Juls WFA Blog
Beautiful Day on the Lake Today...
by Capt Juls on 07/30/13Yesterday, while I was painting my bedroom a new color, I received a phone call from a fellow charter Captain and friend, Larry Lambert, who asked if I had a charter the next day. I told him, no, that I had three days off and was painting my bedroom. He says, "Well if you want to fish, I have two people looking to go out tomorrow". I said, "The painting can wait!" Ha!
I called Larry Crum at the number Larry gave me, and talked with him. He and his son wanted to go for some walleye. I asked them if they would be interested in getting a Canadian lic since the fishing has been so good up there the past few weeks, and he said they would.
Fast forward...After forgetting my crawlers at home, I stopped at the bait shop to pick up some more and to get some ice for the built in cooler in the Ranger. I left the bait shop and drove over to Mazurik's to wait on Larry Sr and Larry Jr.
While I was getting the boat ready, I realized I had left the bait shop without grabbing the ice out of the bin....sigh, I can see how this day is going to go already. lol
I secure the boat to the trailer again and head back to the bait shop. I run in and tell them I forgot the ice, and, of course they laughed at me. :)
I grab the ice and head back to the ramp to ready the boat again. I jump up in the boat and set my course for the numbers Larry Lambert gave me, as it's been a couple weeks since I was out. My last two charters were cancelled due to wind. My clients showed up and the first thing I asked them was, "Did you get your Canadian licenses?" The answer was, "No". Uffda..."Okay", I said. "Well, there's fish on the US side too, we'll just have to find them.
About 30 seconds later my phone rings, and it's Joe Whitten. He says, "I saw on Facebook that you were headed to Canada this morning. I just wanted to give you a heads up on a hot bite we had there yesterday." He went on to tell me how fantastic it was and the program they used to catch their fish. I told him, "I wish I was going up there, but it looks like I'm headed to the weather buoy. My guys didn't buy their Canadian licenses. He wished me good luck and I got back to greeting my customers.
We launched and got under way. It was a 19 mile run to the weather buoy. But, on a day like today, it was a pleasurable drive out. Waves were 1' or less and the sunrise was spectacular. Now, that's the way to start a day!
We set in a little SW of the weather buoy and pulled double willow leaf crawler harnesses behind #3 Tadpoles 55-75 back at 1.5-1.7 mph. We managed to put 5 nice eaters in the boat before the bite just seemed to shut off again. The Humminbird was showing those fish very deep and some were belly to the bottom for 6 hours! Very few fish were moving up in the water column today. Maybe it was a good afternoon bite, but we struggled for the most part.
My clients were very happy though, and were just glad to be out on the water. This is the best they had done in their last three or four trips out with other charters, so I didn't feel so bad only getting them 5 fish. They did get to play with some white bass and some big sheephead, so it wasn't too boring of a troll.
The weather was cool in the morning, but by noon it was almost 80 degrees. It was one of those days where there are clouds all around the perimeter of the lake, but never one that would come and block the sun from time to time. What's up with that? lol
The wind had died down to nothing and those little bothersome gnats showed up. Crawling all over us and going up my nose. That freakn' tickles!
Anyhoo....that's all there is to tell about today. It was a great time with two great guys and they are looking forward to going out again sometime soon. I hope it's a perch trip...have I told you I LOVE perch fishing? ;)
Capt Juls
Cancelled Trip This Morning...sigh
by Capt Juls on 07/28/13Had the boat ready to go and stopped by my customer's hotel this morning. We had planned to fish between Kelly's and the mainland for perch, but after a quick ride around the point it was an easy call. The winds are supposed to pick up even more this afternoon, so I made the call to cancel. They were okay with that call, and plan to come back and try again another time. They had fun on the islands all day yesterday, so it wasn't a wasted trip. :)
Waiting to see what the winds do for the morning. Another trip may or may not be cancelled.
Capt Juls
Sorry, Nothing to Report this Week...
by Capt Juls on 07/23/13No charters over the weekend, and yesterday's charter was rescheduled to next Monday, due to the client's request.
I have charters this coming weekend, and Monday, so I'll have something to report then.
Capt Juls
Fly In Perch Trip...:)
by Capt Juls on 07/19/13No, it's not a Canadian wilderness adventure, but I did have clients fly in on their own plane to go perch fishing with me yesterday.
Brad Jackson, and his two sons, Sam and Alex, flew in from Indiana yesterday morning. It was an hour flight, so when he texted me to tell me they were taking off, I went to Hi Way Bait to get my ice and minnies for the trip and headed to the Port Clinton airport to await their arrival.
When they arrived they loaded up in my truck and we headed to Mazurik's ready to go....or, so I thought. As I was getting the boat ready for launch I asked, "does everyone have their fishing license?" And, the answer was, "No, I didn't know we needed one here. In Florida where we fish we don't need one." (I guess when you fish in the ocean you don't need a fishing license?)
So, I secured the boat back down and we drove back to Hi Way Bait to get their licenses.
After making them all legal like, we arrived back at Mazurik's at 9:30. We arrived at my perch spot at 9:45 (I love this lake when it's not rough...lol) And, we proceeded to start catching perch.
The bite wasn't as strong as it had been for the last couple of weeks/ (I will have to start looking for another good perch bite someplace else). I like a quicker bite than we had. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better. Had I not had to work last night, we could have spent more time looking for a better bite, and made it longer than a 4 hour trip. But, Brad understood that a last minute booking on a night I work would limit us.
FYI: Reports of big perch 1 mile out of the Vermilion River, in 36-40' of water, are coming in...with perch going 2 to a pound. Wowza, those are big perch!
We only had 4 hours to fish, because I had to work last night, so we finished the day 15 perch short of a 90 perch limit.
It was really hot yesterday, and the wind had died down to nothing by 1PM, so the two boys jumped in the lake to cool off before we headed back to the ramp.
After dropping the fish off at Bomba's to be cleaned, we went over to Big Boppers for a bite to eat, while we waited for the fish to get finished. I then drove them back to the cleaners to get their fish and loaded their cooler with ice for their trip back to Indiana. When I dropped them back off at the airport we said our good byes and I wished them a safe flight home.
I had just enough time to get home and cover the boat back up, jump in the shower, and let the dogs out. The dogs were a little confused when I said, "I have to go to work now; you have to stay here", since I was only home a short time. I hate when they look at me with sad faces....sigh But, if they want to keep eating, I must work. :)
Anyhoooo...it was a super fun day with the Jackson family and I look forward to fishing with them again, soon.
Capt Juls
Perch Jerk'n with Jeff Buckley and his Guest ChucK..:)
by Capt Juls on 07/15/13After getting home from work at about 11:45 PM, I was happy to know that I didn't have to be up at 4:30 AM for this trip. Luckily, this client is a CIC member (where I work), so he knew how late I had to work and agreed to a later start time for the Sunday trip.
We headed to the spot where I stopped on the way back from Canada the day before, and there was only one other boat out there when I arrived to that spot. Woot! Woot!
I lowered the Terrova into the water and set the "spot lock" on the spot, and it not only held us on the spot, but it impressed my passengers with it's super cool technology. I absolutely love the fact that this 50 year old body does not have to lift a heavy anchor anymore! Talk about a back saver...:)
We had plenty of shiners and proceeded to catch our 90 perch in 3 1/2 hours. They wanted a 4 hour trip, so it worked out perfectly. I like when that happens.
I could perch fish every day. I love it that much.
I'll be out again on Thursday with Brad Jackson and his two sons (Indiana peeps) for a 4 hour perch trip. I'm looking forward to it.
Capt. Juls
I'm behind....again! Charter Report for Saturday July 13th, 2013
by Capt Juls on 07/15/13I apologize for my late blogging. Between charters, working my regular job, doing the household chores, and yard work... not to mention entertaining the dogs from time to time, I have very little time to spare, so my blogging gets put on the back burner until I can get to it. Priorities....sigh.
Anyhooo... Saturday was a bit windy with a breezy NE wind about 10-18 out of the NE. Waves were 2-4 feet on average, and the sun was shining.
This day, I was going to be fishing with Doug Burkhead, his son Chris, and his friend Shawn Kintigh. All three belong to the Illiana Walleye Club that I had donated a 1/2 day trip to last year. Doug won the drawing and then bought another 1/2 day charter to make it a full trip.
We met at Mazurik's at 7am and launched. They had picked up their one day Canadian licenses, so our plan was to head up to the East side of Pelee where the walleye were still biting the previous two days. However, it took us an hour to get up to Middle island, and we still had another 5-7 miles to go to get to my destination.
I stopped the boat and told my crew what was happening...gave them the time it already took, how long it would still take to get there, and took a look at the sonar. We were marking fish that looked like Perch on the bottom. And, since they wanted to do both Walleye and perch we decided to stop there and try to catch some yellow ones.
We listened to the marine radio while we were perch jerk'n, and "Pooh Bear" and other Captains I know that went up to the area I wanted to go were struggling. The walleye bite was slow, so we were happy in our decision to stop and fish for perch.
We spent most of the trip at that first spot sorting through a lot of white perch and white bass, with the occasional sheephead to get our perch. The grade was nice up there too.
We left that spot with about an hour and a 1/2 left to go, because I wanted to check my US perch spot for a trip I had scheduled the next day, because they wouldn't have Canadian licenses. It turned out to be a good decision, because the perch were still there, and there were fewer junk fish. We had run out of minnows by this time, so we put pieces of crawlers on the hooks and they liked them. :)
We finished out their limit and headed in. It was a fun ride in "surfing the waves", and I thoroughly enjoyed the time in the boat with these three guys. I hope to fish with one or all of them again sometime.
I met them at the fish cleaners and dropped off their fish. I then headed home to get ready for work....ugh. The dogs were not happy about that last part, but if they want to keep eating, then I must keep working...sigh.
Capt Juls
Perch'n with the Ruth Family 7/8/13
by Capt Juls on 07/08/13We got lucky this morning and found ourselves between rain/storms when we launched at Mazurik's at 8am. An 8 hour trip was scheduled with the Ruth family. Kids, Lilly and Zander, were excited to go fishing, so we loaded up and hit the water.
It was only a 10 mile run, or so, to the area between Kelly's Island and Gull Island Shoal, where we found some perch yesterday. We hit pay dirt again; the perch were still in the area.
After some quick instruction on how to fish for them, we started picking at them pretty quick.
Long story short, they caught 120 perch in three hours (without my line being in the water). I thought it was just Dad and the kids going today, so I had only loaded 4 rods in the boat. But, Mom was going too, so I gave her my rod to use. Then, one of the reels on one of the rods completely fell apart. In all my years, I have never seen this one. The bail just seemed to explode on the little girl, so Dad and I spent our time just taking fish off and baiting hooks.
So, if you think about it, we could have really whooped on them had we had 5 lines in the water instead of 3!
The kids said they had a lot of fun, and their smiles proved it, and that's all that matters to me. :)
We beat the rain this morning and I've still got some time before before it rains again...whew! I think I might be able to get the smooshed minnows scrubbed off the floor of the boat before I have to cover it. lol
Thanks for the fun day Ruth family! Enjoy your week vacation here.
A successful day indeed...woot! woot!
Capt Juls
Sunday July 7th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 07/07/13I took Jamie and Jeremy Balboa fishing with me today as a "thank you" for installing my new kitchen floor last weekend. One good deed done for another. :)
We headed towards Northwest Reef (the "Kidney") to see if the eater sized walleye were still hanging out up there. There were fish, but mostly bait thieves (white perch, white bass, and sheephead). We caught one walleye.
After we finished that first pass I asked, "Can we go Perch'n now?" I've been wanting to go perch'n for a while now, but everyone wants to go for walleye for some reason. lol
Perch'n is so much fun! And, when you get into them like we did today, it's a blast! We caught 90 perch in two hours with very few throw backs.
After dropping them off at the fish cleaners we headed back to the house to get the dogs out and cover my boat before the afternoon showers showed up. They went home and I went back to Bomba's to get the perch. 9 bags of perch in the freezer for the winter is a good start, I'd say. :)
Can you believe in the past 17 days, we have had some sort of precipitation for 15 of those days? Uffda! My yard is so wet I can't even cut my grass. Guess I'll just have to go fishing again. hehehe
Headed out tomorrow morning for a four hour trip with Phil Ruth and his two children ages 7 & 9. We're going Perch'n again. Yay!
Woot! Woot! Perch RULE! hehe
Capt Juls
Friday July 5th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 07/07/13After working late Thursday night at the club, I still managed to get my butt out of bed at 4:30am to get ready for today's trip. I was meeting another previous customer, Marc Miller, and his friend Dave, and Dave's son, Matt.
It was supposed to be a light wind out of the SE, but she was blowing pretty good. The marine forecast was for 2' or less, but she was humping out towards the weather buoy with 2-4's and 3-5's.
We stopped short by about 7 miles and marked some fish, so we put the lines in the water and started a troll with the double willow leaf crawler harnesses behind #2 Tadpoles and 2oz inline weights anywhere from 35-60 back.
We caught one walleye out there and decided to go try a few passes on the east side of kellys. Only one big catfish to show for that effort though.
However, on the bright side, Dave and Matt wanted to learn how to run Off Shore inline planer boards, so I put them to work after showing them how to do it, and they did great. So, it was a successful day in their minds, and had only good things to say about the day.
I'm looking forward to the perch trip Marc wants to set up, because I LOVE perch fishing!
Capt Juls
It's been a Long Holiday Week!
by Capt Juls on 07/07/13I had a trip with one of my previous customers, Jerry Cohen, on Wednesday July 3rd. He brought his parents with him for this trip.
The weather was really nice, but there were still NE rollers coming in, resulting from the blow we had for two days before.
We launched out of Mazurik's and headed east since I had received a report from a friend telling of a good bite with big fish on the north side of the Huron dumping grounds. We headed that way, but with the rollers, and having elderly folks on board, I took it slow. We were watching the H'Bird on the way out and it was showing good marks about 1/2 way to our destination, so we decided to put the lines in the water and see if we could get one to eat. They didn't. It was too muddy inside where we were. So, we turned the boat and trolled out to cleaner water to the north.
We were still marking fish, so I didn't want to leave fish to go find fish. We just had to try and make them bite. We couldn't. They had lockjaw that morning. The chatter on the radio confirmed it.
So, after three hours, Jerry's Mom needed to use the ladies' room and was getting uncomfortable in the hot sunshine, so it was decided that we would just call it a day and they would go do something else the rest of the day.
It was still an enjoyable time listening to them talk about family and jobs and what they planned to do for the rest of the holiday week.
Thanks Jerry! Hopefully, next time it will be more productive. :)
Capt Juls
June 29th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 06/30/13Met my regular fishing partner at Mazurik's at about 9am and we headed to Canadian waters to fish.
He is a die hard catch and release angler, so we were only fishing for fun and for pictures.
We landed 16 and lost 5 or 6 nice fish.
Again...same program. I know, I'm so boring....but, it's working great! Hard to change it out when it's working....sorry.
My next adventure is slated for this coming Tuesday (July 2nd). I'll keep you posted.
Capt Juls
June 28th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 06/30/13A friend of mine texted me Thursday afternoon asking if I had a charter on Friday morning. I told him that I didn't. He asked if I wanted one, and I said, "yes".
He sent me the fella's number and said his name was, "Nick". I called, but there was no answer. I left a message telling Nick that I was driving to work and that he had 15 minutes to call me, or else I would have to call when I got out of work that night...which wouldn't be until 10 ish or so. Long story short....he called me back right away and while I walked into work, I set up the charter for the morning.
The weather report had me a bit concerned, but it ended up being one of the those very lucky days where from the moment we set off from the dock the weather was perfect. The fishing was great, and the storms stayed away until my boat was back in the driveway in the afternoon and covered back up. I couldn't have staged it any better if I had written the script myself.
We met at Mazurik's at 6:50 and were on our way up to the west side of North Bass, on the line, by 7am. By 7:20 we were setting our lines out with a mini seminar on how to use the equipment and fishing.
Today we had Nick, his Dad (never remembered his name, because it was more fun to call him, "Daddy"! lol) and Nick's friend Chris. Chris is from Texas and had never caught a walleye before.
Same program again....sorry, boring, I know...lol But, hey, if it's not broke, don't fix it! ;)
By the end of the day they had their 18 fish, plus a few in the box for me. Unfortunately, they were all just small eaters and no big ones that Lake Erie is known for. However, they wanted good eating fish and that's what they got....perfect eaters. Those 16-24 inch fish. They were very happy to have gotten out with such a short notice, and had a great time.
They were a great group to fish with. They learned quickly and retained the information, so when we ran up to make another pass, I jumped up in the seat on the bow of the boat and said to them, "Okay boys, get us set up again. It's all you now. You're officially trollers, and I'm just going to steer the boat." They did an awesome job, and only needed me interjecting when I saw something about to happen that shouldn't, or they needed reminding of something that should be done. You know, typical girl job...nag, nag, nag! lol
I would call it a very successful morning. The afternoon had the skies open up with lightning, thunder, hail and flood type monsoon rains.
We couldn't have timed it any better. Just a perfect day.
Capt Juls
June 25th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 06/30/13The last report was with John and Billy up in Canada on Mill Point. Well, on Tuesday the 25th, I took their co worker (all salesmen) Greg and one of his clients, Mike, up to the same spot to fish.
The weather was a little bumpier than the day before, but as soon as I cleared Chickenolee Reef the waves got smaller due to the land mass of Pelee Island blocking the wind a little bit. So, by the time we set up on Mill Point it was as nice as the day before with 1 foot or less waves.
We proceeded to catch walleye at a steady pace and made three passes there. When we were down to only needing two more fish to fill their limit, we moved out to the east of Chickenolee where I felt they had a better chance of catching big fish.
The day before we had 57 pounds for 12 fish, but we only ended up with 44 pounds for their 12 fish. We never did get any giants, but they went home happy.
I texted their boss, Jerry Cohen, who had set up these two trips and he mentioned that everyone had a good time and that they would be happy to do it again. I can't ask for more than that. I feel pretty good about that. :)
The weather was sunny with a chance of showers and thunderstorms (of course...what's new?) a westerly breeze at 10-15mph and waves 1-3 feet.
Program is the same as it has been for the past month...double willow leaf harnesses pulled at 1.6mph with 2oz inline weights and #2 Tadpoles anywhere from 25-40 back over 24-29 foot of water. When I fished in deeper water (30-34') we let them out as far as 60 back and caught fish.
Capt Juls
Sorry for the Delay in Blogging!
by Capt Juls on 06/30/13Two of my laptops were out of commission thanks to the cat that lives in this house.
I got one of them back yesterday, so I am back up. It's too hard to do a blog from an iPhone, so I chose to wait until one of the two laptops was repaired.
Who knew cats would choose a keyboard to puke on when they have an entire house to do it in? Deep sigh....stupid cat.
Anyway, I apologize for leaving you hanging for information this past week.
Capt Juls
Monday June 24th Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 06/24/13Headed out early this morning to meet up with Jim McEwen and his wife Renee at Mazurik's boat access. They had fished with me back in April and Jim, being a taxidermist on the side, said he had done one of the fish they caught, and wanted me to have it. It is beautiful! It is now permanently in its new home right here next to my desk where I can look up and remember the fun day we had that day. Thanks Jim and Renee!
My two salesmen from Cleveland showed up right on time, and we headed out at 8am. I was informed that their boss took them to Put-In-Bay the night before and Billy wasn't feeling too well. John felt fine, he said.
Being that neither of them really fished before, or trolled for that matter, we stopped over on the SE corner of Kelly's Island for a quick seminar on using Off Shore Tackle in line Planer boards, line counter reels, and how to put a crawler on a harness correctly. We set 6 lines out and trolled for maybe a 1/2 hour when I said, "Let's get up to Canada now". When we pulled all the lines in all the crawlers had been stolen.....#%$^@ dang little white perch! :)
We called the Canadian Customs when we crossed and took care of business...got my number for the day, and proceeded to head to Mill Point. The nice thing about fishing on a weekday is there is no one out there with you, or to get in your way. We had the point all to ourselves for the next 4 hours.
Billy caught the first fish that was on and got it in the boat. Then, he announced that he wasn't feeling very good, so I gave him some of my seasickness spray that sky divers use, but it wasn't soon enough. He was pretty gray already. He didn't want to go in though. I said he should go lie down on the bow and that should help make him feel better. I said, "We'll wake you up in about an hour" (which is how long that pass usually takes).
John and I were having a ball catching their two man limit. John was a quick learner and eager to do things the way I liked them done, so I didn't have to watch him too closely. However, he had trouble getting the crawlers on the hooks "just so", so I did that job for him. Hey, you have to do what you have to do, right? lol
They were both really cool guys and real gentlemen. Their boss would have been very proud of them today. I know Billy will take some ribbing, but he had a good sense of humor about it all.
I know you're getting tired of hearing the same old same old, but when a program is working there is no reason to change it. Same thing today, and again tomorrow....
Double willow leaf harnesses made by Larry Lambert of Marblehead (sold at Hi-Way Bait and Tackle on 163 in Marblehead). 1.6-1.7mph with #2 Tadpoles and 2oz inline weights 25-33 on the shallow side of the boat and 30-45 on the deep side. We were fishing the 29-30 foot contour and the outside boards were over 32-34 foot of water.
Tomorrow I will take another one of Jerry's salesmen with one of his clients up there too, but I may move off the point a little more. It will depend on the weather conditions in the morning.
Today was beautiful. The winds were out of the SW at 5-10mph with sunny skies. There was just enough wind to keep the biting black flies off of us for most of the day. They found my boat at about 11:45, but we were already packing it in. They had their limit and I wanted to get Billy back on shore. I know that feeling and it's the worst thing in the world to try and survive. He said, "Well, I'm not going to argue"...when I suggested we head back. lol
Hitting the hay early tonight. 4:30 comes pretty fast once I close my eyes. :)
Thanks for checking out my blog. I'll be posting again tomorrow night.
Good luck fishing everyone!
Capt Juls
Sunday June 23rd Fishing Report
by Capt Juls on 06/24/13(Due to heat exhaustion, I am writing this the day after the fishing trip)
Tracy and Robin Patterson gave me a call on Friday night to set up a fishing trip for yesterday (Sunday). I was looking forward to this trip, since I have been friends with Tracy for right around 14 years and his new bride for 1 year. They fished with me last year on a foggy, east wind, dreary day where we only caught a couple fish.
Yesterday, however, was a different story. The weather was very warm, No, actually hot, with very little wind to speak of, and the sun was shining.
We started out on the SE corner of Kelly's in about 30-32 foot of water and proceeded to start catching fish right away. Some were walleye and some were junk fish, but there was action. We designated Robin as the person to do most of the reeling, while Tracy and I did all the work, so she could have some fun. She's doesn't have much experience when it comes to fishing, so we wanted her to get some time in behind the reel...:)
We made one pass there and caught two and lost 4. We decided not to make another pass through there as the weekend perch flotilla was out in force over there and would make navigating a trolling pass a pain in the butt.
We moved up to the "old C Can" area about 6 miles east of Middle Island up on the Canadian line and set up another pass. Two fish caught out there, but I wasn't seeing the marks on the Humminbird like I wanted, so when I asked if they wanted to go back down to the first area or find another area, I got the usual answer of, "You're the Captain, it's your boat, whatever you want to do". Okay, fine. Let's go.
I took them over to the area on the west side of North Bass Island and north of West Reef, and proceeded to set up a trolling pass. We were seeing nice marks on the 1198 this time and they turned out to be some nice eater sized walleye in the 16-24 inch class. Yummy! :)
We finished out their limit and started to get into mine when we ran out of time. I really need to put a doggy door in once my dog yard fence is up, so they can get out to go potty on their own. We would have stayed out a little longer to fill my ticket if it weren't for the dogs needing out and the black flies that were starting to devour our legs. They loved Tracy's legs and actually drew blood on him several times! Ouch!
Same program as the past few weeks....double willow leaf harnesses pulled at 1.6-1.7, but this time the hot color was the black and gold combo. The pinks did well also, but they really liked the natural colors yesterday a little more.
Headed back out again today and tomorrow. I think we're heading to Canada with this bunch though...they're looking for a little bigger fish to brag about. :)
Capt Juls
June 18th Charter with Denny and Angelo
by Capt Juls on 06/18/13Woke up at 4:30 and took care of the dogs before hitting the shower and getting ready for another day of fishing.
After a quick check of the weather on the computer, I went outside to remove the cover on the Ranger, and put the crawlers in the cooler. Headed to the hotel where my guys were staying and picked them up a 1/2 hour early. Wind report was for building winds by mid morning, and 15-20 out of the North/ Northeast. Unfortunately, it was every bit of that and the lake was pretty rough.
We left Mazurik's at 7am and headed toward Middle Island, but stopped short when I had second thoughts of being a small boat on a rough Lake Erie on a Tuesday when very few boats were around. Instead we set up a troll on American Eagle Shoal, where several other boats had the same idea. We only caught a sheephead on that spot, so I decided we would give the old college try and headed to the East side of Kelly's.
Yesterday morning, in that spot, we only caught giant catfish. Today we managed to get 5 walleye to bite, with one of them being another "Fish Ohio" for these two. We also caught a nice chunky smallmouth bass on a Reef Runner, but didn't catch any catfish today. Again, not much to tell as far as presentation. Same double willow leaf harnesses I've been running for weeks at 1.6 mph. The RR's caught the smallie and one of the walleye and were trolled at the same speed as the harnesses. 45-55 back was the count on the RR's.
When the trip was over I took the guys over to the fish cleaners to get their fish cleaned before taking them back to their hotel.
We said our goodbyes and we thanked each other for a fun two days. I would call it a success. :)
This coming Saturday and Sunday is going to be beautiful. Both charters have rescheduled for July, due to personal or work obligations, so this weekend is open for anyone that wants to book a charter. I'm available now.
Capt Juls
June 17th Trip with Denny and Angelo...
by Capt Juls on 06/17/13Well, I had to reschedule two trips this past week, due to weather, and the Youth Tournament I was supposed to fish was cancelled, due to a small craft advisory this past Thursday. So, after a weekend of attending the Cabelas National Walleye Tour that was in town this past weekend, I was too busy to keep up with my blog. My apologies to anyone who is actually reading/following my random thoughts. :)
Anyhooo....
Today was an exceptional day on the water. The weather was absolutely beautiful.
I picked my crew of two up at their hotel at 6:45 and we launched out of Mazurik's at 7am.
We headed straight to the SW corner of Kelly's and made one pass in the 28-30' edge and caught 6 huge catfish. I said, "Enough of this! I don't even like handling the little cats, let alone the big ones with bigger stingers!" So, we got on plane and headed to the East side of Pelee Island.
There, we got into some real beauties. We made two passes using the same double willow leaf harnesses I have been using the past month, and trolled at a speed of 1.6 to catch our fish. 2oz 25-35 back was the ticket there. We only caught 8 of their 12 fish there, but 4 of them were "Fish Ohio's" (28 inches or better). Pictures have been uploaded to page 4 on the photos page of my website if you want to see them.
We made a move with one hour to go, over to the area between Middle and North Bass, where I had been fishing a lot the past few weeks. The fish are still there and there are still some big fish there too. We caught three more "good eaters" and finished the day off with the biggest fish of them all. (Sorry, I didn't measure it).
As we were reeling in the lines to head home, we had one little walleye hanging on the outside board, so I said, "Well, it looks like I get to eat dinner tonight after all", to which they both laughed. It was a fun day with these two gentlemen.
Denny is a a farmer in Wisconsin. His friend Angelo is a retired banker. They both had a great time reeling in these big fish and are looking forward to going out and doing it again tomorrow. The weather will be cooler tomorrow, due to a NNE wind that's expected. Conditions will determine where we will start tomorrow, so at this point I'm not sure yet.
I only know that they are still biting, and I'm grateful that we had such a great day of fishing today.
The Mayfly hatch was huge yesterday. This morning the Kroger parking lot was covered in them, as were many businesses and houses off of 163. What a mess! The husks that were left floating in the water were all over Ohio waters in the Western Basin and made a mess of the lines, planer boards, and my boat...yuck! I thought for sure the fishing would be tougher today, but luckily for us, it was still good. :)
I'll be back tomorrow to write another blog, and hopefully, it will be another good report.
Thanks for reading it.
Capt Juls
June 11th Trip with Jerry, Mike, and Mark
by Capt Juls on 06/11/13I got up early and made another batch of homemade brownies, but this time I added glazed walnuts and dark chocolate chips for a little sumpin-sumpin to make them outstanding...and, they were, if I do say so myself.
Jerry Cohen, last year's Commodore at the CIC on Catawba Island, and two friends of his were to meet me at Mazurik's launch at 8am. I was about a 1/2 hour early, and so were they! However, they had forgot to pick up fishing licenses, so I sent them over to Hi-Way Bait to get them before heading out.
We launched at 8am just like we planned and headed to the area I was fishing on Sunday...between North Bass and Middle Island in 34 feet of water just South of the Canadian line. We were using the same program with the double willow leaf harnesses as Sunday, which was #2 Tadpoles and 2oz inlines at 40-55 back.
We made two passes and picked up three fish in the first pass. One of them was a nice fatty 29 1/2 inch walleye. That one got high fives all around. We caught one more walleye in the second pass and decided to pick up and head over the East side of Kelly's Island where Duncan Wooster, another Captain friend of mine, was fishing and catching some nice 'eaters', along with one or two "Fish Ohios" if I'm not mistaken.
Anyhooo...we started out deep, but Duncan called and said to come inside to the 18-20 foot contour...so, we did. It wasn't long before we had a planer board go back and another walleye in the livewell. We continued on that contour and ran into some thick algae weed like substance that stuck to the planer boards, inline weights, and harnesses...Yuck! But, we also had another board go back telling us another fish was on. This one would escape Jerry as he tried to reel it in closer to the boat, due to a hook that was barely holding the fish on.
Even though their time was up, we stayed out a little longer and managed to get one more fish on the line. This time it was another big fish. A nice 28 incher! High fives all around again and we called it a day.
My guys did very well learning how to troll with Off Shore boards and crawler harnesses. By lunch time I had them setting all the lines while I made them some sandwiches. They did a fantastic job and I hope to fish with them again soon.
Thanks Jerry, Mike, and Mark for a very fun day! :)
Capt Juls
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
