5/19-5/21 Fishing Report...sorry, long read. :)
Well, it's been a fun three days of fishing with Tim and Nick Becker from Kaukauna, WI.
Monday, May 19th, was the first day of their trip. Woke up at 4am to make them fresh brownies for the day.
I showed up at their hotel 15 minutes early and waited only a short time for them to come out and meet me. We loaded up their belongings and jumped in the truck.
We hit Hi Way Bait and picked up some ice and crawlers for the day. Launched at Mazurik's by 7am.
On day one, we headed up to an area between Kelly's Island and Gull Island Shoal and set a heading to the north towards the Canadian line. We didn't mark a lot of fish and caught two fish in the first hour, so we picked up and headed towards the west side of the line, near the green can by Lucy's, and set a heading towards Middle Island.
We didn't mark much there either, and didn't waste much time moving back towards Gull when Tim's friend, who was also on vacation and fishing the area, gave him some information about being by the red can at Gull. ( I never did see them...cough cough) We made one pass through where we thought they were talking about and caught one fish.
I decided to move back over to the east side of Kelly's where I had been fishing the previous two days with decent success.
It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, and with the calm water, we were able to go WOT on the way over. Woot! Woot! It's not often I get to open up the Ranger like that, and it was FUN! :)
We set up on my trolling pass from the previous trips and we weren't marking much there either...sigh Grrrrrrrrrrr! "Okay, this isn't working like I thought it would, so let's not waste anymore time here", I said. So, we picked up and moved back to the north side of Kellys. This time we set up on the NW corner of the island and headed NE towards the red can on Gull. We pulled a couple fish going that direction, but when we turned around and headed to the SW it was game on. I had kept them out an extra hour and we ended up one short of their limit.
I drove them over to "Marblehead Fish Cleaning" and we dropped off their fish. I asked the manager there, "Will their fish be okay for three days if they leave them on ice in a cooler?" She said, "Well, if you want, we can keep them here in the refrigerator until you're ready to go home". I said, "Really? You'll do that? That's a great service"! Tim took her up on that offer and they were really happy about that. They had 38 pounds for 11 fish on day one, which isn't great, but not bad either. A lot of good eaters.
I dropped them off at their hotel again and said I would see them in the morning. I told them it would probably rain, so they should bring their rain gear.
Weather was gorgeous! Sunny, warm, light SW wind less than 10mph.
Program: The same as the previous two days. (see blog)
Day Two:
I picked them up at their hotel again, but this time I was a 1/2 hour early due to some errands I had to run before we headed out, and mis-timed how long it would take me. They came out early when he said he saw me from out their window (didn't mean to make them rush...sigh) and we hit the bait shop for the usual.
I had talked to Captain Keith Unkefer of "Pooh Bear Charters" that morning and he said they had a good day the day before between Starve and Scott's Point.
That was the plan. We launched and headed towards Scott's Point and set a troll towards the ferry dock on South Bass. We picked up two small fish right away, but as we got further and further away from Scott's Point the marks on the graph were less and less. So, we picked up and moved to adjust our trolling direction to work with the building SE winds, which were at that time, probably 1-3's.
Stopped in an area between American Eagle Shoal and Starve and set a pass towards Starve. The waves were building and we rode the trough. Picked up two nice fish and decided to use Kelly's as a wind break and headed up that way.
We set in on the west side of North Bay and headed Northwest with the waves on the corner of the transom, trying to keep the speed at 1.4mph.
We picked up a fish or two on that pass and as the seas built to 2-4's we picked up and headed back towards the island where it was less windy.
Setting down on the mid point of the island we headed to the SW this time.
GAME ON! We picked up the last of their limit in the area from the mid point to the red can on the NW corner.
Still the same program of crawler harnesses with blades with pink underbellies, chartreuse underbellies, and the best one of all one of "Bugsy's Baits" #5 blades with the gold hammered back, with the lavender underbelly with three orange dots. That blade took the majority of the fish on day two and today.
1oz inlines 25-40 backand and #2 Tadpoles 27-35 back.
The winds had died down for our ride back in and it was actually a nice day again.
After loading out, I took them over to the fish cleaners to add another 54 pounds to their stash. After some Casa Las Palmas for lunch, I dropped them back off at their hotel.
Today (Day 3):
After a 1/2 hour delay in picking them up due to thunderstorms passing through, we were launched and on the water by 7:30. It was a downpour while I readied the boat, and I said, "Let's get in the truck and wait this out for a few minutes". And, that's about all it was too. The rain let up to just a light drizzle and we were off.
We headed to the same spot where we ended yesterday, but the fish weren't biting. We marked them, but they weren't interested in playing with us.
Again, Tim's friend told him they had a good bite up on the line a mile west of Middle, so we headed up there again. We didn't get anything for the first probably the first hour, and then we picked up 5 nice fish. No Fish-O's, but nice fish none the least.
I texted my "Big Brother", Keith, and asked him how he was doing today and he said he was fishing between Scott's Point and American Eagle Shoal. Which isn't far from where we started this morning, so we picked up and headed down, since we were running out of time and I figured we could spend more time there if I didn't have as far to run to get back to the launch.
We picked up three more fish and dropped three or four there and then it was time to go in.
Again, I took them to the fish cleaners and they added another 34 pounds to the tally, and drove them back to their hotel. They would go back to pick up all the fish once the last batch was cleaned and they got some ice in their cooler.
After I got home, I got a text from Tim informing me that Marblehead Fish Cleaning had a major @%#$ up with their fish. Apparently, they had the first day's catch and today's catch, but the big 54 pound bag from yesterday was missing!!!
The explanation was that the owner's son had come in and was helping out and gave our fish to another customer that had only brought in 24 pounds.
I drove over to make sure they were going to be taken care of to their satisfaction, and to find out why this happened, since they use a ticket system to keep orders separate. "Oh, he misread the ticket and gave the wrong one out". Really? You've got to be kidding me? How hard is that job? LOL
She points to her spiral bound notebook where the other person's weight was recorded and the price he paid. 24 pounds/$12.00.
"Okay", I said, keeping my cool...."What about the sheet that everyone that brings fish into you is supposed to sign? Let's just look at that and see who got his fish and we can call them and get them back from him".
Guess what....they don't seem to make sure everyone signs that sheet. There wasn't a 24 pound weight for walleye recorded.
I said, "We signed it, just like that big sign on your wall behind you, with big red letters says to".
ATTENTION
FISH PROCESSORS ARE REQUIRED BY STATE LAW TO KEEP ACCURATE DAILY RECORDS OF FISH PROCESSED.
THESE RECORDS REQUIRE THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE OWNER OR PERSON FROM WHOM THE PROCESSOR RECEIVES THE FISH, THE SPECIES, WEIGHT, AND DATE.
I got the deer in the headlights look from her....and, silence.
Then, she went on to say how they were trying to fix it by finding them some frozen fish to take home.
Well, after calling all the commercial sellers and coming up empty, they found some. Her brother had a 50 pound bag of fillets frozen in water. I couldn't tell if they were walleye or sheephead to tell you the truth. I was pissed! As I'm sure my customer was too.
But, they added some frozen perch and a 10# bag of walleye cheeks, and my customer seemed to be satisfied with that deal. However, he was still very disappointed not to be taking home the fish he knows were fresh caught yesterday and not frozen in an ice block of ice since who knows when.
So, if you get your fish cleaned at Marblehead fish cleaning, I suggest you pick them up asap, so this never happens to you. I will never spend any money there again. That's just sloppy bad business.
