4 Attachment(s)
Fishing with John and Buzz 6/14/17
I left the house at 4:30, and headed to Walmart to get ice. They are open 24 hours for the summer months now, and the ice is cheaper there than at the Speedway gas station on the next corner. Then, I headed for Big Bopper's, to meet my crew for breakfast. This was John and Buzz's second day, of a 3 day charter, with me.
Trapper, who pulls his Baha Cruiser on a trailer, and launches at the same time I do, usually....was a little slow this morning, so I got the best parking space for someone hauling a boat. We don't fight over the spot, but I know we both like to have it. Today was my turn...:)
But, Trapper did beat me onto the lake this morning, because I was delayed. I decided that we were going to run crawlers, and had to switch everything over before hitting the water. I hate getting to a spot, and then taking the time to switch things out, because I like to be setting lines as soon as I get to where I'm going.
It was a beautiful morning, and the lake was calm. The Air temp was around 70 degrees, or close to it, and the sun was just coming over the horizon when we left the dock at Mazurik's.
I set a course for ENE of Kelly's, and got the Ranger up on plane, at about 45mph. The water got a little rougher on the east side of Kelly's, because it wasn't protected like the south side of the island's waters, and I had to back off on the throttle. The ENE wind was around 5-7mph, and was enough to make decent "rollers" on the lake. Unlike waves, rollers are spaced a little further apart, and wider in mass, so it makes the ride rougher on the boat (and, its passengers). So, we slowed down, and made our way out to the area I wanted to fish....patiently.
Finally, stopping in 40' of water, I turned the boat around and deployed the Ulterra. I set a course to the WSW, and trolled with the waves. The water temp was 69.8 degrees, and the Helix was marking a fish here and there. There weren't a lot of marks, but enough to keep me there.
There were 3 of us in the boat, so we could only run 6 lines today.
We started out with one 1oz inline weight on each "outside board"...(one at 51 back and the other at 60 back), and two 2oz inlines on the two "inside boards" (one at 45 back and one at 50 back).
We caught a few fish that way, and I decided to change one 2 oz weight for a 3oz weight, and set it out 41' back. It took a fish in quick order, so I said, "Let's change out that inside board with another 3oz", pointing to the opposite side of the boat. But, as we were doing that, another fish hit on that 3oz weight again, so I said, "Let's change them all out!"
We ended up catching 14 nice fish in total, and three of those fish were big fish....the rest were all 18-21 inches. All the big fish came on the 3oz inline set ups. They reeled in a 27 inch (7.44 pounds), 28 inch (8.52 pounds), and a 29 1/4 incher (7.42 pounds).
We only had 2 throw backs today, as compared to the 60+ throw backs we had yesterday over by D and E cans (only 6 keepers yesterday too).
Tomorrow is their last day, and the weather looks like it's going to be fishable for another day. The marine forecast says waves 2 foot or less, and the TV weatherman says that the storms will not be around here between the hours of 5am and Noon, so we're going to hit the same spot again tomorrow.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
