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Dragging between Kelly’s and Middle 6/17

Did a late afternoon fish between tip of Kelly’s and Middle Island near the green buoy. Most of the water we worked was 43-47” with a lot of bigger fish hanging near bottom but also some nice fish suspended that were scattered in area. We fished copper backed stinger spoons off dipsies .. seemed like black red and copper seemed to be best. It was a slow but steady pick and we ended up with 7 keepers (3 nice fish over 20 and 4 17”ers) and probably 15 shorts. Oddly the mid afternoon bite was best as we were getting into higher quality fish.. as the day went on we had less of them and more shorts. My guess is they moved into shallower waters to feed.
Tons of muddy water around PIB. We ran until we found clean water and then immediately found birds, including a few white pelicans. There were also some very annoying and seemingly dangerous gill/fishing nets set up in the area… always thought that was illegal in US waters but apparently I was wrong. If anyone has any insight, I’d love to hear it.

Beautiful day on water with some nice bags of fish to show for it.

Also found an Off Shore planar board that someone outfitted with a metal arm on our way home.. if anyone claims it, I’ll get it to you.

Tight lines to all.

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6/17 report

Well we made it back from the mountains. Beautiful but snow in the middle of June is a bit much.

We got off to a slow start. One of the two guests had to last minute cancel due to a family emergency. I offered to reschedule but Tom wanted to fish. We met up at Mazurek’s at noon. What a mess. The weekend warriors out did them selves. All four ramps were blocked by boats because only one person could back trailer and the others did not know how to run the boat. Meanwhile a go fast boat wanted to launch but he blocked the lane so the other boat trailers could not pick up their boats. Nothing was moving. I suggested to the go fast if he would pull up so the others could get there boats he would be able to launch. Go figure, he got shitty about how he knew how to use a ramp. But he did pull up and we finally got into the water, with about a 20 minute delay.

This was our first day back on the water and the Mayfly reports had me concerned. We had a few at the house but not bad, but I know what the hatch can do to the bite. So I headed East and set up on the line North of Cedar Point and worked South East.

We were marking fish deep. We set up 3 Bandits on both sides from 60 to 120 back and put down two scorpion spoons on the riggers at 35 down. The riggers started producing right away and nothing on the Bandits. We swapped 3 Bandits on the Stbd. side for TruTrip 40s. We ran the 100 back with a mix of scorpios and Stinger spoons.

We only caught one eye on a Bandit 120 back unassisted. The spoons caught non stop. But we were getting 5 shorts to every keeper. It was non stop checking for small fish. We had 8 nice eaters in the cooler (low 20 inchers) when the Black Flys came in with a vengeance. Tom would not use our spray because he is opposed to Deet. Me, I love Deet, lol. He shortly decided he wanted to go in.

It wasn’t a great day and allot of work for a 8 keepers.

I’m off tomorrow for Fathers Day.

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Vermilion/Lorain Sandbar June 17

Son and I trolled the south end of the bar along with a few boats drifting. Filled two limits of 18-20″ eyes. Not fast and furious, but got the job done. Both harnesses and spoons took fish. 40 true trips 55-75 back, 2.3-2.5 on the Lowrance. 45-49 f.o.w. Monkey Puke and mixed veggies, along with a purple orange yeck spoon were the favorites.
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Fishing with Paul and Janie… June 17, 2023

I was a little nervous about my customers today, since Paul is 87 years old, and the oldest I have taken out, to date. His daughter, Janie, bought him this trip for Father’s Day, so they could spend some fun time together. They flew in from Nashville, yesterday, so they were both pretty tired, but were right on time this morning when I picked them up from the White Caps Motel. The forecast was looking really good, and other than the thick haze that hung over all the land masses, so we couldn’t see anything but water out there, it was a very nice day.

Waves were 1 foot or less much of the morning, and then, the wind laid down even more as the morning went on.


We launched at Mazurik’s, (Thanks, Mark Greisbach, for dumping us in this morning! I appreciated it very much!), and headed east/northeast to look for fish. I didn’t want to go west, because of the muddy water, and I didn’t want to go straight north, due to the Mayfly hatch happening.


We started out in front of Cedar Point, over 37 feet of water with Bandits behind Off Shore boards and spoons on dipsies, but I realized it was going to be too much work for me, when every time I checked the dipsies, there was an itty-bitty hanging on it.


I wasn’t getting any help with setting rods this morning, so I figured it might be a good idea to head out to the Weather Buoy, with hopes that there would be larger fish out there that were hungry, so I wouldn’t have to keep reeling little fish in, and throw them back.


My crew was up for the 12 mile ride, so I brought everything in, and secured it, and off we went. I didn’t drive fast, because of my elderly passenger. Even though he was spry, and in very good shape, for an 87-year-old, I felt it necessary to be extra cautious. So, we took our time, and eventually made it out to the line.


Again, we set up with Bandits behind the Off Shores at 70 to 90 back, with one at 50/40 w/2oz.
Dipsies were set on the zero and three settings, with the zero settings set at 35 and 50, and the three settings at 65 and 80 back.


I was disappointed in the lack of fish marks shown on the Helix, when we started just west of the buoy, and were trolling towards it….right on the line. My screen was void of fish (Ugh!). Two LEWT tournament boats were going by us in the opposite direction, about 25 yards south of me, and we watched them each pluck a fish from the Lake, and put it in their live wells.


“I think what we have here is a directional issue,” I said. “What do you mean?”, asked Janie. I explained, “Sometimes, the fish like to bite when their food is coming from a particular direction, and we don’t seem to be going the direction they like, right now”. I started to make a turn, and halfway through it, the outer Bandit, which was a “Nitro Shad” color at 90 back, got bit. It was on the slow side of the turn.


Another Nitro Shad, set on the same side with the 2oz snap weight also went back, so Janie was reeling that in while I took Paul’s picture with the fish he just caught.
When I put my phone down to take the board off for Janie, I could tell the fish wasn’t there anymore. “Hit and a miss,” I said. “At least we know they like that color today,” I added.


We spent an hour over there, and I decided it was time to head back towards the west to try over there.



I stopped where I had fished two days ago, and there were a bunch of boats there, so we set up and headed to the west on our trolling pass. We would only catch one more keeper, on the three setting dipsey with a black/gold Ripplin Redfin at 65 back, and a couple shorts. We ran out of time.


It was not a stellar day for us, but they still had fun being together, and enjoying the lake. They both said they would like to come back and try it again another time, so that makes me happy. 🙂


I’m going to go out of Huron tomorrow, with my two day crew of a Father and Son team from Iowa. The weather is looking good for both of their days, and hopefully, we find some fish willing to bite. I may have to pull out the crawler harnesses, if the Mayflies are over there, too, but I’m hoping I don’t have to. Fingers crossed!


Stay tuned…


Capt Juls

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Results 6/15

Lines in the water shortly after sunrise. We were approximately 2.5 miles south- southeast of “Canadian spur” bouy (south east of Kelley’s)
Quit at 10 am with 15 keepers and 13 shorts.
Most of the fish were on disc divers (dipsey, slide lite bite) some on bandits. Not really a color pattern for us.
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Fishing with Dick and Brad 6/15/2023

Fishing with Dick and Brad … 6/15/2023

I’m tired today, and I’m having a little trouble being motivated to write this report, so I’ll just keep it short and give the details of what we used and what caught fish.

Dick and Brad are a couple of my regular clients, that fish with me a couple of times a year. They met me at Mazurik’s at 5:15, and we launched at 5:30. We headed north to the waters east of Ballast Island, trolling north, towards Lucy’s point.

There were fish marks on the Helix, but there were also the marks of a decent sized Mayfly hatch emerging from the mud and rising to the surface.

We set up with two Off Shore boards off each side, along with two dipsies off each corner set on the zero and three settings. The dipsies were set to the usual starting numbers of 30 and 35 on the zero setting and 43 and 47 on the three settings.

Two Bandits ran on the starboard side, behind the boards at 90 (Sun Spot) and 70 (Chrome Pink Panties) back. Two Reef Runner Mag 44s ran on the port side at 50 back…one blue/chrome, and the other the black/gold.

The dipsies were catching fish, and the first one came before we got the second rod out. It was only 16 inches, though, but big enough to go in the cooler. Most of the fish caught on the dipsies were smaller fish…many were from last year’s hatch, so not very big. Some were even from this year’s hatch and only 4 inches long…so freak’n cute. They all got a kiss on their boo-boo, before being sent home to grow bigger.

The Sun Spot Bandit caught a nice one at 90 back (BTW: all the fish caught on cranks today were the bigger ones in the cooler).

After seeing the Mayfly hatch coming up, I decided to make a run to the east, and ended up setting up about 4–5 miles east of Middle Island. (From the reports I’m reading on Facebook, I should have kept going east…lol)

This time, the Mag 44s were taken off, and all Bandits were used behind the boards. Red Headed Wonder Bread at 80 back caught, as did one that I don’t know the name of, but I can best describe it as IB Frozen with a black spot behind the gill. That one caught a couple with a 2oz snap weight at 50/40 (total of 90 back).

Spoon colors that worked are the Red Head Wonder Bread Scorpion, Blueberry Muffin Yeck, Blue/Silver Hammered Scorpions, and one Scorpion that Dick thought was called, “Monkey Puke”…but, after looking it up just now, it’s called, “Frankenberry” .

We were in deeper water out there, east of the island, over 41–43 feet, so the dipsey settings were changed, and we caught fish on the 43 and 50 back on the zero setting, and 65 and 80 back on the three settings.

Speed was 2.1-2.5mph per the Fish Hawk…which was 2.4-2.8 GPS.

Water temp out there was 66 degrees.

Dick and Brad were happy with their trip, and are looking forward to their next one….as am I. 🙂

I’ve rescheduled tomorrow’s client, because he’s one of my regulars, who always brings along different people. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for rain showers in the AM along with NNW winds, so we opted to change it to a day with better conditions for his crew.

I’ll be back out Saturday, with someone who will be my oldest customer to date…he’s 97 years old… his daughter wanted to give him a fishing trip, so it’s just him and her.

Stay tuned…

Capt Juls

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Far Western Basin Fishing

New to the forum here! I have a boat on the Ottawa River and I’m going to try to head out Saturday for some Walleye. Has anybody been out near the Toledo Harbor Light recently? I’d prefer to stay in Ohio waters, but any advice is welcome!
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6/15-6/17 fishing

Hi Y’all. Thank you for the consistent reports. Driving out this afternoon to fish tomorrow though Saturday and headed home Sunday. I see many good reports up North. In your opinion, is there still good fishing from Green/Rattlesnake to the West and Southwest? I will post info and am happy to share info as usual with anyone who would like to.

Thanks!

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Draggin the Line with John 6/10

Went out fishing Saturday with John and his daughter Lauren and her boyfriend Tony. John had them get Canadian licenses so would have less boat traffic. Left the dock at 5:15 and headed east of the bass islands. Treated to a sunrise over Pelee and had a fish in the box by 6am.Headed east, downwind on a long 2hr pass that put 18 fish in the cooler. Had out 4 bandits on inline boards, 2 harnesses on #2 tadpoles at 45 and 2 spoon harnesses on #3 setting dipsey at 40 and 45. They all caught fish. Then we drove out of the fish so far that it took us another half hour to get marks again when we turned around. By the time we got back to the marks the bite had changed too and the fish were deeper. We changed the dipseys to a 60 lead and added a third dipsey at #1 setting at 40. Changed the harnesses to 60 but left out the original 3 bandits at 100,80 and 55. The bandits did not catch another fish…should have added a weight to them but was still getting marks at 20ft so left them there. We caught our final fish by 11am all on the deeper spoons and harnesses. Our 24 weighed 62lbs. Speed was around 2. 3mph.Caught our first 3 shorts of season and 2 white perch. Biggest was 25″. Also got a close up look at the white pelicans when a commercial boat dumped some junk fish in water in front of us. The birds had a field day.