Author: Admin 1

We fished yesterday, Thursday June 25 th NE of Kelly’s just over the line in Canadian waters.Johns son Chris joined us.It had been 5wks since I last fished.Johns’ wife likes to stay home and have John take care of her.John prefers to drive up from Zanesville on weekends and enjoy his club and fish off the nice boat he has.His wife devised a dastardly plan to keep him from headed up fishing.She scheduled a 2wk European cruise for them right in the middle of the best fishing.Then schedule the flights on both weekends to effectively prevent him from fishing for 4 wk.Throw in a blow weekend and it was 5 wks.I was developing a serious case of withdrawals from being away from the lake.My mind was going blank and I was walking around in a zombie like stupor.Yesterday I came out of my trance as I put that first line in the water…..I’m finally back! Anyway most of the rain yesterday morning missed us and only had to deal with a few light sprinkles.We had 4 dipseys out with 3 setting at 60-70 and 1 setting at 45-55.Had a couple spoons,spoon harness and a worm burner on the dipseys.Monkey puke was the color.On our 2 boards had a harness and spoon on glow trutrip 40s at 75 and 80.Everything caught and speed was 2.3-2.5.Took us 3hrs to put our 18 in the box.,Weight 44 lbs.We sorted at around 17-18″.Nothing big.Just good eaters and only one small sheephead clearing the lines.We finished right after the wind picked up at 9am.Great to be back out fishing again.

Started the morning off at 1a.m., because the dogs felt that I had had enough sleep and decided it should be time to go out on the back deck. I had gone to sleep an hour earlier than normal, so I guess their internal clock was keeping track. So much for that extra hour of sleep I wanted. lol

We went out on the back deck after I made some coffee, grabbed a couple of dog treats, and some cat food for my “back porch kitty”. I checked the apps for the morning’s forecast and found it would be warm, humid, and no wind. The lake would be calm.

Originally, Jim set this trip up for his son and an exchange student from France, but they had other plans, and the student went home to France, I think. Then, Jim asked two of his church friends to come, but they bailed at the last minute, too, so it would just be Jim.

Jim is a local (Akron area) and has had his own boats, but he sold both of them recently. He often fished out of Vermilion, and would text me his reports if he got into some fish, and I would text him back with my reports of where I was fishing and how I was doing where I was. I’ve communicated with him for years, and fished with him a couple of times.

So, we went from having to get a 4-person limit down to a 2-person limit. I decided to put the trolling rods away and just use the 4 dipsey rods, so we wouldn’t get done in a half hour. lol

We launched at Huron at 5:15 and took a slow idle down the river, because it was still pretty dark out, and I wanted it lighter by the time we got to where I wanted to start. It wouldn’t take us long to get to where we were starting, because I was only headed out to 35′ of water.

It was close enough to “light enough” to remove the navigation light in the back and turn the rest off. It was a Monday, and I knew the traffic was going to be low, so there was no danger of anyone hitting us this morning.
The sunrise was beautiful, because of the thick humid air, I think. It was definitely different than the clear air sunrises.

The Garmin was marking fish from 25′ all the way out, so I stopped over 28 feet of water to set up. The Ulterra and baby Merc worked together to keep a speed of 2.5 on the FishHawk, and the iPilot was keeping us on a course from the south to the north….out to deeper water.

As the Vexus moved over deeper water, the dipsey settings were adjusted to what I was using the past two weeks.

The zero settings were set at 25 and 30 to start and eventually adjusted to 33 and 47 back.

The three settings were initially set at 50 and 60 back, but would be set to 64 and 72, like I had been using in my previous reports.

Yeck and Scorpion spoons started taking fish right away.

I did eventually cave and put two Off Shore boards out, pulling the Bill Lewis PWC Lites in the “Green Tiger” and “Purple Tiger” colors with a 2oz Guppie weight attached at the 50 mar and the boards put on at 97 and 83 back. Both took multiple fish right away.

The bugs found us early on. Lots of them. Caddis Flies, Muffleheads, and Midges…all the ticklely kind. They covered us head to toe and all over the boat. And, because the boat was damp from dew, they stuck to everything once they landed.

It was a fast bite this morning, and we had our 12 good eaters by 7:10. We played catch and release after that, but not for too long, because Jim had to get home to meet an electrician who was coming to install something on their new swimming pool, so the decision was left up to him on how long he wanted to stay out.

The air temp was already up to 81 degrees at 8am, and it was only going to get hotter, so he called it, and we went in.

He didn’t want to keep any of the fish, because he already has a freezer full, so he gave them to me. I didn’t have any left in mine. Thanks, Jim! I appreciate it!

I’ll be out again between the 1st and 3rd fishing with a friend out of his boat. I don’t know if we are walleye fishing or perch fishing yet. Then, on the 5th, I’m going to take my neighbors, Dave and Danielle, out fishing, as a thank-you for letting me use his truck while mine is incapacitated. I’ll be getting mine fixed on Monday the 6th.

I have a lot of open dates available in July, right now. I usually have half the month booked, but the economy is weak, obviously, and people aren’t scheduling trips like they normally do. It’s scary. 🙁

Anyway….As I get out, I’ll report….But I don’t see a lot of reporting happening in July right now.

Update: I picked up trips for Wed and Thursday this week…Thank you! 🙂

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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Woke up before the 2am alarm again, so I got up and made some coffee, grabbed a dog treat for the knuckleheads, and we headed out to the back deck to check the weather.

The sky was partly cloudy, but mostly clear. The stars were shining, and the moon was lit. The air temp was around 60 degrees, and the wind was barely a whisper.
The forecast for the morning was calling for wind out of the WNW at 5mph and then switching to the east in the afternoon… it was going to be a gorgeous morning.

I had told Bill in the last phone call that I would pick them up from the Whitecaps Motel at 5am. He repeated it back to me, letting me know that we were on the same page.

I left the house at 4:45 and headed to the Motel. I arrived a few minutes later and sent Bill a text stating that I was there, I was early, and there was no hurry. I didn’t get a response. At 5 minutes to go, I called him…no answer. I tried calling 5 times over the next half hour, and started to think the worst….that they had been in an accident on the way over and didn’t check in last night.
I almost left, and then thought I should try calling the Motel first, to see if they checked in last night.
I was surprised Dawn answered that early, but she did, and I asked her about them, so she checked.
They had checked in. At least I knew they were alive. Dawn gave me their room numbers, so I could go knock on their doors to see if they still wanted to go fishing.
Turns out, Bill had told Tom and Austin that I was picking them up at 6am, so they were surprised to see me so early. lol

They got ready fast, and we were on our way through town by 5:45 (the time I’m usually launching). They apologized again for the misunderstanding. I just smiled and said, ” It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re here….let’s go fishing…it’s going to be a beautiful morning”. 🙂

We hit the Speedway for some ice and a couple of snacks, and then headed to Mazurik’s to launch. It was almost 6:30 by the time the Vexus was headed east again.

The past two days were really good between CP and the Huron Dump, so we headed back there. The target would be that 35-38′ of water again. The Garmin was picking up fish in the area, so we stopped over 35′ of water to start.

It was the exact same program from two days ago, which also worked yesterday. I didn’t change anything yesterday, or today. The first day took longer, because I had to dial in the program that the fish wanted.
Yesterday and today, it took 3 hours each day to catch our 24 for the cooler.
It was a steady, busy bite.

Austin did great learning how to set the Off Shore boards and dipsies. I only had to tell him once how to do something, and he would do it. He said he does a lot of deep-sea fishing down south.
I promoted him to “First Mate” for the morning, so he helped me keep up with getting lines set back out.
As soon as you would get one back out, another one was coming in.

Bill, who was the oldest (80s), was eager to learn how to do the loop/twist on the first release, which makes the board release and flip around, when a fish is on. He really liked that.
Tom is Bill’s friend, Austin’s Grandpa, and is around my age. I’m guessing Austin was in his 20s….just a good, smart, kind, and funny kid. He’s going to go far in this world, I think.

The program from the other day is…behind the Off Shore boards:
Bill Lewis PWC Lites would run on the starboard side with 2oz snap weights at 50/50, 50/35, and 50/24. Colors were:
“Black Headed Wonder Bread on White” at 50/50
“Purple Tiger” 50/35
“Green Tiger” 50/24

For the newbie who might be confused about the 50/#…this is the Precision Trolling Data info used with a 2oz Guppie weight or snap weight. You put the snap weight on at the 50 mark, and the board on after you add the extra number listed. Example: 50/50=100 total line out…put the board on at the 100 feet out mark.

Flicker Minnow 11s replaced the crawlers on the port side. They ran at 125, 115, and 75 back (unassisted). Colors were:
“FireTail Chrome Candy” Ran two…125 and 115 back
“Slick Sunset” ran at 75 back

Dipsies were set on the usual settings of zero and three, and ran all Yeck spoons this time.
The zero settings ran at 30 and 40 back. The three settings were set at 64 and 72 back.

Speed was 2.5-2.7 on the FishHawk.
Water temp was 69.9 degrees, 18′ down.

Looks like a NE wind this weekend….but, Monday and Tuesday look nice.

I have a trip this Monday (29th), but after that, I don’t have any trips lined up until the second week of July right now. So, if anyone is looking to get out, I’m available. I don’t usually fish the 3rd/4th/or 5th due to the Holiday, but it seems boat traffic is way down this year.
It was a beautiful summer morning, and I think I counted fewer than 20 boats on my ride to and from Huron, this morning. It felt weird. This is not normal.

Bill, Tom, and Austin all had a great time, and I did, too! They are on their way back to the Cincinnati area with a pile of fish for their efforts.

Until the next time….

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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WSW wind today, set up west of the Huron dump, basically due north of those big white condos at the start of the CP causeway, figuring to drift toward the dump. 35 feet deep to start. So the drift took us east, and water got gradually deeper.
The fish started hitting at 36-37 foot depth, then slowed at 39 foot, early. We did 3 long drifts hitting the same line, same depth changes, active pod moved a little deeper as sun got higher and temps went up, so 38-39 became the good water depth as it warmed up, and though it was hot, no bugs got to us. 2 man limit by 10:30.
Drifted and cast harnesses. Mayfly color (peach beads, silver blade) got love and chartreuse beads w/copper blades did well too. Fish were in bottom 10 feet of water.

We fished yesterday, Thursday June 25 th NE of Kelly’s just over the line in Canadian waters.Johns son Chris joined us.It had been 5wks since I last fished.Johns’ wife likes to stay home and have John take care of her.John prefers to drive up from Zanesville on weekends and enjoy his club and fish off the nice boat he has.His wife devised a dastardly plan to keep him from headed up fishing.She scheduled a 2wk European cruise for them right in the middle of the best fishing.Then schedule the flights on both weekends to effectively prevent him from fishing for 4 wk.Throw in a blow weekend and it was 5 wks.I was developing a serious case of withdrawals from being away from the lake.My mind was going blank and I was walking around in a zombie like stupor.Yesterday I came out of my trance as I put that first line in the water…..I’m finally back! Anyway most of the rain yesterday morning missed us and only had to deal with a few light sprinkles.We had 4 dipseys out with 3 setting at 60-70 and 1 setting at 45-55.Had a couple spoons,spoon harness and a worm burner on the dipseys.Monkey puke was the color.On our 2 boards had a harness and spoon on glow trutrip 40s at 75 and 80.Everything caught and speed was 2.3-2.5.Took us 3hrs to put our 18 in the box.,Weight 44 lbs.We sorted at around 17-18″.Nothing big.Just good eaters and only one small sheephead clearing the lines.We finished right after the wind picked up at 9am.Great to be back out fishing again.

We were right on time, motoring out the river in the dark. It was light enough to see by the time we passed the lighthouse. And I was pleased that we had some pretty good chop despite the forecast for smooth seas.
We headed north, slowing down periodically to check for marks. Didn’t see much. Got to the dump and still the fish were few and far between. What we did mark was pretty small, maybe not even walleye. We kept heading north. Finally saw a few marks that were bigger and slightly more plentiful. So we stopped there and put down our lines – about 2 miles north of the dump in 45 fow.
I was thrilled to discover that the bug hatch was finally over.
We had 3 bandits, my lucky reef runner, and a couple spoons. Cranks were 60 – 100 back unassisted. Spoons were 40 – 60 with Tru-trips. Trolled to the north at 2.5 sog, hoping to find better marks.
We did find some good size marks every now and then, but we’d see just a handful, and then nothing. After trolling for a while in 46 fow, we eventually turned east toward Vermillion. Went that way for miles until we got to 44 fow. There were a couple dozen boats over there. We marked a lot more fish in that shallower water, but they weren’t very hungry. Tried every color, depth, speed, direction. Eventually changed out bandits for crawler harnesses with 4oz snap weights.
Once we lost the chop, the bugs attacked. The hatch is very much still at peak. I think I inhaled 6 today. It started getting hot. We had been averaging about one walleye every half hour. In the shallower water with the better marks, we were catching just drum and cat.
We hit a long dry spell and couldn’t stand the bugs or the heat any longer so we took a break for an hour to just drive around fast.
Resumed fishing about noon, 4 miles north of the Huron dump. But no more walleye. Just drum and white bass. Ran out of battery, crawlers and enthusiasm simultaneously.
Final take was 10 walleyes, 17 to 21″. Only bandit that bit was Khaki. It took 3. Also had 2 on a big flat-black spoon my dad used for salmon in Lake Michigan. A smaller flamboyant spoon took one, and our other 4 were all on crawler harnesses.

