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Anyone had a problem with plastic spools side bust out and lock up the reel? I’ve had 2 in the last couple of weeks.

Picked my crew up from the White Caps Motel at 5AM. Bill, Pete, and Marv drove in from Iowa last night, and were a little tired, but awake and ready to go.

We launched at Mazurik’s at 5:30, while the sun was just peeking up over the horizon, to the east. The plan was to head to the SE side of Kelly’s and troll the east side of the island.


The speed was set using the FishHawk, and when it hit 2.5 mph, I began the set up. My crew is older, so I didn’t bother showing them how to set boards and dipsies, and instead, just did all the work myself, while we rotated, taking turns reeling in fish.


I was exhausted by the end of the trip, due to so many hungry little fish in the system, hitting our offerings, and having no help resetting lines. It was basically non-stop action all morning.


Bandits ran behind the Off Shore boards at 120 (outside board), 80, 67, and 47 back (inside board). Colors that did best were the Purple Mist (47), blue/chrome (67), Sunspot (80), and that blue/green one (120) that I can’t remember the name of.


The starboard side started out with the Livingston Walleye Minnow 111s, and caught a few. Then, I changed them out, and ran Flicker Minnow 11s at the same distances back as the Bandits, and they were catching more frequently.


Dipsies were best on the zero settings at 43 and 54 back. The three settings were the usual 65 and 71 back. Yeck, Scorpion, and BadMo Arrow spoons were a continuous exercise. I would just keep rotating my checks, because I think as soon as they went down, they picked up an itty-bitty. We caught some legals on them too, but those were very noticeable when they hit, of course. But, if you don’t keep checking for itty-bitties, you’re just going to drag them around forever, and never catch anything bigger.


Our 5 hour troll started in 34 feet of water as we headed NNE, and then when we got even with Airport Reef, we headed east, out to 44 feet of water. Then, when we were a little NE of Cedar Point, I pointed the Vexus back south, until we hit 41 feet of water, and turned her back to the west towards the dumping grounds.


The plan for tomorrow, was to head to Huron, for a change of scenery, and maybe some bigger walleye, but after I got home, I received a text asking if we could perch fish tomorrow, instead of going after walleye, because they felt they had enough walleye going home with them already. I said, “Sure, but I can’t make any promises on how we’ll do, because I haven’t chased any perch yet, this season”. They’re okay with that. Yay! I love perch’n and am excited to go look for some.


So, if anyone has been fishing for perch out of Mazurik’s and can help me out…that would be greatly appreciated! 🙂


Stay tuned….


Capt Juls

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Fished SE side of Pelee in 38-40 fow. 4-man limit casting with single blade gold worm harnesses by 11. Fast and furious from 7-8 AM. Bottom bouncers with 4 oz bullets got 50% of the fish. Casted 1 oz inline sinkers and fish were hugging the bottom. Probably a dozen shorts and only 1 drum

Will be kayak fishing off south bass island mid July for a week. I assume trolling harnesses spoons and plugs is the way to go? Colors or locations? I am sure weather and wave action will dictate location in a kayak. Any tips ? Thanks in advance!

Headed up for a couple weeks end of June. I want to make some Harness. I think i read to use 5mm glass beads is that right and where is the best place to get them

I picked Marion and Ruth up 15 minutes earlier than yesterday. After picking up some ice for the coolers, we were headed to Huron a little before 5am. The parking lot at Huron was empty, except for one rig that was backing down the ramp, as we drove in.

PUBLIC NOTICE INFO….They are resurfacing the roads, and lot, with that tar spray stuff.


They started on it yesterday, and have the get ready lanes blocked off…so, you’ll have to go left, and the wrong way, in order to get in the “second lot”, by the cleaning station. That’s the only way you’ll be able to access the ramps.


I hope they have it done by the weekend, because when it gets busy, and if they are still blocking access, there are going to be problems. There is only one lane to get in and out, so what are you going to do when someone is coming in, and you want to get out?


I had that happen yesterday, but I was able to pull off on the grass, where the curb hadn’t started yet. I let them pass, and they were grateful….But, if I had been any further, on my way out, I couldn’t have done that. That’s a big curb, and I wouldn’t want to take my trailer over it. So, there are going to be problems.


When I left Huron, this morning at 9 AM, they hadn’t arrived to start working on it yet.
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As we approached the mouth of the river at 5:30, the sky was clear, the air temperature was around 60 degrees, and the wind was out of the SW at around 11 mph.

We weren’t going to go far, and would start in the area that we finished up at, yesterday. In fact, I burned a whopping 1.5 gallons of gas today. lol The 400 purred, quietly, as we made our way out, (1 mile), to 34 feet of water. We fished 36 feet, yesterday, but the fish were showing up on the Garmin at 34, so I figured we would start there.


The Ulterra and baby Merc were deployed, and adjusted so that the kicker would do most of the work, while the Ulterra would use just enough power to keep us on course, and use minimal battery. The speed was set to 2.4mph to start. It would fluctuate between 2.0 and 2.7, as I played with speed. 2.5 seemed to be most liked by the walleye, this morning.


The program was the same as yesterday, with Bandit and Walleye Minnow 111s running behind Off Shore boards.


Bandits did best at 80, 67, and 47 back, and the Walleye Minnows worked best at 80 and 47 back.


Dipsies caught a ton of shorts, and a few keepers, and had to be checked every spare moment, when we weren’t bringing fish in, or setting lines out again. There was usually an itty-bitty hanging on, and I didn’t want them to have to hang on too long. All were unhooked carefully, so as not to rip their tiny lips…and given a kiss for good luck, before swimming back down.


The zero setting ran a Yeck spoon at 50, and a BadMo Arrow Spoon at 35-43 back.
The three settings ran a Yeck spoon at 65, and a Stinger spoon at 60 back.


All caught fish. It was pretty much non-stop action, even if they weren’t all keepers. 🙂


Marion and Ruth are farmers. The farm they are on, is where Ruth spent her entire life. They do hay, corn, soybeans, pigs (lots of piggies), and something else, that I don’t want to say without being sure. It could have been chickens, but I don’t know. I know it’s not cattle/cows, because I know they said they used to have them, but don’t anymore.


They did even better today, since they had already had some training, yesterday. And, they already knew me, so that nervousness strangers have when meeting new people was gone. It was like getting in the boat with family, instead of strangers….you know….comfortable.


We had a successful morning, but Ruth was still kind of upset for losing the biggest fish that we had seen, in the two mornings of fishing. It got caught in the whirlpool suction in that corner by the motor and stern, and was flopping around, while I was trying to get it in the net….then, it spit the hook, and was heading back down, before I could get it.


I told her, “At least you saw it”, to which she replied, “I did, but I’m still not happy about losing it.” I said, “I’m sure the fish is happy”….she laughed…understanding. It was maybe a 5 pound fish…so, to me, that’s just a “good eater”, but to her it was a wall-hanger. 😉


We will give it another go in the morning, and maybe she’ll get an even bigger one. Fingers crossed! 🙂


Stay tuned…


Capt Juls

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Got on the water about the same time, about 7am. Started trolling just west of dumping grounds a headed east. Same setup as previous days bandits and husky jerks. trolled east for a little bit but only caught 4 so far and waves already starting to get rolling so we turned NE and trolled with the wind. Trolled for a while with the waves but only caught 1 or 2. Decided to bring everything in and big motor back to dumping grounds for another pass. Big motored passed dumping grounds and went a little farther south to try a little shallower, plus it gave us a little more wind break. Stopped at 30 ft deep and then started trolling with the wind. Started catching fish pretty quickly in the beginning. With the wind and the waves, didn’t need to run quicker motor, was able to hold speed with trolling motor only. Was a lot rougher today, so trolling with wind was about the only way to troll now. Caught fish till we got out in the deeper water then they tended to shut off. Not sure if it was cause the water was cleaner to where they could make out the baits better or because the waves got bigger and it was too much surge. Reeled everything back up and headed back SW with the big motor to get setup again. Stopped at 25 ft this time and gave it a try. That was too shallow, started picking up drum at that depth. Once we got out to 30ft started catching walleye again. We made 3 passes with the waves and managed our limit. trolled 30-45FOW fished 15-24 ft deep. All depths caught fish but 17ft deep tended to be the hot depth. Hot colors were bandits sunspot, chrome fruit dots, chrome and purple, DHJ12 pink squirrel. Took us longer to figure them out today, didn’t get limit till 3pm. All in all still a good day on the water. Supposed to head home tomorrow the 5th and they are calling for rain and thunderstorms are likely. We’ve had a good run this week, fished 3 1/2 days and caught 67 walleye. We will probably just pack up and head home tomorrow.

The reason I was able to do so good this trip is because of the info and friends I’ve found on this forum. You guys have really helped me out a lot. I couldn’t be this successful without you guys and gals and your posts. I have great appreciation for all of you. I can’t thank you enough.

Same plan as yesterday, headed NW little bit farther west of dumping ground so we could get setup before hitting dumping ground. Man the lake is smooth today, NEVER seen Erie this smooth. Started trolling east at 7am. Same setup bandits behind boards and DHJ12s off the corners with snap weights, and Maglip off the side with 3oz snap weight to get it down quicker. Trolled east for probably twice as long today before turning with the waves because fish were biting so good in that direction. When the bite slowed down in that direction, then we turned NE and trolled with the waves. By the time we turned NE we only needed like 5 more fish to limit out. Caught our 5 and was limited out by 10. 3 man limit, trolled 38-45 FOW fishing 15-24 ft deep. All depths caught fish but 24ft deep tended to be the most active. best colors was bandits sunspot, and chrome fruit dots. Going to be windier tomorrow, hopefully get out early and catch them before it gets too bad.