Fishing with Levi, Garrett, Benji, and Max 8/26/18
by Capt Juls on 08/27/18After gassing up the boat and stopping to get bait at Rickard's, I popped into Bopper's on my way to Mazurik's, where my crew was having breakfast, to let them know I was heading to the ramp to wipe down the boat since the roads were wet and the boat was dirty from the spray. I told them to take their time since we weren't scheduled to launch until 8am, and it was only a little after 7.
They showed up at 7:30, so we got a little earlier start. The plan was to go perch fishing, because there were two young boys with them. Last year, I had perch fished with all of them, but on two separate trips. Garrett is Levi's little boy, and the youngest. Max is Benji's boy and is 14 (so, I should probably call him a young man instead of a boy!)
We headed towards the monument first, but I wasn't marking much there, and saw boats picking up and leaving that area, so I didn't bother. So, we headed up to the line, east of Lucy's, and found some good marks there. Down went the Ulterra and I hit the Spot Lock to anchor us. It was a slow pick, but the perch were nice sized.
After about two hours we moved towards North Bass, and found some good marks, but those turned out to be mostly sheepshead. Next, we moved down to between Kelly's and Gull Island Shoal, and picked up more perch, but again...it was slow going. The chatter on 79 was the same for the most part...people were struggling to catch the perch. But, of course, that's all you would hear since no one that is on the active biters was going to tell anyone! ;)
At this point, we only had 32 of our 150 allowable catch I said, "You guys want to go catch some walleye? We need to get some meat in that box for your fish fry." They said, "Yeah, that sounds good". Garrett and Max had never done any walleye fishing on Lake Erie before, so it was going to be a new experience for them.
We headed over to Cedar Point, where I was last Friday. Down went the Ulterra again, but this time it was just to steer the boat....the baby ETEC was going to do the pushing. I set the speed for 2.3-2.5mph. The program was the same:
Dipsies on the 3 setting at 75 and 80 and the 1 setting at 62 and 65.
The marks weren't in that area like they were the last time I was there, so we just turned the boat and trolled to deeper water. There they were...the Helix showed good marks from 20 feet down to 40 feet. It wasn't long and we had some pretty steady action going.
With the time we had left, we managed to put 12 eaters in the box and throw back 5 that were just at 15 or under, and a handful of big white bass. So, the boys had a good time.
Garrett impressed me the most, because I would never have expected such a young boy to stay focused and enjoy fishing so much. He never whined about anything, even when it got really hot out after the wind died down. He was given the responsibility of counting the fish on the clicker counter as the fish went into the cooler, and probably enjoyed that as much as reeling in the fish! Ha! I love that kid!!
Max was "Jonny on the spot" when it came to seeing a fish hit on the dipsies and did a great job handling the heavier equipment. :)
All in all, it was a very fun trip, even though the perch bite kind of sucked for us.
They went home with a cooler full of fish for their two family get together fish fry, and said they would be back next year to do it again. And, that makes me happy! I'm looking forward to watching little Garrett grow up. I have no doubt he's going to be as good a fisherman as his bass tournament angling Daddy! :)
I'm off until Friday, due to a three day cancelation (which worked, because of some yucky wind/weather coming in Tuesday thru Thursday) and will be back at it on Friday with two of my regulars...Tim and Matt McGlothlin.
So, until then.....
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
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