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Since my crew wasn’t supposed to be here until 6:45 I decided to go gas up the Vexus at the gas station down the road from me, and get ice in the cooler, before they showed up. It would save us a stop on the way to Dempsey’s, where we planned on launching this morning. Huron was a zoo yesterday morning, and Dempsey’s was empty this morning. What a difference! No pressure and much more relaxed.

Bruce, and his sons David and Dan showed up 15 minutes early, so we hit the road and got to Dempsey’s a little before 7AM. There was hanging fog above the road, but it didn’t interfere with driving at all, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be on the lake, either. I was happy to see, that when we got to the ramp there wasn’t any fog on the lake.

The sky was clear this morning, so the horizon was starting to lighten up pretty fast. Sunrise wouldn’t be for another hour, but it was light enough to head out. The navigation lights were turned on, and the motor was warmed up first, then, off we went. The air temp was a touch warmer than yesterday’s chilly 39 degrees, but I didn’t look at the actual temperature this morning.

I headed back to where I was yesterday, which was about 11 miles out of Huron. It was also 11 miles from the channel marker at Cedar Point, just from a different angle, so the ride was about the same. Again, there were ENE rollers coming in, so we didn’t go very fast getting out there.

The program was the same as yesterday’s program (copy pasted here, so I don’t have to type it all again…with a little more added…I’m tired…lol)

Bandits were my choice of bait this morning, because they’ve been my go-to bait for several years now. Knowing that white colors produce best in the fall, I opted to start with a few in the mix.
The stock color called, “Daydream”, was set behind the Off Shore board on the starboard side, on the outside, at 120 back, unassisted.
Next to the outside board, was a “Slim Shady Custom” called, “Glacier Shad”… at 97 back, unassisted.
The second board pulled a “DJ Custom” called, “RC Crush”, at 75 back, and the inside Bandit was another “Daydream” at 45 back initially, but later set to 75 back when the spread was changed to 120, 107, 97, and 75 back unassisted. Today though, as the morning progressed, we set the unassisted side to 120, 110, 97, and 85 back.

On the port side, we set up using 2 oz Guppie weights at the 35 mark, instead of the usual 50 back, and set up his spread at 35/35, 35/50, 35/60, and 35/80. Colors were the following…
Daydream
Green Lantern (w/red chin) Another Slim Shady Custom
Daydream
And…. another Daydream. 🙂
Everything listed above caught fish, with the Daydream running at 120 unassisted, and 35/65 w/2oz, catching the most.

Speed varied…as slow as 1.4 to as fast as 2.1mph. Water temp today was 51.9 degrees over 45 feet of water.

My crew are avid fishermen, but life got in the way, and they hadn’t been walleye fishing together, in at least 10 years, I was told. They did a great job picking back up on the lingo, and were working like a well oiled machine by the time we had our 24 fish in the cooler. They had never used inline planer boards before, so that was new to them, but they did a great job, and were setting them out like the pros. 🙂

They want to come back in the spring, next season, so that makes me happy!

I’m off tomorrow, but will be back out walleye fishing with Frank Smith and his friend on Tuesday.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

Dexter slept in, so Alfie and I went out on the back deck to check the weather. I was disappointed to see thick fog hanging in the air, and questioned whether I still wanted to drive over to Huron to launch, imagining car wrecks, hit deer, or some other unnatural disaster awaiting us this morning. lol

Alfie took my attention away from all that, with his growling, and hopping around playfully, at the dead leaves on the ground. I sipped my coffee, and checked the wind forecast for the rest of the day. It was going to be really nice with a SE wind at less than 6mph most of the day. Yay!

By 4am, the fog was lifted, and I could see the stars shining up above. The air was crisp, and chilly. The air temp was 39 degrees. My friend, Jen, came and picked up my dogs for the day, so I could fish without worrying about the little one. Thanks, Jen!

I picked my Vexus up from her heated storage, and stopped off to gas her up and get ice for the cooler, before heading to the Holiday Inn Express to pick up my crew.

Karl has fished with me for around 6 or 7 years now, and likes to bring different friends or family members with him each time he comes. This time, he brought his friends, John and Bill along.

We headed to Huron to launch and showed up there at around 7am. The sky was still dark, but the ramp was full of lights. Truck and boat lights. I’m used to being the only one there when I show up early, but I felt like I was really late, this time.

It didn’t take very long to get launched, since most of the folks that fish this time of year are pretty seasoned anglers and know how to work with each other at the boat launch.

We were headed out of the river by 7:19. The destination was straight north of the river, until we hit 45 feet of water. So, that’s what we did. There were still residual NE rollers coming in from yesterday’s NE wind, so we couldn’t go very fast. John is older, and I didn’t want to beat him up on the ride out, so we took our time, and got there within a half hour.

The Helix had marked fish on the ride out, but nothing that I would shut down early for…I was determined to get to 45 feet first. When I did get to 45 feet, and came off plane, I wasn’t too impressed, and was hardly marking anything.

I figured it was as good a place as any to start, so the Ulterra was deployed, along with the baby Merc, and set on a westerly course at a speed of 1.6-1.9mph.

Bandits were my choice of bait this morning, because they’ve been my go-to bait for several years now. Knowing that white colors produce best in the fall, I opted to start with a few in the mix.

The stock color called, “Daydream”, was set behind the Off Shore board on the starboard side, on the outside, at 120 back, unassisted.
Next to the outside board, was a “Slim Shady Custom” called, “Glacier Shad”… at 97 back, unassisted.
The second board pulled a “DJ Custom” called, “RC Crush”, at 75 back, and the inside Bandit was another “Daydream” at 45 back initially, but later set to 75 back when the spread was changed to 120, 107, 97, and 75 back unassisted.

On the port side, Karl set up using 2 oz Guppie weights at the 35 mark, instead of the usual 50 back, and set up his spread at 35/35, 35/50, 35/60, and 35/80. His colors were the following…
Fruit Salad
Green Lantern (w/red chin) Another Slim Shady Custom
One color I can’t remember the name of…but, it had a lot of white in it…lol
And, another Daydream.

Everything listed above caught fish, with the Daydream running at 120 unassisted catching the most.

We caught our 4-person limit of walleye by 10:30am, and headed back in, before the rush at the ramp happened, again. Loading out was easy enough, since it wasn’t as busy as it was early this morning. There wasn’t a spot left in the parking lot, and all the grassy areas that could hold a trailer were loaded up with parked vehicles and trailers, too. I’ve never seen it so busy there before. But, it was a beautiful morning, and the fish are biting, so I guess it’s to be expected. 🙂

Everyone had a good time, and John and Bill were very impressed with our fishery. They are from Chicago, and I don’t recall if they said they have ever fished here before. If they haven’t, I know they will be again…the walleye did not disappoint, and kept them very busy.

We had many doubles and a couple triples this morning, which is always a good time.

Karl will be back again next season, and that makes me happy! 🙂

Tomorrow, I have a crew of three. A father and his two sons will be going to try for walleye again. The morning should be very similar to this morning, so I hope the bite will be just as good, if not better.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls