Fishing with Tim, Matt, and Wyatt 3/27/19
by Capt Juls on 03/28/19"Today is going to be a great day", I said as I walked down the hallway to the kitchen to make some coffee. The forecast was calling for mid to high 50's by early afternoon, which is always something to look forward to this time of year.
It was a chilly high of 29 degrees when I took my coffee outside on the back deck to check the wind conditions. I was pleasantly surprised to find a peaceful morning of calm wind.
Tim and Matt McGlothlin have fished with me several times a year, for many years now, so they too are more like family than just customers. :)
Matt brought his son, Wyatt, along on this trip. Wyatt is 8yrs old now, and his first trip with me was when he was just 4 years old. They agreed to meet me at my house this morning, since they were just down the road at the White Caps Motel. We hit Ala-Carte for a delicious breakfast and then headed to Catawba to launch.
On the way into Catawba there were boats leaving, and I said, "Ruh Oh...Looks like there might be a line at the launch". I was right. When we pulled in, I could see a back up of boats waiting to launch, so I took a short cut through the Cliffs to the other side of the island and headed to Mazurik's instead.
It was a good decision, because there were only two boats ahead of me...one was Lonney Goman...a guide on Green Bay, and his side kick Hunter Lambert, of MI.
They came up to say, "Hi" since we are Facebook friends and have never met. That made me happy. :)
The launch was a little icy this morning, but we made it in with just a little slipping. I knew it would be fine once the air warmed up.
We headed out of the launch and headed northeast, to the east side of Kelly's.
It's always nerve racking to do something different, and out of the ordinary, from what everyone else is doing, but I wanted to try it.
It was really nice not having another boat in sight for most of the morning. One or two other boats eventually showed up out there, so I thought to myself..."Those guys are as crazy...wait...they think the same way I do...Hmmm....I think I like those guys". ;)
The Humminbird lit up with really good marks in 43 feet of water. The water temp was 37.5 degrees. I kept moving until the marks ended and turned the Ranger around and deployed the Ulterra and set a course from NE to SW at 1.1-1.3mph. The fish were all on the bottom 1/4 of the water column, so we started out with Bandits and P-10s all with 2oz snapweights. The P-10's were set 30/30, 30/50, and 50/30. The Bandits were set at... 85 back, unassisted...30/30, 30/40, and 30-50.
The Lemon Lime Crush (stock color) P-10 took the most fish today with the 50/30 2oz snapweight program. The Bandit set at 30/40 took one. The first fish of the day was a little eater that came pretty fast after setting up. But, then it was dead for about 1/2 hour when a big fish pulled a board back.
Wyatt reeled that one in with the help of his Dad, and said he wanted to let it go after we took a picture, so that's what we did. She swam off to live and survive another day. Maybe someday she'll get to be a "Teener"...those fish, that we all want so badly.
They can only get to be a "Teener" if they never get caught, or they get caught by someone who let's them go, to get bigger. ;)
We marked a lot of fish, but couldn't get anything really dialed in and ended with only 6 fish in that spot. We picked everything up and moved to the north side of Kelly's. I marked some fish out near the east side of Gull Island Shoal, but when we finally got set up on the westwardly track...the marks disappeared....(deep sigh). Dang it! Okay...let's go a little bit and see if the marks return here. Ugh..they didn't. So, this time, I said, "Let's pick up one more time, and move until we find some fish...this isn't going to cut it, and we're burning daylight".
I ended up marking some fish on the NW corner of Kelly's, but not like what was marked there before the last blow. The water temp there was 38.0.
We trolled around there for about 45 minutes, marking a fish here and there, but we didn't catch anything. One more time, I said..."Let's move guys...let's pick'um up and move again".
I had a feeling the lighthouse might have some fish hanging out there, since I had heard some fish were already spawned out. I figured they were the "east girls" and would be heading back home earlier than the rest. Those fish take the south passage home, and have to pass right by the lighthouse to get there. The water was 39.3 degrees there, but it was muddy. I could just make out the cavitation plate, but we tried it anyway. The marks on the Humminbird were outrageous. So big!! I used some Pro-Cure goop on the tail ends of the cranks to aid in detection, but to no avail. No takers there either. Then, we were out of time.
They said they had a good time, on a great day, and relaxed. I could actually see them unwinding and shedding a winter's worth of stress on their faces. That's why I love fishing....it's good for a person's health, and renews the soul in ways nothing else can. :)
They were supposed to fish with me tomorrow, but something work-wise came up for Tim, unexpectedly, while we were all at dinner, so we rescheduled. I'll see them again on Memorial Day weekend for a couple of days.
My Saturday and Sunday are most likely going to be rescheduled, due to weather, so I won't be out again until Monday.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
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