Had our 6 lines in the water before sunrise this morning, east of the south end of Kelly’s in 42 fow. Headed into the sunrise at about 2.7mph sog. …
Author: Admin 1
Today was a first for me
Went out to cast for some walleye by myself this morning. I started on the south side of cone reef but the area was loaded with white perch so I moved to the north side of west sister island. I was probably a mile off the island. I fished about 3 hours and picked up 2 nice eyes and got two shorts. I said to myself at 11:30 one more cast. I was using an 18 count and I started my count. I don’t think I got to 4 and something grabbed my spinner and took off. I closed the bail on my reel and the line instantly came tight and a silver rocket flew out of the water. I eventually got it in and it turned out to be a steelhead about 20 inches long. I’ve heard of people catching them but I have never seen one in person. I can’t imagine catching a 20 pounder on a rod like I was using.
Report 6-1 and 6-2
June 1st trip
Was on the sportcraft. We left the dock just after 7 ran to the east side of KellyÂ’s.
we set rods 50 to 70 back With tru-trip 40Â’sand spoons ( pink was the best color) at 2.1 mph
We didnÂ’t even get on the rods set before they was firing. We put 7 in the box real quick then we went dead with all the boat traffic. The fish scattered and shut off. Once we got away from the boat traffic we started to pick at them again but had to move leads deeper. 70 to 90 back.
It wasnÂ’t long and we filled the cooler with nice 17 to 23 inch fish.
Was on the sportcraft. We left the dock just after 7 ran to the east side of KellyÂ’s.
we set rods 50 to 70 back With tru-trip 40Â’sand spoons ( pink was the best color) at 2.1 mph
We didnÂ’t even get on the rods set before they was firing. We put 7 in the box real quick then we went dead with all the boat traffic. The fish scattered and shut off. Once we got away from the boat traffic we started to pick at them again but had to move leads deeper. 70 to 90 back.
It wasnÂ’t long and we filled the cooler with nice 17 to 23 inch fish.
June 2nd
Today we was on the ranger
Started casting.we got a couple but as the wind died (there wasnÂ’t much to begin with ) that production did as well .
So we put we put the trolling gear out.
Using off shore boards in the same area we finished yesterday. Today we ran flicker 9Â’s on one side and flicker 11Â’s on the other. It wasnÂ’t long and the 9Â’s was producing way better and everything got changed over to the 9Â’s with 2oz weights we put the snap weights at 20 total of 70 to 90 back at 1.8.
Water temps was 60 degrees .
Fishing with David, Fred, and Craig….6/1/2025
My crew today, are friends with the Jay Prater group, from last week, and were supposed to go tomorrow, but the wind forecast for today was more favorable, and they were able to move it, so it all worked out.
I left the house at 4:30, but didn’t need to pick my crew up, since they were meeting me at Mazurik’s at 5:15. I stopped to get ice on the way to the ramp. I wanted to get there early, so I could get things ready before they showed up. But, Jay must have told them I like to be early, because they showed up at 5 AM.
It was still dark out, so I took my time. While it’s possible to drive in the dark out there…I do not like it, because I can’t see if there are floating logs, or perch nets, and it kind of freaks me out. Those nets are always moving….so, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
The sky was partly cloudy, the wind was less than 10 mph out of the south, and the air temp was a chilly 51 degrees. It’s the beginning of June, and I’m still wearing my BlackFish Gear out there, (it has a fuzzy fleece liner in both the jacket and the pants). This spring has been the worst I’ve ever experienced in my 62 years on this planet….deep sigh. On the bright side, though, it looks like it’s going to get hot by mid-week.
We left the dock at 5:25 and headed north to the line, near Gull Island Shoal, and set up on the west side of it. The Vexus was pointed to the east, with the Ulterra and baby Merc moving us along at 2.1-2.2 mph (FishHawk speed).
The water temp was 60 degrees.
The port side ran Bandits behind the Off Shore boards, and the starboard side ran the “Livingston” EBS Walleye Minnow 111s, with the same leads I used the last time out. 97 (outside boards), 80, 75, and 57 (inside boards). Eventually, the Bandit at 97 was set to 120 back, and started taking fish. That’s the “SlimShady” Custom, that I can’t remember the name of, and can’t find it on his site, but it’s a fade of blue and green with an orange belly.
Other Bandit colors that took fish were…”Domka Outdoors” Buck Fever at 80 back, and Red Headed Wonder Bread at 67 back. Sunspot didn’t catch this morning, and neither did an orange and sliver one, that I can’t remember the name of, either.
The Walleye Minnow colors that took fish were the LimeLight at 97 back, and Sherbert at 80 and 67 back.
Most fish came on the dipsies using BadMo Arrow Spoons and Yeck Spoons.
Two dipsies off each corner ran with the zero and three settings. The zero setting was changed often and settled on 40 and 54 back, while the three settings were catching at 65 and 71 back. We did catch one fish with a black and gold Ripplin RedFin off the three setting at 71 back, but that was it for that one, so we swapped it out for another BadMo spoon. Colors didn’t seem to matter….we had the whole spectrum, out there.
David, Fred, and Craig were on a learning trip, to up their skills in their boat, when they are here, so after a little training, (and, me chirping in their ears for hours) they practiced setting lines all morning, and did a great job. I have no doubt they will be able to take what they learned and apply it…giving them the confidence to duplicate what we did today. 🙂
We fished the Canadian line, and were mostly all alone, except for an occasional boat here and there, but it wasn’t a crowd, and made it a very nice morning. The south wind stayed below 10 mph, and the waves up on the line were 2 foot or less.
The crew all said that they had a good time, and learned a ton, and that makes me happy. David and Jay have scheduled to come back in October, to fish together, so I’m really looking forward to that.
My next trip is Wednesday, with John Ackerman. The forecast looks bumpy, but fishable. Hopefully, the winds do not get any stronger in that forecast. Right now, it’s showing 17-20 out of the SSW.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I left the house at 4:30, but didn’t need to pick my crew up, since they were meeting me at Mazurik’s at 5:15. I stopped to get ice on the way to the ramp. I wanted to get there early, so I could get things ready before they showed up. But, Jay must have told them I like to be early, because they showed up at 5 AM.
It was still dark out, so I took my time. While it’s possible to drive in the dark out there…I do not like it, because I can’t see if there are floating logs, or perch nets, and it kind of freaks me out. Those nets are always moving….so, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
The sky was partly cloudy, the wind was less than 10 mph out of the south, and the air temp was a chilly 51 degrees. It’s the beginning of June, and I’m still wearing my BlackFish Gear out there, (it has a fuzzy fleece liner in both the jacket and the pants). This spring has been the worst I’ve ever experienced in my 62 years on this planet….deep sigh. On the bright side, though, it looks like it’s going to get hot by mid-week.
We left the dock at 5:25 and headed north to the line, near Gull Island Shoal, and set up on the west side of it. The Vexus was pointed to the east, with the Ulterra and baby Merc moving us along at 2.1-2.2 mph (FishHawk speed).
The water temp was 60 degrees.
The port side ran Bandits behind the Off Shore boards, and the starboard side ran the “Livingston” EBS Walleye Minnow 111s, with the same leads I used the last time out. 97 (outside boards), 80, 75, and 57 (inside boards). Eventually, the Bandit at 97 was set to 120 back, and started taking fish. That’s the “SlimShady” Custom, that I can’t remember the name of, and can’t find it on his site, but it’s a fade of blue and green with an orange belly.
Other Bandit colors that took fish were…”Domka Outdoors” Buck Fever at 80 back, and Red Headed Wonder Bread at 67 back. Sunspot didn’t catch this morning, and neither did an orange and sliver one, that I can’t remember the name of, either.
The Walleye Minnow colors that took fish were the LimeLight at 97 back, and Sherbert at 80 and 67 back.
Most fish came on the dipsies using BadMo Arrow Spoons and Yeck Spoons.
Two dipsies off each corner ran with the zero and three settings. The zero setting was changed often and settled on 40 and 54 back, while the three settings were catching at 65 and 71 back. We did catch one fish with a black and gold Ripplin RedFin off the three setting at 71 back, but that was it for that one, so we swapped it out for another BadMo spoon. Colors didn’t seem to matter….we had the whole spectrum, out there.
David, Fred, and Craig were on a learning trip, to up their skills in their boat, when they are here, so after a little training, (and, me chirping in their ears for hours) they practiced setting lines all morning, and did a great job. I have no doubt they will be able to take what they learned and apply it…giving them the confidence to duplicate what we did today. 🙂
We fished the Canadian line, and were mostly all alone, except for an occasional boat here and there, but it wasn’t a crowd, and made it a very nice morning. The south wind stayed below 10 mph, and the waves up on the line were 2 foot or less.
The crew all said that they had a good time, and learned a ton, and that makes me happy. David and Jay have scheduled to come back in October, to fish together, so I’m really looking forward to that.
My next trip is Wednesday, with John Ackerman. The forecast looks bumpy, but fishable. Hopefully, the winds do not get any stronger in that forecast. Right now, it’s showing 17-20 out of the SSW.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Freshwater Drum Chowder recipe (with Pretzel bowls)
*Freshwater Drum (Sheepshead) Chowder*
Serves 8
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large onion, diced small
2 cups Water
2…
Mazuricks
Hey there gang,
I know they were doing some work at the boat launch recently. I was wondering if someone could let me know if they have things…
Fishing with Danny and Charlie….5/29/2025
This morning, I had two brothers from southern Ohio, who are in their 70s. I was supposed to have them out yesterday, but when given the opportunity,…
Memorial Day
I heard it would be too muddy and I heard it would be too buggy. But the wave forecast was for “slight chop” and there was no moon last night. So we headed out of Mazurik’s before sun up. The plan was to fish east of Kelly’s and circle counter-clockwise around the island looking for marks. But due east of the southern end of Kelly’s, in 42 fow, we started marking fish. The water there was not muddy. No bugs. So we put in our lines and headed ENE at 2.0 sog.
We had a purple bandit 80 back unassisted, a purple flicker minnow 110 back unassisted, a couple mostly orange spoons with 2oz weights at 20+60 and 20+80, and a couple crawler harnesses with 2 oz weights, 20+30 back and 20+ 40 back.
By the time we got about half way up Kelly’s in 44 fow, we had one of our two limits, so we turned around and trolled back to where we started. There were about 35 boats in sight over there at that time but more were coming. We did start to get some midges by 8am but they weren’t bad.
We ended up with our 12 eyes plus 2 tasty drum by 8:55 am. Threw back 3 shorts. Had a triple and a double today, which hardly left me any time to eat my Pop-tarts. Biggest was 28″.
Another big fat one still had her eggs. I didn’t find that out until I got home because the cleaning station was padlocked closed. What’s up with that? They have a sign saying it is open from 9am to 9pm. I can’t imagine why it can’t be open 24×7. But it was closed today at 9:45 am when we needed it.
Didn’t bother me too much, though, because that’s my fastest limit on Lake Erie ever. Awesome day on the lake!
We had a purple bandit 80 back unassisted, a purple flicker minnow 110 back unassisted, a couple mostly orange spoons with 2oz weights at 20+60 and 20+80, and a couple crawler harnesses with 2 oz weights, 20+30 back and 20+ 40 back.
By the time we got about half way up Kelly’s in 44 fow, we had one of our two limits, so we turned around and trolled back to where we started. There were about 35 boats in sight over there at that time but more were coming. We did start to get some midges by 8am but they weren’t bad.
We ended up with our 12 eyes plus 2 tasty drum by 8:55 am. Threw back 3 shorts. Had a triple and a double today, which hardly left me any time to eat my Pop-tarts. Biggest was 28″.
Another big fat one still had her eggs. I didn’t find that out until I got home because the cleaning station was padlocked closed. What’s up with that? They have a sign saying it is open from 9am to 9pm. I can’t imagine why it can’t be open 24×7. But it was closed today at 9:45 am when we needed it.
Didn’t bother me too much, though, because that’s my fastest limit on Lake Erie ever. Awesome day on the lake!
Fishing with Jay, Jimmy, and Bob…5/26/2025
I got up at 2 AM this morning…but, I still had 7 1/2 hours of sleep, so I was feeling refreshed.
Grabbed my cup of coffee, fed the dogs, grabbed their tennis balls, and hit the back deck, to check the weather.
It was 55 degrees, clear sky, and not a breath of wind. I smiled, knowing that it would be a fun day on the lake.
Jay, had scheduled this trip for last week, but Mother Nature was having another Tizzy-Fit, and their day would be rescheduled to today.
Jay, Jimmy, and Bob would be meeting me at Mazurik’s at 5:15. I made sure I was there 1/2 hour early, so I could ready things before they arrived. I like to do things in the quiet of the morning, so I don’t get distracted and miss something.
They showed up right on time, and we launched. The sky was glowing to the east, but still dark to the west. We headed back up to the ENE side of Kelly’s, where we would start.
I didn’t want to pull crawler harnesses, slow, again, so I had swapped them out for Bandits on the port side, and a new-to-me lure…the “EBS Walleye Minnow 111”, by “Livingston” (a Texas Company, I believe). It’s similar to the Flicker Minnow 11s, but they dive deeper than the Flickers. Example…the Flicker at 15 feet would be 74 back. The Walleye Minnow is only 55 back. They also have a different rattle sound than the Flickers.
Both sides ran the same distances back, behind the Off Shore boards, in the beginning….120′ (outside), 80′, 67′, and 57′ (inside), but eventually the 120s became 97 feet back, and took a lot of fish.
The “Sunspot” Bandit was hot, so we changed out a couple of the others and had three of them running out there. They all produced.
The Walleye Minnow 111 colors were… “LimeLight”, “Sherbert”, and “Chrome xxx Shad” (ran two of those), and they all took several fish. At one point, I was ready to take them off, due to no action, but as soon as I tripped the outside board to bring in the Walleye Minnow, and change it out to a Bandit, two of the inside boards took off. Needless to say, they stayed out and caught a lot of fish from then on. I didn’t keep track, but it seemed like it was a pretty even tally between them and the Bandits.
Dipsies started out with a couple of “Worm-Burners” on the starboard side, and a couple of Yeck spoons on the port side. The Yeck out produced the worms for us, so eventually, the worms were removed and more spoons put out.
The zero setting was catching at 30′ back, and the 3 setting was catching at 60 back.
I have a few Yeck spoons that DJ (DJ’s Custom Eye Lures) painted the bellies of them for me with a royal blue. The top side is a mix of gold/copper/red/and black.
That was a hot spoon, so we ended up with three of those out, too. The fourth one was a mostly orange one…orange belly with wide edge strips of orange, over gold, was on the top side.
Speed was 2.0-2.2 on the FishHawk. Most of the time, SOG was 3-4 tenths faster.
The water temp on the surface was 57 and down 18 feet, it was 58.7.
We made one big half circle, from east of the south end of the shoal…out to the NE side of Cedar Point, and then back towards the dumping grounds. The bite was spotty…we would get one here and one there, and then we would have doubles or triples happening.
The crew did a great job, and said they had a blast, and learned a lot, and that makes me happy! I really had a good time with these guys, too! They worked me to near exhaustion, but it was worth it! Ha!
We had our 24, and threw back around a dozen, in just over 3 hours…most of which, would have been legal, but Jimmy’s kind heart said, “Let them live, to get bigger”….and, I can respect that.
I have tomorrow off, and will be back at it on Wednesday, with Dan Harris and his brother. Fingers crossed the weather doesn’t stop us.
Update: I got a phone call while I was writing this, and they must have had fun, and weren’t just saying that, to say it, because Jay’s friend, David, just called and booked June 3rd, for himself and two of his friends. Woot! Woot! Thanks, Jay!
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Grabbed my cup of coffee, fed the dogs, grabbed their tennis balls, and hit the back deck, to check the weather.
It was 55 degrees, clear sky, and not a breath of wind. I smiled, knowing that it would be a fun day on the lake.
Jay, had scheduled this trip for last week, but Mother Nature was having another Tizzy-Fit, and their day would be rescheduled to today.
Jay, Jimmy, and Bob would be meeting me at Mazurik’s at 5:15. I made sure I was there 1/2 hour early, so I could ready things before they arrived. I like to do things in the quiet of the morning, so I don’t get distracted and miss something.
They showed up right on time, and we launched. The sky was glowing to the east, but still dark to the west. We headed back up to the ENE side of Kelly’s, where we would start.
I didn’t want to pull crawler harnesses, slow, again, so I had swapped them out for Bandits on the port side, and a new-to-me lure…the “EBS Walleye Minnow 111”, by “Livingston” (a Texas Company, I believe). It’s similar to the Flicker Minnow 11s, but they dive deeper than the Flickers. Example…the Flicker at 15 feet would be 74 back. The Walleye Minnow is only 55 back. They also have a different rattle sound than the Flickers.
Both sides ran the same distances back, behind the Off Shore boards, in the beginning….120′ (outside), 80′, 67′, and 57′ (inside), but eventually the 120s became 97 feet back, and took a lot of fish.
The “Sunspot” Bandit was hot, so we changed out a couple of the others and had three of them running out there. They all produced.
The Walleye Minnow 111 colors were… “LimeLight”, “Sherbert”, and “Chrome xxx Shad” (ran two of those), and they all took several fish. At one point, I was ready to take them off, due to no action, but as soon as I tripped the outside board to bring in the Walleye Minnow, and change it out to a Bandit, two of the inside boards took off. Needless to say, they stayed out and caught a lot of fish from then on. I didn’t keep track, but it seemed like it was a pretty even tally between them and the Bandits.
Dipsies started out with a couple of “Worm-Burners” on the starboard side, and a couple of Yeck spoons on the port side. The Yeck out produced the worms for us, so eventually, the worms were removed and more spoons put out.
The zero setting was catching at 30′ back, and the 3 setting was catching at 60 back.
I have a few Yeck spoons that DJ (DJ’s Custom Eye Lures) painted the bellies of them for me with a royal blue. The top side is a mix of gold/copper/red/and black.
That was a hot spoon, so we ended up with three of those out, too. The fourth one was a mostly orange one…orange belly with wide edge strips of orange, over gold, was on the top side.
Speed was 2.0-2.2 on the FishHawk. Most of the time, SOG was 3-4 tenths faster.
The water temp on the surface was 57 and down 18 feet, it was 58.7.
We made one big half circle, from east of the south end of the shoal…out to the NE side of Cedar Point, and then back towards the dumping grounds. The bite was spotty…we would get one here and one there, and then we would have doubles or triples happening.
The crew did a great job, and said they had a blast, and learned a lot, and that makes me happy! I really had a good time with these guys, too! They worked me to near exhaustion, but it was worth it! Ha!
We had our 24, and threw back around a dozen, in just over 3 hours…most of which, would have been legal, but Jimmy’s kind heart said, “Let them live, to get bigger”….and, I can respect that.
I have tomorrow off, and will be back at it on Wednesday, with Dan Harris and his brother. Fingers crossed the weather doesn’t stop us.
Update: I got a phone call while I was writing this, and they must have had fun, and weren’t just saying that, to say it, because Jay’s friend, David, just called and booked June 3rd, for himself and two of his friends. Woot! Woot! Thanks, Jay!
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Draggin the Line with John
Fished Sunday with John.Forcast looked great and left dock at 5:45 and headed east of Kellie’s.Was going to run dipsies first time all season and got a tip from charter buddy fish were biting 22-26 feet down.But as we looked at sonar noticed the fish were mostly 30 ft down and saw a bunch of white spots on the graph.John asked what those white spots were. I then pointed to a midge sitting on his console and said bugs.John really hates those messy bugs too.I set the dipsies on one side for the fish marking at 30 and other side for fish between 22 and 26.Dipsey settings at 1&3.The shallower dipsey started catching at 50 and 35 lead and I changed the other side to 55 and 40.Had a j9,worm harness and two worm burners on dipseys.They all caught.Put out a Marvin bandit at 110 and a Barbie Bill Lewis PWC at 90.They each caught 2 fish.Then put out 2 worm burners on a TT 40 on the 2 inline boards at 50 and 60.Speed was around 2.0 mph.Everything caught.Did not miss a fish,no junk and no shorts.Took us 2hrs to get our 18 fish and weight was 45 lbs.Biggest 24″.Midges were pretty messy after we were done.Another great day on Erie.