I have a ship to shore radio, what are the channels I need to listen to? I have heard channel 16 is the emergency channel for notices, are there other channels I need to monitor why on the lake? Is there a certain channel for weather?
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Fishing with Frank and Ray…4/25/2024
Went to bed early last night, in anticipation of fishing this morning, but woke up an hour earlier, so I got up at 2AM, made some coffee, and took the critters out onto the back deck with me.
The wind was out of the north, at around 5-10mph, the sky was mostly clear, with a full/waning moon, and the air temp was a chilly 36 degrees.
The wind forecast for the morning was a light and changing wind…from the north, then, switching from the ENE at 5-10 mph.
I told my dog, “Goodbye, I love you…I’ll be back!”, and headed to the gas station. The truck and boat were already gassed up, so all I needed was some ice, and powdered donuts. “It might be a good idea to stop at Hi Way Bait and get some crawlers”, I thought to myself… in case the crankbait bite was tough after the last blow and cold.
So, I did. Hit Hi Way for 10 dozen crawlers, hoping deep down, that they would all end up doing their thing in my gardens, instead of messing up my boat. It’s not that I don’t like running harnesses, because I do. I make my own, in fact …it’s just that they are so messy, and create more work for me. If I can get away with cranks and spoons all summer…I’m cool with that. 🙂
Frank and Ray have fished with me for many years now, and had this past Tuesday scheduled, but it blew (surprise-surprise), so they took today, since it was available, and going to be relatively nice.
We launched out of Catawba at 6:45, and once the big motor was warmed up, we headed north. The inside water, was chocolate milk, and without a satellite picture to reference, it only made sense to go north until we got out of the dirty water.
It cleaned up a little more, north of Greene Island. I first went up to look near West Reef, but the marks were not what I was looking for, so we went back down into the “Triangle”, and set up on an east to west trolling pass, starting near Middle Bass in 31 feet of water, that had some decent marks. They were scattered, though.
The Terrova and the baby Merc purred along, while I took instruction from the FishHawk, to keep the starting speed in that 1.5-1.8 range. Once adjustments were dialed in, I got busy setting the starboard side.
Frank set the port side, and is already familiar with how I rig my Off Shore boards, so he didn’t need any instruction, to get them out and running. Frank started out with Dead Eyes running at 80, 63, 45, and 32 back, behind the boards.
I ran Bandits on my side, and set them at 97, 77, 57, and 42 back. We had the water column, that was showing the most marks, covered.
We were marking fish, in the range of the cranks, but we weren’t catching. Not only that, but we had nothing in the first three hours, so I made the decision to move. With a relatively calm lake, it wasn’t going to take long to run out to Niagara and C can, to take a look. So, we picked everything up, and headed west.
We set up, near Niagara, over 31 feet of water…with all Bandits. The port side ran at 110, 97, 80, and 65 back (longest leads on the outside). The starboard side ran at 80, 67, 55, and 53 back.
Speed was 1.6-2.0
We would eventually find a spot that was very small, but holding active fish. When we did get bit, it was always a double …two fish, each time. We had two of those, before it ran dry, and I decided it would be a good idea, just to circle on them, since they were showing us they were active. It was a good decision, because we eventually caught their limit and one of mine, before we ran out of time. When I say it was a small spot, it was maybe 1/4 mile long.
The best colors for us today, were:
Mike Schlimgen’s (Slim Shady Customs): (1) Chrome Furmi, (1) Big-Bad-Bill, and (1) Copper Greasy Chicken Wing
Stock colors: (1) Taco Salad and (1) Blue Chrome
Domka Outdoors: (3)Buck Fever
Frank and Ray had a great time, and are planning another trip with me in the fall, so that makes me happy!
Two more reschedules for the weekend, and a dentist appt on Monday, so I won’t be back out until Tuesday.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
The wind was out of the north, at around 5-10mph, the sky was mostly clear, with a full/waning moon, and the air temp was a chilly 36 degrees.
The wind forecast for the morning was a light and changing wind…from the north, then, switching from the ENE at 5-10 mph.
I told my dog, “Goodbye, I love you…I’ll be back!”, and headed to the gas station. The truck and boat were already gassed up, so all I needed was some ice, and powdered donuts. “It might be a good idea to stop at Hi Way Bait and get some crawlers”, I thought to myself… in case the crankbait bite was tough after the last blow and cold.
So, I did. Hit Hi Way for 10 dozen crawlers, hoping deep down, that they would all end up doing their thing in my gardens, instead of messing up my boat. It’s not that I don’t like running harnesses, because I do. I make my own, in fact …it’s just that they are so messy, and create more work for me. If I can get away with cranks and spoons all summer…I’m cool with that. 🙂
Frank and Ray have fished with me for many years now, and had this past Tuesday scheduled, but it blew (surprise-surprise), so they took today, since it was available, and going to be relatively nice.
We launched out of Catawba at 6:45, and once the big motor was warmed up, we headed north. The inside water, was chocolate milk, and without a satellite picture to reference, it only made sense to go north until we got out of the dirty water.
It cleaned up a little more, north of Greene Island. I first went up to look near West Reef, but the marks were not what I was looking for, so we went back down into the “Triangle”, and set up on an east to west trolling pass, starting near Middle Bass in 31 feet of water, that had some decent marks. They were scattered, though.
The Terrova and the baby Merc purred along, while I took instruction from the FishHawk, to keep the starting speed in that 1.5-1.8 range. Once adjustments were dialed in, I got busy setting the starboard side.
Frank set the port side, and is already familiar with how I rig my Off Shore boards, so he didn’t need any instruction, to get them out and running. Frank started out with Dead Eyes running at 80, 63, 45, and 32 back, behind the boards.
I ran Bandits on my side, and set them at 97, 77, 57, and 42 back. We had the water column, that was showing the most marks, covered.
We were marking fish, in the range of the cranks, but we weren’t catching. Not only that, but we had nothing in the first three hours, so I made the decision to move. With a relatively calm lake, it wasn’t going to take long to run out to Niagara and C can, to take a look. So, we picked everything up, and headed west.
We set up, near Niagara, over 31 feet of water…with all Bandits. The port side ran at 110, 97, 80, and 65 back (longest leads on the outside). The starboard side ran at 80, 67, 55, and 53 back.
Speed was 1.6-2.0
We would eventually find a spot that was very small, but holding active fish. When we did get bit, it was always a double …two fish, each time. We had two of those, before it ran dry, and I decided it would be a good idea, just to circle on them, since they were showing us they were active. It was a good decision, because we eventually caught their limit and one of mine, before we ran out of time. When I say it was a small spot, it was maybe 1/4 mile long.
The best colors for us today, were:
Mike Schlimgen’s (Slim Shady Customs): (1) Chrome Furmi, (1) Big-Bad-Bill, and (1) Copper Greasy Chicken Wing
Stock colors: (1) Taco Salad and (1) Blue Chrome
Domka Outdoors: (3)Buck Fever
Frank and Ray had a great time, and are planning another trip with me in the fall, so that makes me happy!
Two more reschedules for the weekend, and a dentist appt on Monday, so I won’t be back out until Tuesday.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
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Trolling with binder clips and rubber bands
What size binder clips are you guys using, I bought the small size and number 14 rubber bands, thinking of putting my tow line right thru the handles of the binder clips. I have heard other guys attach them to a shower curtain ring, does anybody have a picture preferably of how the clips and bands they use
New boat owner & the West Basin
I’ve just a bit of charter experience (10x) in the west basin with worm harness.
Looking for direction (websites or places to call) to get a feel on the “what are they biting on” for early May. Generally speaking, when do most shift from jig to worm harness? Depth? Locations? Am I asking too much?
Shake Down Trip in John’s New Boat
John and I got out Sunday afternoon from 1-6pm.Was cold, cloudy and some wind in the morning, but by midafternoon, the sun came out and the wind died, and it got really nice on the lake. We found a pack of boats fishing some stained water south of south bass, there were good marks, but the bite was not very good. John had been talking about getting a new boat for the past 5yrs, but he bit the bullet this past fall and bought a brand new 30′ Grady White Marlin 300 Walkaround Cabin. What a great boat to fish out of on Lake Erie. We are still trying to figure out some of the technical stuff on it but got the auto pilot working and nice to finally have that auto pilot when only two of us are fishing. We only ended up with 5 fish and we did not see anybody netting fish. Caught a 25 and 24 incher and two 19″ fish and a 15″ fish. Got two on white perch bandit at 80 and one on blue chrome at 90. The other two were with 2oz weight on inside boards. Chrome Marvin 20 then 30 more for total of 50 and humble bee at 20 and 40 more for total of 60.Speed was around 2.0mph.
Jigging Monday 4/22
My wife and I jigged for two hours yesterday afternoon and ended with 4 keepers. Threw a short back and lost two others. A little slow but the gale didn’t help. We were moving about 1.2 mph. Way too fast for my liking. Best color was black with a white eye. 3/4 ounce jigs were too light.
We fished just past the mud line due north of wild wings 2 1/2 miles out. We were a little east of a pretty good pack of boats. 20ish feet of water. Garmin was showing quite a few fish spread out in the general area.
tough day out of wildwings
Saturday April 20th. High wind, big waves, muddy water until we hit clean water northeast of L can. Trolled northeast several hours. 25 – 30 fow, 2 mph, 6 fish , lost 1. black head wonder bread bandit got 4, 65′ back unassisted. Started out by crane beach hoping to find calm water , found all kinds of ropes and buoys, nets I think. Lucky I didn’t wind up any in the prop.
Fishing out of toledo
Got my boat in today, docked a bush marine up in the point, wondering where everybody is picking there fish up out toledo, you trolling or is the jig bite still good, tight lines fellas
Start of 2024 Season and New Used Boat
Made it out Weds and Thurs this week 4/17-18 to start the season. Same story both days. Crossing the brown water in the South Channel I could mark lots of fish but no biters. Arriving on the NW side of Kelly’s I found stained water and a fair number of boats. Not a lot of nets going up but there was some success. I got two fat ones on a pink and yellow bandit (rotten fruit?) 70 back and another 70 for the planer board. 2.2mph by GPS and 1.5mph by paddle wheel sensor. Water temp was 52 degrees at the surface. Fish cleaners was a ghost town so must have been modest success by most.
For you guys with a wife that would like a little more creature comforts than your center console or walleye boat can provide…take heart. We moved up last year from a 23′ outboard center console to a 29′ cruiser with twin v-drives. After a year of fixing and upgrades we feel she is now both comfortable for weekending and competent for walleye trolling or perch fishing. To be sure she is not as nimble as the outboard center console but wind, rain and most rough water are taken in stride. My only strong advice is this…get something with a flat deck between the helm and the stern. Lots of cruisers out there with a step down to trip on when you hurry back to tend a rod that is bent over 🙂 Fuel cost seems like a lot but when you eliminate the tow vehicle and the hotel room it balances out.
Good Luck in 2024 Everyone!!!!
Got my boat in today
Took my boat to the dock today and after getting all the lines set for tying it up we decided to take her out for a shake down cruise.
Guy next dock over had just come in after 6 hrs and had 3 they caught jigging up in Maumee Bay.
He told me I should go east but I went out north of Little Cedar Pt and jigged around for a while and nothing.
Since I had installed a new Panther steering unit I thought I would try it out, so we put out four rods and trolled untill we found some clearer water and boom nice big male on a wonder bread bandit running about 15ft deep.
We caught 8 total most on white with red head and wonder bread, 1 on a carrot top.
Guy next dock over had just come in after 6 hrs and had 3 they caught jigging up in Maumee Bay.
He told me I should go east but I went out north of Little Cedar Pt and jigged around for a while and nothing.
Since I had installed a new Panther steering unit I thought I would try it out, so we put out four rods and trolled untill we found some clearer water and boom nice big male on a wonder bread bandit running about 15ft deep.
We caught 8 total most on white with red head and wonder bread, 1 on a carrot top.