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7/10 report

Sorry for the delay in reporting but you will see why. We had 2 supper fun couples from Southern Ohio and it was there first time Walleyeing.

We headed NE of Cedar Point to 40 ft of water to where we were catching before and ran the same program of Bandits to the Port and spoons to the Stbd and on the riggers. The Bandits back 100 to 120 started getting hit immediately and it wasn’t long until we were running Bandits Port and Spros Stbd and both were steadily working.
Spoons took a few keepers on the riggers but we had to swap Scorpions for Stingers to minimize shorts.

It was one of those magical days on Erie, weather was wonderful and the fish were biting. We were quickly filling the box trolling at 2.2 to 2.4 on the fish hawk. Then all excitement broke loose, every rod was popping. We had 3 on the floor, one in the net, and 2 more rods back.

Best colors were anything green.

Like they say, it is all fun and games until someone gets a hook in their hand. And it was deep. We had 24 nice eyes with 4 over 25, biggest was 27. not too many shorts, 3 sheep, and 1 white perch before going to the ER for hook removal. They said we were the 3rd that day.

We took today off and are watching the wind close and will decide on tomorrow in the morning. They want to fish again. They think it is always as easy as yesterday, lol.

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Fish cleaner

New fish cleaner located in parking lot of happy hooker. George coutcher who used to own coutcher fish cleaning is cutting fish. (George is a great fish cutter) Patricia is new owner and very nice to deal with. They do a great job cleaning fish. Have taken 2 limits of perch and no complaints.
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Fishing with Bill and Max Claassen… July 11, 2023

Bill and Max Claassen, drove in from Iowa yesterday, to fish three days with me. I picked them up at the Best Western at 5:15, and headed to the gas station on the west side of town. I had already gassed the boat and truck up the afternoon before, at another gas station, that saved me money. I only needed ice for the coolers, so it was a quick stop.

We went to Mazurik’s, to launch. We were in the water, and on our way back to where I fished yesterday, by 5:45. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, as we rode north, showing us what a blazing orange fiery ball it was going to be this morning. It was spectacular…the camera didn’t do it any justice at all.


When we reached the line, the Terrova was deployed and the baby Merc fired up. They steered and pushed us along at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. Once the Fish Hawk was set down to depth, it showed a speed of 2.2mph. It was time to set the dipsies.
We ran the same program as yesterday, with the dipsies set on the zero and three settings.
The zero settings started at 40 and 50 back, but the 50 was less active, so I raised that one to 36 back, and put a gold/black Ripplin Redfin on, and it did better than the spoon at 50 back. The three settings were running at 65 and 70 back, and both were productive.


We caught a bunch of shorts this morning too, along with some Sheephead, and one White Bass.


It wasn’t rough when we headed out, but it got rougher as the morning progressed. Just 1-3s with some 4s thrown in for good measure, from time to time, so not too bad, but, it was a little too rough for “Papa”, because he started feeling seasick.


When we put their 12th keeper walleye in the cooler, I asked, “Do you want to move down south where it would be a little less rough, and try for those last 6? Or, would you like to go in?” Bill asked Max, “Max, what do you want to do?”, and Max replied with the usual reply of… “It doesn’t matter to me, whatever you want to do”. Without hesitation, Bill turned to me and said, “We can go in”. So, we packed it up and headed in.


It was a short day, today, but they still had a lot of fun, and are looking forward to going out again tomorrow. However, I will not be going back up to the line with the east winds that are forecast, (12-13mph…1-3s again), and will take them to the west side of the islands for a bit of protection, and smaller waves. I was over there three days ago, and managed to catch some keeper walleye, so I know we can put some in the cooler tomorrow, too. We just have to dodge some early morning scattered thunderstorms first, I think. At least, that’s what the TV Weatherman just said on the news, at noon.
It might be a later start in the morning…I won’t know until the morning, though, when I can look at my radar, and see what’s headed this way.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Need Help locating these Bandits, Please

I have had a ton of luck with the Bandit in the photo. I have been trying to find where to purchase some more. I cannot find them online or in any of the local Bass Pro or Fisherman Central stores. Please let me know if you have any idea on where to purchase. Thanks a ton!

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Fishing with Scott and Mark… July 10, 2023

Scott Smith, and his friend, Mark Delagarza, met me at Mazurik’s at 5:30, this morning. We launched shortly after their arrival, and headed up to the Canadian line, to see if we could find some fish. The Helix lit up with good marks, so we started setting lines.

Both, had fished with dipsies and Off Shore boards before, so little instruction was needed…just a refresher course, since it had been a while since they use different releases on their boards, than I do. I run the OR-18 (Snapper release) on the front and the OR-16 (red release with the pin in the center of it). They use the OR-19 on the front, so they can trip it, and release the front one.
They caught onto the dipsey program pretty quickly, and were very adept at not tangling any lines. 🙂


We ran Bandits behind the Off Shore boards, three on the starboard side and two on the port side, and two dipsies off each corner.


Bandit colors that did well were the Blue Shiner (Original one..not the foil one with the same name), Chrome Barbie, and one I can’t remember the name of, but it’s perch colored without stripes, and has a black “Shad dot” on it. “Green Shad”, maybe? I don’t know. Sometimes, I can remember the name, and sometimes it eludes me. lol


Anyway, we were trolling over 39 feet of water and had the Bandits set at 120, 85, and 65 on the starboard side, and 81 and 70 on the port side. Each one caught a fish, but the Blue Shiner was running on both sides of the boat, and caught 4 or 5 between them at 65 and 70 back. Chrome Barbie caught 2 at 81 and 85 back and the Green Shad caught one at 120 back.


Speed was 2.2 on the Fish Hawk and 2.3-2.5 on the GPS.


Dipsies ran on the usual zero and three settings….zero at 40 and 50. The three setting started out at 47 and 65, but both would be dropped to 70, eventually, and would catch their fair share of fish, too.


The grade of fish was pretty darn good for the island area, this time of year, so we were all happy to see that. We had a good number of young fish, too, that were carefully removed from the hook, and sent back with a kiss, and a wish, for them to survive, and grow up, to be big fish. 🙂


We had their two-man limit in an hour and a half, and then I reeled in 4 of my 6, when the bite slowed way down. I asked, “Do you want to grind it out for the last two walleye? Or, do you want to go try and find some perch?” They decided to go perch’n instead. Long story short…three spots (very good marks in all three spots)…all we caught were three perch, and a half dozen sheephead. It was a bust. But, it was relaxing, and there was good music and conversation, and the guys enjoyed themselves anyway.


I have a three day trip starting tomorrow with a father and son team. I’m not sure if I’ll get back up there tomorrow, due to the gusty SW winds in the forecast, but we’ll see what it looks like in the morning. Wednesday and Thursday’s winds look much better.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Conquest July 5th

Maylfies, high blue skies, variable winds, sparce reports and no recent voyages dimmed the prognosis conveyed to an anxious rooky walleye fisherman on respite from two young boys he has been raising alone. At 6:15 the 250 maneuvered the familiar route past numerous limp ” Old Glorys’ ” through West Harbor. An immediate right out the channels mouth traversed us south of casters on a glassy Middle Harbor Reef an open hazy horizon drew us past a now silent vacationland until boats were spotted initiating and educated 90* turn north in search of marks that the fisherman in the distance had most likely visited recently. 7 miles off mainland, 4 miles east of Kellys’ Dipseys dialed to 2 back 55-65 fallowed by spoons, boarded 40 Trus’ released to 45-65fashioned the same, unassisted Bandits behind boards back 90-100 all deployed at 2.6 mph. Just enough breeze aided the 4 stroke Whaler north unassisted North past drifters and trollers corralling assumed eaters as immediate action perused and the occasional net was flagged indicating success. 4 miles of line checking, real time training produced seven keepers as many juniors and a hand full of other beasts. The track was duplicated three times after brief runs south through the delicious morning air to cull the trips quota releasing as many shorts with few junk to enabling the crew to meet a predetermined noon reunion of pool craving kids with their new walleye enthusiast dad. MadMo Roys’ spoons, Blueberry Muffin stingers, Blue Chrome & Redhead Wonderbread Bandits with few swaps were best at original settings.
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Casting from Catawba?

I’m hoping to get out tomorrow and would really like to do some casting and drifting. Starting from Catawba what are my best bets? I’ve been away for a month. I could troll east of Kelly’s but would like to give casting a shot. Thanks!
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Fishing with Carol and Hugh Gaylord… July 8, 2023

Sorry, I didn’t get any pictures today….my bad.

Carol and Hugh, who live in the Toledo area, drove to my house this morning, to meet me at 5AM. Since the sunrise wasn’t until 6:06AM today, we were a little early, so we took the long way into town, instead of using the hi-way. We hit the Speedway for gas, and ice, before heading over to Catawba to launch.

There must be a bass tournament today, because the Speedway was lined up with them at 5:15.


We launched by 5:45, and headed a little west, to start the morning. Neither Hugh nor Carol, have ever used Off Shore inline planers, or dipsies before. Hugh had limited mobility, so he was unable to do any of the setting up, but he was helpful with the handing off of the net. 🙂


I explained everything to Carol, as I set up the Reef Runner Mag 44’s behind the Off Shore boards on the port side….set at 25 and 35 back, over shallower water, and, then, to 50 and 42 feet back, over the deeper water.
Flicker Minnow 11s ran on the starboard side, at 30 and 50 back over the shallower water, and then taken off, to be replaced with two more Mag 44s at 60 and 50 back, over the deeper water.
The port side ran the blue/chrome and the black/gold 44s. The starboard side ran the blue/chrome and Purple Glass Perch 44s. All four caught fish this morning.


Two dipsies ran off each corner, with the inside rods set at zero, and the outside rods set on the 3 setting. Scorpion and Yeck spoons were on three rods, and a gold/black Ripplin Redfin ran on the fourth.


The zero settings were running at 25 and 27 back, in the shallower water (16-18 feet), but lowered to 30 and 35 when we were over deeper water (27-30 feet)
The three settings were running at 45 and 55 back (Ripplin on the 55), at all times…meaning the depth of water didn’t matter for the three settings….they remained the same. All the setups caught fish.


Speed was 2.2 on the Fish Hawk and 2.3-2.4 on the GPS.


Water temp, west of Catawba, was 75 degrees at 15 feet down (Fish Hawk). I don’t remember looking at the Helix for the surface temp…sorry.


We put 10 eater walleye in the cooler and tossed back a bunch of small walleye, sheephead, white perch, and two big catfish. One was around 5 pounds and the other was every bit of 10 pounds, if not more.


I had been watching my radar app.. (RadarScope-Pro version), to see how long we could stay fishing. The app was showing some lightning strikes in the system that was moving in, so I wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck at a busy ramp, when everyone else would decide it was time to go in, so we picked up and headed in. We were able to load out, prep the boat for the road, and load up the truck, right before it started raining. As we drove out the park, a lot of boats were headed to the dock. So, it was the right move at the right time. 🙂


We were headed to “Port Clinton Fish Cleaning”, when I realized that I handed the cooler down to Carol, but I didn’t tell her to put it in the back of the truck, because I would do it when I climbed down. But, as I was walking down the steps on the front of the boat, Carol said, “How do you like those “EZEESteps”? And, I got distracted, and told her what I thought of them……I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened next…I forgot to load the cooler into the truck. AAAaarrrrgghh!


The sick feeling hit me when we were almost downtown, and I knew I hadn’t put the cooler in the back of the truck, and I know Carol hadn’t, either. OMG! It’s sitting in the parking lot at Catawba.
“Someone is going to take it”, I thought. “It’s an expensive cooler, and has 10 nice walleye in it, someone will surely take it”.
I thought it would be long gone, when we got back there.
To my relief, as we pulled into the lot…there it was. Sitting there, all alone….waiting. Whew!! I didn’t want to have to buy them fish to take home, and I certainly didn’t want to have to buy a new 120qt cooler! So, thank you, to everyone that walked right on by it…I appreciate it. 🙂


My crew for tomorrow wants to reschedule..so I’ll be back out on Monday.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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7/6 report

Went out in the afternoon to look for fish for upcoming guests. We moved them to Monday and Tuesday due to the erratic winds this weekend (they are new to boats and fishing).

There are good numbers of fish north of Kelley’s but the nets are still out there and nets and downriggers don’t mix. So I started looking/watching the Solix as I headed South East toward Cedar Point. Marks here and there until I found a nice pod over some contour changes, not significant so it could be a coincidence. It was a large school over 40 ft of water.

We set up 3 Bandits on boards 115, 105, and 95. And Scorpion spoons on the riggers 25 to 35 down. The verry first board going out did not get half way out before it stopped and headed back with a solid 22 incher. We fished this pod for 2 hours and I don’t think we had 6 rods working at any time. Sizes ranged from 27 to 6 inches, but mostly solid keepers. We released the little guys of course but also 3 fish over 25. We kept 12, 20 inchers for a fish fry. We had 2 other heavy hook ups that pulled coming in. No trash, yooo hooo.

Best Bandit color was Catacomb by far, it caught non stop. We ended up running two of them. No other color produced much but we didn’t have time to try many. Notably Sunspot which has been good, did not take a fish. We only ran Nascar and Chicken Wing Scorpion spoons on the Riggers, both caught non stop. As expected the Bandits caught the bigger fish but the spoons consistently caught keepers also. Speed was 2.2 to 2.8 and didn’t seem to matter. Water temps were in the low 70s.

We did have to dodge a thunderstorm, thanks to radar we could work around it.