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Woke up a little before 2am, grabbed my cup of coffee, some dog treats, and hit the back deck with the dogs. The forecast for the day was calling for some fog in the morning, which would burn off by 11am. But it wasn’t foggy at 2am. The sky was clear, and the stars were shining. The wind was light out of the west and would switch to the east at about 5am. That’s when the fog rolled in.

I picked up Bill and Glen at the Whitecaps Motel at 6am, and we headed into town to hit the gas station for some ice, and then headed to Mazurik’s to launch. There were already a lot of boats ahead of us, but it wasn’t bad. Everyone was quick at the docks, so everyone was able to launch at a steady pace.

I was kind of annoyed by how many didn’t have their navigation lights on, since it was so foggy, and reminded a few that they should turn them on. One got annoyed that I was telling him to turn them on. lol Common sense isn’t so common anymore, I think.

Anyway….

We headed north and fished between the islands. It was slow going at first, but there were areas that had better visibility, so we were able to get going faster until visibility diminished again, and then we would slow down. As soon as I started marking some fish, we stopped to set up.

I was generously given some WalleyeX crankbaits by Justin Sieverding to try out, so I put 4 “Renegade” colors on the starboard side. Bandits would run on the port side. All would run behind the Off Shore boards.

Since it was so calm this morning, Bill and Glen were able to stand up in the boat this time. Last time it was rough, and they didn’t stay vertical for very long, so I ended up setting all the lines for them. This time, Bill wanted to learn how to do it, so I had him set lines on the port side, after showing him how to attach the boards properly on the first one. He did great and caught on very quickly.

The Bandits were unassisted and set at 100 back on the outside board, 80 back on the next one, then 60 back, and 50 back on the inside boards.
From outside to inside, the colors were:
“Whiskey and Water” (SlimShadyCustom)
“RC Crush” (DJ CustomEyeLures)
Blue/Chrome
Khaki

The WalleyeX lures ran both assisted and unassisted:
“Craw” was 81 back unassisted on the outside board
“Chrom Tiger” was run 50/15 with 2oz (total line out 65)
“Horizon” was 50/17 2oz
“Goblin” was 50/40 2oz

The water temp on the surface was 47.5 and 49 degrees at 18 feet down.

The FishHawk was reading 1.9mph, while the SOG was 2.2-2.3mph. I kept the speed at 1.9 all morning, and we went 18 for 21 fish by 9:30.
We worked about a 3/4 mile stretch before turning around and going over the same line again. We would make 4 passes over that line, and then we would be done.

It was a fun morning, and Bill and Glen couldn’t have been happier with our catch. They kept talking about the size of the walleye here, compared to lakes they normally fish, and were thrilled with the “Good Eaters” we put in the cooler. 🙂

It felt good to get back on the lake today, since I had cancelled the three-day trip earlier in the week, due to the forecast. I’m kind of kicking myself for that one, but it was iffy, so it is what it is. It happens.

My next crew is coming in for a three-day trip, Monday through Wednesday. Monday morning is supposed to have a low of 27 degrees and a high of 47 with light NW winds….brrrrr! It was showing gusty NW winds earlier, but changed, so we’ll see if it changes again. Tuesday is showing gusty S winds from 20-35, and wednesday is showing ENE 16-18mph. But this is Ohio, and it’s going to change daily, so we’ll see what happens. I call them and let them know what’s up…I’m not sure how far they are coming from.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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Such strange weather the we have been having, good to see the rain for the lake levels.

Will do some hunting and see if I can get some good news and reports.

Back soon,

Water Dog,
be safe and wear that life jacket!

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Bill and Glen had scheduled a 2-day trip for Tuesday and Wednesday (4/7-4/8), but Tuesday showed up with freezing temps and gusty winds, so we rescheduled that trip to the 18th. We did get out for Wednesday’s trip, though.

The morning started early, as usual, and I was up at 2am to have my coffee and cuddle time out on the back deck with the dogs, while I checked the weather forecast for the day. The wind forecast was out of the SE, and a little gusty early, but would be lying down towards late morning. The temps were chilly early, but would also be rising as the morning went on.

I told them that we would be doing a later start, and I would pick them up at 8:20 from the Whitecaps Motel, so we could launch by 9am. We only had to stop for ice for the fish cooler.

We hit Mazurik’s on time and got in line to ready the boat. The ramp was busy, due to the NWT tournament guys launching and all of the out-of-staters, who are taking advantage of some open water vacations, due to ice-covered lakes back home. 🙂

Luckily, all these guys know how to launch boats quickly, so it wasn’t a problem getting on the water in a timely fashion.

We headed out after the V-10 warmed up enough, and headed over towards Starve, but when we got closer, I didn’t like the water clarity, so I turned the Vexus to the NE to look for better-looking water with some marks in it.
There were a lot of boats trolling the north side of Kelly’s, but as I passed that way, I wasn’t seeing the marks on the Garmin that would make me stop and start fishing in that crowd. (I don’t like crowds).

We kept going east until we hit the bottom of Kelly Island Shoal, and started marking some good fish. I kept going east past the shoal until the marks ran out, and turned the boat around to head west. The waves were more east than SE, so we would be going with the waves.

The Ulttera and the baby Merc were deployed, as was the FishHawk, and the speed was set to 1.2 on the FishHawk. The SOG was showing 1.7mph when the FishHawk was showing 1.2mph.

The water was stained, but I could make out the prop, so it was perfect.

My guys had never run Off Shore boards before, so as I set lines, I showed them how to attach them to the lines. But, as it would turn out, they were more than happy to just let me set lines all morning, due to it being kind of rough, and they were having trouble standing up in the boat.

We started out with Bandits on the starboard side and P-10s with 2oz snap weights on the port side. Leads were:
Bandits: 50-100 back unassisted
P-10s: 20/20, 30/30, 40/40, 30/45

Bandit colors were Taco Salad, Blue/Chrome, Chrome Barbie, and Khaki
P-10s: Marvin, Blue/Chrome, Purple-headed wonder bread, and Lime/Orange throat

We caught the first fish before all the lines were set, and then nothing….deep sigh.
I said (chuckling), “I hate when that happens…makes it feel like a tournament day”. It was time to move, because we were heading back into the minefield of boats, and I wasn’t about to deal with that.

We picked everything up and headed down to the SE side of Kelly’s, where there were fewer boats, and much better marks. After resetting lines again, removing the P-10s and replacing them with more Bandits, we hit a pocket of fish that put a quick 5 more walleye in the cooler. Bill and Glen were giggling like school boys with that kind of action….and, then, as we trolled further NW….nothing. Ooof!

We picked up one more time and headed further SE to make another pass in a more westerly direction than NW, and that turned out to be the right decision, as we would end up putting the rest of their limit in the cooler and a few of mine too, before heading back in.

The best leads that ended up catching the most fish were 85 and 115 back. Slim Shady Customs’ Gender Reveal and Fermi were good producers, as was the stock blue/chrome and chromeBarbie. Khaki let me down, and didn’t catch one fish this time. Taco Salad caught a couple, and DJ Custom’s RC Crush caught, but was put out kind of late, so it didn’t have time to show how well it would have done.

We headed back in around 2:15, and I had an issue at the ramp. I loaded the boat on the trailer, but hit the roller wrong, so I backed off to try again, and when I did that…for some reason the power steering went out on the Big V, and it was hard to steer it. It took all of my strength to turn the motor, but I was able to get it back on the trailer and hooked up this time.

I called Dubbert’s as soon as we stopped at Port Clinton Fish, Co. to have the fish cleaned, and explained what happened, and that I didn’t have a trip scheduled until Saturday, and asked if they could take a look at it for me. They said they could, and that I should bring it in first thing in the morning. Whew! That’s a load off my chest! I didn’t want to have to drive it two hours to the other Fisherman’s Central store, where they have a service dept. (The store here in PC doesn’t have a service dept). So, all’s well that ends well…I’m hoping it was just a fuse. A fuse that I don’t know where it resides, or something else that’s not too hard to fix. Fingers crossed!

My next crew are locals, so looking at Friday’s forecast, calling for gusty winds and some rain, we rescheduled for Saturday instead.

Stay tuned….

Capt Juls

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What is latest greatest fish hawk I looked at the x2 system I like not having to run a down rigger or mounting anything on my boat is there a better system out there now that uses a smaller rod with the transducer and better battery life I don?t want to buy outdated thanks in advance

Has anyone tried these lures? I have been looking for them but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I look. I would have thought the stores would be loaded up with inventory this time of year.

anyone know dredging plans for entrance if any thx