Fishing with John Willams May 29th, 2023
by Capt Juls on 05/29/23I left the house at 4:30, and drove over to Catawba to meet up with my customer, John Williams, who was going to be there by 5:30. He was driving in from the Cleveland area, so I didn't expect him to beat me there, but he did.
It was still dark at 5:15, but we launched anyway. I figured by the time the 400 warmed up to temp, we would be able to go.
The sky was clear, and just starting to lighten on the eastern horizon. The reflection of the sky on the water west of the islands made it bright enough to head out.
The air temp was mid 50s, and the flag on the pier at Catawba wasn't moving at all. The lake had some light residual rollers from the previous night's light NE winds.
We headed north to the last place I fished last week, which was off the west side of North Bass. The Helix wasn't showing as many fish marks as last week before the blow, but there were still enough to make me want to set up on them.
The Fish Hawk was showing a depth temp of 61.7 degrees and the surface temp was showing 62.3 on the Helix. Speed was set at 2.2 GPS, which was 1.9mph with a WSW trolling pass.
Since I only had one person today, we could only run 6 lines, so 4 dipsies hit the line-up, and two Off Shore boards. The boards started with two Flicker Minnow 11s behind them...one at 55 back, unassisted, and the other with a 2oz snap weight at 50/69 (total line out 119). Neither took a fish, so they were changed out to Bandits.
"Carrot Top" was set at 75 back on the port side. It caught a nice eater. Then, I had John pick out a color to use on the starboard side, and he chose "Electric Zebra". I also had him pick a number, and he chose 68, so we ran that one at 68 back. It didn't catch anything. The sun was getting higher, and it was hard to see the board on the port side, due to the sparkling reflection on the water, so I reeled it in and put it on the starboard side, too.
The Carrot Top stayed at 75 back, and was moved to the outside. The Electric Zebra came in and was changed out to "Buck Fever" (silver chrome with a purple back...a Domka Outdoors Custom color). That one was set to 57 back... it would catch two nice eaters...while the Carrot Top would tally 2 fish also.
The Yeck spoons, however, were the star of the morning. They caught 9 of the 12 fish. 6 came early, and were in the box before 6:30.
The zero setting at 30 and 35 back were the most successful, while the three settings at 47 and 50 back caught a few, too.
It wasn't fast and furious, but it was a steady enough bite to keep us entertained for a couple of hours until we limited out.
It was a beautiful morning to be on the water, and the company was great, too, and that makes me happy!
Tomorrow, I'll be fishing with Dave Dunn and his friends.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
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