Fishing with Mark and Patty 6/6-7/2021

Anyway....Yesterday....(6/6/2021)

We did a later launch than my usual 5:15-5:30 launch and launched at 8am. I thought they might want to sleep in a bit after the late night they had the night before trying to get here.  

We left out of Mazurik's, and headed to the old international C Can area, up there east of Middle Island, and set up over 40' of water. The Ulterra was deployed and the baby ETEC put into commission to steer us on an easterly course, trolling at a speed of 2.2-2.4mph.

4 dipsies set with spoons or shallow diving cranks were set up on the corners. I run a shorter rod and a longer rod on each side. The shorter one is the "inside" rod, and the longer rod, since it's further out away from the boat, and longer than the shorter rod (of course), is the "outside" dipsey.

The inside dipsies were set on the zero setting, and set back 31' on one side and 45 on the other side.

The outside dipsies were set on the three setting and set back 47' on one side and 60' back on the other side.

Bandits, Reapers, Spros, and Flicker Minnow 11s were run behind Off Shore boards from 45 to 100 back, (not all at once...we ran two boards per side and switched things up from time to time) All caught fish.

Water temp was up to 65 degrees.

We only had 8 or 9 in the cooler, and like many others are experiencing...little walleye, who think they're "big fish", and go after baits they couldn't possibly swallow in real life, and a handful of Sheephead.  Not great, but not bad either. :)

Mark and Patty had a good time and relaxed. They are a fun couple to fish with, because even when it's a slow bite, like we had yesterday, they stayed positive, and kept things fun. We tried many different things, but couldn't get more than a semi steady pick. I told them that I thought an earlier start in the morning might help our catch rate, and it wouldn't be so darn hot. They agreed.

Fast forward to this morning's trip (6/7/2021)

I swung by and picked them up at 4:45, and they were ready to go....right on time. We headed through town, and hit the gas station to top off the boat and get some ice for the cooler....then, headed over to Mazurik's to launch.

I didn't want to go back up to the spot from the day before, and was hopeful we could find some other fish on the east side of Kelly's. We started looking out by the Marblehead dumping grounds, but the Helix was showing me a blank screen, other than a small mark here and there...not what we were looking for, so we moved.

This time, I decided that maybe there might be some fish still making the trek east...and, since there are a lot of fish being taken in the North Passage, I figured it was worth taking a look at the "Weather Buoy". Speaking of the weather buoy, it sure would be nice if it were working on iWindSurf again someday...that's the buoy I looked at the most over the years. I miss having that wind info out there).

Anyhoooo....I digress...sorry....

There were marks out there, but not the colorful fat ones I like to see on my screen, but rather, just blue arches, signaling they were smaller fish. Ugh....

So, after about a mile trolling pass....we picked up and moved again.

This time, to the Huron Dumping Grounds.....long story short...it was a bust too. So, I say, "Let's pick these up again and try one last spot", and as we are reeling lines in we get a small fish and the screen lights up with some good looking marks, so we keep lines in, and......of course, the screen goes blank for the next 5 minutes. Grrrrr...deep sigh....

So, we picked up and moved back towards Cedar Point and set up there. An even longer story shorter is that we ended with 5 nice walleye (16", 17", 19", 25", and 26 3/4"), plus several big sheep, and many throwbacks. So, it went from a boring, non-catching, morning to a fun time for all!

Mark and Patty are doing very well on learning how to set lines using the Off Shore boards, and bringing them back in, without having to remove the dipsey rod out of the way.  I'm looking forward to another three days with them later this week.

Tomorrow, I have Al Bjorkman and his crew. The forecast shows it's going to be a nice, but cloudy day tomorrow, with the winds laying down towards mid to late morning. The rain should hold off until the late afternoon, but with hot temps like this...pop up showers can happen anytime. I think I'll take some rain gear tomorrow, because it's better to have and not need, than to need and not have. ;)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls