I have been using Jet divers a long time but I don’t really like them so I don’t use them often. I have been thinking about buying some Tru Trip…
Author: Admin 1
Fishing with Vito and Neal….5/15/2025
I first met Vito in 2016, I think. He hired me to take him fishing, and teach him how to run Off Shore boards more efficiently. He’s been fishing with me once or twice a year since. He also bought my 2017 Ranger, so when he does come down here, he usually brings it with him, so he can stay and fish a couple more days.
We were supposed to fish this coming Sunday, but the forecast is calling for another big blow for Saturday and Sunday….so, when he contacted me via text saying, “Hola Juls. I’m on my way over to do a little fishing before we fish”, I took that opportunity to ask him if he could change his date to Thursday, since he would already be here. He agreed after seeing the forecast.
The person he would be taking fishing is a co-worker from Michigan, and I asked if I had to be on my best behavior, or if I was allowed to swear…( I swear a lot…sorry!) Laughing, Vito said, “Oh, you’re good….you can be you…I wouldn’t have it any other way”, and that made me happy! 🙂
They were meeting me at Mazurik’s at 6:15, so after picking up ice and getting some big fat crawlers from “Hi-Way Bait”, I hit Mazurik’s at 5:30. While I was getting the boat ready, I thought to myself, “Vito knows me too well….he’s probably going to show up any minute now, so we can get an earlier start”. And, sure enough, at 5:35, they pulled in. 🙂
I finished getting rods out of the rod locker and putting them in the rod holders, for the ride out, hit the bathroom, and off we went. It was 65 degrees, cloudy, with a chance of rain. The forecast was calling for 7-8mph out of the SE, water temps were 55 on the surface and 57 20 feet down, and there were small ENE rollers still coming in from overnight.
We headed to the north side of Kelly’s to start, and set up with Bandits on the port side, and Hit Stick 12s on the starboard side. I kept hearing how well people were doing on the Hit Sticks, so we put some out. They didn’t do diddly for us, so we replaced them with Flicker Minnow 11s.
The best color and lead for us, was “Pooh Bear” (purple body with a chartreuse head…painted, not chrome) at 120 back behind the Off Shore board. It caught at least 1/2, if not more, of our total catch today.
We would eventually remove a few board rods and replace them with dipsies….running two off each corner. The inside rods were on the zero setting and the outside rods were on the 3 settings.
We caught 7 on the north side of Kelly’s, before I told the guys we were going to pick up and move, to find better marks and water clarity. The north side of Kelly’s was pretty clean, and the fish marks that were there a few days ago, are gone.
We moved to the west side of Middle Bass and picked up the rest of our fish in that area. There were only a few boats in there, but they were far enough away from us, that we didn’t have to keep dodging anyone, that would have had the right-of-way.
“Pooh Bear”, worked its magic in that area, too…but, the bigger fish came on worm-burners off dipsies. The 3 setting at 60 was best. The zero setting was set at 30 and pick up a few, too.
Speed was 2.1 on the FishHawk.
We all caught our limits, and headed back in to Mazurik’s, where there was a back up of boats launching, and loading out, because they have started work on repairing the pavement at the launch, and the parking lot.
Two of the 4 ramps were blocked off, and the pavement was ripped out already, so it was a little messy….doable, but messy. It will be nice when it’s all done, though.
So, if you plan on using Mazurik’s, know that that is happening, and expect delays.
My next trip won’t be until Monday the 19th. I have family in town for the weekend, so I’ll be entertaining. Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
We were supposed to fish this coming Sunday, but the forecast is calling for another big blow for Saturday and Sunday….so, when he contacted me via text saying, “Hola Juls. I’m on my way over to do a little fishing before we fish”, I took that opportunity to ask him if he could change his date to Thursday, since he would already be here. He agreed after seeing the forecast.
The person he would be taking fishing is a co-worker from Michigan, and I asked if I had to be on my best behavior, or if I was allowed to swear…( I swear a lot…sorry!) Laughing, Vito said, “Oh, you’re good….you can be you…I wouldn’t have it any other way”, and that made me happy! 🙂
They were meeting me at Mazurik’s at 6:15, so after picking up ice and getting some big fat crawlers from “Hi-Way Bait”, I hit Mazurik’s at 5:30. While I was getting the boat ready, I thought to myself, “Vito knows me too well….he’s probably going to show up any minute now, so we can get an earlier start”. And, sure enough, at 5:35, they pulled in. 🙂
I finished getting rods out of the rod locker and putting them in the rod holders, for the ride out, hit the bathroom, and off we went. It was 65 degrees, cloudy, with a chance of rain. The forecast was calling for 7-8mph out of the SE, water temps were 55 on the surface and 57 20 feet down, and there were small ENE rollers still coming in from overnight.
We headed to the north side of Kelly’s to start, and set up with Bandits on the port side, and Hit Stick 12s on the starboard side. I kept hearing how well people were doing on the Hit Sticks, so we put some out. They didn’t do diddly for us, so we replaced them with Flicker Minnow 11s.
The best color and lead for us, was “Pooh Bear” (purple body with a chartreuse head…painted, not chrome) at 120 back behind the Off Shore board. It caught at least 1/2, if not more, of our total catch today.
We would eventually remove a few board rods and replace them with dipsies….running two off each corner. The inside rods were on the zero setting and the outside rods were on the 3 settings.
We caught 7 on the north side of Kelly’s, before I told the guys we were going to pick up and move, to find better marks and water clarity. The north side of Kelly’s was pretty clean, and the fish marks that were there a few days ago, are gone.
We moved to the west side of Middle Bass and picked up the rest of our fish in that area. There were only a few boats in there, but they were far enough away from us, that we didn’t have to keep dodging anyone, that would have had the right-of-way.
“Pooh Bear”, worked its magic in that area, too…but, the bigger fish came on worm-burners off dipsies. The 3 setting at 60 was best. The zero setting was set at 30 and pick up a few, too.
Speed was 2.1 on the FishHawk.
We all caught our limits, and headed back in to Mazurik’s, where there was a back up of boats launching, and loading out, because they have started work on repairing the pavement at the launch, and the parking lot.
Two of the 4 ramps were blocked off, and the pavement was ripped out already, so it was a little messy….doable, but messy. It will be nice when it’s all done, though.
So, if you plan on using Mazurik’s, know that that is happening, and expect delays.
My next trip won’t be until Monday the 19th. I have family in town for the weekend, so I’ll be entertaining. Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Midge/Mayfly report?
Thinking of heading to Erie tomorrow, but don’t really want to be there when the worst of the midge hatch happens. A couple years ago I hit it on a day when the midges were like the plague and had to do a thorough cleaning/shampooing of the boat. I was thinking the tiny midges show up before the mayflies, but does anyone have a current report? Thanks so much!
Weather buoy
I always depended on weather buoy 45005 for real time wave height.. Is that gone?
Is it worm time?
The weather has put this dog on the porch.
We all must have had this issue to some extent.
Some boat issues have been fixed, so this dog is ready…
Fishing with Gene, Nick, and Brian….5/10/25
Gene Piscitello, his son Nick, and Gene’s friend, Brian, drove in from Hudson, OH, this morning. They were to meet me at Mazurik’s at 6:15, so we could be launched by 6:30.
Much to the chagrin of my two dogs, I left the house at 5:15, and headed through town, and got some ice at the gas station, before heading to Mazurik’s, to set things up before they showed up.
It wasn’t too busy yet, but it would be. It’s Saturday, and one of the nicer days we have had lately.
The wind was forecast for 10-15 out of the WSW, the skies were clear, and the air temp at 6:30 was 50 degrees.
The water temp had dropped 4 degrees from three days ago, when I was last out, and went from 58 degrees to 54. The NE wind we had on Thursday and Friday blew the colder water in. The sunshine today should help warm it back up again pretty quickly, though.
My crew showed up right on time, and we launched by 6:30. While I was there waiting for them, I decided that we would be running crawler harnesses on the port side, and Bandits on the starboard side.
I had heard that a slow Bandit was still chewable, so I figured why not run both at 1.5mph.
I pointed the Vexus to the NE and went up the east side of Kelly’s, but ended up on the north side, due to wave direction, and where I wanted to start…using the waves to our advantage. The water clarity was the perfect “mix” of dirty and clean.
Well, a long story short…it worked. Both sides caught fish this morning, with crawlers taking the early lead. Just when I thought to myself, “Crawlers should be on both sides”…the outside Off Shore board, pulling a “Pooh Bear” Bandit sank back out of line. We left the Bandits running all morning, as they didn’t disappoint, from that moment on.
I should mention that the speed was determined by the FishHawk, which was often much lower than the surface speed….ie: SOG 2.0 ….undercurrent speed was 1.4-1.5. We often hit “ribbons” of currents that had the FishHawk going up and down all on its own, without help from the Ulterra, or the baby Merc. It’s kind of neat to watch what happens down there.
Colors and leads that worked for the Bandits were:
Pooh Bear at 120 back
Khaki at 97 back
Geneva at 80 back
We tried different colors on the inside board at 57-65 back, but none took a fish.
The BadMo spoon with a pink underside, and different colors on the back took a lot of fish with 2 oz at 40 back.
other leads that worked with 2oz inlines were 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, and 50 back.
It was a fun morning, with the guys learning how to run the Off Shore boards. “I’ve only run two boards before, not an 8 board spread before”, said Gene. But, they listened, and by the time we were done, they had done great! I know they would be able to duplicate what they learned today, on Gene’s boat, and run more than two boards.
They all said they had fun, learned a lot, and were happy to finally get this trip in, and that makes me happy!
Gene had been trying for a few years now. Mother Nature had a target on his back, because every time his trip was coming up, she would throw a tantrum and we would have to reschedule. They were supposed to come this past April, too, but we all know how pleasant April was. I’m just glad we were able to put 20 fish in the cooler this morning. I was expecting less, due to the bright moon that was out last night. Thankfully, they are hungry!
Tomorrow, was supposed to be the reschedule of Dave and Danielle’s trip, from this past Thursday, when it blew, but it appears from he forecast, that it is going to blow from the NE, again. Since they are my neighbors, we can just check the weather in the morning. Fingers crossed that we can get out, but 15-20 NE isn’t fun, so we will reschedule, if that’s the case.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Much to the chagrin of my two dogs, I left the house at 5:15, and headed through town, and got some ice at the gas station, before heading to Mazurik’s, to set things up before they showed up.
It wasn’t too busy yet, but it would be. It’s Saturday, and one of the nicer days we have had lately.
The wind was forecast for 10-15 out of the WSW, the skies were clear, and the air temp at 6:30 was 50 degrees.
The water temp had dropped 4 degrees from three days ago, when I was last out, and went from 58 degrees to 54. The NE wind we had on Thursday and Friday blew the colder water in. The sunshine today should help warm it back up again pretty quickly, though.
My crew showed up right on time, and we launched by 6:30. While I was there waiting for them, I decided that we would be running crawler harnesses on the port side, and Bandits on the starboard side.
I had heard that a slow Bandit was still chewable, so I figured why not run both at 1.5mph.
I pointed the Vexus to the NE and went up the east side of Kelly’s, but ended up on the north side, due to wave direction, and where I wanted to start…using the waves to our advantage. The water clarity was the perfect “mix” of dirty and clean.
Well, a long story short…it worked. Both sides caught fish this morning, with crawlers taking the early lead. Just when I thought to myself, “Crawlers should be on both sides”…the outside Off Shore board, pulling a “Pooh Bear” Bandit sank back out of line. We left the Bandits running all morning, as they didn’t disappoint, from that moment on.
I should mention that the speed was determined by the FishHawk, which was often much lower than the surface speed….ie: SOG 2.0 ….undercurrent speed was 1.4-1.5. We often hit “ribbons” of currents that had the FishHawk going up and down all on its own, without help from the Ulterra, or the baby Merc. It’s kind of neat to watch what happens down there.
Colors and leads that worked for the Bandits were:
Pooh Bear at 120 back
Khaki at 97 back
Geneva at 80 back
We tried different colors on the inside board at 57-65 back, but none took a fish.
The BadMo spoon with a pink underside, and different colors on the back took a lot of fish with 2 oz at 40 back.
other leads that worked with 2oz inlines were 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, and 50 back.
It was a fun morning, with the guys learning how to run the Off Shore boards. “I’ve only run two boards before, not an 8 board spread before”, said Gene. But, they listened, and by the time we were done, they had done great! I know they would be able to duplicate what they learned today, on Gene’s boat, and run more than two boards.
They all said they had fun, learned a lot, and were happy to finally get this trip in, and that makes me happy!
Gene had been trying for a few years now. Mother Nature had a target on his back, because every time his trip was coming up, she would throw a tantrum and we would have to reschedule. They were supposed to come this past April, too, but we all know how pleasant April was. I’m just glad we were able to put 20 fish in the cooler this morning. I was expecting less, due to the bright moon that was out last night. Thankfully, they are hungry!
Tomorrow, was supposed to be the reschedule of Dave and Danielle’s trip, from this past Thursday, when it blew, but it appears from he forecast, that it is going to blow from the NE, again. Since they are my neighbors, we can just check the weather in the morning. Fingers crossed that we can get out, but 15-20 NE isn’t fun, so we will reschedule, if that’s the case.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
“Fishable” Wind Speed / Direction Port Clinton Area
Thanks in advance for the advise. Trying to plan a trip later this week. Brother has a 20′ boat and wind speed and direction on Erie seem to change daily.
Is there a general feeling for “fishable” or “doable” wind direction and speed? As Erie runs from NW to SE, a 10+ mph wind out of the North or East seems to cause major waves in the Port Clinton area. We’ve seen some ridiculous waves in years past trying to get out of Turtle Creek – so not going to deal with that.
Also – general feeling for how long it takes the lake to settle after a big North or East wind?
Good luck and tight lines!
Good Lake Map
Can anyone tell me where to go online to find a good depth map for Erie? I used to use fish map but now after about 2 minutes, I can’t zoom in because it blocks everything out. Need a good map to look at so I can plan my fishing destinations according to wind, water clarity etc. Any help is appreciated, you guys have been very helpful in making my fishing trips successful. Thanks in advance for your help.
Need advice on Lowrance fishfinder/chartplotter
A friend of mine has a new in the box Lowrance Elite 9Ti fishfinder/chartplotter with all the accessories except it does not include the tranducer. He installed the transducer on his boat but then life intervened and he never installed the fishfinder. He wanted to give it to me but I don’t really have a use for it since I run a very similar Garmin unit on my boat. I believe the unit was purchased about 5 years ago.
Any idea what this unit might be worth? Where would he list it for sale?
Thanks for your help.
Any idea what this unit might be worth? Where would he list it for sale?
Thanks for your help.
Weekend Fishing
My wife and I will be going out Friday evening and then Saturday. We will probably jig Friday and troll Saturday. If anyone wants to share info while we are out let me know and we can exchange phone numbers and stay in touch while we are on the water. We will be going out from Wild Wings