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Fishing with Chris, Dave, and JP… June 9, 2023

Started the morning off with a little entertainment from my nightly critters, that visit my porch buffet. Two Opossums wandered up on the porch, while I was watering the garden next to my boat. They never noticed me, so I kept quiet to watch them. They were two full-grown adults….cute as could be! At one point, I was talking to them, and they were oblivious to me. Then, Dexter started barking at them through the front door, and that big fella just looked at Dexter as if to say, “Yeah, buddy, I hear you, but I’m hungry, and I know you can’t get to me, so I’m just going to keep eating”….and, he did. 🙂

When I finally got back in the house, I got ready, and said my goodbyes to my pups and off I went to pick up my Wisco crew from the White Caps. I told them I would be there at 5AM, but got there at 5:45, because I had to dig out some window washer fluid to fill my truck’s washer reservoir. I got tired of the flashing warning telling me it was empty.


To my surprise, my crew was already outside waiting for me. I finished my task, and we headed into town to fill up the Vexus and truck with gas, and get some ice for the cooler. Then, we headed to Mazurik’s to launch. It was 5:30 when we hit the water and headed to the north.


It was a little rough this morning, but not too bad….just 1 to 3s. I was trying to decide where I wanted to start and headed towards Middle Island, but the lack of marks on the Helix had me turning west as we got closer to the border. I set the boat down when I started marking some fish, and pointed the Terrova south, with the baby Merc pushing us at a speed of 2.2-2.3mph (Fish Hawk speed was 2.0mph).


We went through a lot of different crankbaits, and here’s what caught today…


IB Infected (DJ Custom color) Bandit at 60 back behind the Off Shore board.
Green Clown (stock color) Bandit at 50 back


Reef Runner Mag 44 in Black/Gold, Blue/Chrome, and Purple Glass Perch (60, 50, 40 back…longest lead on the outside board). The Blue/Chrome at 50 back caught two.


Baby Spros (the 85s) in Chrome Perch, Blue/Chrome, and Purple Glass Perch (60, 50, 47 back)


Crankbaits caught the bigger fish today, but the numbers came on the dipsies on the zero and three settings. Zero settings at 27 and 30 and the three settings at 43 and 47 back. Yeck, BadMo Arrow, and Scorpion spoons worked today. All different colors were working, but if the spoon had dots on it, it seemed to work better.


We were fishing over 30-31 feet of water. I just realized, I never looked at the water temp this morning. I’m guessing, it’s near 70, though, if it’s not already there.


I had the speeds up to 3.0 GPS (2.5-2.7 on the FH), and they bit at those speeds, too, so they will bite faster baits now.


We caught a lot of shorts, and had to keep checking the dipsies for wee little ones, that were hanging on.


My crew did a great job, and only needed a little refresher course, since their trip with me last year. Chris and Dave fished with me last year, but JP is a first-timer, so he was new to it all, but eventually caught on to the program, and could almost keep up with me. 🙂


I have them again tomorrow, and it should be a nicer day, with light west winds, so it will be another fun morning in the boat with them, I think. Now, that they are trained again, it will be an easy morning for me, if I can just put them over some fish. woot! woot!


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Tag team?

Heading up this weekend with a coworker and we are gonna try to get into some ‘eyes. Just the two of us bouncing around drift fishing (25’ rinker not ideal for trolling but we will 2 line troll if needed).

Wondering if anyone wants to get a group text going so we can work together on spots. Did that in early May with some guys and it was great working together and seeing the results!

Just PM me your number and I will start a thread tomorrow or Friday.

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6/6 Solo report

Got to Mazurik about 4:30 and headed out before sun-up to try and do some fish locating for the day. Went north until I was maybe a mile and a half NNW of Kelley’s and started marking some fish in 45 to 50 FOW. Started trolling cranks (bandits and a PWC) in a ENE direction. Managed to get a few eater size higher in the water column, but wasn’t seeing the good marks like I wanted to, so I headed a bit east to the Kelley’s shoal area. That area definitely produced the best for me. It was shallower, 30 to 38 FOW, where I started getting better marks, with a lot of the marks at 18 to 22 feet down. Best sets were 40 and 80 back. The bigger walleye came at 80 back, both on Khaki-Brown back bandit. The other 2 lures that produced well were blue/chrome Reef runner and a Sexy Chrome PWC. Speed was 1.9 to 2.2. It was a gorgeous day on the water, started with a SW breeze and more overcast and then really calmed down around 10 with the sun coming out a bit more and by noon a breeze started picking up from the NW. Had my limit before 10 then just fished for fun for a few hours. Best fish was a healthy 27.5 incher weighing in at just under 7 lbs. Also caught quite a few sheep and another 10 pound channel cat.
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Near shore fishing

For us with smaller boats that can’t make the run to the Island areas….is anyone catching anything near the intake- lighthouse area or within 5 miles off shore ?? Thanks in advance for any help you can give !!
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Fishing with Cesar, Courtney, and Ken…. June 11, 2023

I was meeting my crew at Mazurik’s this morning at 5:30. Cesar, his wife Courtney, and their friend, Ken, were driving up from the Columbus area, so that’s about a two hour drive for them. I’m sure they were tired, and not used to getting up that early.

I decided to leave the house at 4AM and head that way, because I wanted to hit the car wash before hitting the gas station. The seagulls went to town on my truck the day before, and one of them must have had diarrhea. I didn’t want to show up with my truck looking like that. lol


After hitting the gas station, I arrived at Mazurik’s around 4:30, and took that time to wipe the boat down, since I didn’t do it yesterday, when I got home. I decided playing with the dogs was more important….knowing I could do it this morning, while I waited for them.


They showed up at 5:15, and we launched. It was light enough by then to see the lake’s surface, for safe driving, but the navigation lights were still required.
The wind was around 10mph out of the south, the sky was mostly cloudy, and the air temp was in the high 60s.


We didn’t go directly back to where I was fishing yesterday, north of Kelly’s, but started on the SE corner of Kelly’s first. After catching sheephead, and a bunch of itty-bittys, we pulled the lines and headed north again.


The set-up was the same as yesterday, with Bandits behind Off Shore boards, and dipsies on the zero and three settings off the back corners.


Yesterday, the cranks did better than the spoons, but today was the opposite. We had to keep checking the dipsies for little fish, though, or we would be dragging them around for a long time, and you can’t catch bigger fish, if there’s a little fish hanging on the spoon….spinning around.


I did change out a few of the Bandits to the Reef Runner Mag 44s and set them at 50 back…and, they took a few of the nicer fish. Blue/Chrome and Black/Gold were the colors.


The Bandit colors that caught were the Blue Shiner (stock color) at 83 back, Sun Spot (stock) at 90 back, IB Infected (DJ Custom Eye Lures color) at 80 back, and two other colors I don’t know the name of or who painted them…both at 90 back.
I looked on the FishUSA site, and DJ’s site, and neither is listed there, so I don’t know where I got them. I’m guessing I picked them up at a local bait shop here in town….either Fisherman’s Wharf, Hi Way Bait, or Fisherman’s Central. I don’t know….sorry.


Spoon colors were a wide spectrum, but the “Confusion” Yeck spoon, “Red Headed Wonder Bread” Scorpion spoon, and “Blueberry Muffin” Yeck spoon, all did well.


Zero setting was at 31 and 40 back. The three setting was at 43 and 47 back.


Speed was anywhere from 2.0 to 3.0mph GPS and caught fish at all speeds. I mostly kept the Fish Hawk speed at 2.2-2.4mph, though.


“S-Turns” helped us get bites, too. Sometimes, they bit on the fast side, and sometimes they bit on the slow side, so again…speed didn’t really matter. If a bait was in front of a hungry fish, it was going to eat it at any speed.


The marks were not in the same area as they were yesterday, either….which is a shame, because the boat traffic was WAY down compared to yesterday, so it would have been nice if the little shits would have stayed put. hehehe Oh well…


We managed to catch their limit, and they had fun, and that’s all that matters. Cesar just bought a beautiful 30′ boat, and is getting it ready to fish, and wanted a trip to learn a few tips and tricks, while trolling. They did a great job, and I’m confident they will be successful on their own outings.


Tomorrow’s crew has been notified of the gusty winds and rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so they are rescheduling to later this summer/fall. Tuesday is a blow day too, and my crew today was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but were able to go today instead, so my next trip isn’t until Wednesday.


My dogs will be very happy, that I have two days off, to give them some much needed attention. 🙂


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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5 days of fishing starting on memorial day

day one memorial day,arrived at little teds around 1230 got boat in water around 130 headed out to north west corner kellys island started in 30 ft water heading northeast started catching around 38 ft water 40jet divers set around 35 to 50 ,dipsey divers set on 2.5 out 40.started catching fish on kickin chickin uv,poo bear chartruse and dirty whiteboy and a bait i made i call miss america which has been killing it for years.i take a scorpion stinger rainbow trout paint the back a kelime color.lights out every year mostly a sunny day spoon.limited out by 430 ,18 fish.day 2 started where i left off in 40 ft water same baits few diffrent on the ones that werent producing.one thing that was most important was speed 2,4 to 2.5 was key.anything under 2.2 nothing over 2.6 nothing.got out day 2 7 am back by 1030.the farther east bigger the fish.day 3 started half way across kellys island north side 45 ft water heading east limited out by noon bigger fish slower bite.another 18.day 4 dad an brother showed up now need 30 for limit.started little farther east ended up past the north east kellys school past the green boyes heading east 45 to 49 ft water.same spoons all week got our 30 by 1230 .same thing on friday ony back by 1030 30 fish.dipseys back 50 ,jets back 45.great trip.not many junk fish.one big cat few sheephead couple white bass.cant wait till nexr year
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Perch Season?

Wife and I would like to schedule a couple of perch charters out of Port Clinton this year and was wondering when would be the best time to do it? We are both retired so and time will work. Any help is deeply appreciated.
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6/3 Report

We got our guest from Southern Ohio’s second day in this morning. He was supposed to fish today and Sunday, but we scrambled to get him a trip yesterday afternoon and again this morning. We have fished with him before and he understands Erie winds and was very flexible and appreciative to get his days in.

We worked the same area as the last few days west of Rattlesnake. We got our limit early and played some catch and release before scooting back before the winds.

The area is still holding fish but the quality is steadily deteriorating and the sheep are steadily getting worse. This was probably our last trip over there for the year and we will start moving east. I am surprised it held up this long.

See our previous report for the program we are using as it has not changed.

We hope to get one more trip in Monday before some scheduled time off for family festivities will keep us ashore for a few days.

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Fishing Day 2 with Jim and Harold Nelson… June 3, 2023

I’m always a little more relaxed when I have the same crew as the previous day, because I know they have already learned the basics, and the second day lets them refine their skills a little more, without all my constant instruction. 🙂

The dogs were happy I got up early, because they needed to go pee. We went out to the backyard, and they did their business, while I checked the wind forecast for the day. iWindSurf was showing 14 out of the north at Put-in-Bay at 2:30AM, but by 3AM it had subsided to only 9mph. I checked the BoatUS app, and they had a small craft advisory starting at noon today, and going through to tomorrow morning.


I figured it would be a decent morning, and we would get our fish relatively quickly, and get off the water before the winds starting gusting.


I told my crew I would pick them up at 5:00, but I showed up at 4:45. They were in the lobby ready to go, so when they saw me pull up, they came out. Jim said, “I read your blogs, so I know you’re always early”. I could only giggle at that.


We hit the gas station for the usual, and headed back over to Catawba to launch. I had a new area to fish east of the Bass islands, but figured if the NE wind came earlier than expected, I could scoot back over to the west side of them and then down the protected side, to get back.


We launched just before 5:30…or, tried to. I forgot to unhook the bow strap, so it wasn’t as fast as it normally is. lol I had to pee when we got to Catawba, and got out of my routine of readying the boat. Oops! Thanks, Jim, for getting your feet all wet, to get us off the trailer!


We got to the east side of the islands and set up over 35 feet of water, doing a north to south trolling pass. The waves were 2 foot or less on that side of the islands (hardly any waves on the west side of them), so it was a nice morning.


We didn’t use any dipsies this morning, and set up with all Bandits. And, before I forget to mention it…for those that read my report yesterday, the “Eriegardless Custom Color, “Bagger”, that I thought was a Bill Lewis PWC color was in fact, a Bandit. 🙂


We ran both sides pretty similar in depths. The port side ran a Blue Shiner (stock color) on the outside board at 70, Green Clown (stock) at 60, IB Infected (DJ Custom Eye Lure color) at 50, and Bagger (Eriegardless) at 40.
The starboard side ran the Blue Shiner at 75, IB Infected at 65, Blue Shiner at 55, and Bagger at 45.
Every single one of them caught fish.


Speed was 2.1-2.3 GPS and 2.0-2.1 on the Fish Hawk. Water temps are getting close to 70 now.


At one point, we had to pick everything up to go get a board that either had a fish, a snag, or a dead body that was spooling the reel. Ugh… luckily, it was just a stupid sheephead hooked sideways, that was getting the better of Harold. But, we needed to pick up and run back up to make another pass anyway, so we grabbed it, and the fish, on the way up.


We had a much better grade of fish today, than we had yesterday on the west side, and only two sheephead. There were only two shorts too. Everything else was a good eater. I think, the smallest one was 18″, and the biggest was 23-24″. (I didn’t bother to measure it).


Jim was working the port side of the boat like a champ today, and the Off Shore boards were in line, marching like good little soldiers, and he even got the clicker down today….clicker on, going out….clicker off, coming in. I didn’t have to tell him to turn it off, at all. He must have gone to bed thinking about that before he fell asleep, so it would be in his subconscious this morning. 😉


Harold had an easier day, since we let him sit while reeling in the fish. He’s got some bad knees, and it was a bit too rough for him to be able to stand. But, he managed well, and got his limit…as did Jim, and me.


As I type this, the wind has picked up, and will be blowing all night. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for sustained NE wind at 23 with gusts to 30mph. I’m sure that small craft advisory will be adjusted and will not end at 8am tomorrow morning, like they are saying right now.


I’m off Monday, for my birthday, and Tuesday was a reschedule, so I won’t be back out until Wednesday.


Stay tuned…


Capt Juls

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