Fishing with the Blaney Family...7/14/2025

Left the house at 4:15, so I could stop at Speedway before picking up my crew (customers) at the Holiday Inn Express. I needed to gas up both the truck and the Vexus, and grab some ice for the coolers. I didn't need to be at their hotel until 5AM, but I had told them that I'm usually early, so they walked out of the hotel at 4:50, and we hit the road.

The plan was to go out of Huron, since that's the last place I had fished, and I thought there would still be some in the area.
After getting off the exit from RT2, and pulling up to the first stoplight in Huron, I realized I didn't put the FishHawk in the boat! I felt a shockwave hit my body. It was like a mini panic attack, because the one tool I probably rely on the most....wasn't there.
I had told myself not to forget it when I had to try and get Alfie, my picky Golden Retriever, to eat his breakfast before I left.
I can't just leave it out, because my food obsessed, and obese, Pitty would eat it all. But, then I did forget, because I had a hat sitting on top of its case, and I didn't see it as I walked out the door.

Anyway....boo hoo, me, right? lol

We launched at 5:30 and headed north out of the river. The air temp was 75 degrees, the sky was threatening to rain on us...which it did when we were running out on the lake, but we didn't get very wet. It was just a drizzle, and it didn't last long. It would never rain the rest of the morning, and the sky would clear, and the sunshine would shine on us.

The surface water temp was 82.4 degrees, 5 miles north of Huron.

There were lots of marks on the Garmin's screen from 28' to 38 feet of water, but I thought they were probably just a lot of Sheephead and White Perch, so I kept going to the northerly parts of the Huron Dump, hoping that any fish we would find out deeper would mostly be walleye.

There were good marks over 42' of water, so we set down and I had the Ulterra set on a course to the SE to start (keeping the waves on the starboard back corner). The baby Merc was pushing us at a speed of 2.5mph. The dipsey rods were set first.

(Size 1 w/ring) Zero settings at 35 and 50, and the three settings on 65 and 70 back. They would be changed from time to time between those numbers on the zero setting, too. The three settings stayed the same all morning, because they were catching.

BadMo spoons, Scorpion spoons, and Yeck spoons were working. Oranges, blues, and greens did well.

Bandits and EBS Walleye Minnow 111s ran behind Off Shore boards, but they did diddly-squat this morning. Three fish were caught on Bandits at 80 and 67 back (unassisted). "Fire and Ice" (67 back / caught 2) and Pink Salamander (80 back / caught 1). Both are Slim Shady Customs....everything else failed, even though I changed some out several times.

Ken Sr., Ken Jr., and Ken's grandson, Roger, learned how to run the dipsies very well today. It took some time to get the first legal fish in the cooler, because of either size limitation or one would get off, before we got it in the boat. But, finally, someone put the first one in the cooler, and got the "Skunk out of the box". It only got better from there.

It was never a Chinese fire drill kind of bite, but we did stay busy. Between the White Perch, Sheephead, and Walleye...my crew got a lot of practice retrieving and setting dipsies back out...and, they did great!

We ended up with only 15 of our 24 allowed, but if we had kept the legals I threw back, and the ones we lost at the back of the boat, we would have reached our limit. I don't keep 15-inch fish because they shrink while on ice in the cooler. I don't want to take that chance and have one come in short.

My guys had a workout, and I did, too, because the lake wasn't as calm early this morning as forecasted. The winds did lay down a bit after the rain clouds went through, but it was still 2' or less during the calmer part of the morning.

Ken Sr., who used to fish salmon tournaments on Lake Michigan, said, "I need to find my sea legs again". His son, Ken, agreed, as they tried to balance their bodies while reeling in fish, and then sitting down again. Roger, being younger, had an easier time of acquiring his legs, so he had an easier time of it.

At 10:45, they were ready to go back in, due to a long ride back to Indiana. They felt they had a good box of fish to take home with them, so they were ready.
I drove them back to their hotel, where they picked up their car, and they followed me to Port Clinton Fish, Co., downtown, so they didn't have to clean the fish, and could grab some lunch, before hitting the road, again.

They said they had a good time, and Ken Sr., would like to come back again, and that makes me happy! :)

I don't have anything scheduled the rest of the week, but I am scheduled on Monday the 21st. I may get out later this week, but tomorrow, I have to have the brakes on my "Dog Hauler" checked in the morning. Wednesday is looking really nice, so I might get out then.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls