Fishing with Bill, Tom, and Austin...6/26/2026

Woke up before the 2am alarm again, so I got up and made some coffee, grabbed a dog treat for the knuckleheads, and we headed out to the back deck to check the weather.

The sky was partly cloudy, but mostly clear. The stars were shining, and the moon was lit. The air temp was around 60 degrees, and the wind was barely a whisper.
The forecast for the morning was calling for wind out of the WNW at 5mph and then switching to the east in the afternoon... it was going to be a gorgeous morning.

I had told Bill in the last phone call that I would pick them up from the Whitecaps Motel at 5am. He repeated it back to me, letting me know that we were on the same page.

I left the house at 4:45 and headed to the Motel. I arrived a few minutes later and sent Bill a text stating that I was there, I was early, and there was no hurry. I didn't get a response. At 5 minutes to go, I called him...no answer. I tried calling 5 times over the next half hour, and started to think the worst....that they had been in an accident on the way over and didn't check in last night.
I almost left, and then thought I should try calling the Motel first, to see if they checked in last night.
I was surprised Dawn answered that early, but she did, and I asked her about them, so she checked.
They had checked in. At least I knew they were alive. Dawn gave me their room numbers, so I could go knock on their doors to see if they still wanted to go fishing.
Turns out, Bill had told Tom and Austin that I was picking them up at 6am, so they were surprised to see me so early. lol

They got ready fast, and we were on our way through town by 5:45 (the time I'm usually launching). They apologized again for the misunderstanding. I just smiled and said, " It's okay, I'm just glad you're here....let's go fishing...it's going to be a beautiful morning". :)

We hit the Speedway for some ice and a couple of snacks, and then headed to Mazurik's to launch. It was almost 6:30 by the time the Vexus was headed east again.

The past two days were really good between CP and the Huron Dump, so we headed back there. The target would be that 35-38' of water again. The Garmin was picking up fish in the area, so we stopped over 35' of water to start.

It was the exact same program from two days ago, which also worked yesterday. I didn't change anything yesterday, or today. The first day took longer, because I had to dial in the program that the fish wanted.
Yesterday and today, it took 3 hours each day to catch our 24 for the cooler.
It was a steady, busy bite.

Austin did great learning how to set the Off Shore boards and dipsies. I only had to tell him once how to do something, and he would do it. He said he does a lot of deep-sea fishing down south.
I promoted him to "First Mate" for the morning, so he helped me keep up with getting lines set back out.
As soon as you would get one back out, another one was coming in.

Bill, who was the oldest (80s), was eager to learn how to do the loop/twist on the first release, which makes the board release and flip around, when a fish is on. He really liked that.
Tom is Bill's friend, Austin's Grandpa, and is around my age. I'm guessing Austin was in his 20s....just a good, smart, kind, and funny kid. He's going to go far in this world, I think.

The program from the other day is...behind the Off Shore boards:
Bill Lewis PWC Lites would run on the starboard side with 2oz snap weights at 50/50, 50/35, and 50/24. Colors were:
"Black Headed Wonder Bread on White" at 50/50
"Purple Tiger" 50/35
"Green Tiger" 50/24

For the newbie who might be confused about the 50/#...this is the Precision Trolling Data info used with a 2oz Guppie weight or snap weight. You put the snap weight on at the 50 mark, and the board on after you add the extra number listed. Example: 50/50=100 total line out...put the board on at the 100 feet out mark.

Flicker Minnow 11s replaced the crawlers on the port side. They ran at 125, 115, and 75 back (unassisted). Colors were:
"FireTail Chrome Candy" Ran two...125 and 115 back
"Slick Sunset" ran at 75 back

Dipsies were set on the usual settings of zero and three, and ran all Yeck spoons this time.
The zero settings ran at 30 and 40 back. The three settings were set at 64 and 72 back.

Speed was 2.5-2.7 on the FishHawk.
Water temp was 69.9 degrees, 18' down.

Looks like a NE wind this weekend....but, Monday and Tuesday look nice.

I have a trip this Monday (29th), but after that, I don't have any trips lined up until the second week of July right now. So, if anyone is looking to get out, I'm available. I don't usually fish the 3rd/4th/or 5th due to the Holiday, but it seems boat traffic is way down this year.
It was a beautiful summer morning, and I think I counted fewer than 20 boats on my ride to and from Huron, this morning. It felt weird. This is not normal.

Bill, Tom, and Austin all had a great time, and I did, too! They are on their way back to the Cincinnati area with a pile of fish for their efforts.

Until the next time....

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls