Fishing with Stephanie and Jeff...7/17/2026

As Canada and the western US burn, the smoke is a reminder of courage, love, and perseverance. So many are losing their properties and everything dear to them by no fault of their own. Drought conditions, a lightning bolt, and little rain arewwreaking havoc to our two countries. It's so sad. :(

The smoke was hanging in the air again this morning when I hit the back deck with the dogs. On one hand, having my coffee with the smell of a campfire while it's dark out...made me think of all my trips up to Meta Lake Lodge, which is a 25-minute float plane flight NW of Nakina, ON.

I'm told that John and Cheryl's place has an active fire about 2km to the south of them. So far, the winds have been light, and out of the right direction to keep it away from them, but it's still creeping closer.

And, on the other hand....while enjoying my cup of coffee... I couldn't help but feel sad for all those affected and hope it rains up there soon (with no lightning!)

The forecast for this morning was light winds out of the east-southeast at less than 10mph. It doesn't matter what the sky was doing, because we would never see it. The sunrise was just an orange dot shrouded in a beige colored smoke. The air temp was high 70s at 2a.m. It would be rising to 86 later in the morning.

Stephanie had contacted me a couple of weeks ago to set up this trip for herself and her husband Jeff. They are a fun and positive-minded couple from Indiana, who were here for the weekend. Besides fishing, they wanted to take in some of the sites while they are here, too.

I picked them up from the "Fairfield Inn" at 5:15 and headed to Mazurik's to launch by 5:45. It's staying darker in the mornings already. The sunrise is now 6:15, so we were a little early and waited a little bit before heading out.
I do not like to run a boat in the dark, to be honest, and like to be able to see the surface of the water while I'm driving. You never know what's floating out there at any given time, and there are always the perch nets, too. It just makes me too anxious, so I just don't do it. ;)

I went back to the area NW of Kelly's where my friend and I did well in just two hours yesterday. However, the bite was different today. Don't get me wrong, it was non-stop, constant reeling, and resetting lines this morning, but there were a lot more Sheephead, short Walleye, and White Perch in the mix than there was yesterday.

I showed them how to set the dipsies and Off Shore boards.
Stephanie wanted to be hands-on with the planer boards, so I showed her how to attach the snap-weight and then the planer board. She eventually got the hang of it, and did a good job helping get them back out. Jeff preferred to work with the dipsies, so that's what he did.

Neither of them complained about all the other fish that kept them busy, and were happy with the 10 eaters we put in the cooler for a couple of fish fries.
Would I go there again any time soon? "No". It's time to be east of Kelly's for the rest of the summer, I think.

The water temp on the surface today was 77.9, but it was 80.7 at 18' down.

We ran two dipsies off each corner, and two Off Shore boards out each side.

The dipsies were the usual zero and three settings. The zero settings were changed up often all morning. Anywhere from 28 to 50 back. (30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 40, 42, 47, 50 back)....all numbers caught fish.
The three settings were either 50, 55, 60, or 65 back...all numbers caught fish.

BadMo, Yeck, and Scorpion spoons were used. All the spoons I used had silver bellies, except that blue one that I have DJ Custom Eye Lures paint for me. That one is still producing, so I never take it off.

Bill Lewis PWC Lites ran behind the boards with 2oz at 50/35, 50/30, 50/25, and 50/13. (Total line out would be 85, 80, 75, and 63).

Speed was 2.3-2.7 on the FishHawk.

Stephanie and Jeff both said they had a good time, and are thinking of coming back in October to do it again, so that makes me happy! :)

Tomorrow's father and son trip has been rescheduled to next Saturday. Tomorrow's wind forecast is calling for winds out of the SW from 20-28mph. That's not fun.

I have another 3-day trip scheduled for the 21st through the 23rd, but it's looking like some gusty NE winds are coming in, so I'm watching that right now.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls