ulterra and the baby Merc, and set a course in the same direction, at a speed of 2.5mph.
I showed them how dipsies work, and then showed them how to set them. I run two dipsies off of each corner, and call them the "inside rod" and the "outside rod". The inside rod is a 6' medium action and the outside rod is an 8'3" rod. This gives the two plenty of space between them, to help eliminate tangles when setting them out. The inside rods were running on the zero setting and the outside rods were running on the two setting.
The zero settings started at 30 and 35 back, and the two settings were running at 40 and 50 back.
Scorpion Stinger Spoons and Yeck spoons were attached. The color spectrum on the spoons was all different, and it didn't seem to make a difference.
The catching started right away, and it was a 3:1 ratio of short fish to keeper fish, so by the time we had 18 in the live well, we had surpassed 40 fish. I didn't keep count of all the fish we caught, but 3:1 sounds about right, if I have to guess. :)
Noel has only fished two times prior to this trip, and picked up on the fishing lingo pretty quick. She did a fantastic job on her side of the boat, and Rob, who has his own boat, and goes a few times a year, knew more than Noel, also did a fantastic job, this morning. He had bought some dipsies, but never used them, so this trip was to learn how to run them. I have no doubt, that after this morning's trip, that they can go out in their own boat and run dipsies with confidence now.
One keeper fish got to live another day... when I went to measure it (didn't really need to, since I knew it was over 15 1/2 inches, but I did anyway), and it flopped and slid down the splash well, and into the motor bracket, to escape. It was too slippery for me to get him by the tail as it flailed in the bracket for a few seconds. Lucky fish! They didn't seem to mind too much, since it was a fast bite, and it wouldn't take long to get another one. Needless to say, I moved the measure to the side of the boat, instead of the back of the boat. lol
When we hit their limit, and I announced we were in the bonus round (meaning my fish limit), I asked, "Remember when we were driving over here, and you two were talking about how you hoped you caught some fish today? You didn't hear me, because I was quietly giggling to myself". They laughed, and Noel said, "I can't believe this! This is great!" Rob agreed.
We stopped for breakfast on the way home, and while we were waiting on our meals, Rob mentioned that his uncle has a charter, and I casually said, "Oh yeah? Who's your uncle?"....(figuring it would be someone I don't know).... He replied, "TKO Charters". I looked at him wide-eyed and said, "Todd Kerr is your uncle? I know him! He's a great Capt...why didn't you go out with him?" He said, "He runs big boards, and a big boat (need more people), and I wanted to learn how to run dipsies. And, I've been reading your reports for years on Walleye.com, and really wanted to go out with you". I smiled and said, "Thank you, but he's really good, ya know!" He smiled, and said that he would go with him someday, too. :)
They both had a great time, learned what they needed to learn, and took home a bunch of fish for a family fish fry, when Noel has her house-warming party next month. She just bought a beautiful home in MI, with a property/garden, anyone would be envious of.
I'll be off until later next week. I have to go to Wisconsin for my Dad's Memorial Service, and my Mom and sister's birthdays.
So, since I'll be gone, you're all probably guaranteed beautiful weather until I get back. You're welcome. ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Diane, Chad, and Jeff 6/26/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/26/22I woke up at 1:15 this morning, 45 minutes before my alarm was to go off, and laid there, wide awake, so I just got up and made some coffee. I was thinking about this two day trip I had for today and tomorrow, and knew that tomorrow was going to be a blow day with the forecasted gusty NW winds, so we had to get today's trip in, for sure.
The forecast was calling for rain around 9am and winds coming in behind it. I grabbed my coffee, treats for Dexter and the cats, and headed out to the back deck to sit by my fire pit, and check my weather apps. The radar showed a fast moving storm cell over in Indiana, that was moving fast, and had a lot of lightning in it. That one had me a little worried, since it was moving so fast. I didn't have to pick them up until 4:20, so I watched it as it moved across the states. It seemed to be diminishing in intensity as it got closer, and the lightning disappeared from it, so that was good.
The wind forecast was showing light winds for the morning and picking up as the day went on, so I knew we could get the fishing in, and just hoped that the fish were as cooperative today, as they were yesterday.
Diane and her husband Chad, and Chad's brother, Jeff, were right on time this morning when I arrived at the White Caps Motel to pick them up. Diane had bought this trip for Chad, for his birthday present, which was last month, I think.
We chatted as we drove through town, and stopped at the Speedway for my usuals, but they had all the pumps taped off for some reason, so we had to go down the road to for gas and ice.
We got to the Huron ramp a little after 5am and were headed ENE out of the river by 5:30.
The report is basically the same as yesterday's. I rode the same trail I used yesterday, starting in 38 feet of water and ending in 42 feet of water.
Spoons behind dipsies did most of the catching again, but the Bandits riding behind the Off Shore boards did a little better today, than they did yesterday. 40-65 back unassisted did well, and caught 5 or 6 of the fish.
Dipsies on the zero setting were 30 and 35 back, and the two settings were at 40 and 50 back.
Speed was 2.5mph.
It was a beautiful morning, with a light SW wind, no bugs, and no rain. My crew did a fantastic job, and started the morning off with a few fire drills...and, me, shouting instructions at them, to keep them from tangling things. We did get a few tangles during all of it, but we mostly worked like a well oiled machine, and managed to put our 24 fish in the cooler by 7:45. They were amazed at the fishery we have here, and had so much fun, that they are going to book another trip, and come back in the spring, to try for a trophy fish.....and, that makes me happy!
After we were done, they wanted to float around for a little bit... with a beverage, and a bite to eat...to take in what they just experienced. So, I put all the gear away, stowed the Ulterra and the baby Merc, and turned up the stereo. We sat and talked for a while, and when they were done, we headed home. A perfect morning. :)
Tomorrow's forecast is calling for gusty NW winds, so it's a no-go. I'm scheduled off for Tuesday and Wednesday, so I won't be back out until Thursday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Derek, Keith, and Joe 6/25/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/25/22Derek had made reservations last October, but we couldn't get out, so I moved him to this season, and we were able to make it out this morning. Yay!
Along with Derek, was his father Keith, and their friend, Joe. I told them I would pick them up at the White Caps Motel at 4:30 and they should be ready to go at that time. And, just like another Indiana crew I had a few weeks ago, when I arrived at 4:15, they were waiting on me to arrive.
They got in the truck, and we hit the gas station for some ice. I had already gassed up from the previous trip on my way home, yesterday. I decided to go launch over in Huron this morning, to try and get away from the Mayfly husks floating all around the islands right now.
We launched at 5:00 and were out of the channel by 5:15. It was a beautiful morning with no wind, and a cloudless sky. The horizon was starting to glow a beautiful Day Lilly orange with a yellow fade into a dark blue sky. It's hard to be anything but happy when you get to witness something like that. My crew must have agreed, because they were sure in a good mood this morning, too.
We headed ENE, out to the area I was in the last time I was over there, which was last week, and set up with spoons behind dipsies, and a couple Bandits behind Off Shore boards. The Solix wasn't marking much, so I wasn't sure if we should stay there, but it wasn't long before we started catching.
The zero setting dipsies were at 30 and 35 to start, and eventually both were set at 35.
The two settings were at 40 and 50, and eventually both were set at 50.
Speed was 2.5mph.
The spoon bite was definitely better than the crank bait bite for us, this morning, too. I think we only caught three on the Bandits, and the other 21 were on spoons, along with the 20+ throwbacks, too. If they didn't measure 15 1/2 inches, I threw it back. I figure, once it goes on ice, it's going to shrink up, and I'm not going in with a short fish in the box, so it's better to be safe than sorry. A lot of those throwbacks were right on the 15" line, too.
Our average fish in the cooler were 16-17 inches, with a couple larger ones thrown in, but we didn't get any that I would consider "big fish" this morning. We had our 24 by 7:55am, and that made my crew happy, because they were ready for some breakfast.
Joe said he wants to come back to fish with me in April, and try for a trophy walleye, next season...and, that makes me happy. :)
Tomorrow, I have a husband and wife duo, and one of their father's, I think. She gave the trip to her husband as a birthday gift, because he's a fan, and reads all my reports, and wanted to go on a learning trip. I thought that was very nice of her to do that for him. :)
They originally booked two days, but it looks like Monday is going to be a blow day with gusty winds out of the NW, so we'll have to have all the fun tomorrow. The forecast is calling for the wind to pick up and rain to come in around 9am, so I'm hoping it's a good bite in the morning, and we can get all their fish early again.
We shall see....
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Steve and Frank 6/24/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/24/22Sorry for the long delay in reports, but I was not out this past week.
My Monday was cancelled, due to one of my customers having a shoulder injury, and a surgery coming up, and my Tues. through Thursday was a 3-day trip for a couple of my regulars from Wisconsin, who are older and don't like it rough....or, as hot as it was, so they rescheduled to a 4-day trip next month. Fingers crossed we get those 4 days in.
This morning, I had a repeat customer from Illinois, that came to fish with me for the first time, this past spring. Steve Giannini, brought his friend, Frank along, to show him how much fun this lake can be. It did not disappoint!
They showed up at Mazurik's a little before 5am, and I had already gotten everything ready, so we hit the water, and looked for the cool planet alignment that was supposed to be happening this morning, 45 minutes before sunrise. We could see a few of them, but there were some Cirrus clouds that moved in, and blocked the view of a couple of the planets, so it really didn't look all that cool....to me, anyway. Had it been clear, we would have seen 5 or 6 planets, all in an arched line across the sky.
We headed NE out of Mazurik's, and up to the line. The Mayfly hatch that happened overnight had the surface of the lake covered in Mayfly husks, that I knew was going to be a pain in the butt, trying to keep the lines and baits clean while trolling. However, the buggy situation wasn't as bad up north, as it was behind us.
We set up over 41 feet of water, and the Ulterra and baby Merc had us on a course from east to west, at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph.
Dipsies were set on the zero and two settings, as usual. The zero settings started out at 30 and 35 back, and the two settings were at 40 and 50 back. We ran spoons on the dipsies this morning.
Four Bandits ran behind the Off Shore boards...2 on each side of the boat. We started out with the port side running high and the starboard side running with 2oz Guppie weights, down deeper.
The port side ran a Carrot Top and a Blue Chrome at 65 and 40 back, unassisted. The starboard side ran a Carrot Top and Big Bad Bob with the 2oz, at 50/70 (total of 120 back) and 50/65 (total of 115 back). The chrome baits did better than the painted, so Big Bad Bob cam off and a chrome perch Bandit replaced it.
The crankbaits caught bigger fish, but more fish were caught with the spoons.
The bite was very good early, and then slowed way down as the Sun got higher in the sky....moving the fish, deeper.
We changed the leads up a bit, and finished out our 3-person limit. The zero setting took fish at 54 and 60 back later on, and the two settings were anywhere from 50-70 back.
I had those two working hard this morning, because of the Mayfly skins getting all over the lines, boards, and baits, so we had to keep clearing them.
Eventually, we turned and headed east again, when it was obvious to us that the Mayflies were getting worse, the further west we went. It was cleaner to the east. But, like anything that floats out there, the current will take them east with it, so it won't always be cleaner. ;)
It was a beautiful morning on the lake, until it got warm and the wind died. The boat got covered in Midges, and so did we. It was hard to even talk without getting a couple in the mouth...they were so bad. But, like all things...there's a silver lining...they don't bite! I'd rather put up with them, than a biting black fly, any day!
They both said they had a great time, and learned a lot. Neither had run a dipsey before, but caught on pretty quick for not having much sleep the night before. Steve said the drive in from Chicago was delayed, due to a lot of construction along the way, and they didn't get in town last night until around 11:30pm. Uffda! I would have been useless if I had to stay up that late, and get up as early as I want them to, too. lol They were troopers, for sure!
Tomorrow, I have a three-person trip, and I'll be launching out of Huron, or Vermilion...I'm not sure which one yet. The Mayflies are just too thick over by the islands, right now. And, it's the weekend...I prefer not to be near the islands on a weekend... too many drunks. ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dick and Brad 6/15/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/15/22Left the house at 3:45, because I was meeting my crew across town, at 4:30, and I had to go gas up and get ice first. They met me at a grocery store parking lot, where we left their truck, and they jumped in mine. We headed to Huron to launch, and hit the water at 5am. It was dark on the way out, but the clear sky and the "Strawberry Moon" gave the water's surface enough light, so that we could see well enough.
The Huron River is dumping a ton of mud right now, after the big storms that went through the night before. There was a definite mud line a few miles out of the river. There wasn't any mixing water either. It went from chocolate milk to clean, with no in between. There were also some very big logs floating in the river, that needed to be avoided on the way out, as well.
We didn't travel far, and set up with the same dipsey and Bandit program I've been running for a couple of weeks now. Anyone who has been following my reports would probably know it by heart now. lol
Started with two dipsies on each corner. The zero settings at 25 and 27' back, and the two settings started at 35 and 37' back, with spoons.
Bandits were run behind the Off Shore boards at 60 and 40 back on the port side, and 55 and 35 back on the starboard side.
Colors were:
Carrot Top (2)
Blue Chrome
Big Bad Bob
Speed was 2.5-2.7mph
We managed our 18 keepers out of around 40+ fish caught this morning, and headed in, before it got too hot out. Even though, it's much nicer on the water during these hot and muggy days...it's best not to spend too much time out there when it's like this.
Dick and Brad fish together, here on Lake Erie, and just go with me to learn stuff. They said they learned a lot, and had a great time, and that makes me happy!
I'll be back out on Friday, if the winds allow.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Wayne Gillespie 6/13/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/14/22This morning, I would be taking just Wayne, so I asked my friend, Capt Jen, to come along (with Wayne's permission, of course), so we could run more lines, and get more fish. They both met me at my house at 4:15.
We ran to the gas station in town, to get gas and ice first, and then headed to Vermilion to launch. We were headed out the channel by 5:15, and didn't have to go far. The wind was from the ENE at around 10-13mph, so there were some roller in the 2-4 foot level.
This was Wayne's first Lake Erie experience, so I had a feeling he was going to feel the effects of those rollers, and I was right.
The bite was fast, and we managed to put 10 nice eaters in the cooler, before he mentioned he wasn't feeling well, and I said, "We can go in any time you want to". "I'm okay, but if you girls want to go in, we can". I said, "It's up to you, because I fish almost every day, and if you leave it up to me, I'll go in. My dog is patiently waiting". Jen piped in with, "I'm boat-less for another month, and haven't been on the water, so I could stay out here all day".
He went another 5 minutes or so, and said it again, so I said, "We'll go in. I know how you're feeling right now, and it's not fun. You're not the first, and you won't be the last". And, we picked it all up and went in.
Wayne was very impressed with the fishery, and how fast the bite was. We had caught over 30+ fish (many throw backs) in the first hour and a half we were out there, so he said he wanted to come back a little earlier in the season next year, and that makes me happy!
It was the same dipsey program and Bandit program that I have been running for the past couple weeks now, so I won't bore you with those details.
I rescheduled Tuesday's trip, due to wind and weather, so I'll be back out with a couple of my regulars on Wednesday. We will probably launch out of Huron, and try to get done before the very hot temps arrive later in the morning. A heat wave with temps close to 100 are forecast, so getting off the water early with my older gents is the order of the day. :)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 2 Fishing with Dave and Chris 6/11/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/11/22I woke up this morning, thinking that I woke up before my alarm, but when I looked at the clock, it said 2:53am. It took me a second to realize that I woke up an hour late.
My alarm was silenced by the ringer on my phone being turned down for some reason (I don't remember turning it down for anything), and the snooze kept resetting itself.
Dexter jumped off the bed when I shouted some profanities at my phone, and looked at me like, "What the heck, Mom? Are you psycho?" "Sorry buddy, I woke up late, and now my routine is all screwed up", I said, patting him on the head, as I headed to the kitchen to make my coffee.
It was a rough start, but I managed to leave the house at 4am to head over to the White Caps Motel to pick up Dave and Chris. They were expecting me at 4:30, so I thought I would have time to sit in the parking lot and go down the Tik-Tok rabbit hole for about 20 minutes before they came out, but there they were...standing there in the dark, ready to go again. lol
They jumped in the truck, and off we went. We hit the gas station to fill up the truck and boat, and to grab some ice for the cooler, before heading back over to Huron to launch.
It was still pretty dark when we got to Huron, because the sky was mostly cloudy this morning, so we hit the water at 5:15, and made our way out the channel by 5:30. It was light enough by then to see the surface of the lake, so any floating logs would be noticed before we hit any. The river had a lot of logs floating around early this morning, but we managed to avoid them all.
I was going to try another area over there, but after finding out that they were going to have a long ride home, I asked them, "Should we just go do what we did yesterday, so you can get an early start back to Wisconsin?" They both agreed that that would be best, so that's what we did.
It was the same dipsey program as yesterday...
Dipsies on the zero setting at 25 and 27' back, and the two settings started at 35 and 37' back, but after a half an hour, were dropped to 50 back.
Speed was 2.5-2.8mph.
We added two Off Shore boards on each side, pulling Bandits at 30 to 40 back over 26-28' of water.
Colors that caught were the blue/chrome, Green Lantern, and Carrot Top. The SunSpot didn't catch this morning, which surprised me. It's usually a good producer. The bigger fish came on the crankbaits. I probably should have tried a crank on the dipsies, but we just kept the spoons on, because they were keeping the guys busy. :)
Poor Dave...his side of the boat was not getting as many hits as Chris's side, and he let Chris know he was not happy about that, with all the whining he did.
And, Chris let Dave know that he was not sorry about it. lol
I told them that they were the first ones to claim sides of the boat instead of just taking turns, no matter which side it came on. But, I didn't make them share...if they wanted to claim sides, then so be it.
I did make a turn, and headed back the way we came, so that Dave's side was now on the side that was catching, but that didn't do the trick, and Chris's side was once again the busy side. Oh well...that's just the way it is sometimes.
They had a great time, and did a fine job setting lines, reeling in fish, and netting fish. We all worked as a team, and got the job done by 7:20. Chris said, laughing, "Almost as fast as yesterday, but we finished 5 minutes earlier yesterday". I said, "Well, if you hadn't been dragging that last fish for the past 5 minutes, we would have tied yesterday's clock.". Ha! He agreed.
We finished up and headed in. It was fun going in, with a cooler full of fish, when 25 boats were just heading out of the channel...woot! woot!
The fish were taken over to Port Clinton Fish Co., and I dropped them back off at the White Caps Motel, where we said our goodbyes. I have a feeling those two will be back again in the future, and that makes me happy! :)
Tomorrow, I'm going to go out of Mazurik's and see what we can find over this way. The forecast is calling for SW winds 5-15mph.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dave and Chris 6/10/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/10/22Picked my crew up my Wisco crew at the White Caps Motel at 4:30 and headed to Huron to launch, this morning. We were in the water by 5am, and taking that slow no-wake out of the river at 5mph. We were up on plane and headed east by 5:20. And, by 5:45 we were fishing.
The air temp was 57 degrees, the water temp was 65.7 degrees (down from Monday's 66.9 degrees, when I was over there last), and the wind was less than 5mph out of the south. The sky was clear, and the sun was still below the horizon.
Because we only needed 18 fish in the cooler, I opted to only run the 4 dipsey rods again. And, to be honest...as fast as they were biting this morning, we could have cut it down to just two rods, and kept them busy, but the two rods on each side kept them busier, so I left them alone. The first rod in, had a fish on it within seconds, but I didn't tell them right away. I let them finish setting up the other three rods and then told them, "there's a fish on that first one". "Already?", Dave asked, laughing. "Yeah, it got hit right away", I said.
We had our 3-person limit by 7:15, and kept on fishing for another 1/2 hour, playing catch and release, and then they decided it was a good time to go in and have breakfast.
They had a good time this morning, and handled the dipsies like pros. They do a lot of salmon fishing with dips, so it wasn't something new to them. That made my job this morning very easy, and that makes me happy! :)
Dipsies set on the zero setting at 25 and 27 back, and the two settings started at 35 and 37 back, but were later moved to 50 back. Spoon color did not matter. Speed was 2.5-2.8mph.
I have the same crew tomorrow. I'll see what the wind will be doing in the morning and decide if we will be going out of Huron again, or someplace else.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dave and Chris 6/10/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/10/22Picked my crew up my Wisco crew at the White Caps Motel at 4:30 and headed to Huron to launch, this morning. We were in the water by 5am, and taking that slow no-wake out of the river at 5mph. We were up on plane and headed east by 5:20. And, by 5:45 we were fishing.
The air temp was 57 degrees, the water temp was 65.7 degrees (down from Monday's 66.9 degrees, when I was over there last), and the wind was less than 5mph out of the south. The sky was clear, and the sun was still below the horizon.
Because we only needed 18 fish in the cooler, I opted to only run the 4 dipsey rods again. And, to be honest...as fast as they were biting this morning, we could have cut it down to just two rods, and kept them busy, but the two rods on each side kept them busier, so I left them alone. The first rod in, had a fish on it within seconds, but I didn't tell them right away. I let them finish setting up the other three rods and then told them, "there's a fish on that first one". "Already?", Dave asked, laughing. "Yeah, it got hit right away", I said.
We had our 3-person limit by 7:15, and kept on fishing for another 1/2 hour, playing catch and release, and then they decided it was a good time to go in and have breakfast.
They had a good time this morning, and handled the dipsies like pros. They do a lot of salmon fishing with dips, so it wasn't something new to them. That made my job this morning very easy, and that makes me happy! :)
Dipsies set on the zero setting at 25 and 27 back, and the two settings started at 35 and 37 back, but were later moved to 50 back. Spoon color did not matter. Speed was 2.5-2.8mph.
I have the same crew tomorrow. I'll see what the wind will be doing in the morning and decide if we will be going out of Huron again, or someplace else.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Mike, Trayton, and Tianna 6/6/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/06/22
Knowing, that the morning winds would be lighter than later in the morning, with storms forecast for the afternoon, I wanted to be off the water early this morning. There's been a hot bite along the east shore from Huron to Lorain, so I decided it would be a good idea to launch out of Huron, this morning. It was cheaper to trailer the boat there with my truck, than run across the water with a 400 Verado.
Mike Shepperson has fished with me for years now, and changes who he brings with him, each time. This morning, he brought his grandson, Trayton, and his granddaughter, Tianna, along. Tianna wasn't too happy about the early morning hour that they had to meet me, but she proved to be a trooper, and a good luck charm. Every fish, she brought in this morning, were the better ones in the cooler.
Trayton, is a fantastic older brother, and was so helpful to her. I said to him, "You're doing such a good job, that I'm going to have to promote you to "First Mate"". He said, "Thank you, but I don't know what that is". I explained it to him....;)
We left the mouth of the Huron river at 5:30am, and headed east. I set the boat, down, off plane, over 28 feet of water, and found there were fish showing up on the Solix, so we set up.
Down came the Ulterra and baby Merc. With the press of a few buttons, they were both set to do their necessary functions, and set on a course along that 28' contour, at a speed of 2.5mph.
Two dipsies ran off each back corner. The "inside rods" (7' rods) ran on the zero settings, and the "outside rod", (longer..8'3" rods), were set on the two settings.
The zero settings were at 25 and 27' back, and the two settings were set at 35 and 37' back. However, sometimes we had to close a bail early, while we brought fish in, and that higher lead would catch too. Or, we got distracted, and the bail was left open too long, so it went deeper, and we would catch on those.
I think the fish are just super hungry right now. (I'm not marking any bait balls, like I have in the past, so that's a bit worrisome, because I don't want to start seeing skinny fish with big heads...because, that would mean they are starving)
Spoon colors were varied...it didn't matter. I had a silver hammered w/1 blue edge, orange/copper, blueberry muffin, and red-headed wonder bread. They were definitely not picky today.
"This feels too much like work", I said to Mike, as I reached for the net, for the 20th time, in a short period. He laughed, and I don't remember his reply, but it was positive. They all had a good time, and did a great job setting lines, and bringing in fish. Mike will be with me again next month, and that makes me happy. :)
My trip for tomorrow has been rescheduled to the fall, and I was scheduled off for Wednesday, for Jen's birthday day, so I won't be back out until Thursday, where I have another island pick up that morning. Too bad, I would have taken them back to Huron for that fun bite. But, I'm not running that far when there are fish around the islands. Gawd, I miss that gas sipping G2 really bad right now. lol
See you in a couple of days...
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Troy, Claudia, and Drew 6/3/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/03/22Just a typical morning, this morning. Left the house early, so I could go top off the gas tank in both the boat and the truck, and get ice for the cooler, before heading out to Marblehead to meet my crew and launch.
We met at 5:15 and were headed out by 5:30am.
I'm missing my Costas with the yellow lenses, that I use to drive in the early morning light, because they went overboard several days ago.
A client got his line caught around the frame arm, and flung them off my head while he was trying to reel in a fish....don't ask...I don't know the answer. Anyway, they were off my face, and in the water, faster than I could react. All I could do was say, "Ohhhhh Noooooooo!" And, mutter to myself, "Well, there goes 250.00". Luckily, there aren't a lot of bugs flying yet, otherwise driving without glasses would be painful.
I have a new pair arriving sometime on Monday, thankfully. Those yellow lenses really brighten things up when it's still kind of dark out, and the lenses block the wind on my eyeballs, when we're running.
I digress....forgive me....
We started out running Bandits behind 3 Off Shore boards on the starboard side, and 3 Flicker Minnows 11s on the port side, and one dipsey on the three setting off each corner. We fished shallow water near the lighthouse, and picked up 7, before moving out to deeper water near there.
We started the morning in 12 feet of water, but the better bite was out in deeper water, out in the South Passage....we were over 26 foot of water, when we found a good active bunch to troll through. I took the Flickers off and put three more Bandits on. We made a pass to the NE, then one to the SW, and then another to the NE, and picked up the other 17 needed for our 4-person limit. The size and fatness of the fish was better out there too.
Bandit colors were the same as the past several days...
Blue/Chrome
SunSpot
Green Lantern
Carrot Top (2)
Chrome Barbie
Leads that caught today were: 70, 60, 50 (on the starboard side)...35, 45, and 55 (on the port side).
Dipsies on the zero and two settings ran off each corner.
Zero settings started at 25 and 27...and, eventually, set to 30 and 35 back.
Two settings started at 35 and 37...and, were moved to 40 and 43 back.
Speed was 2.5mph
Spoon colors are all over the place, so I don't think it really matters. They are hungry and will chase anything right now.
Troy, and his friend, and his friend's son, (I think?) did a perch trip with me last year, and we had talked about the walleye in June, so he wanted to bring his wife and his son to do a walleye trip today. Knowing that he has his own boat, and does a lot of salmon fishing, I put them to work right away. That gave Claudia and I chit chat time, while I kept an eye on what they were doing, and instructing when I needed too. :)
Everyone was kept busy setting lines and reeling in fish. The guys even did most of the netting today, too. I figure, if they lose fish at the net, it's not a big deal. We'll catch another one...as long as they are having fun. That's all that matters. :)
It was a beautiful morning on the lake. Luckily, the 30mph gusty winds won't be here until very late tonight. The winds this morning were only 5-10mph out of the west. The sky was bluebird blue, and void of clouds. The Sun was warm on the skin and took the chill out of the air. It was not hot out there, though...not like it is on land. The water temp is still only 69 degrees out there. Very comfortable.
I'm signing off for the weekend....
I didn't schedule any trips for this weekend, because it's my birthday, and I wanted to relax with friends this weekend. Jen and Matt are putting a prime rib on the Traeger tomorrow...and, my old buddy Frank, who I fished with on those fly in's in the past, is coming over too. Maybe we'll get a round of golf in too. :)
Back at it on Monday....have a great weekend, everyone!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Day 2 Fishing with Kevin and John 6/2/2022
by Capt Juls on 06/02/22The wind forecast for this morning was NNE 5-15mph. My plan was to take my crew up to the west side of the islands, so when it started blowing, we would be on the protected side, and the waves would be manageable.
Kevin and John met me at Catawba at 5am, but we waited until 5:15 to launch, because it was cloudy, and it wasn't getting light enough, fast enough. By the time we launched, and Kevin parked the truck, it was 5:30, and now light enough to see.
The wind hadn't really started blowing yet, so the ride north was pretty easy and uneventful. I think the wind was only blowing 5mph, at the time. We made it up to the islands and set up near Middle Bass. The Ulterra steered us towards Rattle Snake Island's rattles, where we made a left turn and headed back towards Catawba on the outside of Green Island. It was just one long troll back to the launch.
We started picking away at them as soon as we set up. It's the same program ...spoons behind dipsies, and Bandits behind the Off Shore boards.
Two dipsies on each back corner:
The zero settings started at 25 and 27' back, in 28-34' of water, and adjusted to 19 back, when we got to 26 feet of water.
The two settings were set at 35 and 37 to start, and dropped to 40 later in the morning.
The Bandits were the same colors I've been using.
Carrot Top (40 back)....caught 3
Blue Chrome (60 back)...caught 2
Green Lantern (60 back)...caught 2
SunSpot (35 back)...caught 2
Speed was not steady at 2.5mph, but rather, bounced around from 2.1 to 2.8, in the waves.
Water temp was 69.7 degrees
We caught our 3-person limit, but we had to go through a lot of throw backs, sheephead, catfish, and one white bass to get them.
My crew stayed busy, and when the wind picked up, the lake got a little "sporty", and my guys got their sea legs tested. They were a little rusty, and had a hard time standing up. When Kevin lost his sense of humor, I thought maybe he wasn't feeling well.
When I saw him stand up after tossing a fish in the cooler, but not turn around to come back...I knew then, that he was feeling pretty poorly. I asked, "Are you feeling okay?" "I'll be okay", he replied. And, we kept on fishing. I think, by then, we only needed three more fish, but I wasn't sure how long it would take, since it wasn't a fast and furious bite, and we had to go through so many little fish to get the nice eaters.
He finally called, "Uncle", when we had 17 in the cooler. But, while clearing lines, we got our last fish. Yay! He was happy to be going in. I told him, "It happens to everyone, from time to time. I can stand in my boat all day long, and have no issues at all, but put me on a bigger boat, and I have to take Dramamine... the Ferry is a killer to me". Northeast rollers are notorious for making people seasick.
We headed in. There was another boat at the dock when we got there, and they said they had come in early, because it was too rough, and one of their crew was seasick too. It happens a lot to people who are not used to fishing the Great Lakes. It's gotten me a few times, so I had empathy for Kevin, (and, the guy in the other boat), because there's no worse feeling than turning green.
John and Kevin, both, did a great job, these past two days, and they said they had a good time, and learned a lot... and, that makes me happy. :)
Tomorrow, I have a repeat customer, who has perch fished with me in the past. Tomorrow, he's bringing his wife and his son for a little walleye fishing. We will be going out of Mazurik's in the morning...wind permitting. The TV weatherman said NNW 10-20 (gusts to 30), for Friday, but I'm not seeing anything like that on iWindSurf or on the Windfinder apps. So, I told him we would meet at Mazurik's at 5:15 and see what's happening with the wind in the morning.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
P.S.... sorry, I didn't get any fish pics today...:(
Fishing with Kevin and John 6/1/2021
by Capt Juls on 06/01/22I showed up at Mazurik's, to a quiet and empty parking lot at 4:30am, except for the birds...they were already up, and signing. It sounded so inviting.
The weather was warm and muggy, and the wind was light out of the south, at 5mph.
The air temp was in the high 70s.
The sky was mostly clear, but there were clouds, thick on the horizon, so when the sun started to rise, it looked like mountains in the distance, with really great lighting behind it. It was a beautiful morning to be on the lake....just beautiful. :)
Kevin and John showed up early, so we hit the water at 5am and headed east of Marblehead and Kelly's. I say it that way, because there is a lot of water "East of Kelly's", and this narrows it down a little, if you can figure it out. lol I wasn't all the way to Kelly's, so split the difference, from the mainland to the island...and head east. We didn't have to go very far today.
I don't mind giving the info today, because with tomorrow's NE winds, I won't be going there, tomorrow. I'll go someplace more protected.
The same program is working:
Bandits behind Off Shore boards at 35, 40, 50, and 60 back and spoons behind dipsies, set on the zero and two settings.
Bandit colors that caught today were:
Carrot Top
SunSpot
Green Lantern
Blue Chrome
Dipsey Settings:
Zero settings were at 25 and 27 to start and then when the sun got higher in the sky, and we had trolled to deeper waters, we dropped them down to 35 and 41.
The two settings started at 35 and 37, and one was moved to 40.
Speed was 2.5mph
I have Kevin and John again tomorrow. But, now that they are "trained" from today's trip, tomorrow should be a pretty easy trip for me. I just have to find them some fish....they know how to set it all up to catch them now. I don't even have to net them. Tomorrow is going to be a fun morning...fish be willing! Fingers crossed...:)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
