Fishing with Rich and Chris Jacklin 6/23-24/19

June 23rd, 2019

I picked my crew up from the Commodore Perry Inn, and headed to the gas station to fill up the Ranger...then, to Big Bopper's for some breakfast. After we ate, we headed back to Hi Way bait to pick up some minnows for perching, before hitting Mazurik's to launch. Three scoops, of a mix of Emeralds and Goldies, would be enough since the Emeralds were very large and could be cut in half.

We launched at 5:45 and headed northeast as the sun came up over the horizon. I wanted to fish the spot I ended up in the day before with Eric Vechera and his two boys... (didn't blog that one, due to chores that needed to be done)....the day before we had been in an area that was now invaded by a lot of boats, so we picked everything up and went looking.

My Helix showed some good marks, and there was no one around, so we set up in 44' of water with dipsies set on the 3 and 0 settings on each side of the boat. The 3 settings were 65 and 85 back and the 0 settings were 35 and 45 back.

We ran Bandits on one side of the boat behind Off Shore boards at the usual 42 and 51 back (blue/chrome and Buck Fever, of course), and #11 Flicker Minnow minnows at 55 and 75 back. Speed was 2.3-2.5mph.

Yesterday, the conditions were beautiful. There was a light east wind and the waves were 1 foot or less. We set out the Buck Fever Bandit at 42 back first, and while I was showing them again how to use the line counter reels and put the board on the next one, I looked up and saw that the first board was heavy with a fish and said, "We have one already...there's a fish on that one". Rich and Chris were excited to see the action happening so soon, and we put the first fish in the box.

We set up the same as the day before, but this time with one Bandit and one Flicker Minnow on the same side of the boat, because I was short one person in order to be able to run the extra two boards on the other side.

To make a long story shorter...we caught our 18 walleye within two hours and put everything away and got ready to go find some perch. We took a long ride over to D can where I was told there was a good perch bite going on for the past couple of days. However, when we got there, there was absolutely no one there. lol  

I looked for some telltale signs of life below and marked a few, so we set up there, and gave it shot.  We only caught 12 perch, along with as many sheepshead and white perch, so they guys enjoyed the relaxing time of listening to good music and reeling fish in.

Fast forward to today....June 24, 2019

The morning was much the same as the previous day, but we didn't have to stop for gas and minnows, because the guys just wanted to go for walleye this time. If we got done early, the plan was to head back to Wisco earlier.  Well, with the wind forecast for the day, and the fact that I got the feeling Rich didn't care for big waves, I decided to try some areas closer to the mainland over to the east.

It wasn't rough inside, so we headed over to the Huron area. There was a lot of fish stacked up inside in 30' of water, but it was pretty muddy from the NE wind last night, so they were not biting like I've been used to. Finally, and dipsey rod bounces and Chris reels in a sheepshead...ugh. Then, a second fish hits...another sheepshead...sigh. I wondered and said out loud, "I wonder if all those marks are just sheep?" But, then a third one hit and it was a nice walleye, so that gave us a little more confidence. 

I had been going from NW to SE and turned the boat to go the opposite direction, and the bite picked up. They weren't jumping in the boat, but it was a steady bite until we got to the last 5...then, it took some time. The wind had started to gust into the 20's and the boat was rolling while we rode in the trough, and maybe the dipsies were bouncing too much...I don't know. But, we eventually got our three person limit and headed back in.

Today's program was all over the place, and no real decisive numbers played out. We kept changing depths until something worked and then tried that again...but, we just had to keep changing things to get our fish today. 

It was a good time, and the Jacklin's were a lot of fun to fish with. :)

Tomorrow's crew will be here for two days also, and I will inform them of our launch time when I get up tomorrow. The forecast keeps changing, so I'll take a look at it in the morning and let them know what's what at that time.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls