Fishing Day 2 with Bob, Kory, and David...9/21/2025

The wind forecast at 2am was showing 18mph out of the ENE at the weather buoy, and by 5:00am, it was showing 13mph, so that was good to see. It would still be rough, but I knew the wind direction was going to change. Originally, iWindSurf was showing the wind switch at sunrise to come from the SSE at around 10mph. But that wouldn't be the case.  When we left the marina, it was doing just that, so we headed out. The ride would be 6 miles to the north side of the dump.

The rollers from the NE were pretty big, but drivable. But, as we made our way out, I realized that the SSE wind was definitely more than 10mph, and building. You know what that means? Big rollers coming from one direction and building waves coming from another direction...that creates a washing machine effect, and makes it difficult to navigate the waves.

Once we got out 6 miles and the Garmin was showing no fish, I made a decision to head back in. It was going to be very hard to try to drive around to find fish, and I didn't know how bad it would get, since the forecast was obviously wrong.  I told Bob, Kory, and David that we were going back in and then would relaunch at Huron, where it would be a little nicer, due to the wind direction. They were in favor of that idea, so we headed back in.

One of those washing machine waves put about 5 gallons of water over the bow, and gushed water to the back of the boat. I heard them all yell, "Whoa"! It's been many years since I took water over the bow, because usually, I'm smart enough to stay out of those kinds of conditions. lol

I reached down and turned on the bilge. The water was pumped out. We made it back without any more incidents, and I looked at the floor and said to them, "I've been needing to clean the floor, so at least that's done". :)

"I was watching how hard you were working on the way in", said David. "Yeah, my wrist is a little sore from working that throttle all the way in". Then, I laughed and said, "Happy birthday, I'm glad I didn't kill you on your birthday!" He laughed and said, "So am I!" 

We made it to Huron at 9:00am and went NW out of the river, over to the SW side of the dump. It was still a little windy, but the conditions were so much better in that area than where we had started this morning.  I knew it would probably be a tough bite out of Huron, but their safety was my number one concern... it was what it was. 

The Ulterra and baby Merc were set on a course towards Cedar Point, over 35 feet of water. The speed was set to 2.5mph on the FishHawk. On that track, we would start in 35 feet of water and then out to 41 feet.

Dipsies were out first. If you've been reading all my blogs, you know what the program is by now. I start with the zero settings at 35 and 54 back, and the three settings at 50 and 70 back. Then, I figure it out from there, if those settings do not work.  They worked, when we marked some fish...but, there weren't a lot of fish in the pass we were making. I said, "direction can sometimes make a difference, so I changed from an east to west troll, to the NE (out over the dump). 

We had crankbaits out behind the Off Shore boards, but they never took a fish, so no need to let you know what that program was. Ha!

The wind was subsiding, and it was becoming even more pleasant. We never got into a steady bite, but we did end up with 8 nice eaters. The guys were as funny and patient as they were the day before, so it made it an enjoyable day, again.  They had brought some dice to keep them occupied in between fish...so that was fun.

A half hour before we were done, David asked, "What's that red/white/yellow thing over there?"  I said, "Ope, looks like someone lost an Off Shore board today. We need to go pick that up and see if there's a name and number on it. I'm sure he wants it back". I added, "I lost two of them over the past two years, and had my name and number on them, but no one ever returned them".   

 I made the turn and drove over to it. David netted it. It was a brand new board. On the front was "(DM)" and his number. I gave him a call, and it went to his voicemail, so I left a message. About 5 minutes later, he called. We discussed how to get it back to him and agreed on the best way. I got to the ramp first, and put it in the back of his truck. :)

I do not have a trip scheduled until Friday and Saturday, so I'm off all week, unless I pick up a trip.  

Stay tuned...

Capt Juls