Took the first ferry to middle bass at 9:15 huge amount of boats over by the firing range. Packed up like they were perching. I ran back out to east point of middle bass. Started fishing at 11:30. First hour was on fire. Pulling crawler harness with 2oz snaps 40-55’ back of the boards. First pass caught several eyes 15-22, and a couple shorts. Kept 3 17-22 tossed the rest. Tons of farm, and a couple cats. Fish shut down by 12:30. Went over to perch for a bit. Caught a few. Kept 2 over 10. Went back in until 7:00. Finished out my limit pretty quick + more farm, and cats. I will start in the triangle tomorrow morning. Supposed to be an early start tomorrow as per the lunar charts. I will be on the lake at 4:30 fish should start around 5:00. Good luck, and tight lines to everyone going out tomorrow!
Category: Uncategorized
6/19 trolling
Zero breeze means a calm lake but lots of midges, black flys and sweat. Went to D can and found lots of marks and lots of boats, including many head boats.
Trolled between D and E and action was non-stop. Actually took 30-40 minutes to get all the lines in the water. First time pulling the Bill Lewis small cranks (thanks Capt Juls) and they out produced Bandits by a large margin.
All the walleye were smaller, eater size in the 16-20” range. Released a bunch of 14 inchers.
6/20 Casting
Fished E & D cans this morning casting. Steady pick until the wind stopped all together, then slooow and hot! Ended up with 9 good ones before it got too hot to care. Back at the dock by noon. Splash count with weight forward was fun! Fish liked white with red eyes. Tight lines all!
Fishing with “Papa Mike”, Mike, and Michael….6/20/2024
At 2am, it felt like I was stepping into a sauna, when I hit the back deck with the dogs, and a coffee in hand. The wind apps were showing light and variable winds, so I thought the lake would be smooth enough to launch out of Mazurik’s and head out towards the Weather Buoy, and not take forever to get there.
I met my crew at Mazurik’s at 5:15, and we headed out at 5:30. The sky was clear, the air was a humid 75 degrees, and the wind was around 5mph out of the E in the South Passage….NNW on the east side of Kelly’s…and the NNE-E up on the line. Needless to say, the lake was not smooth, and it took us around 50 minutes to go 17 miles. It looked smooth, but the rollers were enough to keep me from going fast, and beating everyone, and the boat, up.
Once we got out there, I wasn’t marking fish, like I have over the past several years, at this time. I silently panicked a little bit, because that was a long run to a spot that wasn’t holding fish.
I decided that the marks we were being shown were enough to set up on, and hoped that they would improve as we trolled, so I got busy. “Do you want to learn how to set lines, and stuff?”, I asked Mike. He replied, that he didn’t have a boat, and didn’t need to learn it, so that saved me a lot of time, and talking. 🙂
I started with the same program that has been working for me, over the past couple of weeks. The “Blue Shiner” Baby Billy PWCs (Bill Lewis “Precision Walleye Crank Lite” for those that don’t know what I’m talking about)….caught the first one at 100 back (50/50 with a 2oz Guppie weight). We saw it, and it was a nice fish, but we lost it. I said, “Good, at least we know there are some hungry fish around”.
I was relieved to have one hit so quickly, while I was still setting lines, because I was marking very little on the Humminbird, when it did. However, I know from past experience, that this has happened to me before…where I wasn’t marking anything, but the bite was good, so I had a glimmer of hope of being able to stay there. And, not have to go find fish. (We had already spent 50 minutes of their time on the ride out).
We started in 42 feet of water, directly south of the buoy, and had the nose of the Vexus pointed SW, at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. When we hit 46 feet of water, there were no marks at all. So, I turned the boat around, so we could get back up on top of that bar, and stay in the 42-44 feet of water. It seemed like it took forever to get back to the right depth, but once we did, we started picking away at them.
However, I wasn’t happy with the speed of the bite, so I started changing up baits. Three ineffective spoons came off the dipsies, and were replaced with “Rippling Red Fins” in blue/chrome, and black/gold chrome (2). The fourth dipsey remained a spoon, but I changed it out several times, until the fish told me they liked the NASCAR “Michigan Stinger” spoon.
The Redfins caught several nice fish, and the spoon caught 3, I think….it wasn’t out that long.
I changed out one black/gold Redfin with a “Baby Walleye” (I think that’s the name) “Yaleye Mooneye Minnow”….and, it caught some beauties.
The zero setting lines, were set at 47 and 54 back. The two setting, was set at 65 back and the 3 setting started out at 55, but when I changed out the spoon for the Redfin, I moved the dipsey to 85 back, and it started catching better.
All these set ups caught fish.
The starboard side ran the baby PWCs at my usual program of “Green Tiger” at 50/80 with 2oz, “Blue Shiner” at 50/50, and “Barbie” at 50/27. Barbie did nothing for a couple hours, so it came off, and another “Green Tiger” was added.
Bandits started out on the port side at 120, 100, and 80 back, but didn’t catch anything, so they were replaced with the “Baby Spros” in “Chrome Perch 50/80, Blue Chrome 50/50, and “Purple Glass Perch” 50/47. These all caught at least one fish each, if not two.
We only put 16 walleye in the cooler today, but we lost 9 nice eyes, so we would have limited there, had we been able to get all the fish in the boat. We only had one throw back, and 4-5 Sheephead, so it was nice having a good grade of fish, that didn’t need to be measured, for a change. 🙂
Grandpa Mike, Dad Mike, and Michael (son/grandson) did a great job today, and kept the mood positive, and friendly, so it was a good time. Michael pitched in, and helped me set lines, after getting some quick instructions, and did great.
It was nice to get the help, since the sun was high, and the heat was getting pumped up. I was drip sweating down my face, which drives me nuts. lol
Which reminds me, I should go take a shower.
Tomorrow’s crew, came down from Wisconsin, and fished with Capt David Kraut today, because I didn’t have today open. I will have them for the next two days.
The weather is going to be hot again, and the winds around 3mph out of the same directions as today.
I think I’ll launch out of Vermilion tomorrow. I’d rather pay for truck gas, than the premium stuff the big black beast on the back of my boat drinks. Vermilion will save me several miles of travel, and I can run the trough out, if it’s out of the ENE.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I met my crew at Mazurik’s at 5:15, and we headed out at 5:30. The sky was clear, the air was a humid 75 degrees, and the wind was around 5mph out of the E in the South Passage….NNW on the east side of Kelly’s…and the NNE-E up on the line. Needless to say, the lake was not smooth, and it took us around 50 minutes to go 17 miles. It looked smooth, but the rollers were enough to keep me from going fast, and beating everyone, and the boat, up.
Once we got out there, I wasn’t marking fish, like I have over the past several years, at this time. I silently panicked a little bit, because that was a long run to a spot that wasn’t holding fish.
I decided that the marks we were being shown were enough to set up on, and hoped that they would improve as we trolled, so I got busy. “Do you want to learn how to set lines, and stuff?”, I asked Mike. He replied, that he didn’t have a boat, and didn’t need to learn it, so that saved me a lot of time, and talking. 🙂
I started with the same program that has been working for me, over the past couple of weeks. The “Blue Shiner” Baby Billy PWCs (Bill Lewis “Precision Walleye Crank Lite” for those that don’t know what I’m talking about)….caught the first one at 100 back (50/50 with a 2oz Guppie weight). We saw it, and it was a nice fish, but we lost it. I said, “Good, at least we know there are some hungry fish around”.
I was relieved to have one hit so quickly, while I was still setting lines, because I was marking very little on the Humminbird, when it did. However, I know from past experience, that this has happened to me before…where I wasn’t marking anything, but the bite was good, so I had a glimmer of hope of being able to stay there. And, not have to go find fish. (We had already spent 50 minutes of their time on the ride out).
We started in 42 feet of water, directly south of the buoy, and had the nose of the Vexus pointed SW, at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. When we hit 46 feet of water, there were no marks at all. So, I turned the boat around, so we could get back up on top of that bar, and stay in the 42-44 feet of water. It seemed like it took forever to get back to the right depth, but once we did, we started picking away at them.
However, I wasn’t happy with the speed of the bite, so I started changing up baits. Three ineffective spoons came off the dipsies, and were replaced with “Rippling Red Fins” in blue/chrome, and black/gold chrome (2). The fourth dipsey remained a spoon, but I changed it out several times, until the fish told me they liked the NASCAR “Michigan Stinger” spoon.
The Redfins caught several nice fish, and the spoon caught 3, I think….it wasn’t out that long.
I changed out one black/gold Redfin with a “Baby Walleye” (I think that’s the name) “Yaleye Mooneye Minnow”….and, it caught some beauties.
The zero setting lines, were set at 47 and 54 back. The two setting, was set at 65 back and the 3 setting started out at 55, but when I changed out the spoon for the Redfin, I moved the dipsey to 85 back, and it started catching better.
All these set ups caught fish.
The starboard side ran the baby PWCs at my usual program of “Green Tiger” at 50/80 with 2oz, “Blue Shiner” at 50/50, and “Barbie” at 50/27. Barbie did nothing for a couple hours, so it came off, and another “Green Tiger” was added.
Bandits started out on the port side at 120, 100, and 80 back, but didn’t catch anything, so they were replaced with the “Baby Spros” in “Chrome Perch 50/80, Blue Chrome 50/50, and “Purple Glass Perch” 50/47. These all caught at least one fish each, if not two.
We only put 16 walleye in the cooler today, but we lost 9 nice eyes, so we would have limited there, had we been able to get all the fish in the boat. We only had one throw back, and 4-5 Sheephead, so it was nice having a good grade of fish, that didn’t need to be measured, for a change. 🙂
Grandpa Mike, Dad Mike, and Michael (son/grandson) did a great job today, and kept the mood positive, and friendly, so it was a good time. Michael pitched in, and helped me set lines, after getting some quick instructions, and did great.
It was nice to get the help, since the sun was high, and the heat was getting pumped up. I was drip sweating down my face, which drives me nuts. lol
Which reminds me, I should go take a shower.
Tomorrow’s crew, came down from Wisconsin, and fished with Capt David Kraut today, because I didn’t have today open. I will have them for the next two days.
The weather is going to be hot again, and the winds around 3mph out of the same directions as today.
I think I’ll launch out of Vermilion tomorrow. I’d rather pay for truck gas, than the premium stuff the big black beast on the back of my boat drinks. Vermilion will save me several miles of travel, and I can run the trough out, if it’s out of the ENE.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Question about Youth Fishing Rules
My nephew and his son are coming to Ohio to fish Walleye. My nephew will of course buy a license. His boy is just under 10 years old. Do I understand correctly that he can fish and can keep up to 6 walleye in addition to those that his dad and I catch?
Fishing with Gary, Denny, and Gina….6/18/2024
The family went back to Wisconsin on Monday, so I had my normal morning routine, of taking the dogs out on the back deck with my cup of coffee, and my phone. I check the weather and wind apps for the morning’s forecasts, and figure out my game plan for the day’s trip, while the dogs eat their morning treat, and carry stuffed animals around, to show each other.
I liked heading out at 4am the day before, so I did it again, and after hitting the gas station for ice, I headed for Huron. The parking lot was empty, and so it was quiet. It was already a warm 75 degrees at 4:30, and the wind was light out of the SE. The app said it was supposed to be SW, but it was definitely coming out of the SE.
Gary, and his Nephew, Denny, and Denny’s wife, Gina were driving over from Norwalk, and showed up at 5am…15 minutes early.
I told them, “We can launch, but I’ll go real slow on the way out of the river…I need for it to lighten up a bit, so I can see out there”.
(I don’t know where nets are being set out there, but I have seen the commercial fisheries boat headed out of the river, each morning.)
We were out of the mouth of the river around 5:20. The Vexus got on plane and headed NNE. I had no where in particular I was headed to, because there are fish all over out there, right now. I just wanted to get to a little deeper water, like 43-44 feet, before I slowed down, to start looking at the fish marks.
It didn’t take long, to just say, “Let’s just start here”, because I had been marking fish the entire way out, and why leave fish, to go find fish. 😉
The FishHawk was deployed, and the speed set with the Terrova, and the baby Merc, before setting lines. This time, I decided to get the Off Shore boards out there first, because trying to get boards out, when the dipsies keep going off…can be frustrating.
I still have the same three Bill Lewis PWC Lites running behind the boards with 2oz Guppie weights, that I have been running the past 5 trips, or so…”Green Tiger”, “Emerald Shiner”, and “Barbie.
Green Tiger ran at 50/80, EShiner at 50/50, and Barbie at 50/27 at a speed of 2.5mph. These ran on the starboard side.
(For those new to this fishing speak… it means, 50 feet of line out…add the weight…let another 80 feet of line out, and attach the board).
Bandits ran on the port side at 120 (outside) 100 (middle) and 80 (inside), unassisted, (which means no weights).
The cranks were getting hit right away, so it took a while before we could get the dipsies out, but when we did, it was the same program I have been running for two weeks, over deep water.
The zero settings were running at 50 and 60. The two setting was at 65, and the three setting was at 55 back. Scorpion spoons and Yeck D-11s were chosen. “Confusion” was a hot one, so we ran two of those., Another one was one I don’t know the name of, but I got it at Hi Way bait, from the suggestion of DJ (DJ Customs), who was working the day that I stopped in. All I can tell you is that it’s copper, with a bit of red, and a black dot…and the back, or belly as I call it, was painted blue.
The wind app was wrong this morning, and the wind it was showing never showed up, so the lake was beautiful, and had a 6 inch chop. There was enough wind that the bugs that tormented us yesterday, were no where to be found today. What a relief!
Denny and Gina are from Arkansas, and had never fished for walleye before, so Denny was hands on learning, this morning, and worked hard to learn as much as he could. They had all caught their limits, and I reeled in three of mine, before Denny said, “If we have a limit, we can go in…I have to clean all these myself”. To which I replied, “Okay, if you’re all good, we’ll head back in, my dogs will be very happy to have me home early”. They all agreed.
They said they had a great time, and would like to come back again next June…and, that makes me happy! 🙂
I’m off tomorrow, to take the new pup to the vet for a check up, some shots, and a chip.
I’ll be back out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I liked heading out at 4am the day before, so I did it again, and after hitting the gas station for ice, I headed for Huron. The parking lot was empty, and so it was quiet. It was already a warm 75 degrees at 4:30, and the wind was light out of the SE. The app said it was supposed to be SW, but it was definitely coming out of the SE.
Gary, and his Nephew, Denny, and Denny’s wife, Gina were driving over from Norwalk, and showed up at 5am…15 minutes early.
I told them, “We can launch, but I’ll go real slow on the way out of the river…I need for it to lighten up a bit, so I can see out there”.
(I don’t know where nets are being set out there, but I have seen the commercial fisheries boat headed out of the river, each morning.)
We were out of the mouth of the river around 5:20. The Vexus got on plane and headed NNE. I had no where in particular I was headed to, because there are fish all over out there, right now. I just wanted to get to a little deeper water, like 43-44 feet, before I slowed down, to start looking at the fish marks.
It didn’t take long, to just say, “Let’s just start here”, because I had been marking fish the entire way out, and why leave fish, to go find fish. 😉
The FishHawk was deployed, and the speed set with the Terrova, and the baby Merc, before setting lines. This time, I decided to get the Off Shore boards out there first, because trying to get boards out, when the dipsies keep going off…can be frustrating.
I still have the same three Bill Lewis PWC Lites running behind the boards with 2oz Guppie weights, that I have been running the past 5 trips, or so…”Green Tiger”, “Emerald Shiner”, and “Barbie.
Green Tiger ran at 50/80, EShiner at 50/50, and Barbie at 50/27 at a speed of 2.5mph. These ran on the starboard side.
(For those new to this fishing speak… it means, 50 feet of line out…add the weight…let another 80 feet of line out, and attach the board).
Bandits ran on the port side at 120 (outside) 100 (middle) and 80 (inside), unassisted, (which means no weights).
The cranks were getting hit right away, so it took a while before we could get the dipsies out, but when we did, it was the same program I have been running for two weeks, over deep water.
The zero settings were running at 50 and 60. The two setting was at 65, and the three setting was at 55 back. Scorpion spoons and Yeck D-11s were chosen. “Confusion” was a hot one, so we ran two of those., Another one was one I don’t know the name of, but I got it at Hi Way bait, from the suggestion of DJ (DJ Customs), who was working the day that I stopped in. All I can tell you is that it’s copper, with a bit of red, and a black dot…and the back, or belly as I call it, was painted blue.
The wind app was wrong this morning, and the wind it was showing never showed up, so the lake was beautiful, and had a 6 inch chop. There was enough wind that the bugs that tormented us yesterday, were no where to be found today. What a relief!
Denny and Gina are from Arkansas, and had never fished for walleye before, so Denny was hands on learning, this morning, and worked hard to learn as much as he could. They had all caught their limits, and I reeled in three of mine, before Denny said, “If we have a limit, we can go in…I have to clean all these myself”. To which I replied, “Okay, if you’re all good, we’ll head back in, my dogs will be very happy to have me home early”. They all agreed.
They said they had a great time, and would like to come back again next June…and, that makes me happy! 🙂
I’m off tomorrow, to take the new pup to the vet for a check up, some shots, and a chip.
I’ll be back out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Walleye west of west sister
Thinking about going out today and trying to get onto some walleye, I’m in the ottawa river and though about making a run out to sputnik and heading east towards west sister, is the action still happening there tight lines
Fishing Day 3 of 3 with Bob, Tom, and Dave…6/17/2024
Sorry, I forgot to post this trip’s report, due to family staying with me over the weekend.
Day 2 we didn’t go. When we got to the launch it was blowing over 20mph out of the SW, and we all agreed that the next day would be better, so no “Day 2”.
Day 3, we launched out of Huron, but ran back to the area we fished on day one, when we launched out of Vermilion.
Same program, speed, and baits.
Unfortunately, life got in the way of this story, but they are planning on coming back next year, so I’ll get a story done then.
Day 2 we didn’t go. When we got to the launch it was blowing over 20mph out of the SW, and we all agreed that the next day would be better, so no “Day 2”.
Day 3, we launched out of Huron, but ran back to the area we fished on day one, when we launched out of Vermilion.
Same program, speed, and baits.
Unfortunately, life got in the way of this story, but they are planning on coming back next year, so I’ll get a story done then.
I just wanted to post some of their pictures…:)
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Fishing with Vito…6/17/2024
I was off over the weekend, while family was here, so I was back to work this morning. The morning routine was disrupted, due to sleeping siblings, and me trying to keep two rambunctious dogs quiet, before I had to leave.
I decided to leave really early (4AM), so they would just go lay down and be quiet. I don’t know if that worked, because I was gone, but it was nice and quiet for me. lol
I hit the gas station to gas up the Vexus, and get some ice for the coolers, and headed back to Huron, where I would meet up with Vito at 5:15. But, when I got there at 4:45, the parking lot was empty, except for one vehicle, which just so happened to be Vito’s. 🙂
“What are you doing here so early?”, I asked. “Dad was sleeping, and I didn’t have anything to do in our room, so I thought I would just come early”, he said.
“Well, it’s still dark, so we have time”, I said. Vito hails from my home state of Wisconsin, fishes with me a couple times a year, and also bought my 2017 Ranger 621, so we had lots to talk about.
We launched, and headed out of the river around 5:15, and marked fish from the mouth of the river all the way out to 39 feet of water. We set up in the 39 feet, and pointed the boat on an ENE troll at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. (Water temp is up to 71 degrees now).
We could only run 6 rods, because his 90 year old dad didn’t come along this morning. He fished with Vito yesterday, and that wore him out. We ran 4 dipsies with my usual program…two on each back corner. The inside rods were on the zero settings, and the two outside rods ran on the two and three settings.
Zero settings were catching best from 50-60 back, and the two setting was run at 65 back, while the three setting ran at the usual 55 back. Scorpion spoons, and Yeck spoons (D-11s) were non-stop catchers.
Two Bill Lewis PWC Lites ran behind the Off Shore boards with 2oz Guppie weights at 50/80 and 50/50, but the 50/80 caught more sheep than anything, so it was switched up to 50/50, because that one was catching nicer walleye.
A big pack of boats began to stack up, straight out of Vermilion, so we stayed south of them, and just kept going over the same fish. We sorted through about 25-30 fish to catch our 12 that went in the cooler, before heading back in at 7:45.
The Midge Fly hatch was brutal this morning, and covered everything in the boat, and us. The kind, where they get in your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears if you don’t cover up. It kind of pissed me off, because I had just detailed the boat yesterday, to get it back to showroom clean, and it’s not clean anymore….stupid flies. But, they are feeding the fish, so I can’t get too mad, when I see fat little bellies on our walleye here.
I’m headed back to Huron in the morning, to meet up with Gary Ebinger, his nephew, and his nephew’s wife at 5:15, to put some more fish in the cooler. 🙂
I hope the flies are less than they were this morning, but I did warn my customers, in case they are just as bad.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I decided to leave really early (4AM), so they would just go lay down and be quiet. I don’t know if that worked, because I was gone, but it was nice and quiet for me. lol
I hit the gas station to gas up the Vexus, and get some ice for the coolers, and headed back to Huron, where I would meet up with Vito at 5:15. But, when I got there at 4:45, the parking lot was empty, except for one vehicle, which just so happened to be Vito’s. 🙂
“What are you doing here so early?”, I asked. “Dad was sleeping, and I didn’t have anything to do in our room, so I thought I would just come early”, he said.
“Well, it’s still dark, so we have time”, I said. Vito hails from my home state of Wisconsin, fishes with me a couple times a year, and also bought my 2017 Ranger 621, so we had lots to talk about.
We launched, and headed out of the river around 5:15, and marked fish from the mouth of the river all the way out to 39 feet of water. We set up in the 39 feet, and pointed the boat on an ENE troll at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. (Water temp is up to 71 degrees now).
We could only run 6 rods, because his 90 year old dad didn’t come along this morning. He fished with Vito yesterday, and that wore him out. We ran 4 dipsies with my usual program…two on each back corner. The inside rods were on the zero settings, and the two outside rods ran on the two and three settings.
Zero settings were catching best from 50-60 back, and the two setting was run at 65 back, while the three setting ran at the usual 55 back. Scorpion spoons, and Yeck spoons (D-11s) were non-stop catchers.
Two Bill Lewis PWC Lites ran behind the Off Shore boards with 2oz Guppie weights at 50/80 and 50/50, but the 50/80 caught more sheep than anything, so it was switched up to 50/50, because that one was catching nicer walleye.
A big pack of boats began to stack up, straight out of Vermilion, so we stayed south of them, and just kept going over the same fish. We sorted through about 25-30 fish to catch our 12 that went in the cooler, before heading back in at 7:45.
The Midge Fly hatch was brutal this morning, and covered everything in the boat, and us. The kind, where they get in your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears if you don’t cover up. It kind of pissed me off, because I had just detailed the boat yesterday, to get it back to showroom clean, and it’s not clean anymore….stupid flies. But, they are feeding the fish, so I can’t get too mad, when I see fat little bellies on our walleye here.
I’m headed back to Huron in the morning, to meet up with Gary Ebinger, his nephew, and his nephew’s wife at 5:15, to put some more fish in the cooler. 🙂
I hope the flies are less than they were this morning, but I did warn my customers, in case they are just as bad.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Kelley’s
Coming up during the heat this week. Any fish around Kelley’s right now? TIA