Alfie, my 9mo old Golden Retriever pup, woke me up at 1:45 this morning, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I got out of bed at 2am and put the coffee on, did a few chores until the coffee was done, then took a cup of Joe out to the back deck, to check the forecast for the day. The dogs happily chewed their morning biscuit next to the fire-pit, as the flames flickered and danced, pushing the darkness away from us.
The iWindSurf forecast was calling for light winds from the ESE at less than 10mph. Looking up to see the stars, told me it was a clear sky. The air temp on land, would be reaching the low 80s by noon.
I left the house at 4:50 and headed into town to pick my crew up at the Clinton Inn and Suites. I arrived 15 minutes early, and putzed around until they came out at 5:15. We headed to the gas station for gas and ice, before heading over to Catawba to launch.
My plan this morning, was to fish out in front of Catawba, until the boat traffic got busy. I wanted to get one or two passes in before we would pick up and leave to go to another spot, and that’s exactly what we did. We managed to put 6 keepers in the cooler before leaving the area.
Since we were only fishing over 21 feet of water, instead of the 35′ I had been fishing, the leads would be shorter on the dipsies with the zero settings. Instead of 35-40 back, we only put them at 25, and 27 back. Both sported a “Bad-Mo” small arrowhead spoon. One was green and gold horizontal stripes, with a silver belly, and the other was a NASCAR looking color, with a silver belly.
The NASCAR looking color would eventually be replaced with a “Confusion” “Yeck” Spoon….that did well.
The dipsies on the three settings were set at 47 and 43 back. Yeck and Bad-Mo spoons fished behind those. A black/gold “Rippling Redfin” at 43 back caught, too.
Three Flicker Minnow 11s were running behind the Off Shore Boards, on the port side, at 80, 60, and 55. They didn’t catch anything. They were switched out to Bandits at the next spot up north.
We headed north to the area I fished yesterday, and set up with the same dipsey program as the day before. Zero setting, varied between 30 and 40, and the three settings at 47 to 55 back.
The 5 Bandits, however, were eventually all switched out to one color….”Buck Fever” (silver chrome with a purple back). The port side, all set at 65 back. They started out at 85, 75, and 65, but the 65 kept getting hit, so they all went to 65. 🙂
The two Buck Fevers on the starboard side were at 75 and 57, so I left those there. They got hit too.
Dave hired me to learn some techniques and locations. He has a smaller boat, and usually fishes closer to Turtle Creek. He wanted to learn more about the island areas we fish, so on nicer days he can come and fish over here. He was a quick learner, and was setting dipsies and planer boards, like he’s been doing it a long time, even though he’s never used a dipsey before. Joe was happy to sit back and relax, while we did all the work, and reeled in his 6 fish when it was his turn. We all reeled in fish this morning, and had a great time.
It wasn’t a fast a furious bite, but it was steady enough to keep us busy. It was a beautiful morning on the water, too. It doesn’t get much better. 🙂
I have a scheduled day off tomorrow, and my Thursday called to reschedule, due to personal reasons. He will be coming to fish in July instead.
Jen and I are probably going to go catch some fish on Thursday to take over to the “Back to the Wild” rehabilitation center, so the Eagles and other critters that eat fish have a fresh supply.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
p.s…. no fish pics this morning…just eaters, 16-22 inches.
