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Today in one word…..sloooooow! We were in the get ready lane by 6:45 and rollin out the river by 7:05. It was a little bumpier than expected but we made our way out to N about 7 miles. (Keep your eye out for nets in area.) We set up on a SE troll with the waves and got lines set. A spread of spoons and cranks all across water column.

For most of the day we were in 40-43 FOW. Water temp was 55.4. We trolled any where from 1.8-2.8mph. We threw all but the kitchen sink….Bandits, Flicker minnow 11 DDHJ12, Spro, Thunderstick, P10, small spoons, large spoons. We trolled all different directions and just couldn’t find an actual program.

We came off the water at 4pm and only managed 9. 4 shorts, multiple whitebass and too many large sheephead.

Radio chatter (what there was) shared the same experience we had. Hopefully folks had a more productive day than us. Still an awesome day on the water!!

Ran out of Huron Sat 11/9. Got a little later start than usual, but were cruising out the River by 10:55AM and the big rollers from the NE wind kept the speed down headed out. We ran about 6 miles out to the NE and had the lines in water soakin by 11:45 on a westerly troll. Between the rollers from one direction and the wind from another there was a little bit of a washing machine effect and the sea legs took a minute to kick in.

For most of the time we targeted 41-43 FOW. Good marks most of the day. We ran 50 jets off the corners with spoons and off shore boards pulling a variety of cranks. Targeted speed was 2.5 but were somewhere between 2.4-2.8 with the surge from waves. Water clarity was awesome and the surface temp was 59.4.

Got our 2 man in 3.5 hours so it wasn’t a firedrill. We caught 15 on spoons (1 got off and 4 shorts). 1 on unassisted Bandit at 80 and 1 on 50/80 Reaper 2 oz assist. We also had 4 white bass wanna check out the boat before release. Had 3 16″ fish and nothing over 22″. All fish were fat and healthy but nothing big.

Good luck out there!

Things really got quiet on here, when will the walleye start biting around west sister island or do you have to go farther east?

Beautiful weather on Saturday so we headed out of the river at a 25 degree heading and set lines about 13 miles offshore in 45 FOW. Marks were scattered – mostly 30 feet to the bottom. We trolled south using five lines on Big Boards and four dipsey divers – middle size with no rings.

The divers produced most of the fish and small (like 2 1/2″ ers from Seaquest Lures) were best. Purple tape on both silver and copper blanks scored as well as Purple/UV. A few fish came on Bandits, Deep Hit Sticks and a new Rapala deep diver called Gold Digger. Chrome/Blue all of them trolled 150 back since we weren’t turning. Extracted three limits, one gaspergoo and a white perch. Tossed a couple of dinks, but the rest were 19 to 25 inches.

With the brisk east wind we hugged the shore down to Vermillion and set up in 40 feet on a west troll towards Cedar Point. Dipsies with the same purple spoons were hot, but the deep diving GoldDiggers and Hit Sticks got some work. Fire Tiger colors tricked a couple of the bigger fish on Sunday. Had all the fish we needed by the time we were north of Huron staying in 40′ most of the way.

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Justin is someone I met at a launch one morning, a couple of years ago. He is from MN, and has a Vexus DVX22, just like me, so we struck up a conversation, and chatted about the boats, fishing Lake Erie, and other small talk. He said he wanted to hire me, to learn some things, and after a reschedule or two, we finally made it out, this morning.

I picked them up at Bay’s Edge Condos, at 5:30, and we headed to Vermilion to launch. It was still dark when we arrived, but by the time I got the boat ready to go, and everyone hit the bathrooms, the sky was lightening enough to head out.


After we got passed the two bridges, I put the antenna up and got the trolling rods out of storage. I had Bill Lewis PWC Lites set up on the starboard side, and they’re bigger counterparts on the port side. The Lites would be run with 2 oz snap weights, and all would run behind Off Shore boards.


On some info given to me last night, I headed towards the 31/11 line, to see what we could find. There were good marks there, so we set up with the dipsies first.
The zero settings were run at 50 and 55 to start, and the three settings were set at 75 and 85 back.


The PWC Lites ran at 50/75 (weight on at the 50 mark, and then another 47 feet of line out, before putting the board on)…
50/47, and 50/24.
Colors were Purple Tiger, Barbie, and Huff and Puff.


The PWCs ran at 97, 75, and 57 back.
Colors were BH Wonderbread on White, Barbie, and Sunspot.


Water temp in 43′ of water was 58.7 degrees. The Vermilion River was running at 56 degrees.


The FishHawk was set up and the speed was set to 2.3-2.5mph.


Waves were mostly 2 feet or less, but there were enough 3s out there to say it was 1-3s most of the morning.


The wind was out of the ENE at 8-16mph, the sky was mostly clear, and the air temp was 46 degrees.


We made a 5 mile pass to the west and ended it at the 31/16 line, before picking up and heading back to the east, where there were more marks on the electronics.


Capt Gary Carpenter was heard on the radio, saying that they slayed them from the 06 to 08 line…anywhere from the 30 to 33 line, and caught most of their fish on dipsies anywhere from 45-100 back (he didn’t say what setting), so we took a ride back over to the 07 line, before turning the boat around to troll with the waves. We only needed another 13 fish to finish out our 4-person limit, and I figured that would happen before we got to our initial starting point from our first pass.


The bite was better to the east, like he said….so, “Thank you, Capt Gary, for the info this morning”. I liked when you said, “They will ***** at you, if you give info over the radio, and they will ***** at you, if you don’t share info…you can’t win”. lol So, true. But, I’m thankful you felt like sharing…it was helpful.


We set up again, and had three fish in 5 minutes…then, it was back to just a steady pick until we finished out with 24 in the cooler…three shorts thrown back, and a couple of White Bass that wanted to play, too. I’m guessing though, that if I had gone another mile east, and started back west…the bite would have been faster, like the first 5 minutes was. 🙂


Justin, his dad Doug, and Justin’s friend, Jim, had a great time, and learned a lot. They are staying for the week, and hope to get out fishing on their own, with their new knowledge of running dipsies, but the wind looks iffy the next two days, so we’ll see.
I gave them some of the Crappie Rigs that I tie up, so they could try perch fishing around the lee side of Marblehead, during the blow the next couple of days, if the walleye fishing doesn’t look promising.


I don’t have anything scheduled now until the weekend of the 16th and 17th, so if the weather allows, I may get out to do some perch’n with friends. I need to get some more to take up to the family in Wisco for Christmas.

Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Long time reader, first time posting. My brother and I hit the water early yesterday morning out of Cullen Park after grabbing some shiners from Fisherman’s Cave up the street. Set anchor around 8:40AM just west of the second shipping channel buoy marker past the lighthouse in 21′ of water. It was pretty chilly that early in the morning, about 38 degrees. The first 30-45 mins was slow with only two fish, but as the temp started rising so did the bite. We steadily pulled 9-11″ perch with a few 12’s mixed in for 2 hours until the wind kicked up as it shifted from the west to the south. The fishing was not exactly up and down, but every 3-4 mins we had one on the line. Ended with 4 doubles during the trip, those are always fun – my brother fished spreader with bling and I fished crappie rig with a Canadian spreader on the bottom. The bite slowed down with the higher winds, but within 45 mins the breeze slowed down and we started hitting again. However, the size of fish was a little smaller, ranging more 7-9″. Finally the last hour we saw some more of the 10-11″ fish biting. Weather was great, we were the only boat west of the shipping channel, but there was a pack of about 15-20 boats directly across from us on the east side, could not really tell how well they were doing. We finished up with a 60 fish limit of really nice fish by 3:00PM. Threw back a dozen small perch, 8-10 white bass, one 24″ catfish, and a 5″ walleye. Hoping to get at least 1 more trip in before packing it up for the winter.

Frank and Ray are staying at the Plantation Motel for the week, so I asked them to meet me at the Huron ramp at 7:30, so we could be launched by 7:45. However, I got there at 6:45, because I expected the get ready lanes to be jammed up, and I wanted to make it to the front of the line, before they got there. But, to my surprise, it really wasn’t that busy that early, and I was able to get one of the front spots right away. So, I sent Frank a text, and told him I was there, and that whenever they were ready, they should head over. They made it there by 7:15, and we were headed out of the river just as the sky started to paint itself with colors of oranges and yellows, at 7:30.

The wind forecast was predicted to be less than 10mph out of the SSE, which it was… when we left the harbor, and made it out to 40 feet of water, south of Vermilion.
As the morning progressed though, the wind picked up to around 10-15, making the waves go from 1 foot or less, to 1-3’s. We had trolled out to 43 feet of water, and caught 8 fish, before deciding to head over closer to Vermilion. Reason being, Frank and Ray would be using their boat for the rest of the week, and I wanted to see if we could find some fish closer to shore for them. They don’t like it rough, and the wind is supposed to be up the next several days…but, an offshore wind, so they should be able to fish closer to shore.


It was a good call, because I marked fish on the Helix all the way in from 42′ to 35 feet, where we shut down and turned the Vexus around to make a pass from east to west, over the fish I had marked on the way in. There were a lot of fish, but a slow bite. The fish we did catch in that area were a little fatter than the fish we caught earlier, too, so that made Frank and Ray happy.


We ran dipsies with spoons, and Bandits and baby Spros behind Off Shore boards, but the dipsies did most of the work today. We only caught two fish on the cranks (and, we changed them out a couple of times…with and without 2oz snap weights).


While the dipsey depths were changed often, the best leads were the zero setting at 54 and the three setting at 85.


We caught 18, but lost one at the boat, so we only put 17 in the cooler this morning. Frank and Ray said they had a great time, so that makes me happy!


I don’t have anything scheduled until November 3rd now, so it’s time to get some garden work and housework done, before it gets cold.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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I have not seen results from the spring hatch survey for 2024. Did I miss it or has it not been released yet???

Nancy had bought this trip for her husband Sherman, for his birthday present. He is a follower on Walleye.com, and uses my info to help them when hey travel up from the Cincinnati area, to fish Lake Erie. 🙂

I had internet problems in the morning, so I didn’t get to watch the news, to see what the weather was supposed to be. Last I had heard, was that we were not supposed to get any rain. So, I had left the house, to go gas up the Vexus and the truck, and grab ice, before picking them up at the Holiday Inn Express, on the other side of town. I was sitting in the parking lot of the hotel, at 6:45, when I thought I would check the app RadarScope, to see if there was any rain coming for the morning. And, to my surprise, there was a big band of heavy rain headed right for us, and showing lightning in it.


I texted Nancy to let her know that I was there, but would be headed home to put the boat back under the carport, until it passed. Lighting was a no-go. It was moving fast, so I didn’t think it would delay us for too long. I was right…I was back at their hotel a little over an hour later, and we were driving to Huron in a light rain. (So much for my clean boat!)


We launched, and were headed out the river at 8:45…and the rain turned into just a drizzle. The wind forecast was calling for 10-20 out of the SSE, so the plan was to stay closer to shore, and work the area around “The Castle” and “Cranberry Creek”.


We started in 28′ of water with dipsies set on the zero setting at 30 and 40 back, and the three setting at 55 and 60 back.


The Off Shore boards were pulling Bill Lewis PWC Lites on the starboard side with 2oz snap weights at 50/50 and 50/24 back. On the port side we ran two Bandits at 100 and 65 back.


As we moved out to deeper water, when the wind diminished a bit, the settings on the dipsies were run a little deeper.


The dipsies with spoons caught most of the fish, as only three fish came on the crank baits. Two fish came on the black/gold Ripplin Red Fin on the zero setting dipsies at 54 back, but the orange Yeck spoon caught the majority of our fish.


We didn’t catch any big fish, but the fish we did catch were nice eaters, and would make for some great fish fries. We managed their two limits and two of my fish, before we had to head in.


Talking with friends out there that were fishing, too, said it was a slow bite for them, too, but Sherman and Nancy said they enjoyed the trip, even though it was a little slow, and that makes me happy.


I changed my Monday trip to Sunday, because Sunday is going to be a nice day, wind-wise, and should be waves that will be 1′ or less. Monday is going to be 1-3s. My crew is older, and I thought it would be better to go on the nicer day. Luckily, they can switch days. So, fingers crossed, that the forecast holds.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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