Fishing with David and Johhny Hayes 5/14/18

Sorry, I haven't blogged in a while....was super busy! Canceled last Thursday...fished Friday and Saturday with Vito, who is buying my boat in the fall, and had Scotty Bogen and his two dogs staying with me Friday and Saturday also. Scott had brought his Ranger down from Wisconsin to fish, before heading to Cinci to spend Mother's Day with his Mom and Dad. :)

Friday and Saturday were plagued with gusty NE winds, so we stuck to the west side of Catawba Island...within a mile, or so. We managed 7 fish on Friday with Bandits and a two person limit on Saturday. (Blue/Chrome and Fruit Dots dominated at only 25 back...speed was 1.7-1.8mph)

I canceled yesterday's trip, due to a storm that was moving in that morning, but it didn't last as long as I thought it would, and should have just done a delay instead of a cancel. They rescheduled their date, so we'll try again another time.

Skip forward to today's trip. I met David and his son Johnny at Big Bopper's at 5am for breakfast, before heading to Catawba to launch by 6am. The winds were calm, and there was a light layer of fog hanging in the trees and on the lake.

I decided to start where I left off on Saturday, and set up with Bandits running at 20, 25, 30, 55, and 70 back, and one Stinger spoon off a Tru-Trip 40 Jet at 32 back, set off the port side corner.
I expected one of the Off Shore boards to go back before we could get everything out, but that didn't happen. We trolled for about a 1/2 mile before I realized that maybe it wasn't going to happen there again today, so I told them to pick it all up and we would move over towards the Mouse Island area.

We ran over and set up west of Mouse and headed towards the island....decent, but not great marks there, and only one eater on the spoon. So, I told them to pick them up again and we moved out to the Green Island area. There were better marks there, and we caught three more on the spoons.

Now, mind you....all that time, we were watching a pretty big thunderstorm move across the radar on our phone apps. We were not going to be staying out very much longer, since I do not fish with customers in thunderstorms. As it approached closer, I told them to pick them up one more time, and we moved back towards the point of Catawba.

We set a path from there back towards the ramp, and set lines one last time. As it started to sprinkle, we picked up three more fish. Two more on spoons, 40 back, and one on a Fruit Dots Bandit at 25 back. Speed was 1.8-2.0mph

As the thunder got closer, and more and more boats sped into the launch, I decided it was time to cancel the rest of the trip. So, we only got 3 hours in and had 6 walleye to show for it.

David wanted to learn the inline planer board program, and I have no doubt that he can easily do it in his boat now, because I only had to show them once how to do things, and never had to tell them again. They were running the boards as well as the best do, and did everything right. :)

After getting home...it was time to put the boat under the carport...something I've done a million times. But, this time, the windows in the Excursion were all foggy, and I straightened out the trailer a little too soon.
My foot hit the brake, when I heard the telltale sound of a tail light crunching, and knew instantly that I had it my Jeep....ugh!

Thank goodness the Ranger only has a cosmetic 2" scar on her rub rail. The Jeep however, wasn't so lucky! It took out the tail light, tore off the gas cap, and dented the rear driver's side door and the back corner panel....all for a whopping $2894.37 in damages!

All is well though, because I went straight to State Farm and asked if it were covered. She said since I have full coverage on my Jeep, that it would only be a $500.00 deductible. Then, I went to "Snyder's Collision" (body shop) in Sandusky, and got the estimate. State Farm has them as a preferred shop, so it was easy to work with them. They are on a computer system, so it was super easy to get this all set up.

Long story short...I take it in on the 29th of this month, I'll be met there with a car rental from "Enterprise" to use for the duration of the repair, and it will all be made to look new again. I looked up Snyder's and they have a 5 start rating, so I feel confident I took it to the right place. :)

We have more thunderstorms coming in tomorrow, so I'll have to look at the radar in the morning, to see if we'll make it out there, or not.

I have return customers for the next two days, so my fingers are crossed that we can get both days in, but if we can't get out tomorrow, at least we can get out on Wednesday. I don't mind fishing in the rain, but I do mind when there is lightning. I don't do lightning trips. ;)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls