Fishing with Stan and Pete...9/8/2025

Stan said that he could get Emerald shiners in MI, and since they would be driving in that morning, he would pick them up on the way. I asked what time the bait shop opens, and he said, "5:00am". I said, "Okay, Jeff's Bait Shop is only an hour away, so you should be here by 6:15-6:30...that's perfect."

When I was out in the driveway at 6:15, waiting on them, I gave them a call to find out how far out they were...."We're 10 minutes from the bait shop", said Stan. (What?)

 Apparently, Pete was late picking up Stan, so they didn't get to the bait shop until 6:30. "Okay, stay calm", I said to myself.... Then, I said to Stan, "I'll see you in an hour".

Well, the bait truck didn't show up until 6:45, so they were waiting on that now, too....deep sigh.  This was not going as planned. They wouldn't get to my house until 8:00am now, and it was going to throw my daily schedule off, and that does not make me happy. lol

They finally made it by 8am, and when he opened his aerated cooler, the bubbles weren't there, and all the shiners were dead. "I'll go get a zip-loc bag to put them in, so they can go on ice, and keep their scales". These Emeralds were huge, too. 3 inches....much bigger than I like to use, but they went through the trouble of stopping to get them, and most of the places in town only had Goldies or Alwives, so that's what we were going to use.

I couldn't get mad....

Stan is 76, a veteran, and going through Chemo right now....there was no way I was going to give them a hard time for anything, and just made the best of what cards were dealt that morning. Pete was all smiles, so that picked my spirits up a bit, too. :)

"Hop in the truck, and let's get this show on the road", I said.  While I had been waiting for them, I drove into town and got the ice for the coolers, so we wouldn't have to stop on the way to Catawba. We were in the water and headed north by 8:30.

My plan was to head towards B can, since most of the better reports were still coming from that area...even though it wasn't limits, and watched the Garmin on the way out. Just west of E Can, I marked a nice school of fish on the screen, so we stopped. The Ulterra was deployed, the Spot-Lok engaged, and I got them all set up.  

It was a tough bite, but we managed to catch 17 keepers, twice that many in shorts, and one Largemouth Bass. When Pete first hooked into that bass, I said, "Looks like a Sheephead".  He kiddingly said, "Or, maybe a bass". I said, "I doubt it's a bass, out here in the middle of nowhere", and went back to focusing on my rod.

He lifted it over the side, and when I turned around to look, I said, "Holy Fuck! It IS a bass!"  That made Pete laugh. I said, "In the 25 years I have been fishing this lake, I have never seen a Largemouth out here in the lake. Smallmouth, yes, but never a largemouth. They usually stick to the rocks and back bays...congrats! That's a first!"

At about 5 hours in, Stan was tired; he is frail, and his energy was drained, so we headed in. It was a beautiful day on the water, and I'm glad I got to spend it with them. They knew the bite still wasn't stellar, but they were happy with the fish we did put in the cooler.....I think.

Water was 66.8 degrees...and the winds were out of the NNE at 5-8mph. 

They initially wanted two days, but after I explained that it would get better, and they should just let me call them when the bite does improve, they agreed, and we cancelled Tuesday's trip.

I just hope that Stan is still around and able to get back out again when the bite does improve. He's an interesting guy and fun to fish with. :)

My next trip is Friday....walleye out of Vermilion with Jim Renaldo and his buddies.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls