Fishing with Ken, Eric, and Ava...7/23/2025

Ken, Eric, and Eric's daughter Ava met me at my house this morning at 5:00am. We stopped at the gas station for the usual stuff and headed to Mazurik's to launch. It was a very nice morning, and much like yesterday.

The sky was clear, with shining stars and a crescent moon, the air temp was in the high 60's, and the wind was non-existent on shore. After I readied the Vexus, the sky was light enough to head out. We headed ENE of Kelly's this time.
I was disappointed to see a flat lake from shore, but the NE rollers were still coming in from overnight, so it made for a slow-go on the way out.

My original plan was to head up to the line and see what I could find, but it would take forever to get there. I kept an eye on the Garmin, and when it showed some decent marks out there in the middle of nowhere, over 44' of water, we stopped.

The Ulterra and baby Merc sprang into action after the FishHawk was sent down. A course to the NE was set at a speed of 2.5mph.

The dipsies were the first to go out, with the usual zero and three settings. Zero at 54 and 60, and the three settings at 71 and 97 back. BadMo, Yeck, and Scorpion spoons ran behind the dipsies. Blues, greens, oranges, and purple were used.

Bandits started out on the starboard side, behind the Off Shore boards, but only caught one at 120 back, so eventually, those were swapped out with Bill Lewis PWC Lites with 2oz snap weights. Those started catching more. 50/65, 50/47, and 50/24 caught. (For those that don't know what that means....50 is where the weight is attached, and the second number is how much more line after the weight is added, to let out, before attaching the board.).

On the port side, Flicker Minnow 11s ran at 140, 80, and 57 back. But, the "FireTail Chrome Candy" color at 140 back took two fish back to back. That told me that the other two baits should be changed out for two more of that color, and closer to that distance back. So, they swam at 135 and 125 back, along with the 140. All caught fish. The dipsies were once again the busiest, but the bigger fish came on the cranks. We didn't catch anything big, but they were all good eaters, and my crew was very happy.

Ken sent me the following text after they had left me, when we got back...
"Thank you so much for teaching us. Also, for allowing us to handle your equipment. Many guides don't. You were terrific and we will be back."

That makes me happy! :)

Tomorrow, I have a new crew wanting to learn how to get better at trolling. Mike is from Toledo, and will be bringing his son and a friend along, too.

We will be launching out of Mazurik's again and headed back to where I was today. There's enough fish there to keep them busy, so they can learn what they want to learn.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls