We had 4 people in the boat today so the potential to take 120 perch. However, we could only fish for a half day.
At 6:05, we bought our minnows…
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Perch issue
I have heard that enough people are keeping small perch, as little as 5 inches long, that it’s getting noticed by fish cleaners and others. At least…
Another First For This Season
I went out solo this morning casting for walleye. Started at big pickerel and caught two keepers and one short along with a sheephead. It was much slower than a week ago but we’ve had a blow since then.
I also caught a northern pike which is a first for me lake fishing. It was around 22 – 24 inches long.
I then moved to cone and picked up two more keepers in 15 minutes. I made several more drifts looking for fish but didn’t get any more.
All day I fished with a worm harness with white and chartreuse beads and a copper Colorado blade with a 3/4 ounce weight. Most fish were riding close to the bottom.
I have a picture of the pike but have never done anything with attachments. Can anyone give me a suggestion? Thanks
Water Dogs update on the yellow gold
Fishing SE of G can at the honey hole (area), shiner golden mix, 3 hours max, have been getting 12 – 14 yellow gold, nice size and enough to start a fill on the freezer. I have caught many young yellow gold, most make it back to the drink but for some reason the stress of the process makes them sea gull food, (my late father always said they have to eat too) I have noticed that lately I have been in the white perch hot hole too. Catch 4 white perch then a keeper yellow gold. An old timer told me if that happens move to deeper water. Any one have some tips on this? Short legs keep me here, but I am doing good as far as getting the freeze stocked.
Gut pile says they are eating GOBIES!
Gut pile says they are eating GOBIES!
Be Safe and put the life jacket on,
~Water Dog
Emeralds?
I know I can make phone calls but before I start does anyone know who has Emeralds near Catawba?
Fishing with Dan and Matt…8/8/2025
I had set the alarm for 2:00am, but the dogs decided that 1:30 a.m. should be the time I got up, so I did. Luckily, I still had 7 1/2 hours of sleep, so all was well.
Made some coffee, fixed some cat food for my half-feral cat, who decided that he would rather live under the house than in the house with the newest dog, “Ella”, and went out on the back deck to check the weather.
The forecast was calling for 7-15mph out of the SSW, this morning. The stars were shining, and the “Sturgeon Moon” was lighting up the entire landscape. The air temp was around 70 degrees.
I was meeting my two-man crew at Catawba at 6:00am. Dan Dagget and his friend, Matt Allen, are down from Wisconsin for three days for some Lake Erie fishing. This was day two for them. Yesterday, they said they only got 33 with 6 people fishing. Today, they would end up with only 24 keepers in the cooler with three of us fishing.
Made some coffee, fixed some cat food for my half-feral cat, who decided that he would rather live under the house than in the house with the newest dog, “Ella”, and went out on the back deck to check the weather.
The forecast was calling for 7-15mph out of the SSW, this morning. The stars were shining, and the “Sturgeon Moon” was lighting up the entire landscape. The air temp was around 70 degrees.
I was meeting my two-man crew at Catawba at 6:00am. Dan Dagget and his friend, Matt Allen, are down from Wisconsin for three days for some Lake Erie fishing. This was day two for them. Yesterday, they said they only got 33 with 6 people fishing. Today, they would end up with only 24 keepers in the cooler with three of us fishing.
We tried 5 or 6 different spots, with decent marks below us each time, but the bite was slow/tough for us. Lots of missed bites, lots of little itty-bitty fish that went back, white perch, and the ever-entertaining Sheephead. 🙂
The fishing part was fun, with the company I had in the boat today. Dan had contacted me a couple of years ago and scheduled a trip, but Momma Nature said, “Nay-Nay” that day, so when he said they were coming without a boat for three days, and wanted to fish with me, that made me happy!
Matt is a restaurant owner in Waterford, WI….a place called, “Spanky’s”. Their “About” page on Facebook makes me want to take a trip over there, when I’m up in Wisconsin over Christmas! Check this out …(This is not an advertisement…I was just very excited to have someone like him on my boat today. I watch all kinds of YouTube videos of restaurants, owners, chefs, and workers, so it was fun to actually talk to the owner of one.
About Spanky’s Sports Bar and Grill
Spanky’s Sports Bar and Grill, a favorite dining and entertainment hotspot since 2017. In May of 2024, we moved into our new space located on the East side of HWY 36 in Waterford, WI. Our new space provides a larger space , larger kitchen and an amazing outdoor patio, allowing us to serve our loyal patrons and new customers with the same great TLC. Founded by Karen and Matt AllenSpanky’s Sports Bar and Grill has grown from a modest beer and shot bar into a bustling hub for homemade thin-crust pizzas, hearty sandwiches, and mouthwatering burgers, all inspired by Matt’s foodie passion and his extensive travels. A testament to their success, Spanky’s has been repeatedly voted as one of the Best Pizzas in Racine County in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and has become a in-demand pizzas in the area.
They both said they had a good time, even if the catching was tough for us, and I had a good time too. 🙂
I’m available to fish Monday, but then I get to have a colonoscopy mid-week (yay…lol), and Friday through Sunday are scheduled already. I do have availability the 18th, 19th, 20th…and the last week of August, right now.
