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many small yellow gold, some nice 9 and 10 inches,
8 keepers on day one and 12 on day two.
so many returns and it looks like next year is going to be good.
golden shiners , spreaders no bling at the honey hole area,
many boats west and not many east of my spot.
educated and returned, next years class looking good.
gut pile says gobies, and there seem to more mayflies working the upper mid range of the water column.

back soon,
wear the life jacket and an engine cut off!
Be Safe,
Water Dog

Rick and Donna are on a road trip for their 41st anniversary next week. Camping their way to NY, Vermont, and someplace else, (I can’t remember), and stopped to camp at East Harbor State Park on their way east. Rick contacted me last weekend to see if I was free today to take himself and his wife Donna out perch fishing. Rick had mentioned that Donna was prone to seasickness, so if it was going to be too rough, we would just cancel.

Yesterday, I had texted Rick saying, “You might want to find something else to do tomorrow, it’s going to be rough, and it’s supposed to rain in the morning…I don’t think your wife would like this trip”.
He texted back, asking if we could make the call in the morning…to which I said, “Of course”.

So, I got up at the usual 2 a.m. time, and hit the back deck with some coffee and two happy dogs. The forecast changed. The winds were not from the WNW anymore, but were supposed to blow from the WSW instead. That’s more doable, but it was still going to be rough up where I wanted to go perch’n.

I was to meet them at Mazurik’s at 7:45, so we could be launched by 8:00. I left my house at 6:30 and drove out to Hi-Way Bait to see if they had any minnows. I had stopped out there yesterday when they had some nice shiners, and bought 10 scoops, so I could freeze them. I just want to make sure I have some bait to use when the bait shops are out of minnows.

They had Goldies this morning, so I bought 2 scoops. I had about 4 scoops of frozen shiners along for the ride, too, so we had plenty of bait.

I explained that we could stick close, so we would be more protected from the wind, and probably find some perch there, too. There would be solid 2s and 3s up the middle where I wanted to go, and they agreed.

There were plenty of fish out in front of East Harbor in 19 feet of water, but more scattered. We tried two spots. The first one wasn’t bad, and we caught fish. We put 10 in the box before deciding to move a little bit. I didn’t bring the Ulterra up and just went slow. We went a little further west and found some more good marks on the Garmin, so I hit the Spot-Lock button. Good marks, but fewer bites. “Let’s try down by the lighthouse”, I said.

As we were headed east, some good marks showed up over 26 feet of water out in front of the Lakeside pier. Down went the Ulterra, and the Spot-Lock engaged.

We would spend the rest of our time there. It was a little rough, but Donna was completely fine and caught fish. The highlight fish of the day was Rick’s 13-incher. It had such pretty colors on it, too. There were a lot of little fish thrown back, and we ended up only keeping 27, but Rick and Donna were happy with that.

They both used “Fishing Addiction Flies”, while I used one of my own homemade crappie rigs with charteuse beads.

It was a fun morning with good company and good music. I could hear them both singing along to my 70s Playlist very quietly…lol It was very relaxing.

“Where’s a good place to eat?”, asked Donna. “The Orchard”, I replied. They’re the best in town, and it’s a beautiful place. I also told them I would discount the price, so they could put that towards their anniversary dinner. (Note: I only did that, because we may have only used a whopping 3 gallons of gas today, and I was feeling generous…lol)
I hope they do go there and enjoy a great meal!

Tomorrow’s got a NE wind forecast, and I was scheduled to take two ladies walleye fishing. We are rescheduling that one for August 31st instead. Where I think I need to go for walleye wouldn’t be fun with a 12-15 mph NE wind.

I picked up a 2-day trip for the weekend, and they are game for either perch or walleye, so I’ll wait and see what the forecast is going to do before deciding which species we will target.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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The weather bouy has not had water temp or wave height now for several weeks.They also don’t deploy it till well after the boating season starts.One of the more important source of information for boating safety and the NOAA can’t maintain it.Thats on top of their worthless wind and wave forecasts.Think they will fix it before bringing it in at season end.I will be watching.

What is your limit for size in western basin we are throwing back 7 1/2 or smaller what is your size limit i caught alot of 7 inchers today but threw them back,also who did not fish today because of the bait situation out west this morning .

The “Back-Deck Forecast” this morning was calling for cloudy skies and light winds out of the east. The wind would die down around 9:00 or 10:00. The air temp was 76 degrees.

After my morning routine with the dogs, getting showered, and loading the boat with misc stuff, I was out the door at 4:30 a.m. I wasn’t meeting the Spieth family (and a friend) until 6 a.m.

I left early, so I could find some live minnows… I remember how long it took me to do that the other day. I got to Hi-Way Bait, but they were out. Matt said the guy that was delivering the load this morning canceled the delivery, due to 80-90% of the Goldies being dead already. I stopped off at PC Party Mart, but by 5:55 he wasn’t there yet, so I didn’t think that they had any minnows….I left. I went to Herb’s, but they were out, too.

I hit the Speedway to get some ice. Luckily, I made a trip to find minnows earlier this week, and froze about 15 scoops, so we had some to use today.

I had texted Laurie to tell her I might be a little late, due to the running around. I got there at 6:20. We loaded up and launched. Laurie, her daughter Jordyn, and their friend Tim were excited and in a really good mood. I heard Jordyn say she only got 3 hours of sleep last night, but she was wide awake now.

The 400 pushed the Vexus at a cruising speed of 25-30 mph. It was a little rough this morning, but not too bad. The east wind pushes against the natural current in the south passage and makes it rougher than other places on the lake.

Once we got to the north side of Kelly’s, I headed towards Gull Island Shoal. I was watching the Garmin as we traveled, and when it marked something good, we stopped. The Ulterra was lowered. When I got the boat to stop completely, with its nose into the wind, I hit the Spot-Lock button… she held perfectly.

I got everyone set up with a rod, some bait, and towels to cover all the carpeting where they were sitting. Perch fishing is very messy, so towels make for an easy clean up. I still have to scrub the boat tomorrow, but it won’t be as bad as it could have been after 3 trips. It’s mostly the floor…it needs a good scrubbing.

Laurie and the young people said they had a great time, and so did I! They are very laid back and have optimistic/positive attitudes. They were a lot of fun to fish with. Laurie has already made plans to come back in October… to do either another perch trip, or…maybe, change it up to walleye. I’ll be looking forward to it.

I was using my own homemade crappie rigs, and they were all using “Fishing Addiction Flies” (also Crappie Rigs). I add the 3rd “Hook On Clip” to the weight at the bottom of the “FA” rig, so that one is lying on the bottom when it’s down below.

The minnows I froze in “Wintergreen Rubbing Alcohol” worked well enough, I guess, because the cooler held 60 fish that weighed 20 pounds at Bay’s Edge Fish Cleaning. They were very happy with the catch today, and that makes me happy!

I’m not scheduled until the 19th and 20th this coming week, so it’s time to clean the boat, clean the house, and weed the gardens. If I get anything for Tuesday, I’ll be sure to post a report. 🙂

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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It was a muggy 67 degrees on the back-deck this morning. There was a light breeze from the SW, and the sky was cloudy. Our perch trip was good to go.

I told Terry and Becky that I would be at the Whitecaps at 5:30 to pick them up, but, as usual, I showed up 15 minutes early. To my surprise, they were already outside and ready to go. I took my time going through town and headed out to Hi-Way Bait to pick up some shiners and some ice. I was hoping they still had some minnows after getting some in yesterday. They did, but there weren’t many left, but enough for me to get 5 scoops for the three of us.
They were a mix of Emeralds and Sand Shiners….I’d say it was a 50/50 mix.

It was still dark out when we got to Mazurik’s. I pulled over near the bathrooms to ready the boat. We would be waiting about a 1/2 hour before launching the boat, and it would be a much shorter distance to walk if they needed to use the bathroom before heading out. I know I always do! 😉

We launched at 6am and headed north… to North Bass. The first area I was interested in was “Lucy’s Point”… (For those wondering what “Lucy’s” is, it’s the green buoy off the NE corner of Middle Bass). Much to my disappointment, the Garmin didn’t mark much there, so we kept going…sweeping the nose of the Vexus to the NW…towards the shipping channel buoys on the northeast side of North Bass.

The Garmin picked up some fish between Lucy’s and the green buoy, so I stopped over the marks and deployed the Uterra. The Spot-Lock was engaged and held us over 26 feet of water. I got Terry and Becky set up with a couple of perch rods, showed them the various ways to hook the minnows, but said, “It’s not a rule. Hook them however you like, but those little Houdini’s will steal a bait quickly if it’s not holding onto that hook very well”.

Terry and Becky love to fish for Crappie, so I only had to tell them once how I work the crappie rig, with its 1 1/4oz pancake weight, to catch perch. The first spot was entertaining, but it was all small perch that we threw back. I think it was 15 itty-bitties caught before the first keeper went in the box.

It was the same story at all the spots…east side of North Bass, in the middle channel between North Bass and Middle Bass, the west side of Sugar Island, and the last spot on the east side of South Bass.

Mostly little perch with some White Perch, Sheephead, Gobies, and one out-of-place Smallmouth Bass were caught.

Becky caught the bass, and while reeling it in, she asked, “Are Sheephead brown?” I looked at Terry and said, “OMG! She’s got a smallmouth!” I grabbed the net and landed it for her, so she could get a picture with it. She put it back in the lake and watched a 3-4 pounder swim off. She was very excited, because it was her first smallie, and Terry and I were very happy for her. 🙂

I think it was the 4th spot in 25′ of water by Sugar Island, where we had just set up, when both Terry and I got our baits down to the bottom… just set the bails on the reels when we both got hit by big bites. Both of us pulled up a nice perch 10+ inches. I thought we had finally found “THE” spot, but it wasn’t meant to be. They must have been the only two large perch down there, because it went back to being little fish, after little fish, after little fish again. (Deep frustrating sigh…)

Terry and Becky wanted to make sure I knew that they were having fun, even though the cooler wasn’t filling up with keepers. “This is more than just catching fish to us”, said Terry…adding, “It’s the whole experience to us. The great weather, the good company, the boat, the ride, the scenery, the birds…everything!” Becky agreed, and that made me happy! They want to come back next season to do walleye, since I told them I would show them how to set lines while trolling.

I have another perch trip tomorrow, but am waiting on a reply from the customer. I gave him tomorrow’s forecast of rain and an east wind, and the info from today’s less-than-stellar catch. I’ll see what he wants to do. I told him we could wait and see what the forecast says in the morning, if that’s what he wants to do.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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Fished this morning.Was able to avoid the rain this morning and started out by old C can again.The grass was gone and had perfect conditions to catch there.Unfortunately the fish didn’t get the memo and only caught 2 keepers in 2 hrs.Made the run east past the weather bouy and fished in 54-57 fow.Took us 3 hrs to finish our 12/30 lbs of fish.Funny thing is we only caught one fish on s spoon.They all wanted worms.A green spoon harness and a gold double Willow harness caught all the fish.Dipsey on 3 setting at 90 and 95 and one setting at 70 did the damage.John reeled in the triple crown today.Reeled in the biggest sheep of the season on a long lead off a board.Then reeled in a small keeper and a branch at the same time.Then reeled in a 90 lead dipsey that spun and prevented the dipsey from releasing and a 26″ walleye behind the dipsey to boot.

Short report today, due to time and stuff to do…

Picked up Mike, Kathy, and their granddaughter, Mariane, from the Whitecaps Motel at 5:30.

The morning start was a fiasco as we tried to find some live minnows….any minnows.The first stop was Hi-Way Bait, but they were out completely. Then, I backtracked to PC Party Mart, and he gave me the last 4 scoops of Goldies that he had (1/3 of them were dead). So, I made one last stop at Bay’s Edge, and she gave me the last 1 1/2 scoops of tiny Sand Shiners that she had. I wasn’t feeling very positive about was in the bucket.

I had frozen ones with me that I froze yesterday, after running around for 3 hours looking for some to freeze. All I could find were Sand Shiners, but that’s okay, because they work, too. I figured we would make do with what live ones we had and the frozen ones, too. So, we headed to Mazurik’s to launch.

As I was getting the boat ready, I realized that I hadn’t picked up any ice for the coolers, and we would need to run back to Hi-Way Bait to get some. After securing the boat back on the trailer, off we went.

As I walked through their door, Dwight said, “We’ve got minnows…he just showed up a few minutes ago”. I said, “It’s a good thing I forgot to get ice, or I wouldn’t have come back this morning”. I dumped the pathetic survivors of the morning’s search, and had Dwight put some fresh clean water in my bucket along with 5 scoops of nice-sized lively shiners. It was a mix of Emeralds and Sand Shiners, so I was very happy with that.

We made it back to Mazurik’s and launched by 7am. I headed to the lighthouse first, and found some there. Not many, but the marks were good. I think they were just not ready to bite yet. We gave them the normal 1/2 hour, and then headed towards Green Island to try over there. On our way, the Garmin picked up on some decent marks just east of Mouse Island, so I stopped to give it a try to see what they were. They were mostly White Perch, so we left and went to a spot south of Green over 29.4′ of water.

As usual, there were a lot more little perch biting, and we threw so many back….If they make it for another couple of years, the perch fishing will be pretty darn good!

My crew was a lot of fun to fish with, and very interesting people. Mike and Kathy live in a cabin in the woods, and are homesteaders to an extent, and Mariane is an accomplished golfer, going to college in Florida. She got a full-ride scholarship for her golfing achievements, too. I asked her what her best score is, and she said a “68 from the men’s tees”. Wow! That’s really good! lol
She’s majoring in accounting.

They had a good time, and so did I. Mike said he wants to go again, but maybe for walleye next time, and that makes me happy! 🙂

I have perch trips for the next three days, so hopefully, tomorrow’s trip is more successful in putting more perch through the “Catch-Counter”.

Stay tuned…

Capt Juls

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Hi All!

Came up this weekend with the in laws and stayed at KI. Me and FIL went out Saturday around 9 to see if we could find some perching action. I had heard good things about W and E of Kelleys and there was a small pack forming right between American Eagle and Catawba so we went and joined that area. Marked some here and there but nothing crazy but decided to just stop and drop anchor over a little grouping of decent marks. Moved once in the pack but the marks never really got better or stayed and we caught squat. It looked like no one else was pulling either so I regretted not making the run to the Cans where it sounds like everyone is crushing them.

We pulled anchor and just drifted 1 long drift from that perch pack back toward Kelleys looking for a walleye or 2 and ended up with 5 decent sized perch and 2 keeper walleye just pulling harnesses on bottom bouncers.

Now comes the question…….Tibbles and Hi-Way didn’t have any minnows Friday when we were on the mainland and KI General Store didnt have any frozen. What’s the best “non shiner” rig/bait when the stores are all out?? I have run into that a couple times over the years and I never seem to be able to get bites on crapie rigs/spreaders with crawlers, wax worms, curly tails, etc. Is it sort of “shiners or nothing” or am I just fishing in crappy spots without shiners and it wouldnt matter anyway?

As always, love any suggestions from this group! Everyone on here is super knowledgeable about the Big Lake and its a great resource to have for this old weekend warrior!!