Two Days of Fishing with Mark and Claudia Miller 7/6-7/2021

We left Mazurik's at 5:30 and headed to Mouse Island, where we turned the boat back to the east, and set up in 17 feet of water. There were good marks there, but I wasn't convinced they were walleye, but we tried it anyway, because my options were limited.

The port side ran the Reapers from the day before, at 60, 50, 40 back behind the Off Shore boards.  The starboard side ran Spro Madeye 120's at the same distance behind the boards. Speed, going with the current, was 2.5-2.7mph.  

I set the Ulterra's course, going parallel along the shoreline.  We trolled from Mouse to the Marblehead lighthouse, and then picked up, ran back up to the Mazurik's area, out in front of East Harbor, and set up again for another pass.  We made it to the lighthouse again before we ran out of time.

We ended with 10 fish in the cooler along with some sheephead, which were donated to the "Back to the Wild" rehabilitation center over in Castalia, OH.

When we were setting up for the first time that morning, Mark said, "We don't need to keep any fish today, or tomorrow, we have plenty in the freezer already, I just wanted to come and learn some tips". I said, "Great! Would you mind if we donated them to  "Back to the Wild...for the...."?   He cut me off... and, smiling, he finished my sentence saying, "the Eagles!!"  They were all for it, so everything went in the cooler except for white bass. (There's something in White Bass that the birds can't eat).

So, that's what we did. 

Fast Forward to this morning....

We met at Mazurik's again, and launched at 5:30. The wind was out of the SW, but it was a light wind...almost calm, at that hour this morning.  The humidity was already high, and the forecast was calling for another hot and humid day. The wind was supposed to pick up a little, a little later in the morning, (which it did, but it wasn't bad at all). 

I was a little wary of taking Claudia out on the "big water", where I knew she wouldn't feel as comfortable as she did yesterday, closer to shore. But, I needn't have worried, she did absolutely great! There was no issue on her part at all. That made me feel better when we set up E of Kelly's, out there in the wide open yonder. ;)

We ran 2 dipsies and 2 Off Shore boards on each side of the boat. The dipsies were set on the zero and three settings. Zero setting was at 45 to 65 back and the three setting was set at 65 and 75 back. The spoons were a steady bite, but mostly smaller fish. We had 4 to 5 fish that went 23", or better, in the cooler, but most were in the 16-17" range.  The shorts range anywhere from 4 inches to 14 3/4 inch.

As bothersome as they are right now, I just remind myself how good the fishing is still going to be in a few years, and just keep pulling, checking, and resetting lines. Almost every time we checked a dipsey, there was a tiny little bugger hanging there, taking a ride. :)

We ended the day with our three-person limit in the cooler. And, again, Mark donated his fish to me, to do whatever I wanted to do with them, so they are going in my freezer this time instead, because I don't have any in my freezer.

Mark and Claudia had a good time, and Mark learned a lot. Claudia was the dipsey queen...she had the "Reel down to the diver, lift, and back up" down pat in no time, which made it easy to net the fish, or grab the line if they were just itty-bitties. 

Tomorrow, I have three fellas that already know how to do all this stuff, and all own boats, so I really don't know why they need me, but was told they just want to see how I do things, and see if they can learn anything. I told Rod, "I might learn something from you guys too. I'm looking forward to it". 

The forecast is calling for some rain in the morning, but as long as there is no lightning in the system, like there is this afternoon, with this storm rolling through, we will be a go. The wind forecast is SW again.  I think I'll launch out of the Portage River and go explore some areas west of the islands in the morning.

I think these guys will be fun. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls