Author: Admin 1

We actually perched the last 90 minutes of light on Wednesday at Waterdog’s honey hole. We were using shiners on spreaders with no bling. My son landed 2 yellow perch that just barely hit our 8″ requirement. Returned one that was too short. My wife lost 3 at the boat. I didn’t even get a nibble.
Thursday, we started south of Green before sunrise. We went out in the dark but after sun up we only had a quarter mile of visibility. It looked like fog but it was actually the annual annual forest fire smoke from our friends up north. It burned my throat a little. The smoke would persist all day. You might want to check the smoke forecast before going, especially if you have asthma.
Anyway, my wife and son each landed a couple keeper yellow perch there south of Green while I got nothing again. Only two other boats came to join us before I got too bored with it. It’s just too early for perch in my opinion.
So we set up for trolling. This time of year, I would normally go to Lorain and troll deeper water out to the weather buoy and back. That’s where the big fish go when the water warms up, right? I would normally use big cranks and big spoons in hopes of catching big walleyes.
But we were at Green, so I decided to try out what I’ve read in a few posts lately. We trolled a wide circle around Green using little lures. Little spoons, Flicker Shads, and mini Reef Runners. As expected, the trolling was a lot more exciting than the perching. We were constantly pulling up drum and white perch. We also got two little walleyes there – 17″ and 18″.
Despite all the action, it just wasn’t very satisfying to throw back almost all the fish we caught. So we soon pulled up our lines and motored over to Round Reef. My wife and son began perching again, but I put on a crawler harness with a bottom bouncer. I pulled up another drum there, and a pretty big gobie. Maybe 7 inches or so. Big enough to consider for a second how much meat I could get out of it. We got one yellow perch there too.
We didn’t last too long before the black flies began to eat us alive. I was happy that all the other bugs seemed to be done for the year, but those black flies were vicious. If you go, be prepared to douse yourself in DEET every hour or so. Even with DEET, we had to drive fast several times to get some relief.
We drove back to Waterdog’s honey hole. This morning there were two headboats and two others right there. Could have been more, but we could still only see about a quarter of a mile due to that smoke. I used the same crawler harness while my wife perched. My son tried a Searchbait (to absolutely no avail). None of us had any activity at all there today. We weren’t even marking anything.
We didn’t stay long. It was hot by then. The breeze was dying down. The flies were awful. So we trolled one last time – in the direction of Catawba. Saw some promising marks here and there but only caught a white perch and a drum. Finally decided to call it a day. When we pulled in the lines, every one had a white perch on it.

I was trolling last week a few miles East of Kelley’s in 38-42 FOW and using big amish planer boards & size 40 jet divers to get my spoons down to 30 feet into the water column. I noticed that several times the jet diver would barrel roll and swim erratically and eventually surface because it flipped upside down (it happened with more than one of them so I don’t think it was just a defective one). It seemed most prevalent when I was using the dreamweaver Trip-Z divers but still occasionally happened with the Big Fish Tuff Tru-Trips 40s. A google search said this can happen at speeds in excess of 2.5mph and if pulling heavy tackle but I was trying to keep speeds 2.2-2.5mph and was just pulling stinger spoons. Is it possible that there was strong current to blame? Winds were only 8-10mph and 1-2 foot of chop so it wasn’t anything crazy. And if so, is there anyway to combat this and keep jet divers running properly?

For those who run big boards, what is your preferred diver to get spoons down to at least a depth of 30 feet? I do have size 3 tadpoles but I imagine that jets do a better job with bait presentation with their back and forth swimming.

Does anyone have any luck running size 40 jet divers at speeds > 2.5mph? If so, what is your secret to keeping them diving properly without surfacing? On the day I was fishing, I heard reports of people catching at 2.6-2.7mph so there will be times I will need to troll faster.

Is one jet diver better than the rest for it’s ability to dive properly? Dreamweaver vs. Big Fish Tuff vs. Luhrs Jensen.

It was frustrating to say the least having to keep resetting my lines and I was getting a lot of tangles from the jet divers swimming so erratically…Thanks in advance for any insight 🙂

My daughter and I are coming Wednesday.. anyone want to share where to start would be greatly appreciated.. Thank you

I contacted Jeremy yesterday to see if he wanted a fishing trip before I contacted anyone else that’s on the list of “Give me call if…” people. He quickly confirmed it after talking to his wife, Erika, and moving some work stuff around.

I normally like to see the sunrise on the lake, not only for its majestic beauty, but also, because the walleye bite is usually pretty strong right before sun-up. It’s also nice to be able to get at least one pass in before anyone else shows up to get in the way. 😉

However, they drove up from Columbus with a 7-year-old boy this morning, so we did a later start and didn’t launch until 7:30. There was already a big pack of boats over where I had been fishing, so I decided to go west towards G-Can, since there was no one over there…just to see if there were any fish there. The wind would also be behind us on our troll back towards the east, making the boat less bouncy and more comfortable for the little dude.

The Garmin was marking fish, thankfully, so we stopped…and set up over 21 feet of water. The FishHawk speed was 2.5-2.7 mph.

The dipsies went down first. The zero settings were 20 and 23, and the three settings were both set to 30 back. Both three settings ran Yeck spoons with both sides of the spoon sporting a lot of orange. Those two dipsies outfished the zero settings by a lot. It could also be that as soon as the zero settings went down, a little White Perch would jump on it, and were never noticed until it was time to check them.

The Bill Lewis PWC Lites are still going strong. Best lead was 50/25 with 2oz…(total line out was 75). Several times, as soon as the board was locked in to jog to its spot….a fish would have already hit it.

“Green Tiger”, “Purple Tiger”, “Red Tiger”, and “Chrome Barbie” were the colors again. All caught fish.

We were able to have an enjoyable morning without having to dodge a lot of boat traffic, and the boy reeled in so many fish his arms hurt. lol

We only fished a few hours, and went in per Jeremy’s directive. The wind had died along with the bite…the sun was hot, the air was heavy with humidity, and the bugs were starting to find us, so we went in. We like to keep the experience a fun one for Luke, so his enthusiasm to fish with his dad doesn’t wane.

Jeremy has his own Ranger boat, but likes to hire me so he can relax and enjoy the family stuff without having to do everything else, too. Now that he’s had a refresher course in dipsies, he’s going to be getting his boat out next week, and taking his Dad and Luke out fishing on their boat. 🙂

After dropping their fish off at Bay’s Edge Fishing Cleaning, we met over at Casa Las Palmas for a quick lunch, so we could visit more and they could wait on their fish cleaning to get done. It’s always nice to spend time with folks who feel more like family than just customers.

They all said they had a fantastic morning, even though we didn’t limit out. We only put 8 keepers in the cooler, but caught a lot of fish. Unfortunately, there were a lot of White Perch, Sheephead, and short walleye, too. It kept it busy and fun for Luke, while Jeremy picked up some tips on how to do some things. So it was a successful trip in their eyes, and that makes me happy!

I don’t have anything else scheduled until the 17th and 18th, next week, but if I get a call, I’ll be sure to report.

I’m hearing that the hot and humid weather will be back next week….again….deep sigh. On one hand, I’m glad I’m not fishing in that weather, and on the other…I want to go fishing. There are several good wind days next week…with Tuesday looking the best right now.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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What WEATHER we have been having, Hot, MAYFLIES, and Heavy rains. For Port Clinton and the Islands and NW Ohio.
~Kept this Dog on the porch

Today, SE of G can 22 fow 15 yellow gold and three sheep head. Nice swing, 2 hours, shiners, spreaders, no bling.
I always bring some crawlers just in case the Yellow Gold are not in the mood. (my honey hole gps # is posted on my profile)

Head boats and other boats were a ways north of me and one went in at 10:30, so they got what they went for, my thoughts are they were there for the walleyes.

Spit pile shows they are eating gobies! (on ice and will clean tomorrow, will update date if anything is different in the gut
pile.)

Be safe and wear the life jacket for you and our guests.
Back soon, as the weather allows.

Water Dog

There was no sleeping in this morning. At 1:30 a.m., Ella decided I had been asleep long enough, and it was time to get up and go out on the back deck. As soon as the blankets were thrown back, Alfie shot up and started dancing on the bed…..deep sigh. To be honest, I could have kept sleeping, but I was fishing today, so it was better to get an early start.

When the coffee was ready and the dog treats dispersed, we hit the back deck to check the weather apps. The forecast was calling for winds less than 10 out of the WSW, clear skies, and no rain. I was just hoping there would be no bugs this morning.

Caleb and his twin brother have fished with me several times in the past. Their Dad would drop them off at Mazurik’s to jump in my boat, then launch us and park the truck. Then, they would send him a text when we were done and on our way back in, so he could meet us there and pick up the boys. Back then, they were in their mid to late teens, I think. I have taken them bass fishing a couple of times, walleye fishing, and perch fishing before. Their dad only went when we did the perch trip.
I was sad to learn that their Dad passed away from COVID a few years ago; he was a great guy. 🙁

Melinda and Caleb came up from Waco, TX to visit family in Lakeside. Caleb reached out to me last week to set up a fishing trip for his mom and him, so we landed on this morning to make that happen.

I jumped in the truck at 4:30 and headed to the gas station for some ice. It felt good to have my truck back. Matt Wieland put new injectors and spark plug wires in it yesterday, and it’s running like a champ. There are so many new parts on this truck now that it’s “newer” than the day I bought it in 2020 (it’s a 2016 GMC Sierra). Anyway…it’s running great, so I think she’ll be around for a while.

I arrived at Mazurik’s at 5 a.m., but wasn’t expecting them until 5:30. I readied the boat and polished up the motors while I waited for them.
They showed up right on time, and off we went. If you read the previous report, you know where I went on Sunday. The plan was to go back there again, and hope the fish hadn’t moved yet. I was concerned, because of the big storm system that came through here on Monday. Thankfully, as I approached the area NNW of Catawba, the marks on the Garmin started showing up. As soon as the Vexus came off plane, the screen lit up with good marks. It was time to fish.

I started out with the same program that I ran Sunday. The water depth right there was 25 feet.

The dispsies went out first. The zero settings at 20 and 23 back.
The three settings went out at 37 and 42 back.

Speed was 2.5mph on the FishHawk.

Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2oz snap-weights ran behind the Off Shore boards. Two boards per side.
Colors on the port side were: “Green Tiger” and “Red Tiger”
The starboard side ran “Purple Tiger” and “Chrome Barbie”.

On the port side, the outside board was running 50/25 (weight goes on at the 50 mark and the second number is how much additional line is let out before the planer board is attached. So, 50 (weight) +25=75 total line out.
Now, to make it confusing for you…some people, including myself, will sometimes write it 50/75…meaning, the weight goes on at the 50 mark and the second number is the total amount of line out before attaching the board.

Anyway…I digress…

Port Side:
50/25 outside board (75)
50/11 inside board (61)

Starboard side:
50/30 outside board (80)
50/24 inside board (74)

All took fish. We had our 18 in the cooler in about 2 1/2 hours. I didn’t look at the clock. We caught some Sheephead, short walleye, and White Perch, too, so that kept us very busy. The bite slowed a little as the sun got higher, so we were all glad that we were able to get out early and catch the tail end of a feeding frenzy.

They asked about fish cleaning, so I told them to follow me into downtown Port Clinton, so we could drop the fish off to be cleaned there. I knew that they would be able to get them cut fast, because we got there within a 1/2 hour of them being open. There would be several cutters to help process them. They were done in less than 10 minutes. If you come in after the “Fishermn’s Wharf” headboats get in across the street, you’ll be waiting longer. They usually have a lot more fish to clean when that happens.

Melinda and Caleb had a great time, and said they will be back, and that makes me happy. 🙂

Looks like I have a two-week dry spell now; I’m not scheduled to fish until the 17th and 18th.
If I pick something up between now and then, I’ll be sure to report.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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I had gone to bed earlier than usual and slept until 1 a.m. The dogs and I went out to the back deck to check the weather forecast for the day. The air was thick and muggy, and the air temp was already 81 degrees. The sky was partly cloudy. The wind was less than 10mph out of the SW.

Thankfully, Gary told me he and the boys would meet me early at the Huron ramp. I had told him 5:15, because of how dark it still is at 5am, but they showed up at 4:50, so we waited around and chatted a little before launching.

Matthew is 13 years old, and Milo is 10. Both looked like fishermen to me, so I was looking forward to the morning. Gary is their grandpa, and has his own 22′ boat, but it’s in the shop right now, and he wanted to get the boys out on the water, so he hired me. I’m glad he did, too! Those boys were awesome in the boat!

Matthew played “First Mate” after a quick refresher course on setting dipsies. He’s run them before, but it’s been a little while, and it didn’t take very long for him to start doing it on his own.

Milo, he was watching the rods like a Hawk and was often the first one to the rod. He did great with both the dipsies and the boards. He didn’t set any boards, but his brother did. He did set the dipsies, though. I was really impressed by both of them.
Grandpa takes them fishing a lot. 🙂

We headed out of the Huron River at 5:15 and headed back to the same area I have been fishing the past two weeks….but, it’s expanding. There are fish in close and out by the dump, and deeper, so there’s a lot of water to choose from to catch fish.

We ran the same program I’ve been running over there the past two weeks.

Two dipsies off each back corner… the inside rod is set on zero, and the longer outside rod is set on the three setting. Leads were the zero setting at 25 and 27 back, in shallower water (24-25′). and then dropped to 33 and 47 back over 39′-42′ of water.

The three settings started at 47 and 50 back, then dropped to 64 and 72 back over deeper water.

Speed was 2.5-2.9 on the FishHawk.

We caught fish going from directions south to north, west to east, and north to south. The bite was best very early, and as the sun got higher, the bite slowed down for us, but it was still steady enough to keep it fun.

The Bill Lewis PWC Lites did fantastic behind the Off Shore boards this morning, too. I only ran two boards per side; even though I could have run 4, I wanted to keep it simple for the boys, and it worked out.
I started out with the PWCs on the starboard side and the Flicker Minnow 11s on the port side, but took the Flickers off eventually and replaced them with more PWCs.

The best lead for the PWC Lites was 50/30 and 50/35 with a 2oz snap weight. The best colors were the “Purple Tiger” and “Green Tiger”. I ended up running 3 Purple Tigers and 1 Green Tiger. All of them were catching fish. The larger fish came on the cranks over the spoons, though.

It was a beautiful morning to be on the water. We caught fish and got off the water before it got too hot out.
They all said they had a great time, and that makes me happy!
Spending time with their Grandpa, and doing fun stuff…that’s what it’s all about. Memories made. 🙂

Tomorrow…hmmmm…
Well, at this point in time, I may or may not have a trip tomorrow. I’m waiting at the moment for a decision from them.

If I don’t have a trip, friends want me to go with them, so I’ll be fishing either way. 🙂

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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We fished today, Thursday NE of Kelly’s near old C can.Got an early start to beat the heat.Fished from 6-8am and sorted at 18″ again.Just the two of us fished today so ran 4 dipseys.Had 2 monkey puke spoons,spoon harness and a double Willow harness out.The 3 settings were set from 60-70 and one setting 45-55.First hour the spoons caught equal to worms but second hour the keeper walleye preferred the worms so changed to an extra spoon harness.Speed 2.2-2.5 mph.Nothing big today.Our 12 weighed 30 lbs.Was able to close up the boat before it got too hot,so had another great day.