Wife and I went out this morning. Fished a little less than a mile south of B can. We were a little east of the big pack of boats. Fished just over 3 hours and got 33 decent fish. Most were between 8 1/2 and 9 1/2. A few white perch. Two of them were around 4 inches long. Smallest I’ve ever seen.
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Fishing with Dan and Ed….9/20/2024
Yesterday, I got a text from Dan Ireland. He’s a previous customer, from back in May…he and his friend were staying here all week. They bring Dan’s little boat over from Missouri.
“Do you have any openings the next couple of days?”, he asked.
I replied, “Tomorrow or Sunday…I’m perch’n right now”. He said, “Perching is kind of slow for us…we only 6. How about you?” I replied, “We’re only at 21…I’m by E Can…northwest of it, actually, between E and D Cans. Were you at?”
He said, “We are just south of D Can..we will take tomorrow, if you’re good with that. We want to walleye fish”. “Okay, are you staying at the White Caps?” I asked. “Yes”, he said. “Okay, cool…I’ll pick you two up at 6am”.
Later that morning, he was driving his boat down from D can towards us, so I waved him over, and told him to set up right next to us, since he has Spot-Loc on his boat, and didn’t need to throw an anchor…(that would disturb our bite).
We only needed 9 more for our 60 fish limit, and it didn’t take long to catch them.
Dan and Ed didn’t have any Emeralds, so I gave them what I had left of my frozen ones, and two of the crappie rigs that I designed, and make for myself and my customers, and told them to rip the minnows in half, to use. When we left, they slipped right in over where we were sitting, and managed to add to their count and ended up with 52 nice perch, before they ran out of minnows and the bite died. (The bead colors on the rigs we were using were chartreuse or white).
They decided to head back in.
This morning, I picked them up at their motel at 5:45. I had told them 6AM, but they were ready to go, and waiting outside by Dan’s truck, when I arrived.
We hit the gas station for ice, then headed towards Huron.
The sky was just starting to get light, when we got to the get ready lanes at the Huron ramp. After chatting a bit with other early morning launchers, we hit the water at 6:45. I only had a clue of where I was going to look first, and that was NE of the Huron Dumping Grounds. The Helix wasn’t showing many marks from the mouth of the river, out to 43 feet, but when we hit 43 feet, they showed up.
The bow mount was deployed, as was the baby Merc, and their speed set to 2.5mph on the FishHawk (for those that don’t know what that is…its gadget that runs below the surface, to get the undercurrent speed, and temp readings).
We set a course to the north, and marked fish for about 1 1/2 miles, before turning around to go over them again.
The programs that worked this morning were:
Dipsey on the zero setting at 55 back (had two of these out)
Dipsey on the three setting at 80 back
Dipsey on the two setting at 70 back
Bandits behind the Off Shore Boards at 120, 100, and 97 back caught fish.
“IB Infected” (custom color by DJ Custom Eye Lures…Hi Way Bait) Had two of these out, and they both caught one.
“Green Lantern” (Slim Shady Custom) caught one.
The dipsies and spoons far out fished the cranks behind boards, this morning.
We had our 3-person limit by 10:20, and had around 8 throw backs, too. No junk fish today.
They were only good eaters….nothing big, yet.
Dan and Ed had a great morning, they said, and want to go again. Dan was grateful, that I took them to a new launch, instead of back to Vermilion, where I had first taken them…so, they could learn more areas. (I hope they come back, when there are more fish back on the west side, so we can use Mazurik’s or Catawba…it’s a lot closer to home). 😉
I have another perch trip tomorrow, so my fingers are crossed that we have another successful catch. But, this time, there will be four of us, so we’ll need 120 perch to fill our tickets.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
“Do you have any openings the next couple of days?”, he asked.
I replied, “Tomorrow or Sunday…I’m perch’n right now”. He said, “Perching is kind of slow for us…we only 6. How about you?” I replied, “We’re only at 21…I’m by E Can…northwest of it, actually, between E and D Cans. Were you at?”
He said, “We are just south of D Can..we will take tomorrow, if you’re good with that. We want to walleye fish”. “Okay, are you staying at the White Caps?” I asked. “Yes”, he said. “Okay, cool…I’ll pick you two up at 6am”.
Later that morning, he was driving his boat down from D can towards us, so I waved him over, and told him to set up right next to us, since he has Spot-Loc on his boat, and didn’t need to throw an anchor…(that would disturb our bite).
We only needed 9 more for our 60 fish limit, and it didn’t take long to catch them.
Dan and Ed didn’t have any Emeralds, so I gave them what I had left of my frozen ones, and two of the crappie rigs that I designed, and make for myself and my customers, and told them to rip the minnows in half, to use. When we left, they slipped right in over where we were sitting, and managed to add to their count and ended up with 52 nice perch, before they ran out of minnows and the bite died. (The bead colors on the rigs we were using were chartreuse or white).
They decided to head back in.
This morning, I picked them up at their motel at 5:45. I had told them 6AM, but they were ready to go, and waiting outside by Dan’s truck, when I arrived.
We hit the gas station for ice, then headed towards Huron.
The sky was just starting to get light, when we got to the get ready lanes at the Huron ramp. After chatting a bit with other early morning launchers, we hit the water at 6:45. I only had a clue of where I was going to look first, and that was NE of the Huron Dumping Grounds. The Helix wasn’t showing many marks from the mouth of the river, out to 43 feet, but when we hit 43 feet, they showed up.
The bow mount was deployed, as was the baby Merc, and their speed set to 2.5mph on the FishHawk (for those that don’t know what that is…its gadget that runs below the surface, to get the undercurrent speed, and temp readings).
We set a course to the north, and marked fish for about 1 1/2 miles, before turning around to go over them again.
The programs that worked this morning were:
Dipsey on the zero setting at 55 back (had two of these out)
Dipsey on the three setting at 80 back
Dipsey on the two setting at 70 back
Bandits behind the Off Shore Boards at 120, 100, and 97 back caught fish.
“IB Infected” (custom color by DJ Custom Eye Lures…Hi Way Bait) Had two of these out, and they both caught one.
“Green Lantern” (Slim Shady Custom) caught one.
The dipsies and spoons far out fished the cranks behind boards, this morning.
We had our 3-person limit by 10:20, and had around 8 throw backs, too. No junk fish today.
They were only good eaters….nothing big, yet.
Dan and Ed had a great morning, they said, and want to go again. Dan was grateful, that I took them to a new launch, instead of back to Vermilion, where I had first taken them…so, they could learn more areas. (I hope they come back, when there are more fish back on the west side, so we can use Mazurik’s or Catawba…it’s a lot closer to home). 😉
I have another perch trip tomorrow, so my fingers are crossed that we have another successful catch. But, this time, there will be four of us, so we’ll need 120 perch to fill our tickets.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Perch fishing 9-20
Went out today of anchor point marina. 5 guys fished little cedar point 19ft of water and managed 75 perch. Fished from 8am to 1pm. Tough bite. Used pin heads and chubs which they didn’t touch. Old timers used there spreaders I used the new perch rigs with the rooster tails. Didn’t matter. They both produced bout the same. Slow. Anyways mixed bag 22lbs at the cleaners.
Good luck hope the perching gets better. And the bait.
Good luck hope the perching gets better. And the bait.
Manual vs electric fillet knives
Avid perch fisherman here, families choice on the perch, but considering moving to an electric fillet knife. Is it worth my money or do I stick with my manual knives ?? I do all my own cleaning so what is everyone’s opinion ?
09/14-15 Yellow Perch
Had two buddies out on Friday morning, different boats. One caught a limit near Camp Perry range F Can (north east side of range), the other fished nearby and caught 7. Looks like finding active fish was real hit-or-miss.
Perch 9/10 Also
Went out with my wife today. We were a mile southeast of B can. Lots of marks there. Started slow with one nice fish in the first half hour. Moved a few hundred yards south and started picking away at them. We put 15 more in the cooler in the next hour or so and they shut down. Moved several more times in the next hour but never got another fish. Ended with 16 nice perch. Several over 10”. Smallest was 8 1/2”.
Perch 9/10
Beautiful morning on the lake. 1st trip up since late June. 30 gold beauties from 7-11:30. Really nice fish. 12 lbs. Bite was fair until 830 then slow until 11 and boom. Spreaders with no bling and shiners. G can area all by my self. Most boats were closer to G or west of G. Fairly light bite early.
Water Temp dropping
Water temperature in Western Basin has dropped from 77 / 78 two weeks or so ago to 73 / 74 today. Not the 10 degree drop into the upper 60’s needed to really bring on the fall fishing, but I wonder what the fishing will be like next week after this weekend’s unseasonally cool temps with moderately high winds. Should bring the water temp down a little more.
Fishing with Allen and Marilyn 9/3/2024
Allen and Marilyn drove over from Indiana, on Sunday. We were supposed to fish yesterday, but Mother Nature had other plans, and sent us a gusty NNE wind instead. It was a “no-go”.
Initially, we were going to do one day of perch fishing, and one day of walleye fishing. I asked them which species they wanted to target, since we only had one day, and Allen chose walleye, so their day 2 trip was set….walleye it is.
A friend had texted me with some info, from the day before the blow, so that was going to be my starting point, this morning. Crawlers made the most sense, since we had a change in conditions, and what walleye can resist a big fat crawler?
I had told my crew, that I would pick them up at 6AM, but as usual, I got to their motel 15 minutes early…and, to my surprise, they were sitting outside, waiting on me!
I said, “You two are early, it’s still very dark out…we’re in no hurry”. Allen smiled, and replied, “I get up early, too”.
We headed to the gas station, bought ice, and some powdered donuts, and headed to Mazurik’s, to launch. Yesterday afternoon, I got in the boat, and re-rigged all the trolling rods with crawler harnesses. My friend, who had texted me, told me that blue/silver harnesses worked best for them, so when I looked in my stash, I found I didn’t have any blue/silver harnesses made up. So, I made some.
We headed to the east side of Kelly’s, and found the residual waves from last night were coming from the NNE. The flag on the pier at Lakeside, showed the wind was still out of the north. My wind app was showing light south winds. Obviously, the flag was correct. That changed my plan a bit…I was planning on starting SE of Kelly’s and trolling north. So, instead, we went north, to Kelly Island Shoal, to start there, and troll south.
The water temp was 74.2 degrees.
The FishHawk was dropped down to depth, and turned on. The Terrova and baby Merc, worked in unison to keep us at a speed of 1.5-1.7mph. The harnesses ran with 2oz inline weights behind Off Shore boards anywhere from 60-80 back… over 41 feet of water.
The first board out, was running at 77 back…it got hit before the second board was set in place. It was a big fish, too. Allen reeled it in…it turned out to be a big kitty cat. The rest of the 8 board spread was set out. I had marked fish on the ride up, albeit spotty marks, so we just kept going hoping to hit some of those pockets of fish. We did that for too long, though. 3 hours had passed already.
It was time to go elsewhere and try spoons behind dipsies, and some little cranks behind the boards.
We headed east, off the point of Airport Reef, and kept going until we were north of the white condos, east of Cedar Point, and the Helix showed some marks, that looked fishable. The fish weren’t tight to the bottom, like they were in other places, so they should bite.
The dipsies were running on the zero setting at 50 and 55 back, and the other two rods were running on the two settings at 75 back. All four settings caught fish with Yeck (D-11) spoons, and BadMo Arrow spoons. It wasn’t a fast bite, and we only had 2 1/2 hours left to fish, so we were only able to manage one limit, of our three-person limit. But, they were decent fish, so Allen was happy with the catch. He said it made him happy that we made a move, and tried something else, when the first program didn’t work, too.
The weather was beautiful, and the lake only had a handful of boats within viewing distance. Allen and Marilyn said they both had a good time, and would like to do it again, and that makes me happy.
I don’t have anything scheduled until Saturday, which is a perch trip, but the forecast is calling for gusty NNW winds again, so we’ll see. I’ll have to keep an eye on that, and communicate with my crew.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Initially, we were going to do one day of perch fishing, and one day of walleye fishing. I asked them which species they wanted to target, since we only had one day, and Allen chose walleye, so their day 2 trip was set….walleye it is.
A friend had texted me with some info, from the day before the blow, so that was going to be my starting point, this morning. Crawlers made the most sense, since we had a change in conditions, and what walleye can resist a big fat crawler?
I had told my crew, that I would pick them up at 6AM, but as usual, I got to their motel 15 minutes early…and, to my surprise, they were sitting outside, waiting on me!
I said, “You two are early, it’s still very dark out…we’re in no hurry”. Allen smiled, and replied, “I get up early, too”.
We headed to the gas station, bought ice, and some powdered donuts, and headed to Mazurik’s, to launch. Yesterday afternoon, I got in the boat, and re-rigged all the trolling rods with crawler harnesses. My friend, who had texted me, told me that blue/silver harnesses worked best for them, so when I looked in my stash, I found I didn’t have any blue/silver harnesses made up. So, I made some.
We headed to the east side of Kelly’s, and found the residual waves from last night were coming from the NNE. The flag on the pier at Lakeside, showed the wind was still out of the north. My wind app was showing light south winds. Obviously, the flag was correct. That changed my plan a bit…I was planning on starting SE of Kelly’s and trolling north. So, instead, we went north, to Kelly Island Shoal, to start there, and troll south.
The water temp was 74.2 degrees.
The FishHawk was dropped down to depth, and turned on. The Terrova and baby Merc, worked in unison to keep us at a speed of 1.5-1.7mph. The harnesses ran with 2oz inline weights behind Off Shore boards anywhere from 60-80 back… over 41 feet of water.
The first board out, was running at 77 back…it got hit before the second board was set in place. It was a big fish, too. Allen reeled it in…it turned out to be a big kitty cat. The rest of the 8 board spread was set out. I had marked fish on the ride up, albeit spotty marks, so we just kept going hoping to hit some of those pockets of fish. We did that for too long, though. 3 hours had passed already.
It was time to go elsewhere and try spoons behind dipsies, and some little cranks behind the boards.
We headed east, off the point of Airport Reef, and kept going until we were north of the white condos, east of Cedar Point, and the Helix showed some marks, that looked fishable. The fish weren’t tight to the bottom, like they were in other places, so they should bite.
The dipsies were running on the zero setting at 50 and 55 back, and the other two rods were running on the two settings at 75 back. All four settings caught fish with Yeck (D-11) spoons, and BadMo Arrow spoons. It wasn’t a fast bite, and we only had 2 1/2 hours left to fish, so we were only able to manage one limit, of our three-person limit. But, they were decent fish, so Allen was happy with the catch. He said it made him happy that we made a move, and tried something else, when the first program didn’t work, too.
The weather was beautiful, and the lake only had a handful of boats within viewing distance. Allen and Marilyn said they both had a good time, and would like to do it again, and that makes me happy.
I don’t have anything scheduled until Saturday, which is a perch trip, but the forecast is calling for gusty NNW winds again, so we’ll see. I’ll have to keep an eye on that, and communicate with my crew.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Perch 9/1 Toledo Light
Wife and I got our 60 a mile past the lighthouse between 9-2pm. Spreaders with any minnow seemed to be the ticket. Marks were everywhere around the edge of the channel in 20-22 FOW. Started out really bumpy with white caps, then sun came out and wind completely died, lake was flat, It got uncomfortably hot, As I was about to give up the wind and clouds came back and it was on. Got back to the dock at Cullen in time to see the bass tournament boys exercise their patience with Toledo’s finest citizens display their lack of consideration of other humans.
Why aren’t there ramp etiquette posters or tik tocks or however people learn stuff. I don’t know, man.
Why aren’t there ramp etiquette posters or tik tocks or however people learn stuff. I don’t know, man.