Pulled the boat this week and washed it for the winter. I have a fiberglass hard top and there’s lots of seagull poop on top. It is tough to get off. Anyone have any tips on how to clean it? They leave a thick scaly blob behind that is not soluble as best I can tell. I tried soap and scrubbing but too much left behind.
Category: Uncategorized
Reef Complex Eyes?
Anyone doing anything with eyes around the reefs? Not wanting to battle the Huron ramps and I realize
it is “Brawl” time.
Thanks in advance
it is “Brawl” time.
Thanks in advance
Fishing with Dick and Brad….10/22/2024
Dick and Brad are two of my regulars, that I have been fishing with for many years now. They have their own boats, but like to hire me to get a refresher course, on how to run boards and dipsies, from time to time. So, today, we were going after some walleye.
They drove in from Maumee, and met me at my house at 7:15. We drove to the gas station…filled up, got ice, and my usual…powdered donuts, and headed over to Mazurik’s to launch.
My plan was to hit the area around Cedar Point, since I had marked some walleye in that area the last time I was out perch’n. We set up there first, and went for about 20 minutes, with nothing, before I decided that the wind forecast was favorable for a ride out to deeper water to the east. “You guys want to make a run?”, I asked. “How far you thinking, Captain?” Dick asked. “From here it’s about 12 more miles”, I replied. “I’m game”, he said. Brad nodded his head in agreement. So, we packed it all up, and took a ride out to the NE.
Once we were in 45 feet of water, and started seeing some good walleye marks on the Helix, we stopped, and I deployed the Terrova and the baby Merc. The course was set, to continue to the NE, at a speed of 2.3mph, on the FishHawk.
The dipsies went out first, and were set as follows (I use the size 1 with ring):
Zero setting….63 back on the port side and 55 back on the starboard side. (Both would eventually be set at 65 back).
Three setting started at 85 back and remained at 85.
The two setting was eventually set to a three setting, and also running at 85 back.
Spoons were the Yeck D-11s, BadMo Arrows, and Scorpions.
Bill Lewis PWC Lites ran on the starboard side with 2 oz snap weights behind the Off Shore boards at 97 and 81 back (weights put on at the 50 mark).
Purple Tiger and Black Headed Wonder Bread both caught fish.
On the port side, we ran two Bandits at 120 back and 90 back. Colors were RC Crush and that white one with the black dot, that I can never remember the name of…I’ve reported it before. It’s a custom color….sorry…some names just don’t stick with me. lol
Both of those caught a fish, too, but the spoons did 80% of the work this morning.
While clearing lines, Dick brought a fish in without a net, and ended up getting a hook in his finger, but he was able to push it through, and I cut the tip and barb off, so he could pull it back out. Luckily, it was a PWC bait, so the hooks were smaller than what are used on the Bandits….whew!
We had a pretty steady bite, while trolling to the NE, but when we turned to go back the other way…..nada. So, we turned and went NE again, and started catching again. There was a pretty strong under-current out there today. The FishHawk read 2.2, while the SOG was reading 2.6-2.7mph.
Our biggest fish, came, while I was trying to get out of someone’s way, and sped up to 3.5mph, for about 3 minutes. So, don’t think you have to stay slower to catch these fish. Do “S-Turns”, or just bump your speed up with the bow mount controller every now and then, to see what happens. 🙂
Dick and Brad said they had a good time, and will be back again next season, and that makes me happy!
I’m off tomorrow….and watching the wind forecast for Thursday and Friday…hoping to get my Friday trip in either Thursday or Friday. Right now, Saturday looks like crap….again.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
They drove in from Maumee, and met me at my house at 7:15. We drove to the gas station…filled up, got ice, and my usual…powdered donuts, and headed over to Mazurik’s to launch.
My plan was to hit the area around Cedar Point, since I had marked some walleye in that area the last time I was out perch’n. We set up there first, and went for about 20 minutes, with nothing, before I decided that the wind forecast was favorable for a ride out to deeper water to the east. “You guys want to make a run?”, I asked. “How far you thinking, Captain?” Dick asked. “From here it’s about 12 more miles”, I replied. “I’m game”, he said. Brad nodded his head in agreement. So, we packed it all up, and took a ride out to the NE.
Once we were in 45 feet of water, and started seeing some good walleye marks on the Helix, we stopped, and I deployed the Terrova and the baby Merc. The course was set, to continue to the NE, at a speed of 2.3mph, on the FishHawk.
The dipsies went out first, and were set as follows (I use the size 1 with ring):
Zero setting….63 back on the port side and 55 back on the starboard side. (Both would eventually be set at 65 back).
Three setting started at 85 back and remained at 85.
The two setting was eventually set to a three setting, and also running at 85 back.
Spoons were the Yeck D-11s, BadMo Arrows, and Scorpions.
Bill Lewis PWC Lites ran on the starboard side with 2 oz snap weights behind the Off Shore boards at 97 and 81 back (weights put on at the 50 mark).
Purple Tiger and Black Headed Wonder Bread both caught fish.
On the port side, we ran two Bandits at 120 back and 90 back. Colors were RC Crush and that white one with the black dot, that I can never remember the name of…I’ve reported it before. It’s a custom color….sorry…some names just don’t stick with me. lol
Both of those caught a fish, too, but the spoons did 80% of the work this morning.
While clearing lines, Dick brought a fish in without a net, and ended up getting a hook in his finger, but he was able to push it through, and I cut the tip and barb off, so he could pull it back out. Luckily, it was a PWC bait, so the hooks were smaller than what are used on the Bandits….whew!
We had a pretty steady bite, while trolling to the NE, but when we turned to go back the other way…..nada. So, we turned and went NE again, and started catching again. There was a pretty strong under-current out there today. The FishHawk read 2.2, while the SOG was reading 2.6-2.7mph.
Our biggest fish, came, while I was trying to get out of someone’s way, and sped up to 3.5mph, for about 3 minutes. So, don’t think you have to stay slower to catch these fish. Do “S-Turns”, or just bump your speed up with the bow mount controller every now and then, to see what happens. 🙂
Dick and Brad said they had a good time, and will be back again next season, and that makes me happy!
I’m off tomorrow….and watching the wind forecast for Thursday and Friday…hoping to get my Friday trip in either Thursday or Friday. Right now, Saturday looks like crap….again.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
10/21 Perch
Last fishing trip of the year today. Went out with my son. We got anchored around 1. We were about 3/4 of a mile west of Niagara reef. We went through stretches where we caught decent fish and then a lot of short fish. Ended up with 45 keepers in under 3 hours. Threw back more than we kept. One sheepshead, one white bass, two small white perch and two small walleye.
Pulled the boat when we got in. On the way home, got a leak in the transmission cooler a mile and a half from home and my truck stopped. Had to get help from my son in law. He pulled the boat home and my son brought his truck back and towed my truck home.
Can’t wait until April!
Fishing with Logan and Danielle…10/19/2024
I wanted to sleep until 4am this morning, but Ella, my little piggy Pit Bull, decided that 2:30 was a better time for me to get up, and was relentless, so I gave in, and got up. We headed out to the back deck with dog treats and my much needed coffee, and was greeted with a warmer morning than the past two previous mornings.
The air temp was in the low 40s, the sky was clear, and the wind was calm. The plan today was to put the perch rods away, and head out of Huron for some Walleye. It’s been over a month since I had chased the toothy critters, and thought it best to head to Huron, for the best chance at finding some willing to eat.
I picked Logan and Danielle up at the Whitecaps Motel at 6:45, and we headed into town, to hit the gas station for the usual staples, and then headed over to Huron to launch. We were on the water by 7:30. The ramp was pretty busy, but not crazy busy, so it was easy.
My plan was to use the last program I used when I was in Huron last, and just go out and find some marks on the Helix…set up…and start trolling. It worked…lol
Dipsies set on the zero setting started out at 40 back on the port side, and 50 on the starboard side, but eventually were dialed in at 43 on both sides. The two setting was set at 65 initially, but dialed in at 57, and the three setting was at 70 back the entire time.
We were fishing over 42 feet of water to start, and we were headed north, but the marks dried up as we went north, so we turned around and headed back south. Then, when I had to change course for another boat, and headed west, and we started catching pretty fast, so we stayed on that course, over 40 feet of water….until, we were forced to change direction again…and, headed east over the same line. The fish liked the other direction better though, so when we were able, we turned around and did that line again.
