Fishing with Bruce Kowalski and Chris 5/25/2020

I had a panic attack at the ramp this morning. My old 2001 Excursion decided to lock up the transmission, so Bruce couldn't shift it into reverse when he went to back the Ranger in the water.

I gave Matt Wieland a call, because he's my mechanic and also a charter Capt, who I knew was going to be headed out on the water shortly too. I was hoping he could just tell me how to fix it, so I could get my rig out of the first ramp, because it was starting to get busy. I didn't want to be "that person" who gets yelled at for blocking a ramp. lol

Anyway, Matt couldn't do anything, because they were already headed out of their channel, but his advice was helpful. He talked to Chris on my phone and the plan would be that Bruce would go get his truck, tie it to my truck, and pull it forward to take the tension off the transmission. Fingers crossed and a deep breath, it inched forward.....I stepped on the break and tried to shift it....it worked! Whew!

Good to know, so if it ever happens again, I can just start swearing and not have to panic. lol

Once that drama was over, we headed out....to the west this time. We started at Mouse and headed towards Starve. But, we didn't stay longer than 1/2 hour as the marks were too spotty for my liking, and we headed north to the monument again.

We ran Bandits 60-75 back at 1.8-19mph and picked up 7 fish there. It was a slow bite for us, but a faster bite for a friend of mine running Reef Runner Mags and Flicker Minnows. I put three flickers on one side, and ran his faster speed, but they did nothing for us, while the Bandits still did, so we replaced them again with the Bandits. 

Then, someone in a Ranger went flying by us to head back to South Bass (I think they were probably staying out there on the island?) and as they went by they motioned "Go East"! So, we said, "Why not?" Since the boat traffic by the monument was stacking up, we picked everything up and headed east. :)

We set  up on the SW corner of Gull to start and picked up two fish in relatively short order, but then nothing. I decided to pick up again and head to the east side of Kelly's. I didn't stop at KI Shoal, because I was there yesterday and wasn't too impressed. We headed down towards the Airport Reef area and set up again. We had a pullback, but a miss, before the second line was set, so I had high hopes.

We picked up two more, but it was slow. It wasn't until we were further south that we would get the rest of our fish. And, it was always a double on when they did come. We would catch two, then wait....then, catch two more...then, wait...then, catch two more. We kept turning on the active spot and finished out our three person limit there.  

The water temp finally hit 60 degrees today in the deeper water, so the west end must be getting even warmer and those fish stacked up over there in the muddier water will be moving soon...woot! woot!

Today felt more like the year 2012 to me, when we had to hunt for a pod of fish and then stay on them by doing small circles...unlike last year, where you could do one long pass and be done.  

Yes, I know there are folks whacking them very easily in areas, and some of those areas are jam packed with boats. I won't do the pack fishing, because it makes me irritable, and that's not a fun day for me or for my customers.

Today, was a relaxing day to teach two perch fishermen how to troll. They did all the work setting the Off Shore boards out, so they would know how to do it when they tried it on their own boats. They did a great job, and had it down pat by the second to last fish. Mission accomplished! ;)

I'm off tomorrow, but I will be out fishing. Capt Jenn and I are going to catch some fish for the Eagles at the "Back to the Wild" wildlife rescue in Castalia.

My trip for Wednesday is up in the air at the moment too. It's two of my favorite regulars and "Papa" is not sure he wants to fish if there are bugs like we experienced two days ago on the lake (I can't blame him..it takes a lot of mind over matter to fish with them trying to go up your nose and in your mouth and ears all the time).  The wind forecast is showing some wind now, so they may change their minds and come. I'll know tomorrow....

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls