Juls WFA Blog

The Ice is Breaking Up!

by Capt Juls on 02/22/21

Morning everyone...

I just wanted to let all of you out of staters looking to come over soon, that the ice is breaking up!

The latest satellite picture from yesterday shows big cracks opening up in the Western Basin (west side of the islands) and really broken up ice and open water east of Kelly's.

With the warmer temps this week, and big SSW winds forecast for the next few days, we might see a lot more open water west of the islands later this week. The winds will break off chunks of ice and blow it away from this side of the lake.

The temps will be above freezing most of the week and hit a high of almost 50 next weekend. I don't think we're out of the winter mode yet though, but I doubt very much that any more ice will be forming on the lake as we head into March. :)

I'm just 4 weeks away from the first scheduled trips, so hopefully, it will be all open water by then. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls

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The Cold is Moving In This Week....2/5/2021

by Capt Juls on 02/05/21

I'm so bored. Like everyone else just trying to get through this winter, while this pandemic still thrives, doing nothing social other than walking my dogs with my friend, Jenn, and her dogs, getting groceries, and the occasional lunch out, I try to keep my sanity by thinking about the coming season. I long for warmer weather and open water! I don't ice fish here on the big lake, and even if I did, there isn't any safe ice out there yet.

We have very cold temps for the next week or more, so that may change. But, this morning, the winds are very strong out of the SW, so any ice close to shore may break off and float away, so hopefully, there isn't anyone dumb enough to attempt it today. There always seems to be that one guy though...just say'n. lol

Anyway....

On the agenda during this bitter cold. I plan on taking advantage of being stuck inside and changing out all the electrical outlets in my mobile home. They are all 30 years old now, so I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

Something happened the other morning, that I can giggle at now, but when it happened, it freaked me out.

Long story short, my male cat Hemingway, decided that he would just choose a random wall in my workout room and take a piss. Well, he's a "high pisser", meaning he doesn't squat to pee, but rather reaches his rear end as high as he can, and lets go. He only does this when he's feeling poorly or is mad he can't go outside. He wasn't feeling good this time. He urinated above an electrical socket, and it dribbled in the outlet.

I happened to get up to go pee myself, right when he was doing his dirty deed, and I heard a "Pop" and then some sizzling. I thought it sounded like a broken water line, so when I got up to go investigate, I immediately saw from the dark room, the outlet sparking and a tiny flame coming from it. Thankfully, the electrical panel is in that room, so I could find the right switch to flip, to turn the power off to that room.

I can't imagine what would have happened had I not woke up and had to pee! So, lesson learned here....most cats will not kill you, but there is always a chance they can! Ha!

Matt and Jenn came over that morning, and Matt swapped out the outlet for a new one, and left me several more to change out the other ones too. He showed me how to hook up the wiring, which looked easy enough, so I'll be doing that for the next day or two. I have 14 I want to replace throughout the house. I also need to re-label the electrical panel, because whoever wrote out the labels before had the worst cursive, and I can't make out any of them, except the furnace...just because it looks like it might start with an "F". lol

I know this isn't fishing related, but I thought it was kind of funny enough to share. :)

Stay warm everyone and have a great day!

Come on Spring!!

Capt Juls

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Thoughts on Spring Fishing...1/26/2021

by Capt Juls on 01/26/21

It's another crappy gray day in Ohio. The weather is spitting rain and snow this morning, but the roads are fine. Winds are out of the NE around 9mph.

There's some ice clogging up the ramps, and floating around on the lake, so it's going to need some warmer weather to open it back up again, before we can hit the open water again in our boats.

I'm going to go to the building today and putz around in the boat and clean some things up. I bought new flares, and a "Light SOS Beacon" because the old flares were out of date as of February 1st. I wanted the light beacon to replace the handheld flares, and since they were the same price, it was a no brainer. I bought replacement flares for the little gun thingy though, because they will get up higher in the sky and increase the line of sight in case I'm too far away from other boats to see the beacon. I hope to never need them. :)

Time to get busy...have a great day everyone!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Some Thoughts continued from yesterday....1/25/2021

by Capt Juls on 01/25/21

Yesterday, I talked about what rods I use for trolling, and mentioned that I spend more on the reel than I do on the rods. Don't confuse price with quality. Higher prices do not alway equate to a better product.

With that said, I started trolling with the Diawa SG27LC's, which proved to be bullet proof for the most part, and lasted for years. They were only 50.00 to 60.00 twenty years ago when I started building my arsenal. Now, they run about 100.00-110.00 each. Sure, you can find deals on them from time to time, or even find used ones at a great price, but that's the going rate right now for a new one.

I've started replacing them with the Shimano Tekota 500's though, but because of their high price tag (200.00-210.00), I haven't replaced all the reels yet. All my trolling rods are using the Tekota's, but my dipsey rods are still using the Diawa's.

The drag system on the Tekota's is very smooth, and has held up for the years that I have been using them. They changed the design of the reel last year, so my reels don't all match, but the quality hasn't changed, so that's the same. :)

I run mono line on the trolling rods that I use with the Off Shore inline planer boards and I run 30# Power Pro on the Diawa's that run the dipsies.

A 6 foot mono leader is run behind the size 0 dipsies I run. I do use a snubber with the dipsies too. Do I really need to? I don't know, but I'd rather be safe than sorry if a big fish hits. It gives the hard running dipsey a little give, so any hard tugs are cushioned by the snubber. "It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have", I always say. :)

My Off Shore boards are set up to stay attached to the line until I take it off at the boat. Since I teach my customers how to set and run the boards, I don't want to use the set up that lets the line release from the front arm, because it wouldn't take much to lose a board, if a customer doesn't get that back release attached the way it should be. Having to pull everything in, and go find a board (especially if it's rough out), is just a pain in the butt. It's just one less thing to worry about.

I run the Snapper (OR-18) release on the front of the board and the red (OR-16) release with the pin in the center on the back of the board. I also run my boards with the Tattle Flag system.

When trolling, I put the longest leads to the outside and the shortest leads on the inside. That allows me to bring in that outside board in behind the inside boards without having to clear those inside boards first. Does it prevent tangles every time? No, of course not. The fish's actions will have a say in that matter. ;)

But, most often, it works. TIP: Sometimes, the board that has a fish on will need to be let out a little(slowly...keeping tension on the line) to give it more space to clear the other boards. Then, what I have my customers do, is move to the opposite corner of the boat, and point the rod tip as far forward out that side of the boat as possible. This pulls the board across at an angle further back than it would if a person was pointing the rod out of the same corner of the boat that the fish is coming in on.

Most eater sized fish will come to the surface as they come in, while the bigger fish try to stay deeper. It's the big girls that will catch other lines on the way in, so if you think you have a big fish on and it looks like you might tangle, then clear those inside lines if you need to. Yes, it's more work, but it's worth it so you don't lose a potential trophy fish. Every fish is different, so reading the boards and determining what needs to be done at any given time needs quick thinking and execution.

Well, that's enough for this morning. I'm out of coffee, the dog needs a walk, and I need to get on with the day, so that's the end of today's thoughts.

I'll think of something to update the blog with tomorrow. :)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Just Some Thoughts While the Ramps are Frozen...1/24/2021

by Capt Juls on 01/24/21

As I sit here to write this, I can look outside my office window, I see a cold gray January day. It's quiet...so quiet, that even the birds are not stirring out there. It's 32 degrees and there's a light SE wind.

It's January 24th... the ramps froze up yesterday, so we won't be launching any boats until they open up again. I don't see that happening any time this coming week, since the temps will still be in the teens at night and a high in the low 30's each day. The winds will be out of the NNE most of the week, and switching to out of the west on Friday.

Sunday, is forecast to be a high of 43 with 99% chance of rain, so maybe that will help to break up the ice a little. At the time of this blog, the forecast doesn't reach out past Sunday on my DarkSky app, so I can't see into the second week.

Like everyone else this time of year, I'm thinking about getting back on the water. There are things to take care of before the season begins, like re-spooling all the trolling reels, cleaning parts of the boat that typically get ignored throughout a season, and going through bait boxes to inspect, fix, or replace crankbaits.

I had the boat out last Saturday to try out the new Ulterra 31AGM batteries that replaced the 2 year old Interstates that wouldn't last more than 2 1/2 hours in the cold weather. They worked great and still had a full charge after 4 hours. Now I'm able to have more confidence in my equipment, knowing it's not going to crap out on me in the middle of a guide trip. (For those that want to know what I replaced the old batteries with...I went with the Odyssey Extreme 31's.)

The line on the reels gets changed out several times during the season. I use a larger diameter line for the backing, so I'm not spooling on unnecessary amounts of the good line.

Everyone likes the line they use, so find one that works for you. I use the 20# test Sunline Supernatural in green. It has a line diameter of .018, which is only .003 larger than the 10# Trilene line the "Precision Trolling Data" info is tested with. It's worked well for me for the past two seasons, so I'll stick with it again this upcoming season.

The reels then get calibrated, so they are all the same when I start fishing.

The reels have to be done several times a season, because of the number of trips I do. And, by "several", I mean, that it's about every 6 weeks.

Line is stripped off for Knicks in the line, or so that the planer boards are not getting attached in the same place all the time, or the most common...the tangles that happen sometimes, and can't be undone without cutting the line.

It's important to know that the baits are where you want them to be, and if a reel isn't calibrated, the bait not going to be where you think it is.

To calibrate a reel is simple. It's easier and faster with two people, but can very easily be done by yourself too. I'll describe this as a single person doing it.

1. Measure 50 feet and 100 feet on the ground with a measuring tape and mark them with something.

2. Put something at the zero mark to hold your fishing line as you walk it out and measure it.

3. Reel up your line up to the tip and zero out your reel's counter. Then, open the bail...walk it out, and note the number on the counter at both the 50 and 100 marks.

4. At the 100 mark, if the number on the counter is below 100, line needs to be taken off the reel. (It takes removing 30 feet of line to show 1 foot on the reel.)

And, if the number is above 100 on the counter, then line needs to be added. (It's always best to over fill the reel, because it's easier to take some line off than it is to put line on.

5. After line adjustments have been made the counter reads 100 at the 100 mark, it's ready to go. Note: If I'm at 99, 100, or 101...I'm good with that. I don't always get them right on 100. It's close enough.

Once the reels are done, it's time to pull boxes out of the storage compartments and look at the baits. It's something that can be done while watching tv, or sitting in my boat over in the storage building. All the hooks get checked to make sure they're not bent or missing. The split rings also get a once over to make sure they are all in good shape too.

I'm often asked in private messages, emails, and texts what some of the equipment I use is, so I'll post it here for anyone else that wants that information.

I prefer a nicer reel than the rod. I have been using Shakespeare Ugly Stik's for 20 years now, and still have no complaints about them....other than, the fact that they stopped making the CAL1100 model and replaced it with the GX2 1 piece 7' med.

Don't get me wrong...the new one is a nice rod, but the CAL1100 was a workhorse that never went lame. I only have one season on the new model, so I can't really speak of its longevity, but so far so good. I like it. And, they were affordable, like the old CAL100's.

I like to use all the same trolling rods when I'm running Off Shore boards too, because when the rod tips are all the same, I can read the tips better. Most customers don't notice the rod tips and just watch the boards. But, sometimes that can mislead. A walleye has been known to have been hanging on to a bait that it ate, but no one notices, because the board is still somewhat in line, and it's not bouncing like there's a thrashing fish trying to get away. Then, there are the thoughts of, "Are we turning?" Or, "Did we just hit a current?" run through one's mind first, and thinking of an immediate correction if needed.

But, with one look to the rod tip, and you notice that it just looks a little different than it had the past few minutes, you would be correct to pull it in and check it. Usually, you'll find you had a fish hanging on it. I've even seen that happen with Tattle Flags on the boards too. Some fish are just funny that way. Sneaky devils.

I see this is getting long, so I'll write some more tomorrow. I don't want to bore you guys for too long, or you won't come back! Ha!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing 1/4/2021

by Capt Juls on 01/05/21

Happy New Year everyone!

While I have gotten out fishing a few times over the month of December, they were not charter trips, so I didn't feel a need to blog them, as I was in Holiday mode and taking advantage of some much needed time off.

As it was for everyone, and still is, 2020 was a very trying season with the Virus that plagues the world right now. It knocked out 48 trips that were scheduled during the state shut down last spring. But, with that said, I am very happy to say that my customers last year were fantastic and kept me in business with all the interest in getting outdoors and on the lake when there was no where else to go.

I am looking forward to another great season for 2021. The early deposits are rolling in. The March dates are taken as of now, unless we have open water early in the month, and I can fill some of those dates too. I only have 4 open days in April, 12 days open in May, and 12 days left open in June. July through the rest of the season still has a lot of openings though.

If you're looking to book a date and go on a fishing adventure this year, please book your dates early, so you don't miss out!

My friends and I got out fishing for a few hours yesterday and ended up catching some not far from the Catawba ramp. Bandits, Spro Madeye 120's (no weights) 75-100 back, and P-10's with 1 oz 30/30 at a speed of 1.0-1.1mph was the ticket. Baits with whites in them did best. RC Crush, an all white one, and Pink Lemonade worked best for us.

We had to stop earlier than expected when my three batteries running the Ulterra drained down to nothing and left me with no ipilot mode. I just wasn't that mad at those fish to work that hard for them, so we went in instead. lol

I have new batteries coming to replace those crappy Interstate batteries, so hopefully, I won't have to worry about that happening to me in the spring when I have paying customers in the boat.

Hopefully, this spring will "come in like a lamb", so I can get everyone that is scheduled, out no the lake to partake in some of the best fishing this area has seen in a very long time. :)

Until then....have a safe, healthy, prosperous, and happy new year, everyone! :)

See you in the spring!

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Capt Jenn 11/24/2020

by Capt Juls on 11/24/20

It was cold and dark this morning, when I went out on the back deck with the dog to check the wind. It was 33 degrees with a "feels like" temp of 24...brrr.

After taking care of the usual things before I leave to go fishing, I headed over to Jenn's house, so we could walk the dogs before going to the building to get my boat. I showed up at her house about an hour and a half before sunrise.

We took the dogs for a 20 minute walk and then dropped them off at her house. Dexter would get to hang out with their pups for the morning. Capt Matt, (Jenn's hubby), was headed to Cleveland to fish with Capt David Faller...looking for the "Big one".

After stopping to gas up the boat and truck, and put ice the cooler, we hit Mazurik's at 7:15. Sunrise was at 7:28 this morning, so we were on the water waiting for the engine to warm up when the sun hit the horizon.

The wind was 7mph out of the NNE when we headed out, but it was quickly changing to the ESE in the first two hours, so we had changing currents happening. We started at the 33/35 and headed back to the west.

The Ulterra had the autopilot on a WNW course. The baby ETEC was nothing more than an idle speed to keep us at 1.7-2.0mph.

The port side ran two Bandits and one Spro Madeye 120. The RC Crush Bandit was on the outside at 125 back, the Chrome Perch Spro was 100 back, and the Red Headed Wonderbread Bandit was 75 back.

The starboard side ran too many to keep track of. For some reason, the port side took 10 of the 12 fish this morning. It might have had something to do with the current where we were too, but I know I changed things up several times.

I was playing with speed a lot too. We caught fish as slow as 1.4mph and as high as 2.3mph this morning.

The first 7 fish came from that pass, and when that slowed up we picked everything up and headed down inside to the SE. We started at the 28/33 and again went on a westerly troll back towards Cedar Point over 42/43 feet of water.

We ran the same program and caught fish anytime Jenn ate something, or when I played with the speed...hoping to entice them. Whatever it was, it worked, and we put the last 5 fish in the cooler over in that area.

We were done by noon, and headed in. Rain was on the way...we timed it just right. The boat was back in the heated building, dogs let out to pee, and the fish taken over to Port Clinton Fish Co to be cleaned before it started to drizzle a very cold rain.

Matt and David caught a brawl'n fish over in the Cleveland area and took it over to Erie Outfitters to be officially weighed. The fish went 30.25 inches and weighed in at 11.22 pounds. Just out of the money....deep sigh. lol

We will be out brawl'n again on Thanksgiving Day. Those fish will go to the "Back to the Wild" wildlife rehab center to help feed their critters for a few days. None of the fish cleaning businesses will be cleaning fish on Thanksgiving anyway, so we'll help feed the critters instead.

The weather looks good for Thursday and Friday, so if you still have a boat you can use...get out there! The fishing is very good right now.

Good luck if you're brawl'n too, but we're hoping to catch the "Big one" instead of you! Sorry....not sorry! :)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Todd, Kelly, and Scott...again...11/14/2020

by Capt Juls on 11/14/20

I left the house at 4:50, because I had to go to the building to get the boat and gas it up before picking my crew up at their hotel. We were launching out of Huron, otherwise I would have just met them at the launch. I told them I would pick them up at 5:45, but I showed up 15 minutes early and sent Todd a text telling him that I was there and that they could come down whenever they were ready. They complied with my request to wear masks inside the truck, and we headed on down the road.

We hit Huron a little after 6am and there was already a line of boats all the way out to the road. Had we been five minutes later, we would have been sitting up on the bridge waiting to turn in. I'm sure the locals that use that road, hate us! lol

We made our way up to the front of the line and launched in the dark. Luckily, all the boats that were launching this time of year are fishermen, so the line moved fast, and no one took up space at the docks....allowing everyone to launch quickly.

It was just getting light when we reached the mouth of the river and headed out to the big lake. The wind was 7mph out of the west, so the waves were only 1 foot or less, which made for a pretty easy ride out.

I headed for the Sandbar area first. Once we got there, the Helix was marking some fish, so we set up with the Spro Madeye 120's and Bandits again. Pretty much the same program as this past Thursday, where the Spro's were running 120, 100, 95, 90, 85, 75, 50 and a Bandit out 75, at a speed of 1.8-2.0mph.

We caught 3 pretty quick, but they were on the smaller side, and two went back to grow up. Then, as we got closer to the bar, the marks disappeared, so we picked up to move to the SW a bit. Those fish I had on Thursday had moved too. (I found out later that I should have just moved west instead of SW. The fish moved north from where they were on Thursday.)

We ended up moving one more time towards the white condos and Cedar Point, and found a small pod of active fish, so I kept turning on them to stay on top of them. We managed to put 19 more fish in the box for a total of 20 before our time ran out.

Oh, I forgot... I had a dipsey out a few times...set on the zero setting at 56 back with a Yaleye Mooneye Minnow ("Baby Walleye"), which caught the two nicest fish in the cooler.

The guys kept a positive attitude even though we had a slow start to the morning, catching-wise, and it paid off. They had a good time and have already reserved an early spring date...which makes me happy! :)

Mother Nature is going to throw a fit tomorrow, with gale force winds up to 50mph, and rain, so needless to say, no one will be fishing tomorrow. It will be a good day to cook something that has to simmer all day.

I'm not scheduled again until Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so as usual...it will all depend on the forecast.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Steve and Mike 11/12/2020

by Capt Juls on 11/12/20

This morning, Steve Fessler and his friend, Mike, were meeting me at the Huron ramp at 7:45, so we could be on the water by 8am. Steve makes an award-winning line of sauces, and was kind enough to give me a couple to try. I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow, so I can make something to try them.

The NNE wind was around 12-14 at 7am, but by 8am it was down to around 10-12mph. The forecast was calling for it to lay down to around 8-9mph by 9am.

We headed straight out of the Huron River and went approximately 5-6 miles before setting the boat down off plane and turning it around to go with the waves.