The Bill Lewis PWC Lites, behind the Off Shore boards, did the job.
The PWCs were running with 2 oz snap weights (weights on at the 50 mark) at 74, 80, 97, and 100 back.
Speed was 2.3-2.7mph on the FishHawk.
Logan and Danielle had never trolled with planer boards or dipsies before, so after a quick tutorial, Logan was helping set lines like he’s done it before. I was pretty impressed with his level of common sense. I thought to myself, “This young man will go far in life”. 🙂
We had one that broke the line at the tip of the rod, but luckily I had my hand on the line, to take the board off, when it happened, so we were able to handline it into the net. I think it was the biggest fish of the morning, too. I have to replace that rod, because I think there is a knick in the tip’s eye, that caused that. That happens when people don’t stop reeling and reel the snap, and bait up, tight into the eye….usually done out of excitement.
We managed to circle around that area, and stay out of the pack to the west of us, and had our 18 nice eaters by 10:21. Logan and Danielle said they had fun, and learned a lot, and that makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I have a father and his young boy wanting walleye, so we will be meeting at Huron, in the morning.
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
The air temp was in the low 40s, the sky was clear, and the wind was calm. The plan today was to put the perch rods away, and head out of Huron for some Walleye. It’s been over a month since I had chased the toothy critters, and thought it best to head to Huron, for the best chance at finding some willing to eat.
I picked Logan and Danielle up at the Whitecaps Motel at 6:45, and we headed into town, to hit the gas station for the usual staples, and then headed over to Huron to launch. We were on the water by 7:30. The ramp was pretty busy, but not crazy busy, so it was easy.
My plan was to use the last program I used when I was in Huron last, and just go out and find some marks on the Helix…set up…and start trolling. It worked…lol
Dipsies set on the zero setting started out at 40 back on the port side, and 50 on the starboard side, but eventually were dialed in at 43 on both sides. The two setting was set at 65 initially, but dialed in at 57, and the three setting was at 70 back the entire time.
We were fishing over 42 feet of water to start, and we were headed north, but the marks dried up as we went north, so we turned around and headed back south. Then, when I had to change course for another boat, and headed west, and we started catching pretty fast, so we stayed on that course, over 40 feet of water….until, we were forced to change direction again…and, headed east over the same line. The fish liked the other direction better though, so when we were able, we turned around and did that line again.
The Bill Lewis PWC Lites, behind the Off Shore boards, did the job.
The PWCs were running with 2 oz snap weights (weights on at the 50 mark) at 74, 80, 97, and 100 back.
Speed was 2.3-2.7mph on the FishHawk.
Logan and Danielle had never trolled with planer boards or dipsies before, so after a quick tutorial, Logan was helping set lines like he’s done it before. I was pretty impressed with his level of common sense. I thought to myself, “This young man will go far in life”. 🙂
We had one that broke the line at the tip of the rod, but luckily I had my hand on the line, to take the board off, when it happened, so we were able to handline it into the net. I think it was the biggest fish of the morning, too. I have to replace that rod, because I think there is a knick in the tip’s eye, that caused that. That happens when people don’t stop reeling and reel the snap, and bait up, tight into the eye….usually done out of excitement.
We managed to circle around that area, and stay out of the pack to the west of us, and had our 18 nice eaters by 10:21. Logan and Danielle said they had fun, and learned a lot, and that makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I have a father and his young boy wanting walleye, so we will be meeting at Huron, in the morning.
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
Attached Images
10/19/24 Walleye
Make that 10/18/24.
Well the Mazurik ramp wasn’t crowded at all today.
We started on the Cedar Point dump at daybreak. Marked a few on the east side of it so we put down our lines. 2 bandits, 2 spoons, 2 salmos. We headed NNW toward Kelly Island Shoal. We kept marking them, so we kept going in the same direction. It stayed at about 44 fow. After a couple hours of trying various colors, lure depths and speeds, we had marked about 100 big suspended fish but hadn’t had a single bite. Maybe they weren’t hungry after eating all night under the full moon?
By 10am, we reached a position about 2 miles due south of the eastern-most green buoy of Kelly’s Island Shoal. And we started marking a lot more. Kicked it off with a nice 26″ at 10am. It hit on a blue and chrome bandit, 60′ back unassisted in 44 fow going 2mph. We spent the rest of the day going back and forth from south of the shoal to east of it. There are nets to the east so watch out for those.
The hot spot seemed to be a 3/4 mile stretch from 1 mile SE of that buoy to 1.75 miles of that buoy in 44 fow. We marked even more in 43 fow but caught more in 44 fow. We only caught on bandits, and they definitely preferred 60′ back to all other depths. They bit at 2mph and they bit at 3mph and everything inbetween. Almost every color got bit although the blue/chromes and the black-headed wonder bread caught multiple fish. Ended up landing 8 walleye. 2 more got away. And we got 1 white bass. Thye hit there all day long, although a little too far and few between. We did notice one other boat netting one in the same area. There were a dozen boats nearby for most of the day so they must have been having some success.
Back at the cleaning station, a guy said he spent the whole day at the Cedar Point dump and got 11 eyes, 2 white bass, and 1 catfish that looked to me to be 30 pounds.
Well the Mazurik ramp wasn’t crowded at all today.
We started on the Cedar Point dump at daybreak. Marked a few on the east side of it so we put down our lines. 2 bandits, 2 spoons, 2 salmos. We headed NNW toward Kelly Island Shoal. We kept marking them, so we kept going in the same direction. It stayed at about 44 fow. After a couple hours of trying various colors, lure depths and speeds, we had marked about 100 big suspended fish but hadn’t had a single bite. Maybe they weren’t hungry after eating all night under the full moon?
By 10am, we reached a position about 2 miles due south of the eastern-most green buoy of Kelly’s Island Shoal. And we started marking a lot more. Kicked it off with a nice 26″ at 10am. It hit on a blue and chrome bandit, 60′ back unassisted in 44 fow going 2mph. We spent the rest of the day going back and forth from south of the shoal to east of it. There are nets to the east so watch out for those.
The hot spot seemed to be a 3/4 mile stretch from 1 mile SE of that buoy to 1.75 miles of that buoy in 44 fow. We marked even more in 43 fow but caught more in 44 fow. We only caught on bandits, and they definitely preferred 60′ back to all other depths. They bit at 2mph and they bit at 3mph and everything inbetween. Almost every color got bit although the blue/chromes and the black-headed wonder bread caught multiple fish. Ended up landing 8 walleye. 2 more got away. And we got 1 white bass. Thye hit there all day long, although a little too far and few between. We did notice one other boat netting one in the same area. There were a dozen boats nearby for most of the day so they must have been having some success.
Back at the cleaning station, a guy said he spent the whole day at the Cedar Point dump and got 11 eyes, 2 white bass, and 1 catfish that looked to me to be 30 pounds.
Late Walleye
I haven’t seen too many reports on walleye and was wondering if anyone is catching them around the cans or if it is all perch? I was thinking about going out Saturday. I am out of Elkhart and it is a little drive but I always enjoy the chance to get out on the lake. Thanks for any reports, I always appreciate them.
Fishing with Paul and Donna…10/11/2024
Paul’s son and daughter had bought him an adventure for Father’s Day, and he chose a perch trip. 🙂
I left the house 45 minutes early, even though they were staying a mile down the road from me. Now, that the sun is coming up at 7:40-7:45, I didn’t have to pick them up until 7am, but I knew that Wozniak’s Sunoco, was just down the road from the Whitecaps Motel, and opens at 6. They have their own “Minnow Boat”, which means, on the nights the conditions allow, they go out and catch their own Emerald Shiners. Several other places in town do that also….Jeanette’s Bait, A-N-J Bait, annnnnd…(I can’t think of anymore off the top of my head at the moment…sorry).
Anyway, I stopped to get 20 bucks worth of minnows, before heading back to the Whitecaps to pick up Paul and Donna. The shiners were around 2 1/2-3 inch minnows. The perfect size for splitting in two, to use on the hooks.
They were ready to go at 7, so we headed to town for gas and ice.
We launched out of Mazurik’s. The wind forecast was for a southwest wind at 10-20mph. The air temp was around 54 degrees, but was expected to get to 77 by the afternoon. The sky was clear, and the sun was just kissing the horizon as we headed out.
The water temp at the launch was 59 degrees, but the water temp on the lake was a touch over 63.
We headed to the Marblehead Lighthouse area, and tried a spot in the rocks in 23-24 feet of water, but only caught Gobies, White Perch, and Sheephead, so we moved.
It would be a total of two moves before we would stay in one spot, for the rest of the trip. The electronics were showing decent marks moving in and out of the area, over 28′ of water, so we patiently waited for them to find us. We were the only boat east of the pack, and had around 3/4 mile between us.
It started out slow, but every time I would think about moving again, we would catch another one, so we stayed put. (The bottom was on the softer side…it wasn’t a hard bottom, but it wasn’t too squishy, either.)
It paid off…the bite picked up, and the Paul and Donna were enjoying themselves.
We were using some two hook crappie rigs I make, with white beads or chartreuse beads, and using split shiners.
We managed to catch 60, before we had to head in. Those 60 perch went 20 pounds at Port Clinton Fish Co. (So, an average of 3 to a pound).
My Saturday trip has been rescheduled…and, so has Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, thanks to the weather. I hope to be back out for trips, Wednesday through Sunday, though….fingers crossed!
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
I left the house 45 minutes early, even though they were staying a mile down the road from me. Now, that the sun is coming up at 7:40-7:45, I didn’t have to pick them up until 7am, but I knew that Wozniak’s Sunoco, was just down the road from the Whitecaps Motel, and opens at 6. They have their own “Minnow Boat”, which means, on the nights the conditions allow, they go out and catch their own Emerald Shiners. Several other places in town do that also….Jeanette’s Bait, A-N-J Bait, annnnnd…(I can’t think of anymore off the top of my head at the moment…sorry).
Anyway, I stopped to get 20 bucks worth of minnows, before heading back to the Whitecaps to pick up Paul and Donna. The shiners were around 2 1/2-3 inch minnows. The perfect size for splitting in two, to use on the hooks.
They were ready to go at 7, so we headed to town for gas and ice.
We launched out of Mazurik’s. The wind forecast was for a southwest wind at 10-20mph. The air temp was around 54 degrees, but was expected to get to 77 by the afternoon. The sky was clear, and the sun was just kissing the horizon as we headed out.
The water temp at the launch was 59 degrees, but the water temp on the lake was a touch over 63.
We headed to the Marblehead Lighthouse area, and tried a spot in the rocks in 23-24 feet of water, but only caught Gobies, White Perch, and Sheephead, so we moved.
It would be a total of two moves before we would stay in one spot, for the rest of the trip. The electronics were showing decent marks moving in and out of the area, over 28′ of water, so we patiently waited for them to find us. We were the only boat east of the pack, and had around 3/4 mile between us.
It started out slow, but every time I would think about moving again, we would catch another one, so we stayed put. (The bottom was on the softer side…it wasn’t a hard bottom, but it wasn’t too squishy, either.)
It paid off…the bite picked up, and the Paul and Donna were enjoying themselves.
We were using some two hook crappie rigs I make, with white beads or chartreuse beads, and using split shiners.
We managed to catch 60, before we had to head in. Those 60 perch went 20 pounds at Port Clinton Fish Co. (So, an average of 3 to a pound).
My Saturday trip has been rescheduled…and, so has Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, thanks to the weather. I hope to be back out for trips, Wednesday through Sunday, though….fingers crossed!
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
Attached Images
10/9 Walleye (attempt)
Went out this morning with a friend to see if we could get some walleye. Started at toussaint reef. We marked some fish on the east side in about 12 feet of water. Made a run upwind and set up for a drift back through the area casting worm harnesses but didn’t get anything. Ran slowly looking for fish all the way to crib and saw nothing interesting. Continued to flat rock where we marked a few but couldn’t catch. Ran to Niagara and looked but nothing so continued east to deeper water and saw nothing. Decided to run back to round reef where we marked some. Set up and drifted about a quarter mile. Picked up three nice perch and lost a walleye. Made two more drifts through the area to no avail. That was enough for the morning.
The vast majority of fish we marked were hugging the bottom. Had a good breeze that was moving us about .8 mph which felt perfect but not to the fish all morning.
It was still a very nice day on the lak
The View and the beauty
Sometimes it not what you catch but what you view and I find peace in these views.
I did get the 30 yellow gold and this view just made it much better.
Be safe,
~ Water Dog
Attached Images