Fishing with Guy, Brennan, and Dom 9/19/19

I had fished the past few days over by the islands, with little to show for it, other than spending some quality time with some very cool people and catching a few fish. No limits, however....sigh. 

(For those that only read my blog on my website, I keep a FB page too, and post a day's events there, if you want to check that out from time to time. https://www.facebook.com/JulsWFA) 

I post the good bites, and I post the bad bites, because it happens to everyone. Does it suck? Sure does! But, tomorrow is always a new day, and a new puzzle, to figure out. As much as it can aggravating...that's the part of fishing I like best, because the bad days teach you many things. When you finally figure out the piece of the puzzle that's missing, and it all comes together....you just smile and proceed to fill the cooler. ;)

Anyway...I digress....

We headed out of the Huron River at sunrise. The wind was out of the SSE at 10mph. When I heard someone say, it will be nice out there today, to which I said, "It will be calm inside here, but it will be rougher out where we're going...just so you know. The further we get from shore the bigger the waves will be". 

Guy rode in the passenger seat, while Brennan and Dom sat in the rear. I put a big towel around Dom's legs, because he only had shorts on, and it was only 64 degrees. That temp, with my boat speeds, would be chilly on his little boy legs. 

I put the throttle down on that big 300 hanging off the back of my sparkly boat, and the G2 powered out of the hole. "She" (my boat) glided across a flat lake until the waves started getting bigger. I backed off on the throttle and set a cruising speed of 30mph....until, of course, the waves started getting bigger.  I was then "driving the waves"...which means, I was on and off the throttle as I drove.

As we headed to the Weather Buoy, I was keeping an eye on the Helix. I was hoping to find some good marks somewhere in between the river and the Weather Buoy. It was around the dumping ground, that is way out there, about 4 miles south of the WB, where I noticed some decent marks. 

The 621 came off plane and I shut the motor off. I've gotten in the habit of deploying the Ulterra from the Helix, and find that it is very convenient to be able to get the motor going down, before I turn around to find my remote that sits on the floor beside me. I then set the course.

The baby ETEC was lowered and then powered up to push us anywhere from 2.1 to 3.0. I usually try a lot of different speeds until I find the one that catches the most fish, and then set it to that.  I will still make some turns from time to time to make sure it hasn't changed though.  

To make this long story shorter....because I could just go on and on tonight...I'll just give you the Cliff Notes version:

We had a tough bite. 

I never got the puzzle figured out...but, I can tell you what did catch our fish today.

The Black Headed Wonder Bread Bandit, run 85 back behind an Off Shore board took the first keeper walleye.

The #1 dipsy w/ring set on a 3 setting at 85 back....with a silver and green Scorpion spoon took the second one there. Then, nothing.....ugh.

Eventually, we picked up and moved over towards Lorain more...in the 31/18 area. We set up on the edge of a shoal and trolled from the outside edge to the top of it and caught two fish as we came up the side of it into shallower water. 

One off a Buck Fever Bandit (purple and chrome, for those that will want to PM me and ask). ;) That one was running 125 back behind the board.

The fourth fish came on the 3 setting dipsy again at....you guessed it...85. This time, and orange Yeck spoon.

We had a nice walleye on the zero setting at 51, (I don't remember the color) but lost that one at the back of the boat. All three of these fish came pretty close together. 

The speed was 2.4 when these fish hit.

I took note of the depth, and decided to run the outside edge of this shoal at that same depth, thinking they might be holding there. Nope...these fish were moving. They were there one minute and gone the next....we just got lucky and caught two of the three nomads, while they were on the move.

We ended up dragging some 2019 babies, for a way, but I'm usually pretty good at checking in decent intervals, so they don't hang for too long.  Those little buggers always crack me up...chasing and catching something as big as they are, going that fast. They will be prolific eaters, and if they don't get caught, will become our trophies in the future. 

I always give them a kiss, and send them on their way with wishes of, "good luck", so they will grow to be new state records. 

It was a fun day despite the slow bite, and Dom had a good time, and that's all that matters. Guy will be coming back in October to fish with me. He and his friend, CJ have fished with me several times over the last 8 years, but CJ couldn't make this trip, so just the two of them will be back for the fall bite. That makes me happy. 

Tomorrow, I am fishing with Joe and Justine Halamas, who hail from Chicago. They are arriving late tonight, so I won't be picking them up until 8am. We will go to breakfast someplace, and then launch by 9am out of Catawba. Time to try something different, and maybe find some perch after trying a go at walleye.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls