Fishing with Paul and Steve...5/17/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/17/26This trip was originally scheduled for yesterday. Due to the wind, and mine and their availability to change it to this morning, we made plans to meet at Mazurik's at 5:30. Unfortunately, Paul's brother couldn't make it today, so it was just Paul and their friend, Steve. Easy names for me to remember, because my Dad's name was Paul and my twin brother's name is Steve. :)
You all know my morning routine by now, so I won't bore you with those details this time. I left the house at 4:30 and hit the gas station for some ice. I was the second person to pull in at Mazurik's. There was a boat tied up to the courtesy dock already, but after we launched and I pulled up to it too, we chatted, and I found out that he had driven up from a couple of hours way, and he had gottenn there at 2am. He was just waiting for the sky to lighten before heading out on his own. It was definitely a boat that he could sleep in while he waited. It had a nice little cabin on it, so I'm guessing there was probably a little bed down below he could use.
The sky was just beginning to lighten at 5:30, and rigs were pulling in the park. I wanted to get out in front and let the motor warm up before it got crowded at the launch. Once it had, we headed north. I kept the Vexus at a slow speed of only 25mph, so that by the time we got to where I thought I wanted to start, it would be light enough to see the Off Shore boards.
Plenty of fish were marked between the mainland and Kelly's, but I was thinking of going further north. After we passed American Eagle Shoal and got out of the shallow water, there were some decent marks, so the Vexus was stopped, the big motor shut off, the Ulterra deployed, and the baby Merc warmed up. The FishHawk was sent down, and then the dual-team of the Ulterra and the baby Merc handled it from there. The Ulterra's course was set to the north, towards Gull Island Shoal, while the baby Merc pushed us along at the FH speed of 2.2mph.
Seeing so many posts about crawlers working, I still didn't want to run them behind the boards, because I don't like going that slow...So, I had grabbed the box of "Worm Burners" out of the fishing room last night. They would be run behind the dipsies. It was a good decision, because they caught the most fish this morning.
The zero setting at 28 and 31, and the three setting at 57 and 60 produced fish. The three setting on the starboard side ran that Yeck spoon with the blue belly that has been consistently producing each trip, and it didn't disappoint this morning, either.
Speed was best between 2.2 and 2.4 (FishHawk).
Behind the Off Shore boards, we started with the WalleyeX "Chrome Tiger" and "Craw" on the port side, and the "Blue Shiner" and "Khaki" Banidits on the starboard side.
The chrome tiger ran at 50/22 with 2oz caught the two largest fish, and the craw at 120 back caught one, but would be changed out to the Spro Madeye120 "Ghost Purple Perch" color at 97 back. It started catching, so I put another one on the port side, too.
Both the blue shiner and the khaki had caught a fish, but that was it, so I changed out both. One was swapped with the Spro (GPP), and the other was changed to the "Fruit Dots" Bandit. The Spro ran at 97 back and the Fruit Dots at 70 back.
Everything caught fish this morning. We all caught our limits and headed back in at 9:30, so they could get the fish cleaned and grab some breakfast before heading back home.
They did a great job...they said they had a great time, and learned a lot....and that makes me happy!
Mission accomplished. :)
I'm off tomorrow, but have trips scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday....wind permitting. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Comments (0)
