Fishing with Jerry and Mark, May 10, 2023

I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm was set to go off this morning, so I just got up and started the morning off with a good cup of coffee. The dogs were eager to get outside, so we went out on the back deck to check the weather. It was going to be a beautiful day, today. Yay!

I picked my crew up at the White Caps Motel at 5:15 and headed into town for the routine gas and ice stop at the gas station, and headed to Catawba to launch by 6am.

It was a clear sky this morning, and brighter than previous days, at the same time, so I felt like I was late, or something, but we weren't. We hit the water a little before 6am, and while the 400 warmed herself up, I opened the rod locker and pulled out 8 rods, that were already baited up with Bandits, and put them in the rod holders, for the ride out.

The air temp was around 48 degrees, and there was no wind at all. The lake was like glass this morning. The only ripples on the water came from boat wakes, from boats that got out there before us. :)

We started in the same place I left off on Monday, which was west of the islands and east of the cans, in 30' of water. Bandits ran on both sides of the boat, behind Off Shore Tackle boards, anywhere from 117 back to 40 back. Leads that caught the best today were 65, 70, 80, and 90'.

Best colors were white bodied baits again. The Red Headed Wonder Bread caught the most, then the full white one with the big black dot on the sides, that I don't know the name of or who painted it... was second best, with RC Crush, Green Clown, Chrome Barbie, Chrome Black Headed Wonder Bread, and Blue Shiner all taking a fish or two.
We had three pullbacks that never hooked up, and lost two on the way to the boat. Most were lightly hooked, so they were definitely were not trying to inhale them, like they are known to do, from time to time.
The all white, no named Bandit, was out with a 2oz snap weight....first, at 50/27 (total 77') and took one fish. Then, I set it at 30/30 with the 2oz, and it took two fish at that depth.

Speed was 2.0-2.2 (GPS) and 1.8-1.9 (Fish Hawk)

Water temp today was 53.7 degrees, but I'm sure by this afternoon it has gone up a notch or two.

Jerry and Mark did well learning the trolling game, and had a good time, while enjoying the gorgeous weather Mother Nature finally decided to bless us with. I hope she stays in a good mood for a while. I'm ready to start going barefoot in the boat! lol

I'm off tomorrow, to finish my gardens, but am scheduled the rest of the month with only two days scheduled off for the rest of the month...unless "Mother" decides to make it blow again.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls