My crew was staying way out in Marblehead, so I had them meet me at Catawba this morning at 5:15. I was looking at iWindSurf’s wind forecast, and was a little concerned about the gusts to 20 from the East, and the fact that no one else was at the launch yet. As I waited on my crew, I noticed that the wind was from the SW at Catawba, at about 7-9mph, and thought that maybe iWindSurf had it wrong today.
They showed up a little late, but we still managed to launch by 5:40, and head up to the west side of the Bass Islands. It wasn’t rough at all. There were some rollers from the NE as we rounded the tip of Catawba, but they were smallish, and the ride was easy.
I figured, that if the wind forecast was correct, we would have at least 5 hours, before it started to blow, and get rough out there. I was right. It was downright beautiful in the morning up between the islands, with maybe a 6″ wave from the SSE.
The Terrova was deployed over 31 feet of water, the baby Merc came to life and pushed us along at a whopping speed of 1.9-2.0 SOG, while the Fish Hawk read 1.6-1.7mph on a northerly trolling pass.
I opted to start with the crawler harnesses again, since they seemed to catch larger fish on my last two adventures out. Root beer colored beads with a gold hammered hatchet blade, is one of my creations to mimic the Mayfly, and does really well. And another that I make, is a perch pattern color with a gold #6 Colorado blade.
It was pretty much the same program I used north of Kelly’s this past week. 2oz inlines on one side, and 3oz inlines on the other side.
The 2oz’s were set at (shortest leads on the outside) 20, 35, 42, and 50, and the 3oz leads were set at 25, 30, 40, and 50. All leads caught fish today.
Andy and Sharon have their own boat, but wanted to learn how to run the Off Shore boards more efficiently, so they came to learn. Catching was a bonus for them. However, we went through a lot of fish, with a lot of itty-bitties hooking up, or stealing our crawlers, so we had to keep checking the baits, to make sure we weren’t dragging a 4″ walleye, or dragging a bait without a crawler.
Andy certainly got his wish on how to work the boards. He did a great job of listening to instructions, setting lines, retrieving them without tangling, and then setting them back out to their original spots again without having to move other boards to do so. Susan, who was sitting up on the bow, was quick to notice a change in the action of a board, and let us know when she thought there was a fish on one…she was usually right! She was also very good at reeling in fish, without tangling the lines.
I didn’t have to keep repeating myself, over and over, so I know I can say with confidence, that they now understand what they were doing wrong, before, and now know what to do right. They will be able to have a lot more fun and success in their own boat, now. 🙂
We were one short of a two-person limit, but went through close to 40 fish this morning. One of these years, all those little fish will be so much fun, when they get bigger. I can’t wait.
The wind was forecasted to pick up around 10AM, and it showed up at 10:19….out of the east. The waves started white capping, and we fished until 11:00, then headed in. By then, it was solid 2-3s with some 4s thrown in for good measure.
My crew had a good time, learned some things, and will be taking their own boat over the weekend to practice what they learned today, and that makes me happy. 🙂
I have an older crew tomorrow, that I informed it would be raining in the morning (Yuck), and offered them to reschedule, I’m still waiting to hear what they want to do.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