The Ulterra was deployed and the autopilot set for a SSW course. The baby ETEC was on and "just in gear", so it wasn't much more than an idle speed on her part. But, she did give us just the right amount of push to allow me to keep the power level on the Ulterra at 4-5.

Okay, so I've been hearing good things about the "Spro Madeye 120" crank bait, so I went to "Fisherman's Central" yesterday and picked up a dozen baits in various colors that I thought would work well on the walleye right now.

Spro baits ran on the port side of the boat, behind the Off Shore boards (deepest on the outside)....100 back (blue/chrome), 85 back (I didn't look at the name, but it's the same paint job as the Marvin P-10), 65 back (Lime (again, P-10 Lime Crush)), and 50 back (Chrome Perch).

Bandits ran on the starboard side at 120, 90, 70, and 50 back.

Speed was 1.8-2.1mph.

The Spro actually caught more fish than the Bandits, so I ended up putting two more on the starboard side, which were the Marble Brown and Chrome Perch colors. The Marble Brown was a hot color as it turned out. I was putting that one out 120 back and it was catching fish before the next board could be set out.

We had doubles and triples on this morning and had cleared all but a line or two at several times. The two biggest were a pair of twin 28.6 inch girls that went 7 1/2 pounds each. The rest of the fish were a nice quality grade of "eaters" (22-25 inchers).

Steve and Mike fish over in MI waters by Breast Bay and wanted to learn what it is we do over here to catch walleye. They said they struggle to catch fish, but always have fun fishing. :)

So, we chatted while we fished and at the end of the trip they said they learned a lot, and will use what they learned to help them back home....and, that makes me happy!

I'm off tomorrow, but will be back out on Saturday with the crew that I had this past Monday. They are in the brawl and would like to try it one more time. Woot! Woot! :)

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Todd, Kelly, and Scott (Garrett) 11/9/2020

by Capt Juls on 11/09/20

Yesterday, I didn't blog, because it wasn't a charter. I took Chris and Julie First, from Huron, out to shoot some video of trolling and fishing for walleye on Lake Erie. They are creating a promotional video of Northern Ohio, and showing what it has to offer. We caught 11 walleye and two white bass to take the "Back to the Wild" wildlife rehabilitation center, over in Castalia, OH. The center was very grateful for the fresh fish, and I'm sure the Eagles and critters were too.

This morning, the forecast showed warming temps, sunshine, and light southerly winds. Basically, a summer day in the second week of November....it doesn't get any better than that....except, for when it's actually summer. Needless to say, I was looking forward to fishing today.

We motored out of Mazurik's at 6:30 and turned right. We were going to Huron, since the lake was flat and it wouldn't take long to get there. Once the big motor was up to temp, I put the throttle down and off we went at a nice cruising speed of 45mph.

I slowed the boat down at the south-east corner of the Huron Dump and deployed the Ulterra and baby ETEC and pointed her to the NNE. We started in 38 feet of water and would finish in 42 feet.

The port side ran P-10's 75', 60', 30/30 w/1oz, and 30/30 w/2oz behind "Off Shore" inline planer boards, and the starboard side ran Bandits 120, 100, 85, and 75 back. The speed was 1.7mph.

The P-10 at 75 back was "Marvin", and it took a fish before the second board could be attached to the line of the second rod. A nice, fat, 5 pound fish was a good way to start the morning. It got the crew excited for good things to come.

We caught a couple more in the P-10's, but ended up switching to the Bandits, because they were doing a little better.

Bandit colors today were (In no particular order of success rate):

Green Clown

Metallic Muffin

RC Crush

An all white one with just red eyes (I don't know the name of that one).

Attention Deficit

Chrome Marvin

Todd Brooksher has fished with me before, and today he brought his brother, Kelly, and his friend, Scott to fish with. Todd remembered my program for running Off Shore boards from the previous trip, so he was able to make my job a lot easier by working as my first mate. Kelly had never been on Lake Erie before, so this was a new experience for him. He's a great angler in his own right, and showed me pictures of fish caught on other adventures. He had just never fished Erie before.

I think Scott said he has fished Erie before, but it had been a while.

We caught their 3-person limit, and 5 of mine. We kept one slot open to go after a big fish. Kelly was keeping count on the fish in the box, and those released to swim another day, and said we had released 10 fish before we put that last eater in the box to head in with.

They said they had a great time, and want to come back one more time in November, and reserved a date in late March too, so that makes me happy!

I'm off for the next two days, and will be back out again on Thursday...if weather permits. :)

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Greg, Ryan, and Zach 11/7/2020

by Capt Juls on 11/07/20

Since it was so nice out last night, I decided to bring the boat back home for the night, so I didn't have to stop at the storage building to hook it up this morning.

I left the house at 5:30, so I could go gas up the truck and boat and grab some ice for the cooler, before heading back to the Kroger store's parking lot to meet up with DJ of "DJ Custom Eye Lures". He had a couple baits I needed and was kind enough to meet me there at 6am. We did our parking lot "crank bait drug deal" and off I went to Marblehead to meet my crew for a 6:45-7am launch.

Greg, Ryan, and Zach showed up a little early, so we were able to be on the water by 6:45. The sun was just making the sky a beautiful mixture of shades of pink and oranges as we headed out of the break wall and headed east.

I'm going to fast-forward this report to the Huron info only, because where I started is not for public disclosure...sorry! We caught 6 in very shallow water before the sun got too high and slowed the first spot down. We headed to Huron with 4 hours to fish.

Once in Huron, we set up over 42 feet of water. The Ulterra was deployed, set at a power level of 5, and set to a northerly direction. The baby ETEC pushed us along at 2.0mph.

We ran Bandits high on one side and low on the other side behind OffShore inline planer boards. The Bandits that ran unassisted were set between 60 and 100 back, and the ones that ran with the 2oz snap weights set at the 50 mark were let out to 90 and 70 back. One ran a 3oz weight at 90 back also.

It was a slow bite for us, but we managed 10 more fish in the cooler for a total of 16 fatties for their fish Fries. They were pleased with their catch today.

The leads that did best for us were 100, 80, and 75 (unassisted) and the 2oz at 50 and with a total of 103 out.

Speed was mostly 2.0, but we also caught going slower and as fast at 2.6mph, so speed is really all over the place.

Colors that worked for us today were:

RC Crush

Metallic Muffin

Fruit Dots

Slick Frog

The marks on the Helix are getting better over in that area, and I only see it getting better and better and the water temps go down. They came back up a bit with this warm weather we're experiencing this weekend, so hopefully, tomorrow is another good day.

My crew had fun, and will be back again to try for perch next time. I'll look forward to that, because you all know I LOVE Perch fishing! :)

Tomorrow, I'll be out, but it's not a charter. I have a husband and wife team that does promotional videos for Northern Ohio, and they want to get some footage of the opportunities Lake Erie's Charter Fishing can offer. So, I'll be helping them achieve that goal, and hopefully, getting some good advertising out of it too. A win-win. ;)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Jim and Chris Pugh 10/31/2020

by Capt Juls on 10/31/20

Happy Halloween!

This morning's weather at 5:30am was a "brrrr-chilly" 33 degrees. The wind wasn't blowing at all. I bundled up and loaded the truck with the day's needs. Then, I headed over to the heated building its sitting in.

I got to the building at 6am, so I had an hour and a half to burn before I had to meet my crew at Mazurik's. I vacuumed the carpet, wiped the windshield down, and topped off the ETEC's oil. After hooking up the boat to the truck I headed to the gas station, and filled up both the truck and the boat, bought some ice for the cooler, and headed to Mazurik's.

I hit Mazurik's a little before 7, so I had time to get everything ready before they showed up. When they showed up, Jim (Pops, or Papa as I called him) climbs in the boat, and Chris jumps in the truck. I lined it up, and told Chris what he needed to do. He jumped in the driver's seat and I jumped in the boat. The big motor warmed up while we waited for Chris to park the trailer and come back.

Once it warmed up to around 115 degrees, we headed north out of the break wall. We made it all the way to Kelly's before I remembered that I had opened the drain plug the last time out, to drain all the water out before putting her back in the building, and only turned the the dial to close it, without going under there and pushing it all the way in.

There's always about 1/8 of an inch that needs to be pushed in, or it will take on water. Anyway, I took the boat off plane and explained what happened, and that we needed to go back to the ramp, pull the boat, drain it, and then close the plug all the way again. They nodded in agreement, and we headed back to Mazurik's.

When we got back in, I was luck enough to see my friends Mark and Jake Romanack at the dock. Mark said, "Are you already back in with your limits?" I laughed, and told him what happened. I got a hug, and wished them good luck as they headed out.

After we finished putting the plug back in we headed back to the north side of Kelly's. We started in 38 feet of water and put Bandits out on both sides behind Off Shore boards. On the port side, they were set with 2oz weights at the 50 mark then, let out a total of 150, 125, and 90 back.

On the starboard side they were set high at only 65, 61, and 57 back.

Colors were mostly white bodied baits, "RC Crush"and "Golden Boy" caught the most today.

First the 2oz/150 lead caught, then the 57 unassisted took a fish, so there was no pattern to be realized yet. The third one came on the 2oz 90 back and the fourth one came on the 61 back. Still no clear pattern....we just kept the one side high and the other side low until I needed to start changing some things up. We caught a few more this way pretty quickly.

The bite was very good early on, on a west to east pass. Then, it slowed a bit for us when we turned and went back to the west. I adjusted the speed to compensate for the difference in current. They didn't seem to care for that direction, or I failed at dialing them in while going in that direction. We turned again and made a pass towards the east again. It was slow. I decided to make a move.

We moved to the east side of Kelly's and ran south. The wind had picked up, and was sustained at 13-15mph with gusts a bit higher. The waves were solid 2-3's up by the airport. We went a little further south of there and turned the boat around. The Ulterra was deployed and the autopilot set on a northerly course over 41-43 feet of water.

Speed was 1.7-1.9mph

The Bandits were set out again, but this time, the higher baits were put down to 120, 115, and 100 back (unassisted) and the deeper side was set the same as before. The Bandit at 120 back caught one, but that was it. I swapped out the port side's Bandit's for Walleye Nation Creation "Reapers". I chose the white bodied colors I had in the box and set them out at 75, 60, and 45 back, which puts them between 15-20 feet. They would catch two, and a Bandit would catch two more too.

We ended the trip with 11 walleye in the cooler and 4 lost on their way in. My crew was happy, and said they had fun, so that makes me happy!

Tomorrow's crew has been rescheduled, due to more wind coming overnight and blowing hard all day tomorrow. Tomorrow night, the temps will fall into the low 30's, and might spit some snow.

Monday's trip was moved to Tuesday for now, but we'll see what the wind decides to do. I'm afraid that the rest of the week might be blown out too, so I'm watching it before contacting my Wednesday through Sunday customers.

Stay tuned....

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight...:)

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Heather and Garrett 10/27/2020

by Capt Juls on 10/27/20

Woke up and checked the wind forecast...it didn't change, so it was going to be a fishing day. The forecast was only calling for north winds less than 5mph from 7am until mid-afternoon, when it would switch and start coming out of the west.

I was looking forward to getting back on the water again. I fished with Heather and Garrett back in September. Garrett is the 8-year-old that gets to go fishing with his mom all the time. :)

We left Mazurik's at 7:45 and headed north. I was over in Huron on Saturday, but was only out a couple of hours and had only caught three, so I didn't report that one...but, since I hadn't been out since then, it was like starting over again.

I decided to hit Kelly Island Shoal first. We went out to the furthest buoy and turned the boat around to head SSW along the western edge of the shoal in 18-20' of water. The Ulterra was deployed and a course set on autopilot. The baby ETEC pushed us along at a speed of 1.8mph.

Water temp was 53.9 degrees

Bandits were run on the starboard side (shallower side of the break) at 40, 50, and 60 back behind Off Shore boards, and the Bandits on the port side (deeper side of the break) were set at 100, 83, and 67 back.

We caught an eater and put that one in the box, and then another board went back that looked like a big fish. However, that one came off on its way in.

We trolled to the middle green buoy and then I decided to head up to West Reef to see what was there. Again, we set up in 18 feet of water and then ran Bandits on the Port side and Flicker Minnow #11's on the starboard side. 3 Bandits caught walleye at 55 and 60 back and one Flicker Minnow caught one at 65 back.

We had made two passes on West Reef and decided it wasn't holding enough fish to bother making another pass through there, so we headed down to Starve Island and made a pass going from West to East in 40 to 44 feet of water. We caught one going that way, but caught 3 more going from East to West over the same track.

For the next pass, we picked up and went back to the other end to make the East to West pass again, but they didn't want anything to do with us this time even though everything but the wind had remained the same. And, it was just a light wind, so I don't really think that was it. I don't know.

We didn't catch any more and we were out of time anyway. Garrett did a great job and was keeping us entertained with his games. One is where a person thinks of a "noun" in a movie and then gives clues to the players, as they try and guess what it is he's thinking about. I'll have to remember that one, it was kind of fun. :)

We didn't have any brawl fish, but Garrett was entered too, and took a chunky 3-4 pounder over to get weighed in for the Fall Walleye Brawl, and have his picture taken. The others were taken to Port Clinton Fish Co. to be cleaned before they headed over there on their way home.

I have the next two days off now.... Heather was supposed to be on Thursday, but it looks like it's going to be windy, so she was able to switch to today instead. It all worked out and that makes me happy!

My next trip is scheduled for Saturday and right now the forecast looks pretty good for that day, so I'm thinking we'll be launching out of Huron, or maybe Dempsey's... I don't know yet.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Doug and Ethan 10/17/2020

by Capt Juls on 10/17/20

Ethan and his father Doug drove in from Dover, OH last night and stayed here in town. I picked them up, because we were going to launch over in Huron, and it was just easier than trying to tell them where to meet me. We all wore our masks during the drive, since we were in an enclosed truck cab, and maintained our social distance.

We stopped to fill up the truck and boat with gas, grabbed some ice, and headed on over to Huron at 6:15.

We pulled into the Huron ramp to find that some of the NWT Pros were already launching in the dark, probably to get those coveted spots at the courtesy dock, so we got ready and launched too. Seeing how it was going to get very busy there, we launched in the dark and took our time going out. We wouldn't even be able to see the Off Shore boards out there for another 1/2 hour anyway.

I idled out to the lighthouse and took a hard left, to head over to the Sawmill Creek humps at a whopping speed of 8mph. lol

By the time we got there, it would be light enough to see the boards, so we set up.

We put the Bandits out behind the boards at 40-60 back. Nothing was happening, so we kept one side high and readjusted the other side to run low with 2oz snap weights after we got to deeper water. We were targeting 24-30' deep on the weighted side and 11, 13, and 15 feet on the shallow side. (See the Precision Trolling Data for the 50/2oz target depth leads.)

With the gusty SW wind this morning, we started inside and worked our way out to deeper water. As we got to the deeper water, we pulled the rest of the high baits and reset them with 3oz snap weights, so the 2oz's were on one side and the 3oz's were on the other side.

We also ran two size 1 dipsies with the ring on the zero setting at 50-60 back off each corner.

The first bite of the day was a big fish, and it hit on the dipsey with the "Yaleye" "Mooneye Minnow". The same one that caught that 30" walleye a couple weeks ago. Ethan was excited, and reeled it in. However, this time, the big fish was an 8 pound Catfish! Thankfully, they like to eat catfish, so on the ice it went, to do its part in feeding the family. :)

The water temp today was still in that 58 degree range, so it really didn't change much over night last night, even though it was in the low 40's overnight.

I tried different speeds....from 1.5-2.7mph, but mostly ran 1.8-2.0. The surging at times had us running fast and slow all at the same time, but turning the boat to have the waves on the corner helped to keep the speed a little more stable.

The lake at times was 2-4's (inside 5 nautical miles), and sometimes 1' or less. The wind was up and down all morning, so maintaining speed was a constant adjustment.

We changed things up all morning, and could only go 5 for 7 on the Walleye today. It was tough for us, but they said they had fun and learned a lot, and would like to come back and try for some perch sometime....and, you KNOW that makes me happy. :)

I'm off tomorrow, due to another Blow forecast. My two day trip for Sunday and Monday will now become a combo perch and walleye trip on Monday, and possibly Tuesday. But, I think Tuesday is going to be blow day too....sigh. Just took a look at Wednesday's forecast and right now, that's a no go too. It's going change though...I just hope it's for the better. We shall see....

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

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Fishing with Vito Centofanti 10/16/2020

by Capt Juls on 10/16/20

This morning I was fishing with Vito, from my home state of Wisconsin, finally. I have had to reschedule him 4 times this season due to the Covid restrictions that started back in March, wind, and one screw up on my end where I had double booked, and the other person was on the calendar....not Vito. He understood and was super flexible...rebooking to today. The wind was worrisome this morning, because when I got to Mazurik's a little early to do some clean up and re-rigging, the wind was a little gusty out of the NNW. I couldn't see them yet, but I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks out in front of the launch.

Vito showed up with his wife Michelle, who wasn't inclined to put herself through that kind of experience today, so, smiling, she sent us on our way without her. She was going to keep busy by checking out some sights here in town.

As the sun lit up the eastern sky, the winds miraculously died to around 5mph. The waves subsided substantially, which was a relief, so we could take an easy ride out. We started at the lighthouse, just to check and see if there were fish in there yet. There weren't.

We picked up and headed up to the islands. I took him where I took Jeremy and Steve the other day, to see if those fish were still in there. They were.

We ran Bandits at 55-58 back and DHJ14's at 47 back behind Off Shore boards. Three per side since there were only two of us. Because of current and a break line I was following, my plan was to see if it caused one side of the boat to catch better than the other, and if it did, I would put more boards to that side of the boat, and less on the other side.

I knew I could do that with Vito, since he's fished with me a few times before, and knows the program really well.

He bought my 2018 Ranger 621...(the blue one if you remember that one), and brings it down when he comes for an extended weekend. He fishes with me, and then fishes a couple days out of his own boat. Unfortunately, that poor boat took a major hit in the rear in by an inattentive, uninsured, driver a few weeks ago. Ugh!!! I'd be sick.

He's looking at a lot of glass repair, new trailer, EZEESteps, and a kicker motor. His truck's rear end looks like a big can opener was taken to it too, because the EZEEStep was forced through the body panel from the impact of the hit.

Anyway...back to fishing...

We made a directional change that turned on the bite for us. The wind went from NNW to the SW about 2 hours into our trip, and when we trolled from west to east with the SW wind on my starboard stern's corner, the Walleye started to bite. We made three passes that were about a 1/2 mile long and picked up our 12 Walleye, one Smallmouth, and one Sheephead. The bites were about even per side, so we didn't need to add or subtract boards, and kept it even.

We launched at 7:30 and we were done by 10:15. Vito decided we should head in, so he could spend time with Michelle and show her some of the visitor's attractions around here. They are staying one more night and heading back to Wisconsin. They feel like family to me, and it's always fun to fish with him. :)

My original trip for tomorrow was rescheduled to 2021, per the customer's request, but then an hour later I received a message asking if I had tomorrow open.

Ethan and his Dad had booked a charter on the Niagra River, but the Capt canceled it for whatever reason, so he was looking to get out on Erie, and wondered if I had the day open. Well, I do actually, so I told him it might be a little rough, but it's fishable. They booked it. How fortuitous for all of us. :)

We'll be launching out of Huron at sunrise...well before the top ten NWT Pros take off at 8am.