Fishing with Bill, Bryce, and Brighton 4/24/2021

I left the house at 5:30 anyway, and hit the gas station for gas and ice, and figured I would just go over to Mazurik's early and get the front spot in the get ready lanes, and take the opportunity to strip a little line and re-tie the snaps on, and take my time getting the rest of the stuff ready.

I chose to put (4) Spro "Madeye 120's" on the one side and (4) Bandits on the other side, like I did the last trip out, and chose Spro colors in (2) "Golden Perch", "Blue/Chrome", and "Marvin". The Bandit side would run the same as the last trip out too, which was "Blue Chrome", "Buck Fever", and (2) "Carrot Top". 

Luckily, they showed up a 1/2 hour early, so we were on the water and to our spot by 7am. Mazurik's really wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, for a Saturday. After letting the ETEC warm up to a temp of 130 I hit the throttle and off we went. 

The lake was calm, with a little ripple from the SE wind, and remnants of boat wakes, so the drive north didn't take very long. 

We set up with the Spros running deepest on the outside and shallowest on the inside behind the Off Shore boards. On the Spro side, they were running 40, 60, 80, and 100 away from the boat. The Bandit side was set the same.

Bill had told me this trip was to learn more about how to run the Off Shore boards, because they had bought some for their boat, and that catching fish was just going to be a bonus. But, as we all know, you learn more about using the boards when you have activity, so you can see how to handle most situations, so the goal was to find some fish. ;)

We were 5 for 8 in the first spot, but they weren't there like they were the other day, so I made a decision to move more east, thinking they moved that way. We picked up and moved 7 miles east of our first spot and set up again with the same program.  

Speed was 1.7-2.0mph

At one point, we heard over the radio that someone was catching with leads at 150 and 120 back. I looked to see how deep that would put a Bandit, and then showed Brighton how the snap weight information in the "Precision Trolling Data" app worked. We put a 2 oz snap weight on at 50....then, to get to the same depth of an unassisted Bandit at 150 back, we needed to let out just another 16 feet, for a total of 66 feet, before putting the board on. He now understood how using a snap weight can shorten up the leads, but keep the baits as deep as the longer leads.

I had him go in my side compartment and choose a Bandit to use. I said, "Find one that you feel is lucky". "I'm never lucky", he said, and was not feeling it, so I told him to grab the "Green Clown", so he put that one on. That bait was set with the 2 oz snap weight and was out maybe 5 minutes before the board got tugged back violently. Again, showing them that running snap weights can catch fish.

We would spend the rest of their time over there, and would pick up 9 more nice Walleye to add to the box. The biggest one of the day jumped right out of the net when Bryce was netting Bill's fish, or we would have had 14 in the box. (I'm not counting the other fish that came unbuttoned before we saw them, or before we got the board off). That big fish was determined to get out of that net, and not even I could have prevented that fish from doing that acrobatic maneuver to free herself. Bryce felt bad, but that's just the way it goes. That was one lucky fish who now lives on to become a bigger fish. :)

When their 6 hours was up, we headed back in. They talked about how much they learned and how much fun they had on this beautiful day, and told me they would like to come back again soon, so that makes me happy! :)

On a side note: I was so close to a fantastic bite, but it was one of those days when I turned right instead of left....oh well. Deep sigh....

Tomorrow's trip was rescheduled to July, due to another NW blow, and Monday is a scheduled day off. Back at it Tuesday...weather permitting.

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls