Fish'n with Matt, Tim, and "Cornbread"..9/19/14

I got home to late last night to get my blog done on the same day, so I'm writing this the morning after.

Our trip was set up to be a 10 hour perch and walleye combo trip. I picked up Matt McGlothlin, his brother Tim, and their friend, "Cornbread" at their hotel at 6am and headed to the baitshop for some shiners and crawlers. My original plan was to launch out of Huron and hit the last spot I was perch'n two days prior, and then hit some numbers for walleye that were given to me by a couple of friends that had been doing okay on walleye over that way. But, Pooh Bear walked in the baitshop, and when I told him where I was headed for perch, he told me that that spot had died yesterday, and that they were getting them right out in front by the Marblehead lighthouse. I had also seen a pack of boats there on my way back in two days ago.
Since we were so close to Mazurik's already, I decided to go ahead and change my plan and try the Marblehead spot first.

Pooh Bear was on the water at the same time, and we both stopped to give it a try there. We picked up a couple in the first 45 minutes, but it wasn't "going yet", and he got impatient first and headed east. I stuck it out a little longer knowing that the bite picks up as the morning goes on, but I too was getting impatient, so we decided to try another spot too.

We headed north to the area between Lucy's and the green can on the north side of North Bass to check that out. We were the only boat where I set the Ranger down and marked some good fish that looked "perch like". They were indeed perch, but the size was not impressive. A friend was fishing in the spot that let me down two days prior and said he was getting them pretty steady and the size was 9" or better, so we picked up and headed to the NE corner of Gull again.

It wasn't long and the first fish up was a nice 9+ inch perch. "Whew", I thought to myself. Nothing worse than going to a spot that let you down during a previous trip and have it turned on again. The second fish up was another good one, so we were going to be patient this time and stick it out. They started coming in at a steadier pace. We also caught some monster sheephead, a catfish, and of course the various white species.

The weather was gorgeous and the winds light and variable. The 10mph east wind that was predicted for most of the day didn't start blowing until around 1:30, and when it did, the bite shut off on us. So, we took that as a sign that we should go walleye hunting. I explained to the guys that it probably would be disappointing walleye fishing on the north side of kelly's as the reports were not that good over this way, and the east wind wasn't helpful. But, Matt explained that they had bought the Off Shore boards and other trolling gear, but never used it and just wanted to learn how to run it all. So, that's what we did...with the hopes that there was at least one or two stupid walleye willing to commit suicide.

After a quick lesson, and having them do the line setting themselves, I have no doubt they will be able to run a trolling set up on their own without too many issues. We talked about all the things that can happen when running boards, like wavy conditions during a turn, and how an inside board can jump the line of an outside board if you're not vigilant, and what needs to be done to correct it. Or, what to do with the inside boards if a fish hits the outside board, and the various scenarios that can happen to get that fish in...(sometimes the inside boards can stay out, and sometimes they have to come in, etc.)

They had brought their own boat over and will be trying what they learned out of Huron this morning. I showed them the area I like to fish out in front of Sawmill and told them it would be the most protected from the wind if it started to get rough, and that it's only a short ride from the mouth of the Huron river if they needed to get in quick. I hope they are able to catch a few this morning. I know they were at the ramp at around 5am this morning, and it's not blowing yet, so hopefully there is an early morning bite going on for them. Fingers crossed!

Well, to make a long story shorter...we only caught 73 perch and zero walleye yesterday, but we had a great time! I took them and their fish to the fish cleaners and dropped the fish off, and we went to dinner. After dropping them off at their hotel, I headed home and put the boat to bed. After exercising the pups, I put myself to bed too. It was a long day on the water, but it was a fun day for me. These guys were seriously funny with their quotes of the movie "Slingblade" done in perfect impersonation, and then quotes of their own as they caught perch....probably one of those moments where "you just had to be there". :)

My trip that was scheduled for today had to reschedule for personal reasons, so I have the day off. Probably a good thing, since it's supposed to blow pretty hard later this morning. It will give me a chance to clean up the boat again, and get her ready for tomorrow's trip....if, we don't reschedule that one too due to the forecast. (He's a regular who likes nicer conditions...can't blame him)

So, stay tuned....
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