Fishing with the Goodrich crew...6/15/18

After a good breakfast at Big Bopper's, we hit Mazurik's at 5:30. I was surprised to see that they hadn't done the parking lot, like they claimed they were going to, over the past three days.  However, I do know, that they have started doing Catawba's parking lot as of yesterday.  That bothersome pothole...you know the one...is finally gone!

Anyway, the morning was clear, warm, and the winds were light out of the northeast. Waves were maybe 6 inches at best, so it was much nicer than I expected it to be according to the wind forecast I looked at earlier in the morning.

I fished with Mr. Goodrich and David this same weekend last year too.  And, last year, we fished in Canadian waters, so this year they were prepared to have their Ontario licenses on them, so we could go back if the conditions allowed.

As I said yesterday, I was tired of fishing through 30 feet of mayflies, and catching smaller fish, so I was excited to head north to find cleaner water and bigger fish for a change.

I was given some info last night, but that info didn't pan out, so we went right back to where I had them the year before, and wouldn't you know it....the fish were there! Yay! 

I marked some fish on the Helix as we were driving, and I drove on about another mile or so, turned around, and set the Ulterra on a path back to that waypoint.

We set lines, with crawler harnesses behind the Off Shore boards, with 1oz and 2oz inline weights.  Speed was 1.3-1.4mph

I started with the 1oz set at 25/30/40 and the 2oz inlines set at 20 and 25...oh, and one bottom bouncer sporting a 4oz weight.  Eventually, we dialed them in and had the baits with the 1oz inlines set at 39 and 41 and the 2oz inlines set at 30 and 40 back.  The bottom bouncer did well, and took 4 or 5 fish too.

We managed a nice box of really fat "eaters", that was much nicer than what I have been catching the past few days on this side.  The average was 18-23", whereas the average on this side was 15 to 17 inches. So, needless to say, my guys were happy, happy, happy. And, I was happy, because there were only a few boats up there with us.  We didn't have any legit "throwbacks", but we did throw one small keeper back, because we knew we had a lot of time and there were nicer fish down below.

When we finished the wind was picking up a little bit, so the timing was perfect. We managed to get back to the other side and loaded out before it got rougher.

  

The crew wants to book the same day next year, and I told them to bring this nice weather back with them again. It was a perfect morning in my opinion...a friendly crew....the weather was not too cold and not too hot...the lake was not too flat and not too rough...NO BUGS...the fish bit and also made it into the boat....can't ask for more than that now, can you? Woot! Woot!

Tomorrow's plan is still undecided until I talk to my crew, so at this time...I have no clue where I'm going yet.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls