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5/15 report

We went West to work the reefs. That didn’t work out so well. After a couple hours and only 2 eyes we pulled the spread and headed North East to the line.

We finally found a nice pod and started to pick some eyes and had 2 large sheeps that sunk the inline boards. We had 10 eyes in the boat when all hell broke loose. We had an outside board move away from the boat instead of behind and circle back in wrapping up 4 other boards. It was total chaos. 5 boards pulled together and still moving.

Well after much cutting and cursing we got the culprit in. It was a yellow cat that was about 20 pounds. Fortunately we didn’t loose a board or any bandits. But there was allot of balled up line and all the rods on that side had to be re-rigged. We decided to call it and head in.

Best lead was Bandits 75 back, at 1.8 mph. Best color was nascar.

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My first outing on Erie

Hi everyone. I have enjoyed reading all the post from everyone. My friends and I have taken a few charters over the years and have enjoyed it a lot. My buddy has been trying to get me to put my boat on Erie. This year I have spent some money upgrading my electronics, so I’m finally going to try Erie with my boat. We are going to be there May 22-28. My main tactic is going to be trolling, but am open to suggestions. This will be my first time with my own boat so looking for some pointers and maybe some locations because I’m not real familiar with the lake. Also if anyone can tell me where to get a detailed lake map that would be great. I’m excited about the trip but nervous too. I just want everything to go well. Anything specific I should try? Where should I start? Any help would be greatly appreciated ….Thanks
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Fishing with Lance and Kim… May 15, 2023

I opened the back door to the deck this morning, and was hit in the face with a NE wind…ugh. I checked the iWindSurf app, and it showed it was only blowing 9mph at South Bass at 3am, but that the forecast was showing 12-13mph until around noon. I figured it was doable. Not the greatest of conditions, but not bad enough to stay home today.

I was picking my crew up at Bay’s Edge Condos at 5:30, so I left the house at 4:45, so I could go gas up, get ice, and hit Hi Way Bait for some crawlers (for my worm burners on the dipsies), before heading over to pick them up. I got there at 5:15, texted them that I was there, and they were ready and out the door by 5:20.


We headed over to Mazurik’s to launch, and the parking lot was empty. At first, I was surprised that no one was there yet, and asked myself, “Is it too windy?” But, then I realized it was Monday, and it’s always like that on a Monday. It wasn’t long after getting the boat ready to launch, that more rigs started pulling in.


After letting the 400 warm up to temp, we headed to the north side of Kelly’s, and to the southeast side of Gull Island Shoal. Turning the boat around to go with the waves, the Terrova was deployed, the baby Merc fired up, and the Fish Hawk dropped to depth.


Speed was set to 1.9-2.1 on the GPS, which was 1.8-1.9 on the Fish Hawk.
It lasted an hour, when it shut off due to low battery power. Note to self…put more batteries in the glove box of the boat. oops.


But, it didn’t matter…I just kept the GPS speed where I thought it needed to be.


Bandits behind Off Shore boards caught at 100, 85, and 30 back. Colors that caught were the Red Headed Wonder Bread, Blue Chrome, and Chrome Barbie.


The worm burners caught the other three walleye, and the catfish. Dipsies set on the zero, one, and three settings….zero at 27 and 35, the one setting at 40, and the three setting at 47 and 59.


Lance and Kim booked this trip to learn trolling techniques, and “If we catch fish, great, but it’s not a priority”, said Lance, so that took all the pressure off. We just had fun. It’s a good thing it wasn’t a priority, because our catch rate was bad today. We caught 6 today….not including a big catfish, that Lance masterfully was able to release before getting it to the boat. We also had a half dozen crawlers stolen from the worm burners, too, so had we caught those fish, too, we would have had a better catch. Oh, well….lucky fish!


Lance had questions, and I answered them the best I could. At the end of the trip, I asked if they learned what they needed to know, and they both said, “Yes”. They have their own Vexus boat here this week, so they will be practicing what they learned, and I have no doubt that they will be successful, and have more confidence now, to do it on their own.


My crew for tomorrow, called and cancelled while we were fishing today, stating a “bad tooth” that can’t wait. I know very well, what a bad tooth feels like, and how it can ruin the best of plans….so, they are going to come back in September, for a perch trip instead.


My Wednesday crew cancelled, due to his wife’s eye doctor’s appt, because she won’t be able to drive, so he will have to take her….like a good husband should.
He’s one of my regulars and has another day scheduled in June, so I’ll see him then.


I was scheduled off on Thursday, so I won’t be back out until Friday morning. I will get to play with the pups, go bluegill fishing, and get a round of golf in, on my time off. I’ll be ready to get back on the water by Friday. 🙂


Stay tuned…


Capt Juls

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Shake Down Fish with Weaver Clan

My buddy Mark asked me to join him and some family for a planned fishing trip on his boat a few weeks ago.I fished on his 35′ Sea Ray 3 yrs ago.His boat is more of a cruising boat and not really set up for fishing.But he does have 2 rod holders that I could set our Cisco triple tubes into to get out 6 rods trolling.But Mark wanted to start out casting and switch to trolling if the casting didn’t work.
But we had a problem.The boat still wasn’t in the water as our fishing day approaching.Mark said the people launching his boat at the CIC had it scheduled to launch the morning before our fishing trip.I figured they were good enough to believe them so I drove over that morning to our lake house.That afternoon Mark text me at 5pm that when he arrived at his place at the CIC after work,his boat was not at his dock!He went over to the launch site and had his boat going in as he arrived.Talk about cutting it close.We loaded up the trolling gear and went out to dinner.
We needed to wait till 8am Friday morning,when the CIC fuel dock opened to gas up.Took a short ride out to F can and started to troll a little before 9am.I recommended we start trolling instead of casting because there was hardly any wind.Set out 6 inline boards with 4 bandits on the outside boards and set up the inside boards with a couple of tadpole/harness.Was a slow tough bite.Seamed we only catching occasionally on the outside boards.Switched out the 4 outside lines with white and chartreuse bandits on longer leads of 90-110.
Changed out those inside harnesses to bandits eventually,then changed one of those to a dipsey.Put a spoon harness,flicker shad and a J7 on dipsey too.Even put a sinker on the other inside line.We fished from 9-2:30 Friday and did not get a single bite on those inside lines We finished with 9 fish that weighed 25 lbs at cleaners.
I took the 9.5lbs of filets to my place and zippered and cut up half of them for dinner.We went to the Crow’s nest and they cooked up our fish for the 8 of us.We really enjoyed the fresh fish for dinner.Talked to a charter there that told me he did well trolling his big boards/Tru trips/spoons on Friday.So the spoon/harness bite is switching over now.
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Fishing with Shane, Marilyn, and Sharon… May/13/2023

Shane, who lives in Minnesota, wanted to share a day on the water with his Mom Marilyn, and his sister, Sharon, so he booked a trip for Mother’s Day weekend with me.

Last night the wind forecast wasn’t looking too favorable, so the plan was to launch out of Catawba and stay on the protected side, and see what we could find. But, this morning when I looked, the forecast had changed for the better. The gusts were no longer in the high teens to low 20s, but rather 10mph or less. So, with that knowledge, and hope that the forecast wasn’t wrong, I sent Shane a text at 4am, to let them know it was a better forecast, and that we would be meeting at Mazurik’s, instead of Catawba.


I got there an hour early, so I could pull all the rods, and check the line on them, before picking out what baits I wanted to run this morning. Only three needed trimming, due to abrasion near the lure, so it didn’t take very long. I puttered around the boat getting things ready, as the birds started to chirp their morning greetings. It was still very dark out, and quiet.


The feral cats, that hang out around the break wall, were curiously watching me, until other vehicles began to drive in, and they scurried away.


The air temp was in the low to mid 50s, with a light ENE wind.


My crew arrived early, so we had a head start, and launched at 5:30. The sky was cloudy, which kept the sky from lightening as fast as it did the past few days, and we would not get to see a pretty sunrise happen, so that was missed.


We headed to the NW side of Kelly’s again, and set up with some Red Headed Wonder Bread Dead Eye lures that DJ Custom Eye Lures painted for me, on each side, behind Off Shore boards. Bandits out produced the Dead Eye this morning for me, so I’m not sure what to make of that. I keep hearing how they out produce the Bandit for everyone else who’s running them, so I really had higher hopes for them.


We ran the same program as yesterday with the lures running 90, 80, 70, and 60 on the port side, and 80, 70., 60 and 50 on the starboard side.


Colors were two Red Headed WB Dead Eyes on each side, along with two Bandits on each side. The Bandit colors were (2) “Pearl Shad” by Chris and Matt Hoopes (the one I kept reporting as “the white one with the black dot”, that I didn’t know the name of, or who painted it…I found out today, they painted it, but don’t paint lures anymore.), (2) “Red Chartreuse”(stock color at FishUSA)…one of each of those on each side. The Red Headed, which is usually my best color, didn’t produce at all this morning, but the other two colors did.


At one point, I took one Red Head off each side and then added two dipsies to each side…running the zero and three settings. We started with spoons, and then I remembered I had some crawlers in the cooler, so I dug out the worm burners and put one on each dipsey.
The zero setting was set at 25 and 27, while the three settings were set at 43 and 45 back.


I adjusted our speed to run 1.9 on the Fish Hawk, which was 2.3-2.4 on the GPS and we started catching at a better rate.
The Worm Burner took the biggest fish, on a three setting at 45 back…. which was only a “good eater”, at maybe 25 inches. 5 crawlers were stolen, too, so they were hit and misses.
I took the Bandits that were running at 50 and 60 back out of the line-up and put a 2oz snap weight on them, running at 50/24 (total of 74), and that took two with Pearl Shad Bandit.


Water temp near Starve was 58.2 on the surface, but only 52.7, at 15 feet down.


It was a tough bite overall, and like others have said, the bite for us slowed way down at around 8:30-9:00, too. We had 9 when that happened, and would only get two more the rest of the morning, before it was time to head in.


My crew had fun, even when it was raining on them. Shane was an excellent “First Mate”…having never run boards before, he did an excellent job. He caught on very quickly, and was running his side of the boat in no time at all. His mom and sister had fun reeling in fish, even if they had trouble standing up in the boat, after the wind kicked up a little.
It was enjoyable for me to spend their special time together, and I hope Marilyn has the best Mother’s Day weekend, possible.


Tomorrow’s crew has been rescheduled to Monday, since my Monday crew had to reschedule to July, due to an unexpected surgery, because the winds tomorrow will be nasty.


Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there….for those with human children and to those of us with furry four-legged children. 🙂


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Fishing with Francisco, Lonny, and Ted.. 5/12/2023

Guess what….I woke up early today…(sheepish grin)…made some coffee, fed the cats, got the dogs outside, and checked the weather.

It was going to be another fantastic day to be on the water. No rain, light wind, clear to partly cloudy skies, and an air temp in the low 50s to start. It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?


We launched out of Mazurik’s a little before 6am and headed to the north side of Kelly’s to start. Water temp on the surface was 54 degrees, but it was only 52 degrees down at 15′ in the water column, according to the Fish Hawk.


We set up with white bodied Bandits behind the Off Shore boards, running 90, 80, 70, and 60 on the port side and 80, 70, 60, and 50 on the starboard side.


Speed on the GPS was 1.9-2.0 to get a lure speed of 1.6-1.7mph.


Fish came on the 70, 80, and 90 foot leads, but it was a slow bite. The early bite was best, but it slowed way down for us around 8:30, so at 9am we picked up and ran to the west side of the bass islands, to try near Niagara. We stayed east of the pack that was there, and set a course back to Greene Island. We managed to pick up three more for a total of 10 for the day. We only lost three fish today, too, so it wasn’t a stellar bite for us, today.


My crew stayed positive, and enjoyed the morning. “Cisco” was making me very hungry with his talk of culinary experiments, that were successful. He built a brick oven in his backyard, for making pizzas, and showed me a picture of it. Oh, how I wish I had that in my backyard! It’s amazing! He said if I could ever stay awake late enough, that he would make me one. So, I guess that means I’m never getting a pizza. 😉


They had a good time, and learned a lot. They have boats, and wanted to learn the trolling game with the inline boards. They did a great job, and I have every confidence that they can now go run boards successfully from their own boats.
They also told me, they would like to make it an annual tradition, so that makes me very happy!


Tomorrow’s crew, which is a fella from MN, and his Mom and Sister, who live here in Lima, OH were notified of the NE winds, and chance of rain showers, tomorrow, and how it will cut down on the areas I can take them, to fish safely, and gave them the opportunity to back out, but they still want to go. It’s Mother’s Day weekend, so he told me, “I’ll be fishing all month, so if we catch fish, great. If not, it’s no big deal. I just want to spend time with my Mom and sister on the water”. So, we’ll give it a go…. we will be launching out of Catawba and seeing what we can find on the protected side of the island.


Stay tuned…


Capt Juls

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Thanks for the advice regarding jigging…

I finished a men’s conference at Parkside Church in Charagin Falls, Ohio about noon on Wednesday and headed over to the Port Clinton area with my 16′ boat. The weather could not have been any more perfect and I got on the water about 3pm. I launched out of Fenwick and went out front in 13-14′ of water. I bounced 3/4 oz purple hair jigs and caught only drum. I decided to troll a bit and caught one 18″ walleye in 17′ of water just west of where Fenwick launch puts you into the lake. As I was coming in at dark, there were a couple of smaller boats casting and most likely dragging jigs and I saw the nets go down a couple of times. I tried for a while but was just out of energy. I stayed the night at White Caps and can tell you the room was great with all you need. The room was clean and the price was very competitive. I was on the water this morning at about 5:30 and went out to 13′ of water as was suggested on this site. The first hour, I had 4 walleyes simply casting out and bouncing back a 3/4 oz purple hair jig/stinger. After about an hour with nothing, I got antsy and headed out to deeper water where all the other boats were over in the locust reef area. I managed to jig up a 17″ fish and a few drum. I needed to head home at about 11 so I settled for 5 nice walleye and appreciate the advice I received from this site. If I would have had a little more energy and had remembered my head light, I think you could do well jigging right at dark and for a period of time after dark. I was just too tired and wanted to hit it early this morning. Again thanks and my family and friends will enjoy the fillets…
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Fishing with Jerry and Mark, May 10, 2023

I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm was set to go off this morning, so I just got up and started the morning off with a good cup of coffee. The dogs were eager to get outside, so we went out on the back deck to check the weather. It was going to be a beautiful day, today. Yay!

I picked my crew up at the White Caps Motel at 5:15 and headed into town for the routine gas and ice stop at the gas station, and headed to Catawba to launch by 6am.


It was a clear sky this morning, and brighter than previous days, at the same time, so I felt like I was late, or something, but we weren’t. We hit the water a little before 6am, and while the 400 warmed herself up, I opened the rod locker and pulled out 8 rods, that were already baited up with Bandits, and put them in the rod holders, for the ride out.


The air temp was around 48 degrees, and there was no wind at all. The lake was like glass this morning. The only ripples on the water came from boat wakes, from boats that got out there before us. 🙂


We started in the same place I left off on Monday, which was west of the islands and east of the cans, in 30′ of water. Bandits ran on both sides of the boat, behind Off Shore Tackle boards, anywhere from 117 back to 40 back. Leads that caught the best today were 65, 70, 80, and 90′.


Best colors were white bodied baits again. The Red Headed Wonder Bread caught the most, then the full white one with the big black dot on the sides, that I don’t know the name of or who painted it… was second best, with RC Crush, Green Clown, Chrome Barbie, Chrome Black Headed Wonder Bread, and Blue Shiner all taking a fish or two.
We had three pullbacks that never hooked up, and lost two on the way to the boat. Most were lightly hooked, so they were definitely were not trying to inhale them, like they are known to do, from time to time.
The all white, no named Bandit, was out with a 2oz snap weight….first, at 50/27 (total 77′) and took one fish. Then, I set it at 30/30 with the 2oz, and it took two fish at that depth.



Speed was 2.0-2.2 (GPS) and 1.8-1.9 (Fish Hawk)


Water temp today was 53.7 degrees, but I’m sure by this afternoon it has gone up a notch or two.


Jerry and Mark did well learning the trolling game, and had a good time, while enjoying the gorgeous weather Mother Nature finally decided to bless us with. I hope she stays in a good mood for a while. I’m ready to start going barefoot in the boat! lol


I’m off tomorrow, to finish my gardens, but am scheduled the rest of the month with only two days scheduled off for the rest of the month…unless “Mother” decides to make it blow again.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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5/8 Morning

Went out with my wife today. We fished about 2 hours and caught 4 keepers and a short. Jigging with purple 3/4 ounce. We were about a mile due north of the exit from Wild Wings marina in 16 – 17 feet of water. Had a very nice breeze for drifting. Got 3 of them in the first half hour and the bite slowed down. Water is 51 degrees there.
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Fishing with Dick and Brad, May 8, 2023

I got up early, made some coffee, and went out to the back deck with the dogs, to check the weather apps, and find out what was in store for my crew this morning.

The wind was gusting out of the north, but after a double check on the iWindSurf app, it was showing that it would slow down by launch time, which would be 6am out of Catawba.


I didn’t have to pick my crew up today, since one lives in Toledo, and the other right here on Catawba Island. They said they would just meet me there. So, Dick drove in from the west, and picked Brad up on the way to the ramp. We were in the water a little after 6am.


I was surprised to see the marine forecast calling for heavy fog, since there was still some wind, and usually with wind, there is no fog. Then, the wind stopped. It would still be a couple of hours before the fog rolled in, though….and at around 8:30 it rolled in pretty heavy.


We were fishing the west side of the islands, with Bandits, behind Off Shore boards, over 30 feet of water.


The port side ran RC Crush (DJ Custom color), Red Headed Wonder Bread (Domka Outdoors Custom color), Sea Sick Frog (pretty sure that’s a DJ’s Custom Eye Lures color, too), and one I don’t know who painted it…it’s all white, with just a big black dot on both sides.


The starboard side ran a Red Headed WB, (2) Wild Thing (JT custom color at FishUSA), and a Humble Bee w/Blk Stripes. All baits were run unassisted (no weights)….anywhere from 40 to 110 back. The best leads for us this morning were 70, 80, and 90. Fish were also caught at 110, 100, 57, and 77.


The hottest colors were the Red Headed WB, Wild Thing, the white one with the black dot, and RC Crush.


We started at a speed of 1.8-2.0 (GPS), which was 1.5-1.6mph on the Fish Hawk (speed at the lure), but struggled to catch early on. A tip from Capt Sam Downing said to speed it up, so we did 2.0-2.2 (GPS) which was 1.8-1.9 on the Fish Hawk, and we started catching much quicker. Thanks, Sam! 🙂


We put Dick and Brad’s 12 walleye in the cooler, and Brad decided he was ready to go in. They were under dressed for the outing, thinking it wasn’t going to be as chilly as it was. I’m still wearing my winter gear out there, right now, because I don’t like to be cold, and I can always take it off.
When we only had 8 fish, I gave Dick my warm Blackfish Storm Skin jacket, and gave Brad my AFTCO rain jacket, that I keep in my boat at all times, so they could stay out longer, to get their last 4 fish.


That helped, but Brad was still ready to go in after they got their 12, so we went in. It made my pups very happy…lol


Water temp, was 51.6 degrees where we were this morning.


Dick just sent me a picture of some fried walleye cheeks they were making for lunch…I’m jealous. 🙂


I’m off tomorrow, but will be back out on Wednesday.


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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