The air temp was 73 degrees, the sky was cloudy, and the wind was light and variable out of the SSW. My weather app (NOAA-Clime) notified me that rain would be starting in 2 hours and 45 minutes, so I checked the RadarScope app to see where that rain system was at the time…and to check if it was a heavy rain or just a misty rain. The radar showed it was a misty kind of rain, so even if we got rained on, it wouldn’t be bad or last too long.
I was meeting Melinda, “Mindy”, and her friend Melissa at the Huron ramp at 6:30. I wanted to be launched by 6:45 since sunrise is now 7 a.m., because I like to get a pic of the sunrise out on the water.
I left the house at 5 a.m., and hit the gas station for some gas for the Vexus and some ice for the coolers. Then, hit the highway to Huron. I got there at 5:45, and proceeded to ready the boat. I wanted to get there early, so I had time to clean the boat with a towel and some spray wax, and shine her up. I hadn’t had time to do it yesterday, so I made time this morning.
It was perfect timing…they showed shortly after I was all done. It was 6:15, so they were early, too. The morning was starting out very well…lol
It got even better when I asked a gentleman readying his boat, “Would you be willing to dump us in and park the truck? I have a spare, so you could just lock the keys in the truck. I have two women today that are not comfortable backing me in.” He said, “Sure! Not a problem, just give me a minute”. I didn’t get his name, but I wished I had, so I could thank him here. But if he reads this….he knows who he is. 🙂
We were headed straight out of the river to the north. The Garmin was picking up fish along the way, and when the marks were more plentiful, I shut her down. The Ulttera when down and the Baby Merc was deployed. The Ulterra ran on power level 5, and the iPilot kept the boat on a northerly course.
After the FishHawk went down to 18′, and started registering the speed, I adjusted the Baby Merc’s RPMs with the “iTroll” controller to hit a speed of 2.3-2.5 mph.
The dipsies went out first. The zero settings were set to 25 back and 44 back to start. I normally run a three setting on the two outside dipsies, but today I ran a 2 setting at 53 and 65 back. BadMo, Yeck, and Scorpion spoons were used. Green and slivers did best. The orange one and the blue one I normally use didn’t work today, so they didn’t stay out long.
Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2oz run behind Off Shore boards caught a handful of walleye. The “Purple Tiger” at 50/47 (total of 97′ of line out behind the board) caught 4, and the “Red Tiger” at 50/24 (74 total) caught 1. The rest were caught on the spoons.
Two kitties hit the net. The first one was maybe 2-3 pounds, and the second one was around 8 pounds. I didn’t weigh it, but it was heavy to lift. Melissa achieved her personal best big fish to date, which was only a 22 incher and caught the catfish, too. She had never caught a catfish before, either, so she kept it.
Melinda is a retired people doctor, and helps a farm rescue (I think…or, it’s something like that), and Melissa has her own dog grooming business. These two friends like to get together and do things from time to time. Today, it was fishing. We had tried a few times earlier this season to get out, but it was either Mother Nature being bitchy, or a runaway adventurous dog that stayed out for 6 nights and 7 days. He finally got reunited with Melissa, and all is well again. 🙂
The weather was perfect, and it never rained on us at all. The wind was SSE out of Huron, and was really nice for a few hours and then picked up a little as the morning went on. I decided to turn the nose of the Vexus around and go into the waves as we made our way back to shallower water. The Garmin was showing fewer marks over 45′ of water than it did over 35-40′ water.
It just dawned on me that I never looked at the water temperature, so I can’t tell you what it was. I’m sure it’s still in the mid-seventies, though.
It was a grind early, but as the pieces of the puzzle became clearer, we were able to put a program together that gave us 10 nice eaters and one big kitty in the cooler.
Mindy and Melissa both said they had a great time, and want to do it again next spring, and that makes me happy!
I’ve rescheduled tomorrow’s trip to mid-October. It’s going to get hot the next couple of days, and the bite is tough, so I’m okay with that.
I’ll be back out for 4 days next week with three different groups.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls