Summary of a two-day fishing trip for two Iowans:
Day one…
We launched out of Mazurik’s, and headed to the Canadian line. Rigged up with crawler harnesses (Colorado blades), because I figured since the water temp dropped a couple degrees, with the east wind pushing in colder water, from the deep end of the lake, they might want it slower, and meat is always a good attractant.
Water temp was 54.4 degrees.
We marked nice fish up there, but they were not ready to eat yet. I don’t know if it’s that lull that happens after the spawn, or they had fed at night with the bright moon, and clear skies, but they were not hungry.
We made one pass, and called it quits up there. We picked up and moved down to the north side of Kelley’s. After a short pass with the crawlers, I got tired of them, and decided to put on some Bandits, behind the Off Shore boards.
Long story shorter….leads that caught best were 120, 110, 90, and 80 back, at a speed of 1.8-2.2mph.
Best Colors were…
One, I don’t know the name of, or who paints it, (I put it in the photos), was a productive one.
Copper Greasy Chicken Wing (Slim Shady Custom)
Fruit Dots (stock color) “Black Headed Wonder Bread” for us old timers…lol
Blue Chrome (stock)
Barbie (Sorry, I forget who painted this one)
We ended with only 9 eaters…nothing big.
Day 2…
We launched out of Catawba at 6:15 and headed north…staying west of the islands, this time. It was too early, and dark, to see how muddy, or clean, the water was. When the sun got higher in the sky, we would find out. Anyway, I was marking fish for a long ways, before deciding to ditch my first destination, so we could try to catch what I was seeing on the Humminbird.
The waves were whacky this morning. First they were coming from the NW, and then as we traveled further north, they were coming from the NE, too, so it was like a washing machine, at times.
The wind was switching from the NW to the NE, so the lake was laying down, and wasn’t expected to get windy again, until late morning. Waves were 2′ or less, and laying down to 1 foot or less. Loved that, because then we would be able to go in any direction, without having to pick up, and make a run back up, like I have to when it’s too rough to go into them.
The fish marks were too good, not to stop, so the Terrova as deployed, as was the baby Merc, and set on a southerly direction.
We ran the Bandit program from the day before, but added more of the productive colors listed above, and took the less than productive off.
Once the sun came up, my heart kind of sunk, because we were marking fish in muddy water, and I was afraid it might be too dirty for them to bite. But, just as I thought about picking back up, and running to my first destination, which I figured would be cleaner water, Dean said, pointing his finger out the port side, “Number 3! Fish on!”
We stayed and made about a mile pass, before a friend called and said my “first destination” was a good, and they were biting. We only had 6 in the box when he called, so we decided that maybe cleaner water would produce a better bite, so we picked up, and headed further north.
The water did clean up, but the fish marks were nothing like we were seeing in the first spot, but we set up anyway, and made a pass to the NW, but I decided that since the wind was behaving, and the lake was laying down…it would be a better idea to turn the boat around and just troll back to where we started.
It was the right idea, because they did bite, and they bit all the way back down to our original spot. We had our 18 in the boat by 9:45, and headed back in at 10am.
As we approached the launch, David said, “That was good timing, because it’s getting windier”. Smiling, I agreed.
They both said they had a good time, and Dean said he learned a lot, so that makes me happy! I have no doubt they can run their own Off Shore boards with a little more confidence now.
Tomorrow, I have the winner of the South Shore Marine charity raffle, that I donated a trip for…and, two of his friends.
I think I know where I’m fishing tomorrow…:)
Stay tuned…
Capt Juls