Fishing was a slow steady pick for the walleye today. Great weather today though. Started at the L can and trolled north and a bit west toward the island. Once we hit 27 or so feet of water we started picking up fish. One at time mostly but occasionally a couple would be caught in short order. Once we got to and beyond the island the bite was a bit quicker. Got our limits of walleye even though we had to deal with a bunch of short fish and the sheep head. We even lost a few at the boat. We sort of had to ?earn? these fish this time.
Once again 107mm dipsey divers were our top producers. Ran 2 on a side, one on a 0 setting Had and the other on a 3. Depth we used were 41 and 61 on the dipsies. The little Stinger spoons on the dipsies were again silver and blue, bite me Elmo, and the NASCAR pattern.
Caught one fish on. Rapala DD Tail Dancer size 11, blue and chrome. Another 5-6 were caught on Bandit blue/chrome deep walleye divers off boards. Had those staggered 50,75,100 back. We ran some stingers off jet divers also but for some reason only a few keepers were caught using them.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was supposed to be the first of three days for Ed, Tim, and Rick, who came down from Eau Claire, WI, to fish with me, but Momma Nature said she had other plans for us. She was angry and was blowing out of the NNE.
The forecast was calling for it to lay down as the morning progressed, so I told them I would pick them up at the Whitecaps Motel at 8am instead of 5am. We got to Mazruik’s at 8:30 and sat there in the truck looking at an angry lake. I told them it was a no-go, and I don’t do afternoons because of my regular schedule, and that it was still going to be rough with the NE rollers continuing to roll in from the east end. They were okay with that.

This morning, the wind was going to be light out of the SSW, so I picked them up at 5am, and after getting some ice for the coolers, we went back to Mazurik’s to launch. I pointed the Vexus east once we were out of the breakwall, and off we went.

The plan was to start on the east side of Cedar Point and work our way over to Huron as long as we were marking fish. If not…we would move. Luckily, we were marking fish. All we had to do was figure out what they wanted this morning.

I had gotten a tip to take crawlers, because the kitchen sink had been thrown at them by a friend yesterday, and they didn’t like what was in the sink. So, this morning, before I picked up my crew, I jumped in the boat and re-rigged 6 rods to crawler harnesses (double willow-bladed wire harnesses). We would start with those and two dipsies off each back corner.

After the FishHawk, Ulterra, and baby Merc were set on a course to the east at a speed of 2.5 (FishHawk speed), the dipsies went out first. By running the willow leaf harnesses, I could keep the speed up enough to still use the dipsies.

Dipsies were set on the usual settings of zero and three, and ran all Yeck spoons this time.
The zero settings ran at 30 and 40 back. We had set up over 36′ of water to start, and my aim was to hit the 38 to 40′ of water. Once we got to deeper water, the fish were holding deeper, so we dropped the zero settings to 40 and 54 back. The three settings started at 50 back, but would eventually end up at 72 on both sides.

The crawler harnesses ran behind the Off Shore boards with 2oz inline weights at 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 back. Nada…not even a nibble. I ran them for half an hour and decided to pull them and put small cranks on.

Bill Lewis PWC Lites would run on the starboard side with 2oz snap weights at 50/50, 50/35, and 50/24. Colors were:
“Black Headed Wonder Bread on White” at 50/50
“Purple Tiger” 50/35
“Green Tiger” 50/24
(For the newbie who might be confused about the 50/#…this is the Precision Trolling Data info used with a 2oz Guppie weight or snap weight. You put the snap weight on at the 50 mark, and the board on after you add the extra number listed. Example: 50/50=100 total line out…put the board on at the 100 feet out mark).

Flicker Minnow 11s replaced the crawlers on the port side. They ran at 125, 115, and 75 back. Colors were:
“FireTail Chrome Candy” Ran two…125 and 115 back
“Slick Sunset” ran at 75 back

Everything took one or two fish this morning. We had our 4-person limit by 10:30, so it wasn’t on fire, but it was steady enough to keep my guys busy and entertained. We did have one triple that made them giddy. They had a lot of fun, and it was nice to see the family get together and spend quality time like this. 🙂

We will be launching out of Huron tomorrow, instead of Mazurik’s, due to the wind forecast for the morning, which is 15-20 out of the SW. It might be raining in the morning, too.

Stay tuned…

Capt Juls

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