5/11 & 12's Fishing Report...

[Capt Juls]

So, sorry I'm late with yesterday's fishing report, but my Niece's husband, Jamie and his best friend, Luke, came down yesterday afternoon. So, instead of being a bad hostess and ignoring them while I wrote this, I chose to put this off for one day.


5/11/14:
I fished with Dave Updegraff and his two children, Jack, who's in 7th grade, and Catie, who is in 11th grade. It was a fun morning teaching them how to use the Off shore boards and line counter reels to set the line/baits out. By mid morning they were trolling with more confidence and did a terrific job.

They were able to get 9 lite biting walleye to the boat, and had just as many get off on the way to the boat, just because the fish didn't hook up well.

We were pulling crawler harnesses behind 1oz inline weights and #2 Tadpoles. The 1oz was best at 31-35 back and the #2 Tadpoles were best anywhere between 25-50 back. Blades that had the pink antifreeze or chartreuse under bellies worked best. Speed was 1.3-1.5 mph.

They all had a good time and expressed the fact that they wanted to come back and fish with me again, so that made me feel really good.

5/12/14:
Today, Jamie and Luke learned how to troll for walleye for the first time. We stopped for ice at Hi Way Bait, and hit the launch at 7am. We headed for Kelly's Island again, like I had the day before, and taught them how to bait the harnesses and set the lines.
After we caught a few walleye, missed a few, and what seemed like 30 plus white bass and white perch, I noticed that the bag of crawlers I brought wasn't the "full one". (Ugh!) Back to the launch we went, and Jamie and Luke stayed with the boat, while I took the truck and trailer over to the bait shop to pick up 10 dozen more crawlers....sigh. I'm glad they are family and not real customers...lol

We launched again, and headed back to the same spot out by Kelly's and set the lines again. We fished for about an hour, while keeping an eye on the sky, and watching a dark sky roll towards us. I told the guys, "as soon as you see any lightning we are out of here". We could hear thunder way off in the distance, but never saw any lightning. I was concerned, and kept watching my radar app on my phone to keep track of it. The worst of it was staying to the west and heading NE, so we kept fishing.

Then, we spotted the first bolt of lightning, and Mike Justus (Boatnut) radioed me and asked how we were doing. I said, "We have four in the box, but we're heading in. I saw a bolt of lightning and I have two young father's in the boat, and I don't want to chance it". He was in agreement and said that his dog, Roxy, didn't like the thunder either, so he was heading in too.

We were the first to the launch and tied the boat to the courtesy dock, and got off the boat with all our rain gear on. We watched as boat after boat came back in in the pouring rain, thunder and lightning.

It's nice to know we made the right call with great timing!

The radar showed that the storms would pass and it was going to be clearing. So, when it stopped raining and started to clear we headed back out again to the same spot. For some reason that storm turned the walleye on and we boated three more walleye in the first 20 minutes. Then, the whites started in again.

The fish we were catching were all in the 3-4 pound range, and I wanted to get these guys a Lake Erie Pig, so we headed to another spot near Kelly's that had reports of bigger fish. We caught 5 more fish out there, but they were all the same size as we caught earlier. Looking at the sky again, it was determined that we had better head in again.

We got nailed with heavy rain and some hail when we got within a mile and half of shore. Ouch! That stung like the dickens on the face, but we made it in safe and sound. Again, the sky let up as we approached the dock, and we loaded the boat in nicer weather, and headed to the fish cleaners.

The guys caught their limit and the weight went 50 pounds on the fish cleaner's scale.

The program today was the exact same program I had going with the Updegraff family yesterday.

So, it was definitely an "Adventure" today, to say the least.

I'm so whooped right now, so I must apologize for the lousy writing. lol

Please forgive me.

[Bobber down]

Talk about forgetting, i went out last friday on saginaw bay and forgot my lowrance unit at home 75 miles away, no coming to the docks to get that one. That will make you a better fisher-person! Still caught our limits just had to work a little longer to pinpoint depths. Love your reports, this one sounded eventful.

[Firetiger]

Juls, nice report as always . Why run tadpoles ? Just curious I have them both and really don't see any advantage over just a basic inline weight for the price . I could see if you were fishing really deep water and went to a larger tadpole for less line out , but as far as staying over here west of the islands I just don t see any advantage . what's your thoughts?

[ReelTime]

Always enjoy reading your reports.

[hogan171]

the tad poles give more dive than an inline weight and are easier to reel up when a fish is on. they also don't pull as hard on inline boards as a true trip

[Capt Juls]

Juls, nice report as always . Why run tadpoles ? Just curious I have them both and really don't see any advantage over just a basic inline weight for the price . I could see if you were fishing really deep water and went to a larger tadpole for less line out , but as far as staying over here west of the islands I just don t see any advantage . what's your thoughts?

At faster speeds, like when running the double willow leaf harness the Tadpole has a back and forth hunting action (similar to the RR). Try reeling one in fast and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The diving Tadpole gets your baits deeper with less line out too. Check out the dive curve charts. ( http://www.offshoretackle.com/divecharts.htm )

The "Number Two" Tadpole for example is not 2oz...so, you can't compare a #2 Tad to a 2oz inline. Or, run the same numbers you hear on the radio, since they will be at different depths.

There's nothing wrong with continuing to fish with what you have. They both work.

Make sense?

[Firetiger]

At faster speeds, like when running the double willow leaf harness the Tadpole has a back and forth hunting action (similar to the RR). Try reeling one in fast and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The diving Tadpole gets your baits deeper with less line out too. Check out the dive curve charts. ( http://www.offshoretackle.com/divecharts.htm )

The "Number Two" Tadpole for example is not 2oz...so, you can't compare a #2 Tad to a 2oz inline. Or, run the same numbers you hear on the radio, since they will be at different depths.

There's nothing wrong with continuing to fish with what you have. They both work.

Make sense?

I've ran them both , but I've never noticed the hunting action I'll have ck that out again ,I wasn't paying attention . . I've only used the 1 &2 s

[Zander Man]

Read your blog about cancelling charter due to bad weather. Congrats on your integrity. I know nothing is more frustrating than to drive a long distance only to be told the trip is cancelled due to weather. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and I am sure will give you repeat business in the future.

[Capt Juls]

Read your blog about cancelling charter due to bad weather. Congrats on your integrity. I know nothing is more frustrating than to drive a long distance only to be told the trip is cancelled due to weather. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and I am sure will give you repeat business in the future.

Thanks "Z".... I appreciate that.

But, the weather peeps were wrong again....it's not bad at all.

At least not yet. The crap is coming though...late morning or early afternoon.

Wind and waves were definitely going to be fishable today though, and I had told my customer that yesterday. I told them they would probably be rained on all day, because it was calling for 80%, and he said his wife wouldn't have fun in that and took the offer to reschedule.

Weather forecasts are so frustrating........sigh

Oh well...what's done is done. Fingers crossed for better weather next week. It's got to stabilize sooner or later......hopefully.

[FearGod]

I would appreciate the cancellation my self also. The wife is a fair weather fishing person.