My next trip is Friday, for walleye out of Vermilion with the Smith family. Jeanne Chapman-Smith is related to my long-time friends and customers, Jeremy and Steve Chapman.
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
Vermillion walleye
Camping at East harbor this whole week. Struggled mightily the first 3 days. Decided to trailer to vermilion and game on. Limit of 12 on Wednesday…
It’s that time again
Perch
My wife and I kept 22 in 2 hours at the F Can today. 7 lbs at cleaners. Returned 10-12 small ones. Shiner/goldie mix from A and J’s. Small pack at F…
Fishing with Lisa and Sandy…8/6/2025
Lisa Wilcox has fished with me a couple of times in the past, and this time she brought a friend from the barn where she keeps her horse. Sandy has never perch fished before, so it was all new to her, but she isn’t new to fishing.
I picked them up from one of Tammy and Mark Collins VRBO’s. The house is beautiful, with old wood trim that has been taken care of, and sits right on the Portage River. The name of the house is called, “Ethel’s Place”.
I told them I would be there at 5:45, since the sun wasn’t going to rise until 6:35, this morning.
I pulled up at 5:36 and texted that I was there, and there was no hurry. But, they were already walking down the driveway towards the truck. Lisa would later tell me (after we had already been fishing for a couple of hours) that she just found my text telling her I was there.
Lisa loves to fish and travels all over to fill her bucket list of species, so I feel honored that she has come back to me, for a third time. She’s a hoot, and there’s no shortage of laughs on the boat, so I always look forward to fishing with her. 🙂
I picked them up from one of Tammy and Mark Collins VRBO’s. The house is beautiful, with old wood trim that has been taken care of, and sits right on the Portage River. The name of the house is called, “Ethel’s Place”.
I told them I would be there at 5:45, since the sun wasn’t going to rise until 6:35, this morning.
I pulled up at 5:36 and texted that I was there, and there was no hurry. But, they were already walking down the driveway towards the truck. Lisa would later tell me (after we had already been fishing for a couple of hours) that she just found my text telling her I was there.
Lisa loves to fish and travels all over to fill her bucket list of species, so I feel honored that she has come back to me, for a third time. She’s a hoot, and there’s no shortage of laughs on the boat, so I always look forward to fishing with her. 🙂
We launched from Catawba at 6:30 and headed towards Green Island. I was surprised to see a commercial net set up in the busiest travel route from the islands to Catawba, or vice-versa. And, I never did find the south end of it, which is supposed to be marked with a single red flag, so someone probably hit it and broke it. I noticed the floats first, but never saw a flag. When I realized what was happening…that I was driving over the middle….between them…which is a no-no. Luckily, we got by it without incident.
There were several other sets of nets set up in another popular spot for a lot of sport fishermen/women…between Green and Rattle and just SW of Rattlesnake…about 1/2 to 3/4 miles away from the islands.
That’s all I have to say on that…
We set up in 29′ of water west of Green. The marks were very good, and looked like lasagna on the screen….my tell-tale sign there’s perch down there.
The spot-lock on the Ulterra kept us in place.
The wind was light out of the southeast, the sky was partly cloudy, and the temp was….I forgot to look, but it was warm and muggy this morning.
I got things ready for everyone and showed Sandy how to hook the minnows, lower the perch rig to the bottom, take up the slack, and touch the line with her finger, so she wouldn’t have to stare at the rod tip all morning. Then, I told her to give it a 3-5″ hop every 5-15 seconds to give it some action.
She and Lisa were using Fishing Addiction Gear Fly Rigs, and I put one of my homemade crappie rigs on mine. Sandy was doing well on the light purple fly, so I swapped out Lisa’s Chartreuse fly rig for another puple, and she started catching better. I had the Ice Blue fly on, which was really good on Monday up by B Can, but I couldn’t get bit on it by Green, so I put one of mine on, which had white beads on it.
Long story short, Sandy would go on to outfish both Lisa and me this morning. We only caught 40 keepers and maybe 10 throw backs…4 sheephead, and no other species, so it wasn’t a stellar catching day, but it was a fun day.
Sandy said it was a lot of fun, and that made both Lisa and me happy. 🙂
They called it when Lisa’s dog became the focus of our attention. You see, he was in his crate while mom was out fishing, so for his well-being, we cut it an hour short to go take care of him. He’s the sweetest dog. A mix of Husky, Boxer, and something else….cattle dog is in my head, but I’m not certain. All I know is he’s cute and sweet. I always make sure to go over and see him when he is here.
We stopped at Port Clinton Fish, Co. on the way back, to have the fish cleaned, and it only took 10 minutes, so we just waited for them before heading back to Ethel’s Place.
Side Note: The picture of the cork coasters that have my logo on it was created by Lisa. She took the logo off my website, and did some laser thingy to it, and gave them to me this morning when she hopped in the truck. I loved the gift, it was very thoughtful.
Lisa wants to come back in the fall to do a walleye trip again, so that makes me happy!
I’m off tomorrow and Friday, but will be back out on Saturday with Dan Daggert, who originally wanted to go walleye fishing, but said if the perch are biting, he would like to perch fish. So, I guess we’ll decide which species to go after on Saturday.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls