Fishing with Robert Langager and his boys 7/10/16

Thursday July 8th was rescheduled to Monday the 11th...
Friday July 9th was a cancel...

Sunday, July 10th, I picked up Robert Langager, and his two boys, Willem and Russell, at their hotel at 5am. We headed to Big Bopper's for a quick breakfast, and then hit up Hi Way Bait for some ice and minnows. We were equipped to fish for walleye and perch that day.

The plan was to head up to Canadian water for the day, but there was a NNW wind blowing. It was scheduled to lay down in the morning, so I wanted the boys to get used to the boat, and the waves, before heading that far out, so they could get used to the big water. They had never been on Lake Erie before, and I didn't want them to be scared. We started out on the SE corner of Kelly's to make a trolling pass across my previous trail, where we caught fish a few days before.

Once I figured they were going to do well, I told Robert, "Let's pull the lines and head up north". The lake had laid down a little bit, so we headed up the east side of Kelly's, and up over the line to the east of Middle Island. Our call into Canadian Customs went without a hitch, since everyone had their birth certificates/numbers, and we were good to go.

We started out by Chickenolee, and tried for some perch, but there were no takers there, so we headed up to Mill Point, and looked for some near the humps. Nothing going there either, so I moved up to see if there were any up on Grub Reef. There was another boat set up there to perch, so I was hoping my guess to go there was a good one......it wasn't. I watched them for awhile, and they had nothing going. And, all I was feeling were nibbles from Gobies.

All that time, I was listening to the "gang" on the radio, and they were catching walleye back to the south of us, so I told Robert that we should put the perch stuff away and go back to walleye fishing. He agreed.

We started out with the bandits, because I figured if they were biting, the cranks would be easier with the crew I had, and one of the captains on the radio was also running bandits. However, he wasn't doing as well as the captains running meat.

It was a slow start, but we hooked up with a nice 4 pounder on a Bandit 55 back, but it was lost on the way in, when it came up to the top and thrashed around, and spit the bait. Russell (10 years old) was devastated, and pouted for a little bit. lol

After moving further south, to where the big boats were fishing, I decided it was time to put the Bandits away, and put the crawler harnesses on. It turned out to the the right decision, because as I was putting the third crawler on its hooks, I looked up to see the second board, that was still moving out, get hit...twice.
I jumped to lock in the reel, so it would hook that fish, and the board almost sunk with the weight of that fish. It didn't act like a sheepshead, so I was hopeful that it was a big walleye.

It was Willie's turn to reel in the fish, (Willie is 8 years old), so while Dad helped him hold the rod, Willie reeled it in nice and steady...with a few grunts about how hard it was...lol

As the fish came to the surface, I turned, and mouthed the words to Robert, "Holy @#%$Balls"....I know, I know, but I didn't actually say it out loud, so it's not really unprofessional....right? heheh But, it's been a few weeks since I've seen a 30 1/2 inch walleye on the line!

Anyway, we netted that fish, and I turned to Willie and gave him a high five, telling him, "Great job little man"! His smile was huge at that point, but Russell just started whining, because he was jealous that his little brother got it, and not him. So, Robert, being the great Dad that he is, was able to calm him down pretty quickly, and at that moment, another board went shooting back.

Now, it was Russell's turn again....it was a massive sheepshead, but to kids, they don't discriminate...it was as big as the Willie's walleye, and he was now a happy little fisherman again.

We landed 9 walleye, and just about as many sheepshead, so the day was salvaged after a slow start. The boys did great for a long 8 hour trip on a very hot day, and I was impressed with how well they did.

The crawler harness program was 1oz inlines 31, 41, and 51 back at 1.3mph.

I heard that the Canadian Commercial netters have set up nets in that area now, so it looks like this weekend's trip will be to the north of the Pelee, or off Sheridan Point, if they are still there. (Gawd, I hate the nets).

Robert texted me the other day, and said, "Thank you for the great memories yesterday, the boys will remember that forever". He also said that Willie told him "I want to be a Captain/Guide when I grow up"....and, that makes me happy. :)
It's always nice to know I made a good impression on a young soul.

Anyway....I'm off a few days this week, and will be back at it Saturday and Sunday. I don't know yet if my crew will get their Canadian licenses yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because I want to go back up there. It's going to be a nice weekend for it.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls