Juls WFA Blog
Fishing with Dave and Danielle 6/21/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/24/26Didn't write a report for this one....Dave and Danielle are my neighbors, and booked a trip for walleye. We had a slow bite for some reason and only caught 13 of our 18 over between Huron and Cedar Point.
All were just eaters between 16 and 20 inches, so few pics were taken. It was a beautiful day on the lake, though, and we had fun. When we got off the water we went to Casa Las Palmas for lunch, before heading home.
We did pull out the perch gear at one point, when the Garmin marked what looked like perch to us, so we pulled the trolling gear and tried it for 15 minutes. Good marks but no nibbles on the Emerald Shiners, so we went back to trolling for the last 1/2 hour.
The three-day trip scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is rescheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, due to heavy winds on Monday.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing Day Two with Steve, Dave, and Doug...6/16/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/16/26I didn't write a report for Day one of Steve, Dave, and Doug's trip, because we had a late start, and by the time I got home, I only had time to feed the dogs, go to the bank, and make a quick dinner. For those that know me, you know what time I go to bed...for those that don't know me, I am going to bed when most normal people are sitting down to dinner. I like to get up at 2am, so by the time I have to meet my customers, I am in a good mood, and I've already gotten lots of things done before I leave the house. It's not for everyone, but it works for me. ;)
Anyway...day one, we caught their 3-person limit and a couple of mine. We fished the SE side of Kelly's with spoons behind dipsies and Bandits behind the Off Shore boards. The spoons outfished the cranks, but the crank fish were still larger on average.
Day 2:
I got up at 1:30, feeling like I slept very well, and was feeling good. While sitting on the back deck with the dogs and my hot cup of coffee, I remembered telling them I would make them some of my brownies today, so after checking all my weather forecast apps, we went back inside.
I whipped up the brownies, and while they baked in the oven, I jumped in the shower and got ready. When I went outside to put stuff in the boat, I saw it....my electrical cord was on the ground. #%@*/! Ugh....I forgot to plug the charger in when we got back late. I said a few words, knowing I was the only one to blame.
Luckily, I have "Miller Tech" lithium batteries in the boat for the Ulterra. They have an app that lets me check the percentage of usage, and it showed there was still 65% left on all three batteries. Whew! If they were still AGMs, I would have been in a panic, knowing the batteries wouldn't last for a second trip without a charge.
The forecast was calling for wind out of the SW at 10-18mph.
The air temp was 64 degrees at 4:30, and I could see some stars in the sky, so I figured it was clear to partly cloudy. The high today would only reach the mid 70s.
My guys are staying at Camp Perry, which is 2 miles west of my house, so they met me at my house and jumped in my truck for the ride to the launch.
This morning, I thought it would be a good idea to launch out of Huron, because of the wind direction and the location of the area I wanted to fish. It would be closer and not as rough as launching out of Mazurik's and fishing the east side of Kelly's.
These friends are in their mid to late 70's, so I didn't want them to take a rough boat ride if I could help it.
After stopping at the Speedway on 250 and Rt2 to get ice, we hit the Huron launch a little after 5am.
**Note: If you're driving in from the west, you need to get off on Rt6 West and go through town, because 6 East is closed.
I got the boat ready and took the Bandits off the port side and attached Flicker Minnow11s instead. I wanted to try a smaller profile to see if the fish preferred those to a Bandit right now.
We didn't go far out of the river and headed west until I hit 25' of water. The fish marks were good, so I shut the big Merc off and deployed the Ulterra. The baby Merc and Fish Hawk were also deployed. The FishHawk usually gets set at 18' down, because that's far enough to get a good reading of opposite currents.
The target speed was 2.5mph, and the course was set in the direction of the dump.
The wind was still light when we started and was less than 5mph. By the time we would end, it would be blowing at 15mph(ish), and the lake would go from calm to 1-3s a mile out, 2-3s two miles out, and 2-4s on the north side of the dump.
Dipsies ran off the two back corners, as usual. Two on each side. The zero setting started out at 25 and 30 back, and the three settings were initially set to 50 and 60 back. They would be let out as we got over deeper water to what has been working the past two weeks.
The zero settings at 35 and 54, and the three settings at 64 and 72 back.
The Yeck spoons, DJ Custom Eye Lures, paints the bellies blue for me were consistently catching fish. I don't know the name of the other Yeck color, but it has a pink belly and orange/chart/and pink on the back. It did well, too.
The Off Shore boards on the starboard side pulled Bandits at 100, 90, 80, and 63 back. (I run the long leads on the outside and shorter leads on the inside...it works for me).
Colors were:
"Sunspot" (stock color) 100 back
"Blue Shiner" (stock color) 90 back
"Halographic Natural Shad" (Slim Shady Custom) 80 back
"Fruit Dots" (stock color) 63 back
The port side ran Flicker Minnow 11s (unassisted) at 115, 90, 80, and 63 back.
Colors were all stock colors:
"Firetail Chrome Candy" (115)
"Firetail Hot Perch" (90)
"Flashy Chartreuse" (80)
"Racy Shad" (63)
All but the Fruit Dots caught one or more fish this morning. Slim Shady's "Halographic Nat. Shad" caught the most of all the cranks, though. I need to order another 3 or 4 of those. I only have one in my box, and I really like that one. :)
Thankfully, my crew had a day of training before we had the kind of bite we had. And, they knew more about what to do. Dave was helping set dipsies, but they left the board setting to me. They helped net each other's fish while I was busy resetting lines.
The first pass was from inside to the north side of the dump. We picked everything up and made a run back to the start, so we could make another pass. The first pass had produced 12 keepers and several throwbacks. The second pass gave us the other 12, along with more Sheephead Dave wanted to keep for his traps back home. He called them "Bobcat Bait".
They caught their 3-person limit, and I reeled in mine, too. We had our 24 by 8:45 this morning, which made my guys very happy. Steve said, "This is the kind of experience we always read about, when people talk about Lake Erie...thanks, Juls". I smiled, and nodded, and that made me happy! :)
They have two more days scheduled with me, and it looks like tomorrow will be the last day, because Thursday's forecast looks nasty!
We'll be headed back to Huron in the morning...
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Ken and Jeff...6/13/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/13/26I beat the alarm clock again and got up at 1:45, due to my Golden Retriever pacing the floor, because he wanted me to get up. My alarm is set for 2am. I said to the maniac, "I guess it's time to get up, eh? Okay, you win...only because it's only 15 minutes".
The back deck was calm, dry, and warm. The forecast was calling for sunshine and winds out of the SW at 5-13mph, so I knew it was going to be a good day. I left the house at 4:40 and went to the Whitecaps Motel to pick up my guys, who had a 5am pickup. I wanted a few minutes to wipe down the trailer. I did the boat yesterday, but forgot to do the trailer, so it was bugging me.
I sent a text to Ken to let them know I was there, that I was early, and there was no hurry. They walked out at 4:50 and jumped in the truck. We only had to pick up ice for the fish-cooler and a couple of snacks, so we made a quick stop at the Speedway in town. Apparently, the lights were not turned off last night, so the entire place was covered in a thick layer of Mayflies. While they can be bothersome, it's always great to see them, because it's a clear sign of a healthy lake.
We got in the water at Mazurik's at 5:30, and after the big motor was warmed up to 140 degrees, we set off. The Vexus was pointed to the east, instead of north this time, and we just drove until we got out of the river channel (more wind in the channel). I was marking good fish marks on the Garmin, so we stopped. We set up over 28' of water, and kept the boat pointing east for our trolling pass.
The Ulterra gets deployed first and set to a power level of 5, with the iPilot taking control. The baby Merc goes next, and is powered up enough to get the FishHawk to read 2.3-2.5mph on its graph. For those reading these reports for the first time, the FishHawk is a probe that runs down below in the undercurrent. It tells me the speed and temp down there. The surface current and the undercurrent are very seldom the same, so it's good to know how fast your baits are actually swimming down below.
Ken and Jeff were not old gents like I thought they were in my last report, so it was a pleasant surprise to see these two walk up to the truck. I knew they would have no issues standing up in the boat. They told me they wanted to learn, so I showed them how dipsies work, and how the boards work, and then showed them how to set all of them out.
It took a few tries, but they picked it up pretty quick and were setting lines and netting fish in no time.
Dipsies were set out first. You know the settings....a zero and a three on each side of the boat.
The zero settings started out at 28 and 35 when we were over 28' of water.
The three settings started out at 50 and 72.
Yeck and BadMo Arrow spoons were used.
The dipsies definitely outfished the cranks, but the crank fish were consistently bigger.
As we got out to 43' of water, the dipsies were adjusted to:
Zero settings were 54 and 47, and the three settings were 64 and 72.
The Off Shore boards pulled Bandits behind them...two on each side.
The port side ran one at 67 and 57 back, early, and then at 97 and 67 as the sun got higher.
The starboard side ran them at 100 and 80.
Colors that caught were:
"Halographic Natural Shad" (Slim Shady Custom) <----best one for cranks today!
"Whiskey and Water" (Slim Shady Custom)
"Psycho Killer" (Slim Shady)
"SunSpot" (stock color)
Water temp on the surface was 69.6, and the temp down below was 71.
Ken and Jeff did a great job after getting the hang of it and were running the back of the boat by themselves. I just reeled in my fish, and let them set lines. I believe they will now be able to do the same in their own boats.
They said they had a great time and learned a lot, so that makes me happy! Mission accomplished...:)
I'm off tomorrow, and then I have a 4-day trip starting on Monday. Monday and Tuesday look good, but Wednesday and Thursday are iffy, right now. Hopefully, it changes for the better. My guys are coming all the way from Wyoming, so I want them to get all 4 days in while they are here. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with John, Arnie, and Rick...6/10/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/10/26I couldn't go out on the back deck when I got up this morning, due to a thunderstorm moving through at 1:30am. Even the dogs didn't want to go out there and went back to bed. I went to the kitchen to whip up a batch of buttermilk biscuits and put some coffee on. By 3:30, the rain had stopped, so I went out and checked the wind situation. It wasn't blowing, and it was a gentle SW wind.
iWindSurf was showing some orange and red in the forecast, which is gusts to 20-25 out of the SW showing up around 5am....But I figured that was because the thunderstorm was going through, and their app usually shows higher winds when a storm goes through. There wasn't much wind outside at 3:30, so I figured the app was just being cautious, and it would be fine.
I picked up John, Arnie, and Rick from the Whitecaps Motel at 5am. We drove to the gas station for some ice, then headed to Mazurik's to launch. There were two boats already in the water at the dock when we arrived, but no one else yet.
The sky was just getting light to the east. The air temp was 68 degrees, and the sky was partly to mostly cloudy. The sunrise wouldn't be making a big show of it this morning, unfortunately, either. I got the boat ready over by the bathrooms, so it would be a shorter walk for anyone who needed to use it before we left the shore.
I do carry one of those handheld urinals that the hospitals use, in case someone needs to use it out there....a Vexus doesn't have a bathroom on it. Men get the urinal thingy, and ladies can use the bait well. :)
The wind was just picking up as we were launching, but it wasn't bad.
We went to the north side of Kelly's to start. After passing over American Eagle Shoal and getting to the deeper side, the Garmin was marking enough fish for me to want to stop over 28' of water and set up.
The Ulterra and the baby Merc were deployed, and the Ulterra's iPilot was set to a NNE course (on power 5) while the baby Merc pushed the Vexus along at a speed of 2.3-2.6mph according to the FishHawk.
Water temp on the surface was 67.8 degrees, and at 18' down it was 69.6 degrees.
The surface of the lake is loaded with the husks of Mayflies, so don't forget to turn your outside lights off overnight. By the looks of the amount of husks...it's a BIG HATCH!
The dipsies were set out first. The usual zero and three settings on both sides.
The zero setting on the port side was set to 28 back, and the three setting was set to 50.
On the starboard side, the zero setting was set to 35 back, and the three setting was set to 64.
I started with Yeck, BadMo, and Scorpion spoons, but eventually dialed it in to using the special Yeck spoon color that DJ Custom Eye Lures paints for me, with the blue on the belly. I've added a picture of it in the album. I know he's sold them at Hi Way Bait before, but I don't know if there are any there right now.
After dialing in the settings...the zeros at 35 and 54 back did best, and the three settings were 64 and 72 back.
Bandits behind the Off Shore boards went out next...3 per side this time, since I had a crew of 3 this time. Yes, I could have run 4 per side plus the 4 dispies, but I wanted to keep it simple since I had two people who don't fish on the boat, and I was doing all the setup by myself this time. John has been fishing with me before, but it's been almost 10 years since he has. He likes to fish, but doesn't get out as much as he would like to. :)
Bandit colors that caught today were:
"Halographic Natural Shad" (Slim Shady Custom) 57 back...caught several.
"Psycho Killer" (Slim Shady) at 80 back
SunSpot (stock color) on both sides at 63 and 80 back.
That one color I had run the past several trips, but don't know who paints it or what the name is....sorry. One of those ran on each side on the outside board at 93 and 97 back. Both caught fish.
The spoons definitely outfished the cranks, but the cranks never had any throwbacks hanging on them.
One spoon had a walleye so small, it wasn't much bigger than the spoon and was maybe 3 1/2 inches long....sooooo cute! This is your reminder to always check your dipsies from time to time. Had I not checked, he would have been dragging the entire time, and it would have been useless.
The shorts all got the hooks taken out as carefully and gently as possible, and then got a kiss on the boo-boo, and were sent back to grow up.
John, Arnie, and Rick all said they really enjoyed the lake once it laid down and stopped blowing so hard. While it wasn't bad earlier (2 foot or less), it laid down to 1 foot or less for the last couple of hours.
We all caught our fish and were done by 10am. We packed it up and took a nice leisurely ride back in, so they could enjoy the morning on the water a little bit more. I knew it was going to be hot and humid on land, so I wasn't in a hurry to get back. It was beautiful out there...perfect weather.
They all said they had a great time, and would be back again someday....and that made me happy! :)
I'm off tomorrow, and will need to clean the boat of all the Mayfly carcasses before my two-day trip starting on Friday. Friday's wind isn't looking very good, though, so we'll see if Friday is a go or not.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Gary and Rick...6/5/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/05/26I left the house at 4:15am, because I had to do an island pickup for my customers, Gary and Rick, this morning. The plan was to get ice and then head over to Mazurik's to launch. Since I had to do it alone this time, I wanted to do it while it was quiet there. But, thankfully, at 4:45, three guys from Wisconsin showed up in the get-ready lanes, and one said he would be happy to dump me in when I asked.
Thank you, nice man, whoever you were...I appreciated your help! :)
I sat out front until 5:10 and let the motor warm up. The air temp was 68 degrees, the wind was light out of the SW, and the sky was mostly clear. Then the sky was lightening up enough to let me see the surface of the water. I don't like to drive in the dark when stuff can be floating out there. I didn't have to meet them until 6am, so I had a lot of time to just take it slow on my way over there, so I did a whopping speed of 25mph.
It was kind of neat...being my birthday today, it felt almost spiritual, or maybe it was that fact that I was thinking of my Dad on the ride out there (he passed in 2022). It's kind of creepy driving out there in the dark, all alone, but I felt my Dad was with me, so it wasn't as scary anymore.
I arrived at Put-in-Bay at 5:30 and pulled up to the wall by "The Boardwalk" restaurant. It was easy, since no one else was parked on the wall. The guys showed up right on time, and off we went.
The plan was to head back over to where I left off yesterday, on the east-northeast side of Kelly's, about 3-4 miles off the island. We trolled over 43-45' of water on a SW to NE path, at 2.5mph on the FishHawk. At some point, we turned and went from the NE back to the SW. Then, we went from east to west, on a troll back towards the island. Fish were caught in all directions.
The program was slightly different than the past two days...
Dipsies on the zero and three settings on both back corners. The zero settings run on the inside rod (furthest back) and the three settings run on the outside rod just behind the inside rod....for newbies, that keeps the lines from tangling.
Zero is straight down, and the 1, 2, 3 settings on the back of the dipsey determine how far apart they will be from the zero setting, out to the sides.
Zero settings were 54 back on the port side, and 58 back on the starboard side. One ran a BadMo Arrow spoon, and the other ran a Yeck spoon. That Yeck with the blue belly...the one DJ paints for me is still killin it. The BadMo I most often use is silver on the underside and forest green and black on the back.
The three settings were set at 83 on the starboard side, and 72 on the port side...the port side ran a Scorpion spoon, and the starboard side had another green-and-black BadMo Arrow spoon.
Bandits ran behind the Off Shore boards, and once again "Psycho Killer" took the first fish at 80 back. The rest of the cranks (3 of them) that caught some this morning would be that one I talked about two days ago...I left a pic in the comments on that dated 6/3/26. I don't know who paints it, or what its name might be. 80, 85, and 100 back were the leads.
The dipsies caught the most fish, but the cranks caught the bigger fish this morning. We didn't catch any sheep this time, but we did get a nice, healthy kitty cat that went back. We caugt several short fish that got a kiss before being sent back to grow bigger, too.
We had our three-person limit by 10am, and after dropping them off at the island again, it was 11am by the time I loaded the boat out. I didn't have to do that alone either, there was a pontoon boat that came in the same time I did, and one of the young men offered to help when I said, "You want to make an easy 20 bucks? Just hold my boat while I go get the truck" (I didn't want to tie it off) He approached with a smile and said he would do it. :)
My guys had a great time, and Rick, who has his own boat here on Lake Erie, said he learned a lot....and that makes me happy! Gary kept us laughing all morning with his one-liners, too!
My two-day trip for tomorrow and Sunday has been moved to June 11/12, due to iffy weather tomorrow, and my customer's decision to move it to next week, so I'm off for the next 4 days. My dogs will be very happy about that.
I'll be back out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Danny and Boyd...6/3/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/03/26When I got up at 1:45, I knew it was going to be nice out on the back deck. The wind forecast for the day was going to be less than 10mph out of the north. The air temperature was going to be in the low 60s in the AM, but rising to 75 by noon. I knew the sky was clear, because the moonlight was shining off the tin roof on the shed. I grabbed a cup of coffee, a couple of dog treats, and headed out the back door, so I could check all the forecast apps to make sure nothing had changed overnight. Nothing did....the expectation was for a beautiful morning on the water.
Today, I would be fishing with Danny Harris, from last week's report, and his friend Boyd, who came all the way from Utah to try Lake Erie.
I picked them up from the "Whitecaps Motel", and we headed to the Speedway on the other side of town, to gas up, get some ice, and a few snacks. To my disappointment, they were closed. I was able to gas the boat, but the store was closed. A sign stating, "Due to staffing issues, we will have new hours". They were supposed to be open at 5am, but at 5:05, the doors were still locked, and no one could be seen inside. (They were probably in back getting the breakfast sandwiches made for the display).
We left there and hit the gas station by RT2 and State Rd, to get the ice and other snacks, and then took the back roads over to Mazurik's. We arrived at 5:30 and got the boat ready. We were headed out by 5:45. I decided to go back to the area north of Kelly's that I fished with my last crew and start there.
The Ulterra and baby Merc were deployed after the FishHawk was sent down, and set to an ENE direction, at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph (FH speed). We started over 44' of water.
Danny can't stand in the boat, due to physical issues at the moment, and this was Boyd's first time on Lake Erie. He doesn't do much fishing, so I said I would set all the lines and they could just reel in their fish...they were good with that decision. :)
The dipsies went out first...running Yeck and Badmo Arrow spoons:
Zero settings at 27 on the port side and 35 on the starboard side.
Three settings at 55 on the port side and 72 on the starboard side.
Eventually, the zero settings were 33 on the port side and 41 on the starboard side...and caught fish.
The three setting at 72 was getting a lot of action, so the port side was set to 72 also.
Three Bandits and one Spro 120 Madeye ran behind the Off Shore boards. I started out with the port side at 115 and 80 back, and 130 and 67 on the starboard side. The 80 and 67 caught, so the two deeper ones were both brought up higher and set at 97 back...they started catching.
Colors were:
"Psycho Killer" (Slim Shady Custom)
"Whiskey and Water" (Slim Shady)
"Slick Purple Bengal" (stock Spro color)
And, a custom color I don't know the name of or who painted it. I checked all the sites and can't find it....sorry. That one, I put out after about an hour and a half, and it took a fish before it could get lined up. Then, it took another shortly after being set out again. I will have it out in the morning again. Might even have two out. lol
I'll get a few pics of it when I'm done here and put it in the comments.
We went through a lot of fish, with several throwbacks and keepers we threw back, along with a few Sheephead, and had our 18 in the cooler by 9am.
Danny and Boyd had a good time and will be with me again tomorrow. I marked some good fish on the way back to the ramp, so I'll be starting there in the morning. If they are walleye, they will be nice ones. If not, they will be big Sheephead. But, since there is going to be a south wind in the morning, I'll start from the south and work my way back up to the line. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Steve and Ernie...6/1/2026
by Capt Juls on 06/01/26Steve and Ernie came from Indiana to fish Lake Erie. They have never fished here before. I picked them up from the Whitecaps Motel at 5am and we headed to Mazurik's to launch after topping the gas off in the Vexus and getting some ice for the coolers.
The air temp was in the low 60s, the wind was calm, and the sky was mostly clear.
We arrived at the ramp first and got in the water before it started to get busy. The satellite pic from yesterday showed some cleaner water to the north of Kelly's, so we headed there.
The Ulterra's course was from the SW to the NE over 43' of water. The FishHawk was sent down to 18'. The baby Merc was set to push the boat at a speed of 2.5mph.
However, the FishHawk was reading 1.2mph no matter how fast or slow I turned the iTrolls controls, and I was scratching my head on that one. That just wasn't right.
Eventually, I pulled it up, thinking I should change the batteries in the probe, and that's when I found my issue.
My dumb ass attached the mainline to the hole that has the little chain that holds the weight, so it wasn't running right down there.
After I attached it to the correct hole, it performed the way it is designed. Lesson learned.
Dipsies were sent out first....the usual zero and three settings on both sides of the boat.
The zero on the port side was set to 30, and on the starboard side it was set to 40. Both were running Yeck spoons with the blue belly that DJ Customs paints for me. He adds the royal blue to the underside, and they just plain work.
The three settings were 53 (port side) and 72 (starboard side). Those were running BadMo Arrow spoons.
Bandits were running behind the Off Shore boards on each side. On the port side, a Slim Shady custom called "Psycho Killer" ran at 80 back, and "SunSpot" (stock color) ran at 120 back.
On the starboard side, it started out with "Blue Shiner" at 90 back and another "Psycho Killer" at 80 back.
Each one caught fish, but the starboard side slowed down and were switched out to the Spro 120 Madeyes in "Perch Chrome" and "Slick Purple Bengal" at 130 and 80 back, respectively.
We caught 25 fish plus 3 sheephead, but only kept 16. The bugs got to be more than my guys wanted to deal with, so they decided to head in, get the fish cleaned, and head back to Indiana instead of trying to finish out the last hour and a half.
They enjoyed the morning. It was probably the quietest trip I've ever done, since neither had any interest in learning how to set the lines, and just wanted to reel their fish in, so they just relaxed and listened to some good music, while waiting for a fish to bite.
I, on the other hand, was working my butt off, setting and resetting lines, changing lures, watching the speed, and dipsey lines, to keep those fish coming in. lol
It was a fun morning, and the dogs were happy to see me home early today, and that makes ME happy! :)
I'm off tomorrow, but am scheduled for Wed, Thurs, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The wind is looking good for Wed/Thurs, and on the edge for Friday/Sat (15-25 SW on Friday and 13-20 on Saturday), and Sunday looks like a blow day if it doesn't change. It's calling for gusts in the 30s out of the SW on Sunday, right now.
On Wednesday and Thursday, I have Danny Harris again. This time, he's bringing a friend who is coming all the way from Utah to fish with him.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing Two Trips with Mick, Mark, and Jeff...5/27 & 29...2026
by Capt Juls on 05/29/26Since this is a two-day report in one, I'll keep the story short for both and it will still be long enough. Ha!
Day 1:
Picked the guys up at the Whitecaps Motel at 5am, stopped to get ice, and then headed to Mazurik's to launch. We were headed north of Kelly's, up to the line, at 5:45. When we got up there, the Garmin wasn't marking very much, so I decided to try the north side of North Bass Island. The Garmin was marking a few more fish than before, so I stopped over 34' of water.
Down went the Ulterra, and the baby Merc was started. The troll would be from east to west on the outside of West Reef, but south of the Canadian line at 2.3-2.5mph on the FishHawk.
Since we had 4 people on the boat, we could run 12 lines. 4 Off Shore boards ran on each side with Bandits in tow. Two dipsies ran off each corner in back, too.
The dipsies ran a "Worm-Burner" and a spoon on each side. The inside rods ran on the zero settings, and the outside rods ran the three settings.
The zero settings started at 25 and 27 back, and the three settings ran at 37 and 50 back.
BadMo Arrow spoons, Yeck Y11 spoons, and Worm-Burners all caught fish.
Bandit colors were:
Psycho Killer (Slim Shady Custom)
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom)
Blue Shiner (stock color)
Fruit Dots (stock)
Khaki (stock)
IB Infected (DJ Custom Eye Lures)
Pooh Bear (Domka Outdoors)
Buck Fever (Domka Outdoors)
Bandits were running anywhere from 117 to 57 back.
After passing the NW side of the reef, I saw the water getting dirtier, we turned and went from west to east over the same fish, but they didn't really like that direction, and we only caught two or three going that way. As the sun got higher the bite slowed down for us, so we decided to move down towards Kelly's. At that time we had two of their three limits in the cooler.
I decided to try going shallower in North Bay to see if there were any hiding up in there, like they are know to do from time to time. There were a lot of boats 1/2-1 mile off the outside of North Bay, but no one was in there, so we slid in and set up over 21' of water. We started on the west side of the bay, and worked our way around to the east side of it. We didn't catch any until we got to the east side of it...near those two humps just inside the bay. We now had 14 fish and needed two more in the next 45 minutes, before we ran out of time.
We trolled out of the bay and to the east...through the cut between the island and the shoal, and caught a few more in the cut. We needed one more fish to finish out their limit....had it on, and lost it at the back of the boat, so they only had 17.
We had thrown several shorts back and one that was 15 inches. I don't keep them unless they are 15 1/2", and only if the customer wants to keep it. (15 1/2" because they shrink when they get on ice, and I don't want one shrinking under 15 inches from the cold...that would cost ME a ticket!
They said they enjoyed the morning, learned a lot, and had a great time, and that makes me happy!
That night, the forecast was showing much stronger winds from the north for the next morning, and calm winds for Friday (today), so after discussing it with my guys, they decided to fish Friday instead of the next day.
Of course, it wasn't the same forecast when I got up the next morning, and we could have fished, but they had made plans for the day, and were still good with going the next day.
That brings us to this morning....Day 2:
Initially, my plan was to drive over to Lorain (55 minutes from my house), and launch at Hot Waters, but that changed. I was given good reports from the island area, and decided to nix the two hour round trip that would go through miles of construction on RT 2, and stay closer to home. My guys were good with that decision.
Mick didn't make the trip this morning, due to feeling sick, and stayed back, while Mark and Jeff headed to the truck. Same routine...hit the gas station for ice, and then head to the launch. This time, we used Catawba. At 5:30 we were on our way north to the west side of the islands.
As we approached the west side of Green the Garmin screen was showing a decent amount of fish over 31' of water, so we set up there.
This time, we could only run 9 lines, so I only set up 8, to keep it simple. Two Off Shore boards on each side and two dipsies on each side.
Dipsies: zero setting at 27 and 30 back
Three settings at 50 and 60 back
Slim Shady's "Psycho Killer" Bandit took the first three at 80 back on the port side, so I put another one out on the starboard side at 80 back, too, but it didn't pull any....so weird.
Other colors that eventually worked were:
SunSpot at 50/45 w/2oz (stock)
Blue Shiner (stock) 107 back
Marvin (Domka, I think?) 97 back
And a "Slick Purple Bengel" Flicker Minnow 11 at 95 back
We worked from Green to the east side of Rattlesnake...the north side of Rattle to West Reef, and then back down in front of the west side of the islands....back to Green. We marked fish, but they weren't that interested and most that did hit were not aggressively hitting, and were barely hooked.
We only ended with their two limits today, and I was kicking myself for not going all the way to Lorain this morning. But, I really had higher expectations for the area we fished this morning. Oh well....another wrong decision to put in the books. The road construction was my biggest deterrent in that travel plan.
We worked hard for them this morning (changed a lot of bait colors), and it was a grind to get the 12 we did (plus 4 throwbacks that went back). The day ended with a big sheephead that took both of them reeling it in. Jeff handed it off to Mark, who eventually got it in.
While they fought its roley-poley body in, I started pulling the dipsies, because it was time to head in, and that way I could cut the baby Merc off, and slow the boat down, so they could get it in the boat easier.
They both said they had a good time, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. There were no bugs out there today, either...yay!
I just received a text from Mick, who stayed on shore today, stating he was feeling much better...thanked me for everything and said, "See you next year", and that makes me happy! :)
I'm off the next two days, an will be back at it on Monday with Steve Jeziorski and his friends. Right now, the forecast for Monday looks really nice. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Danny and Randy...5/25/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/25/26Left the house at 4:45am, hit the gas station for some ice, and headed to Mazurik's to get things ready before my customers showed up at 6am. The wind was very light out of the north, the air temp was in the low 60s, and the sky was cloudy.
When I got to Mazurik's, it was dark, and there were a few others already there and launching their boats. After the usual boat prep, I jumped in to dig out some crankbaits that are in the front storage compartment....those are the ones I don't use that often. This time, I was going to try the Reef Runner Mag 44s on one side and Bandits on the other side. They've worked in May before, so I thought I would give them a try.
Danny and Randy showed up on time, and we launched just before it got really busy at the ramp. I hadn't seen Danny in a year, and this year he was walking with a cane, so I told him to meet me at the courtesy dock instead of trying to climb the EZEESteps on the trailer to get into the boat. It would be much easier for him. Randy parked the truck and came down, jumped in the boat, and off we went.
I knew I wasn't going back to where I was yesterday, and decided to head towards Starve Island area, and the east side of the Bass Islands. On our way there, the Garmin kept marking a lot of fish in 20-22' of water, so I turned the Vexus around and went back to a starting point, and set up.
The Ulterra and baby Merc worked in unison to keep us on a course to the north at a speed of 2.5mph (FishHawk speed).
The water temp on the surface was 58.5 degrees, and at 15' down it was 60.2 degrees.
The lake was only a little rough from all the boat wakes...not the wind. The north wind was less than 5mph at 6am. A fog threatened to come in, but never really did, so that was a relief. I hate fishing in the fog.
Danny wasn't able to stand up, so Randy helped set lines after I showed him how to attach the Off Shore boards and set dipsies.
Two dipsies ran off each stern corner. I use a 6' rod and an 8.6' rod on each side. The shorter one is the "inside," and the longer is the "outside".
The inside run on the zero setting, and the outside run on the three settings.
The zero settings were set at 25 and 27 back. The three settings were at 35 and 37 back. Yeck and BadMo Arrow spoons were used. I didn't even bother with the worm-burners this morning.
We had 8 in the cooler in no time at all, and then we had a major mishap happen...it was no one's fault, but it was disastrous.
Here's what happened....
Since Danny can't stand very well, when a fish was on a dipsey, he would heave himself off the driver's seat and sit on the starboard compartment, so he could reel in a fish. Well, this time, he sat on the Ulterra remote that I had set down, and the remote freaked out.
The trolling motor lost it's paring to the remote, so I couldn't do anything with it, and it had gone berserk....speed was at power 10...it was turned to the right...and not responding to commands to turn the prop off. By the time I was able to put the kicker motor in neutral and get up to the motor itself to turn it off, the boat had done 1 1/2 circles and had board lines under the boat, and eventually had three lines wrapped around the kicker's prop. I was at least able to use the net to get the Off Shore board that was hanging off the end of the kicker back in the boat.
The line wasn't budging, though, so we would have to go back to the dock to free it. I wasn't about to go swimming at this time of year to fix it. Maybe when the water is 80 degrees, but not when it's 58! lol
Three lines had tangled in the kicker prop, and one even found itself around the trolling motor shaft. Two Bandits were still floating out back, and when I got the boat on plane, one of them came flying into the boat. A "Buck Fever" Bandit was lost, and it is floating out there somewhere.
We made it back to the dock around 7:30, and it was busy, so we pulled up to the courtesy dock and were able to free the kicker prop of line. However, since I have the day off, I have three reels that will need to be respooled tomorrow. Too much line was removed to keep them in calibration.
We went back out, but this time we only set the dipsies, because the crankbaits did nothing in that first hour, and the spoons were catching. We only fished four lines, but were able to get our limits before we ran out of time. Whew! Nothing big...just good eaters today.
Some days aren't perfect, but they can be interesting. ;)
Randy has his own boat, and it will be launched for the season tomorrow. He's got a nice 1988 Tiara.
Danny will be back next week for a two-day trip with a friend who is coming in from Utah.
I'm off tomorrow, but will be back out for a two-day trip with Mick Jandl and two of his friends. They are coming down from Wisconsin. :)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Joe and Mike...5/24/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/24/26Joe Conley, who used to fish the same walleye tournaments that I did back in the early 2000s, reached out to book a trip with me, because he didn't want to pull his boat back here again this month. He was here last month with his own boat, and was able to get out each of the 5 days they were here, and limited each time out, too. :)
This time, Joe brought his friend, Mike, who is originally from MN, but now lives in California, because he's never been to Lake Erie, so this was his first time.
After this two-day blow we just had, with gusty NE winds, the water was going to be muddy in areas. Since there was no satellite pic to see where the dirty water is, it was just a matter of heading out, driving around, and finding clean enough water holding some fish, to fish in.
The obvious direction was to head north, since it was the shoreline that got beaten up in that wind. It wouldn't be as muddy up there, and that proved to be correct.
We started SE of Kelly Island Shoal in 36' of water, and trolled to the NE...out to 45 feet of water. There were good marks from 10-40 feet down in the water column. The kind of screen that gets a person excited, because they look like very active fish. However, that wasn't the case. It was a slow bite and a grind to just get their 12 fish.
Bandits ran behind the Off Shore boards, and the only ones that would catch would be "Buck Fever" (Domka Outdoors Custom) at 63 back, Blue Chrome at 85 back, and "The Big Kahuna" at 93 back....that's another Domka color.
The Bandits would only catch 4 fish all morning. There were also two pull-backs, but the fish came off. I tried the Bill Lewis PWC Lite with a 2oz snap weight, but it didn't do anything. I tried the Spro Madeye 120 "Ghost Purple Perch", which is usually a producer, but it didn't do anything either.
Most of the fish came on dipsies with Yeck and BadMo Arrow spoons. The "worm-burners" only got their crawlers stolen this time. The bite wasn't aggressive, so the fish would grab the crawler's tail and rip it. The last time out, they were engulfing it to the back of their throats.I removed the worm-burners and replaced them with more spoons.
The 2 zero settings were at 30 and 40, and the 2 three settings were at 57 and 82. All of them caught fish.
Speed was 2.3-2.5 on the FishHawk. Water temp on the surface was 58 degrees, and at 18 feet down it was 60 degrees.
We only ended up with their limits and none of mine, but it was still a fun morning to be out there. The weather was beautiful, the lake was pleasant, and the company was entertaining. At one point, Joe called his girlfriend to tell her, "I've never had a woman tell me what to do in a boat before"...hahahah That made me giggle.
He confessed he learned a trick or two, and that made me happy! :)
Tomorrow, I have Danny and his friend, Mike (I think his name is Mike)...they were rescheduled from last Tuesday, when it was blowing out of the NE, and we cancelled.
We'll be launching out of Catawba tomorrow.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Blow Days....deep sigh...5/22/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/22/26
Tuesday, I met my crew down at Catawba at 6am, but we decided to reschedule their trip to this Monday, due to a gusty NE wind that morning. Monday is looking great, so hopefully that will stay that way.
Yesterday's trip had already been rescheduled to June 1st, due to....you guessed it...more wind. Today, (Friday), it's another small craft advisory, but thankfully, I didn't have a trip scheduled today.
More wind and rain tomorrow, but tomorrow's crew were able to move to Sunday.
The good news is....Sunday through the next 7 following days looks like Momma Nature is going to take a break and stop blowing. Winds are showing mostly less than 10mph the entire time. Yay! :)
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
Fishing with Josh and His Daughter Kinley...5/19/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/19/26Nothing is better than that first hot cup of coffee... sitting out on the back deck in the wee hours of the morning when all is quiet, and the dogs are just sniffing for whoever walked on their grass overnight. There is the occasional animal drama beyond the fence that sends my dogs into a running frenzy, but they don't bark at that hour for some reason...thankfully!
The weather forecast for the morning was calling for light winds out of the SSW early, then building as mid-morning approached. I was hoping to get our three-person limit before 9am and off the lake before she started blowing.
I picked up Josh and his daughter Kinley from the Whitecaps Motel at 5:30, hit the gas station for ice, and headed over to Mazurik's to launch. We were in the water by 6am and headed to the area around Starve Island to start. With the wind direction as it was, I figured if it started blowing earlier than predicted, it would be behind us and pushing us to the NE. That would give me a lot of productive water to cover without having to pick up and run back up to a starting point.
That was just a plan, though, and it turned out to be one of those perfect mornings where plan B wasn't needed.
The wind was less than 10mph, the lake was 1' or less, and the fish were active.
Kinley loves to fish, and her Dad brought her to Lake Erie to do just that. They are originally from MN, but now live down near Dayton, so fishing is in the blood.
Josh had only used planer boards once before. I gave him a tutorial on how to attach the Off Shore boards, how to release the line from the front clip if a fish didn't hit it hard enough to do it itself, and let it swing to the center before reeling it in.
Kinley caught on real quick with the dipsies, but was fine with just me and Josh setting the boards lines.
The dipsies caught the most fish this morning. I ran the usual zero and three settings on each side. The zero on the port side was at 30 back, and the three setting was sometimes at 47 and sometimes at 57 back.
The starboard side zero setting was at 40 back, and the three setting was at 61.
Each side ran a "worm-burner" spoon and a Yeck spoon. If you don't know what a worm-burner is...is a spoon that has a 3-4 inch crawler harness attached to it, so you can run a crawler really fast without it blowing out.
The Yeck spoon is one that I have "DJ Custom Eye Lures" paint a special blue on the belly. The back has copper/red/black/and green on it. They sell it over at Hi-Way Bait...I haven't seen it anywhere else. However, the ones hanging don't have the blue on them,
; that's a custom order you would need to ask them for.
That spoon has been working great for a few weeks now, so I haven't taken it off yet.
The "Ghost Purple Perch" Spro Madeye120 caught a couple, as did "Buck Fever" (Domka custom) at 97 back. The "Fruit Dots" Bandit caught one at 75 back.
The "WalleyeX Bralwer" didn't want to attract anyone today, so that was switched out for another "Bandit", two different ones actually, but neither color would catch a fish, either. I tried "Khaki", and one that Kinley picked out, which I don't know the name of.
Speed was 2.3-2.5mph on the FishHawk. The water temp at 18' down was 57 degrees.
We had our limits by 8:45 and headed in before the wind kicked up. It was kicking up on our ride in, so the timing was perfect.
Both of them said they had a great time and want to come back in the fall to try for some perch, and that makes me happy! They were a lot of fun to fish with, so I'm looking forward to that. Did I ever tell you that I LOVE perch fishing? lol :)
Tomorrow looks like I'll be hiding on the west side of the islands, due to a NE wind forecast. Danny Harris and his friend will be meeting me at Catawba's ramp in the morning.
I've already rescheduled Thursday's trip due to the big NE blow that's forecast. They rescheduled for June 1st.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
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
Fishing with Dick and Jonathan...5/15/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/15/26
I got up at 1:30, and did the usual routine of dogs, coffee, back deck, and checked the weather apps. The air temp was 46 degrees. The sky was clear and full of stars. The wind was pretty much nonexistent.
There was a package on my front porch that the nightly critters visiting the "Critter Buffet" luckily didn't take an interest in, and I brought it in. It was the new Minn-Kota remote for the Ulterra that they sent me.
At 3am, I went out to the boat and turned the Ulterra and the remote on... paired the new remote to the motor, then paired it to the One Boat Network app, so I could do the software update on the new remote. That all went smoothly, and it did end up working perfectly this morning...so, all is well again.
This morning was a second trip, this week, for Dick Lehto. This past Tuesday, he fished with his friend Brad. This morning, he brought his friend, Jonathan, with him. Jonathan is an avid fisherman, so this was going to be easy.
They were meeting me at Mazurik's at 6am, so I was there by 5:15. I wanted to get everything ready, so when they showed up, we could hit the water right away. They showed up around 5:50, which was perfect timing, because many more boats were entering the park at a steady rate. We were able to launch and get out of there before it got too busy.
Initially, I was going to head north of Kelly's, because it was going to be a light south wind, but I decided to head over to Huron, because of that same light south wind. It would be an easy ride over there, and wouldn't use up too much gas. Normally, the fish are abundant over in that area this time of year, so I thought it was a good idea.
Womp....womp...:( lol
We started in 40' of water, north of the white condos, east of Cedar Point. We marked some fish when we set up, but they would come and go off the screen...but, mostly "go"....there was a lot of blank screen in the pass we made.
We were set up west of the Huron Dump, and headed towards it, so in my mind, I thought the marks would get better as we got closer, or on the east side of it. It's usually pretty good right now. However, that wasn't the case for us.
Like I said, we started in 40' of water....went in to 37' of water, and then back out to 44' of water. So, we covered a lot of water and never found a school of fish. Just a fish here and a fish there...it was a grind to say the least. (I was kicking myself, because I probably should have gone north out of Mazurik's instead of east. But that's how it goes sometimes. You make a decision and stick with it.)
My crew was not complaining in the least and kept saying how much they were enjoying themselves. Jonathan said, "This has been a shitty week, but this definitely makes up for it." I smiled and said, "It's a beautiful morning to be out here...you guys didn't want to be done by 8am anyway, right?" Dick was quick to agree.
Bandits let me down today....not one fish was caught on a Bandit, or PWC Lite. Three baits caught their limits. The WalleyeX Brawler, Spro Madeye Minnow 120, and the Yeck spoons.
The WalleyeX Brawler colors that caught were the "Chrome Tiger" at 80 back and "Craw" at 120 back, unassisted. The "Ghost Purple Perch" Spro 120 at 100 back caught several, too.
The dipsies caught a few fish, but not like they did the other day. The biggest fish came on a Yeck spoon on a 3-setting dipsey at 57 back.
Speed was kept between 1.9-2.5mph...again, most bites were during the 2.2-2.3 speeds.
The water temp was 55 degrees on the surface and 56 degrees 18' down.
We only managed to catch their limits, but none of mine. They were happy campers, and we headed back in. The ride was smooth as the lake was only producing a 6" chop, but the south passage was its usual self with wakes coming from all directions, so that was the only bumpy part of the ride.
Both said they had a great time, and that makes me happy!
My trip for tomorrow is moving to Sunday, since I had it open and they were driving in from their hometowns here in Ohio, so they could move it to the next day. Tomorrow is fishable, but it's going to be rougher than Sunday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dick and Brad...5/12/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/13/26I'm writing this in the wee hours of the next morning, due to the forecast calling for more rain the next two days. I had to get the grass cut, vegetable garden planted, and had to run to Sandusky to pick up some more soil for a raised garden I started weeks ago, but never filled with dirt. By the time I was done, it was already my bedtime, and I was whooped. It's not a "we killed them fast" kind of report either, so I didn't feel the need to get it done fast, either. lol
I've been fishing with Dick and Brad for many years now. They are older gents who like to fish together and have their own boats, but still like to hire me for a day or two each season, as a refresher course. It's always a good time, due to Dick's sense of humor and his ability to keep a conversation going.
This morning, I was meeting them at Catawba, due to an ENE wind that was switching to the SE early in the morning.
My plan was to head back up to where I left off two days ago, when I was fishing with Dave and Danielle. Dick and Brad are local, so they met me at the park at 6am. The flag on the Catawba pier was lightly flapping in the mostly calm wind. That meant that the wind was already switching, so the lake was lying down.
As we headed north through the south passage, there were still some NE rollers, but they were on the smaller side. When we were passing the middle passage, the wind had picked up a little, and the waves were coming from the SE, but by the time we got to the north passage, the wind was still coming from the NE. It would eventually switch to the SE up there, too.
There were marks on the Garmin when I got to the area where I ended the last trip out, so we set up. As usual, the Ulterra is the first to be deployed, so that I can set the course and keep the boat on course, while I get everything else set up. Next, the baby Merc is warmed up, while I send the FishHawk down to 18'. Then, the baby Merc is put in gear, the iTroll adjusted, so it can achieve the speed I want, which in this case was 2.0mph to start.
Dick has better sea legs than Brad, and likes to help set lines, so he can get a refresher course on using the Off Shore boards. After I showed him how to attach them, it all came back to him, and he was off and running on setting the port side.
While he was doing that, I put the two dipsies out on the starboard side...I'll bet you can guess the settings by now. lol Yep....zero and three settings. The zero setting was set at 27 back, and the three setting was set at 47. Both were running Yeck spoons with blue bellies.
4 Bandits ran on the port side at 80, 70, 63, and 50 back. The port side ran 3 Bandits at 77, 63, and 53 back. Colors were (3) "Green Lantern" (Slim Shady color), (3) "Buck Fever" (Domka color), a Black and a Chrome with foil sides (not sure whose that is?). The last time up there, Buck Fever was the hot color. This time, it was Green Lantern.
The early morning bite was better with the spoons, and the dipsies took the first 5 fish, so I removed two board rods from the port side and added two more dipsies on that side, and let them choose the spoon colors to use. The zero setting was set to 33, and the three setting was set to 53. They were running a little deeper than the other side. All four dipsies would catch fish at those settings.
Fish bit from 1.9-2.6mph, but mostly at 2.3mph. Water temp was 55 on the surface and one degree warmer at 18' down. The dipsies outfished the Bandits this time.
The fish were scattered more than last time up there, so we made one pass headed west, turned around, and headed back to the islands, since the waves were only 1' or less...we just kept the baits in the water and trolled back. The bite was not fast, but we had their limit within the first three hours, and then it got slower. Brad looked tired and was ready to head in whenever Dick was ready. Dick wanted to fish a little longer, so we gave it another half hour. I caught one of mine, and then Dick made the call to head in.
We stopped for lunch, and enjoyed some chit-chat, exchanged some pictures before heading our own ways. I will be seeing Dick again on Friday, when he and his other friend will be fishing with me again. Friday is looking really nice, after we get through two days of gusty W and NW winds, with lots of rain in the forecast.
My trip for today (Wednesday) has been rescheduled, so I'm off today and tomorrow, and will be back out Friday and probably Saturday. Saturday's crew cancelled their reservations at the Whitecaps, because the motel said they require a 3-day cancellation notice to get a deposit back, and when he asked about the forecast, it was looking iffy. I told him that if he felt he needed to make the call that day, to just go ahead and cancel it. He said they could drive up that morning if the forecast changed. So, that's where I'm at on Saturday.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dave and Danielle---5/10/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/10/26I woke up at 1:30, but decided to sleep in, because I was going to take my neighbors, Dave and Danielle, out fishing this morning. I told them it would be a late start, due to the wind forecast, so I went back to sleep for another hour and a half. I woke up at 3am to a fat little pitty telling me her breakfast was an hour late, and I should feed her, "right now!" lol Alfie, the Golden, is just the opposite. I have to beg him to eat most of the time.
I got up and made her breakfast, made some coffee, and the three of us went outside. The wind was still, but iWindSurf was showing it was going to start gusting by 5am out of the north. By 10am it was going to lie down, as it switched from the north to the NE, and would be less than 5mph by 11am.
When I took the dogs for their walk, we passed by the lake, and I could see that it was white-capping. It was a good call to wait.
I told Dave and Danielle to be at my house at 9:30, so we could launch by 10am. They are my neighbors across the road from my house, and they are super nice people. We share different food recipes with each other, and Dave is a wizard with the smoker out back. Yum!
They both had birthdays within the last two weeks, so I decided to take them out for a few hours of fishing today.
We launched at 10, right on schedule. When Danielle and I were at the ramp with the boat waiting for Dave to walk back, after parking the truck and trailer, another boat with three fellas in it yelled to me, "Are you Juls?" "Yeah...that's me", I said, smiling. "I read your reports all the time", one of them said. "Thanks for reading them", I said. He added, "In fact, you said in your report yesterday that because of the wind forecast that you would be launching right now, and that's why we're here right now", he said, laughing. "Was I right?" They all agreed and nodded. We wished each other good luck today, and off they went.
It was still a little bumpy as the north wind was subsiding, but it wasn't bad at all. I pointed the Vexus north along the west side of the Bass Islands, and watched the Garmin for any fish marks as we drove. I noticed the chart speed was a little slow and was still set to a trolling speed, so I bumped it up to 10, so it would mark fish better while the boat was on plane.
Once we found the kind of numbers on the screen that made it worth a stop, we set up. I'm not going to say exactly where, because the fish move, so just use your electronics to tell you when to stop. I will say I wasn't more than a couple of miles west of the actual islands. I drove until I ran out of fish marks and then turned the boat back around to go south.
Side note: I'm having another issue with the Ulterra that is caused by the new software update that I had to do this past week. Any time I turn the motor's power off and turn it back on again, I have to re-pair the remote to the motor. I shouldn't have to do that. It's supposed to stay paired all the time. I'll have to contact Minn-Kota again to see if that's a known issue and if there is another software update for that.
Once the FishHawk was down to 18', the Ulterra and baby Merc were set to a speed of 2.0mph.
The water temp on the surface was 54.7 degrees and 56.2 degrees at 18 feet down.
The dipsey rods were set out first. The usual zero and three settings. We were only over 34 feet of water and marking fish anywhere from 15 to 30 feet down, so the zero setting was set at 27 to start, and the three setting was set at 47 back.
Both were running a Yeck spoon with a blue belly that I got at Hi-Way Bait. DJ Custom Eye Lures added the blue bellies for me. I don't know the name of the actual color of the spoon, but if you ask them, they should know the spoon I'm talking about. It's been a productive spoon for me over the past couple of years that I have been using it.
The zero setting was eventually set to 33 back and caught a couple of fish. The three setting caught two and lost one fish, too.
Bandits ran behind the Off Shore boards...4 on the port side, and 3 on the starboard side.
Long story short...bait colors were changed out until we found the ones that were repeatedly producing. The best one was "Buck Fever" (Domka Outdoors custom color), It's a purple back with chrome sides and belly. 63 back unassisted was the magic number, apparently, because it caught the majority of our fish. We ended up putting two more out.
Another that caught a few fish was "Green Lantern" (Slim Shady custom color) at 67 back.
It was one of those days where the starboard side was outproducing the port side for some reason, even though we had the same setups on both sides. It didn't matter if we were going north to south or south to north...the one side just caught more fish.
By 11am, the lake was calm, so we were able to just circle around the school of fish in that area. There wasn't anyone close to us, so it was a pleasant day. There were boats out further to the west of us, but never close enough to bother us with "Right of Way" issues.
We managed to catch our limits in about 3 hours. It wasn't on fire, but it was steady enough to keep it fun. The fish were perfect eaters, too....mostly 18-22" fish. We had two throwbacks and two that came unbuttoned before we saw them.
Dave and Danielle had a great time, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and caught more fish than they expected to. Danielle said, "I just like being on the lake", and Dave said, "I would have been happy if we had only caught 4, so this is great"....and that makes me happy! :)
Happy Birthday, you two! I had a great time fishing with you, and I'm looking forward to your trip in June!
I'll be back out Tuesday with a couple of my regulars, Dick and Brad. Wednesday is a trip with some new clients, and Friday is with Dick and Brad, again. The winds this week are up and down....hopefully, they stay down! This wind is making me crazy.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Keith and Jeremy...5/9/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/09/26Sorry, I haven't written all week, but I didn't have any trips scheduled. I had one scheduled for this past Thursday, but due to a reschedule on their end, it didn't happen. It would have been a nice day for fishing, though. They will be here next week, on Wednesday, but the forecast is calling for a big blow, so they might be doing Thursday instead. The forecast is always changing, so we'll see what happens.
The winds were light this morning at 2am, when the dogs and I went out on the back deck, and the air was relatively warm. The sky let a star poke through here and there, so I could tell it was partly cloudy.
As the dogs nibbled on their morning treats and I sipped my hot coffee, I checked iWindSurf's wind forecast for the upcoming morning hours. It showed that it would still be light winds until around 10am, then pick up out of the SW. It would be getting gustier as the afternoon hours approached.
The trip today was with friends, because I couldn't spend another day on shore, and needed to find some fish. When you don't fish for a while, you wonder what's happening out there. Sure, there are tons of reports of "We caught them in an hour and a half", "Fast limits", and pictures showing full fish boards...but, no info as to what they caught them on, or a general area, to help anyone.
With that said, it was time to get out there again...
Keith and Jeremy drove in from the Perrysburg area and met me at my house, since I was on their way in. They showed up at 5:45, got in the truck, and we headed to the gas station for some ice. The boat was already topped off with gas, so that didn't have to be done.
When we arrived at Mazurik's, the line was short, but it was starting to get busy behind us. I readied the boat, and we hit the water. After the 400 warmed up, we went east. My last time out was on the SE side of Kelly's, and there were a lot of fish there....I was hoping there would be more migrating through there.
The Garmin marked a handful of fish, but it was nothing like last week.
We were by the Marblehead dump when I decided that we should just get some baits in the water and head north to deeper water. We started in 40' and went NNE until we hit 44'. The marks were few to none most of the way.
We picked off a few fish here and there, and the screen was blank when they hit.
7 Bandits were running behind the Off Shore boards, and to make a long story short....the winning bait was once again "Khaki" (stock color) running at 100 and 115 back, unassisted. One was run on each outside board, and between the two of those, they took the most fish. More Khaki Bandits replaced unproductive colors and set out at 80 and 90 back. They took fish too.
"Electric Zebra" (stock color) caught one fish. But, it was khaki that they wanted most today.
The dipsies were running at the usual zero and three settings at 40 and 57, respectively. The zero setting was changed up a few times to run deeper and shallower, but never took a fish. The three setting at 57 took two nice walleye with a Yeck spoon.
We were running at 1.9-2.5mph, and catching at all speeds. As it got windier, the speed was up and down, due to waves, boat wakes, and boat direction.
The water temp on the surface was showing 52.7 degrees, while the FishHawk showed 54.2 degrees 18 feet down.
We ended after 4 hours, going 11 for 15, which was better than I thought we would do since we weren't marking very many fish. Our trolling pass was from the SE corner of Kelly's up to the NE corner (S side of the shoal), and then over to the north side of Kelly's.
There were a lot of boats working the north side of Kelly's, and that's where we caught most of our fish. I think we had 5 in the cooler by the time we passed through the bottom of the shoal, and moved over to the north side of "North Bay". Then it was just a matter of playing dodge the boats. Most seemed to know the "Rules of the Road", so there were no issues....(whch isn't usually the case). lol
Since Keith and Jeremy have fished with me before, they knew how to do everything, so it made my job easy this morning. I just had to control the boat speed, direction, watch for other boats, play DJ, and serve sandwiches. lol
It was a fun morning, and it felt good to get back on the water again. The time off allowed me to get the boat to showroom clean again, so it was nice fishing out of a "brand new" boat again. UPDATE NOTE: The iPilot problem I had last week with the Ulterra has been fixed with a software update, so all is well again. :)
Tomorrow, I'll be taking my neighbor's Dave and Danielle out for a few hours to celebrate Dave's birthday. It's supposed to be a gusty North wind in the early morning hours and then fading to less than 5mph as it switches to the NE.
The plan is to launch out of Catawba around 9:30 and head up to the west side of the Bass Islands to find some fish. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Rob and Marical Greenwood...5/1/2026
by Capt Juls on 05/01/26We went from summer temps earlier this week to winter temps this morning. The back deck visit in the early hours wasn't as pleasant as it had been, and the forecast for the day wasn't looking like it was going to be a fun one. Temps in the low to mid 40s during the morning fishing hours, and rain. At least the wind was going to be light out of the north, so we wouldn't have to deal with that, like we did yesterday. Yay...I guess that's the bright side of the crappy weather report we had to look forward to.
Rob and Marical came over from Iowa with their boat, and wanted to fish with me to learn a few things about running Off Shore inline planer boards, and then would be fishing the next few days on their own.
I picked them up from the Best Western hotel at 6am, and after hitting the gas station for some ice for the cooler, we headed to Mazuruik's to launch. The ramp wasn't busy this time, so I got the boat ready, and we launched at 6:30.
It was light enough to see, but I still put the navigation lights on, due to the heavy cloud cover and relentless drizzle/rain that was falling. The lake was maybe a 6" chop, if that. We headed north, up the west side of Kelly's, towards the line. But, as we neared, I could see the water was very clean, and a lot colder than by Kelly's. The water temp up there was 47.1 degrees and 51 down by Kelly's. The fish marks were not there either, so we turned around and headed back down.
We stopped NW of the island and set up. The baby Merc went down first to get started and warmed up. Then, the Ulterra was deployed, set on a course to the south, and the autopilot engaged. The FishHawk went down, and when it reached a speed of 1.9mph, we started setting lines.
I showed Rob how to attach the boards with the loop/twist on the front arm and the Snapper on the back. He picked it up right away and was setting his side on his own in no time at all. I looked up to see the island wasn't where it was supposed to be, and found the Ulterra's iPilot wasn't working as it should....ugh!
I stowed it and redeployed it, changed the batteries in the remote, and it still wouldn't hold its course. The iPilot mode was in "Course Heading", which means it uses the compass and should go where I initially point it. If it gets off course, it's supposed to correct itself and get the boat back on course. It wasn't going to work. I would have to be paying attention the entire trip, which was a pain in the butt. One truly doesn't know how spoiled one gets with an iPilot working for you. lol
We ran 7 Bandits and 2 dipsies. The port side was running 4 boards, and the starboard side ran the 2 dipsies and 3 boards.
On the Port side, the Bandits were:
Khaki on the outside at 100 back (stock color)
Electri Zebra at 90 Back (stock color)
Flare at 70 back (stock color)
An orangey one painted by Matt Maynard (M&M Customs), but I can't find it on his site to give you a name....sorry. That one ran at 60 back.
The dipsies were the usual zero and three settings. The zero ran at 40 back, and the three ran at 50 back. Both caught fish with spoons.
The Bandits on the starboard side were:
Khaki at 100 back
Fruit Dots at 97 back (stock color)
Electric Zebra at 80 back
Speed was funny....I sped up at one point to get out of a situation I saw coming, and was doing 3.2mph when a fish hit the Fruit Dots Bandit. So, we caught anywhere from 1.9mph, 2.5mph, and 3.2mph. How do you like them apples? :)
It was a cold and wet morning, but Rob and Marical were very positive and upbeat, which kept my attitude in check and on the positive side, too. My hands were numb, my face was numb, and everything in the boat was soaked. Not my idea of a good time, but they were a good time, and I enjoyed their company immensely. I don't mind rain when it's 80-90 degrees out, but when it's cold out...that's another story.
They came to learn, and learn they did. I am confident they can now successfully run more than two Off Shore boards per side, if they wanted to. They did great!
They said they learned a lot and had a great time, and I'll just have to take their word for it, because my Ulterra issue kind of had me pissed off. It worked perfectly yesterday, so what happened in 18 hours to make it not work today? Grrrrr.
I called Minn-kota, and they advised I first update the software, if needed. BUT, the only way to do that is through the One Boat Network app, or a Humminbird unit. I no longer run Humminbirds, so I have to use the app. Well, guess what...it won't let me pair my phone to the motor through Bluetooth right now. I did have to register the motor through the app, so maybe it just needs time to catch up. I'll try it again in the morning. Fingers crossed!
Tomorrow and Sunday's trip, with Tim McGlothlin, has been rescheduled, due to the temps. He's a warm-weather fisherman (lives in Florida), and says he doesn't even own clothes to keep warm in 40-degree weather, so I'll get him out when Mother Nature comes to her senses and warms it back up here.
My next scheduled trip isn't until Thursday, the 7th. That should give me enough time to make sure my Ulterra is back and working as it should.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Dan and Marcel...4/30/2026
by Capt Juls on 04/30/26Slept in until 3am, and then hit the back deck with the dogs and coffee. I was going to be doing a later start this morning, due to wind speed. It was forecast out of the NW, but was to lay down a little bit around 8am, so I told Dan to meet me at Mazurik's at 7:45.
Of course, I got there early and started getting the boat ready at 7:15. They pulled in at 7:30. It was good timing, because the forecast last night that had the wind lying down was now showing it would be staying the same most of the day, so why wait? It would be 12-15 out of the WNW most of the day.
I pointed the Vexus to the east side of Kelly's Island and took it slow, because it was rough. We marked fish on the SE corner, but kept going to see if there were fish up further....there weren't, or at least we weren't marking any, so we went back down to the SE side.
We started out with the waves behind us, and set up with Bandits behind Off Shore boards, and two dipsies.
When the FishHawk hit a speed of 1.9-2.0mph, the Ulterra and the baby Merc were set. SOG showed 2.2-2.3mph.
4 Bandits ran on the port side at 120, 90, 80, and 67 back (longest leads on the outside). Colors were:
Khaki (stock color)
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom)
Flare (stock color)
Pink/white/black (Not sure who makes it, I can't find it on Domka's site or DJ's site anymore...it looks like Pink Squirrel, but instead of black dots in the white part, there are three black stripes instead). I'm going to name it "Pink Zebra". :)
The starboard side had two dipsies...one on the zero setting at 40 back and one on the three setting at 63 back. Both caught fish. One fish was on a BadMo Arrow spoon in the green/blk/silver, and then that was changed out to a Yeck spoon in the "Confustion" color...that caught a fish, too.
The 3 setting ran a Stinger spoon in the "Confusion" color, and caught a nice fish.
The Bandits on the port side were running at 97, 81, and 71 behind the OST boards...colors were:
Fruit Dots (stock color)
(2) Electric Zebra (stock color)
All caught fish, but the Electric Zebra caught the most.
Water temp on the surface was 52. 7 and at 18 feet down, it was 54 degrees.
Dan and Marcel wanted to learn how to run the Off Shore boards, so after a quick tutorial...they were setting the lines. They learned quickly, so other than reminding them about the tension button (clicker), they had no issues or tangles while setting lines. They did great, and I have no doubts that they could go out tomorrow and do the same thing on their own, successfully.
After our three limits were in the cooler, we headed in. It didn't happen in an hour and a half, like I had been hearing for the previous few days, but we managed to do it in about 4 1/2 hours. It was a fun morning fishing with these two, and they both said they had fun and learned a lot, so mission accomplished!
Tomorrow, I have a couple from Iowa, and we'll be launching out of Catawba to fish the protected side of the islands. The forecast is calling for a NE wind with rain....fun...fun...deep sigh.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
Fishing with Frank and Ray...4/23/2026
by Capt Juls on 04/23/26Last night, before I went to bed, I looked at the forecast, and it was showing that fog would roll in around the islands around 9-10am, so I looked at the weather for Huron and Vermilion, and it showed no fog at all. I made the decision to head that way and told Frank and Ray I would pick them up at 5:15 in the morning.
When I got up and headed out to the back deck to check the weather, it was still showing the same forecast, so I felt confident I had made the right call. I hadn't fished over there since the fall, so it was going to be starting from scratch. Especially, since I didn't save any info on the Garmins from last year, and had new ones in this boat, with nothing on them. But that's how I do it. I start fresh every year, so that I'm not fishing memories.
I picked up Frank and Ray, who will be here for the next 6 days, fishing out of Frank's boat, and headed east. I was originally going to launch at Vermilion, due to reports of lots of mud and logs in the Huron River, but having driven that way the other day, and finding road construction (lots of barrels) between Huron and Vermilion, I decided to chance Huron and launch there.
We arrived at 5:40, and sunrise wasn't going to be until 6:38, so we were very early. There was only one other boat there at the time, so after getting everything ready, we put the Vexus in the water. My plan was to just put-put down the river and let the sky lighten up a bit, so I could see any logs floating on top of the water. Luckily, there weren't any in the main channel, but there were some off to the sides that were pretty big.
With it still pretty dark out, it was hard to see how muddy the water was near shore, but the marks were incredible, so we set up in 22 feet of water, and pulled cranks for about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour. The sun was nearing the horizon, so I could finally see how muddy it was inside, and decided to pull everything and move over towards Vermilion, where I thought the water might be cleaner....it was.
Capt Sam, who runs the Pork Chop Express Charters, kindly gave me a starting point, and we took it from there. Thanks, Sam!
I won't give any more details on the location, because it wasn't mine to start with. I hope you understand. Just know, there's fish all over the place. If you mark them...start fishing!
The sunrise was spectacular this morning! The air temp was in the low 60s, and there was very little to no wind. The water temp was 50 degrees.
I started with the program that worked for me at the islands the last time out, and made adjustments from there. To make a long story short, here is what worked for us.
Running behind Off Shore boards at a speed of 1.9-2.0mph on the FishHawk were...
"Bandits" on the port side...colors were:
"Khaki" at 120 back/unassisted (took the most fish this morning)
"Green Lantern" at 90 back (Slim Shady Custom)
"RC Crush" at 80 back (DJ Custom Eye Lures)
"IB Infected" at 50/24 2oz (DJ Custom)
"WalleyeX" "Brawlers" ran on the starboard side...colors were...
"Horizon" 50/27 2oz (second for taking most fish)
"Blue Shiner" 50/30
5 fish were caught on dipsies....3 fish came on the zero setting at 40 back, and 2 fish on the 3 setting at 60 back. BadMo Arrow spoon (smaller one) with green/black/chrome took the 3 on the zero setting, and a yeck spoon that DJ painted a bright blue belly on it for me, caught 2 fish on the 3 setting.
I'm very happy to see the spoons starting to work so early. I love fishing with dipsies. :)
We had our 18 fish in the cooler by 9:45 and headed in at a nice 38mph pace. The lake was pretty flat since there wasn't any wind to speak of, so it was a nice ride in. I think Ray was napping on that ride, but I couldn't tell behind his sunglasses...that's how smooth the ride was.
There wasn't a lot of boat traffic over there, like there is by the islands, so it was nice to not have my head on a swivel every few minutes.
Frank and Ray got their refresher training before their adventures begin tomorrow, and are now more confident heading out on their own again.
Tomorrow's trip will start a little later than sunrise, because Steve and Jeremy are driving up from Columbus....and, well, Jeremy has no control over his dad's tardiness. lol It is what it is....we still love him. :)
We will be launching out of Mazurik's and finding new water to fish this time.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
