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Fishing with Dan and Carol Emmer 5/17/19
This morning, was a startling start to the day when my 16-year-old Lab pawed at my bedside, so I would get up and feed her. It wasn't long until I realized that I had obviously overslept and she was hungry! But, that also meant I was running late. Looking at the time, I panicked, because it was 4:36, and that's the time I usually leave the house...not get up.
I texted Dan, to let them know that I was running late and to meet me at Big Bopper's at 6am instead of 5am, like we had the day before, and scrambled to get out the door.
I couldn't be too upset though, because it meant I slept well for 8 hours last night....and, I needed it!
I was running on empty yesterday...with only 4 hours of sleep, due to too many people waking me up at late hours with texts and phone calls. Note to self: "Buy an alarm clock, so you don't have to use the one on your phone".
Anyway, we ate, I left to hit the bait shop, and met them down at Catawba State Park at 6:30. We were launched and headed out at 6:40. The conditions were a bit unexpected, but pleasantly accepted by all. We were expecting some winds, but the lake only had a 6" chop...if that. I decided to take advantage of the calmness and head to the North side of North Bass and make that pass along the line, headed east again.
I had picked up crawlers to use this morning, so we swapped out all the Bandits for my best producing color combo's and sacrificed some earthly creatures to the depths of Lake Erie in hopes of finding some walleye gold. I had been hearing of good reports of crawler harnesses and bottom bouncers working, but I really hated to have to pull them out. I hate running that slow, and my patience runs thin when my crawlers are not getting bit. As was the case this morning...lol
After about 45 minutes to maybe an hour, without a bite, I gave it up and we put the Bandits back on. We set them out at 50/60/70 on one side and 55/65/71 on the other. Blue Chrome, Nailed it, Barbie, Buck Fever were the colors running, and we picked up three walleye pretty quick at 1.7-1.8mph.
The water temp was 58.7 degrees where we were.
Ahead of us was another parking lot of boats trolling every which way, so instead of having to deal with that all day, we picked it up and headed back down to the cans. This time we set the Bandits out at 35/45/55 on one side and 50/60/70 on the other. We had two blue/chrome baits out...one on each side of the boat...and both of those went off pretty close together. I changed out 3 of the 4 other colors to blue/chromes, so we were running 5 blue/chromes and one odd color to experiment with.
After catching their limit today, we decided to have some more experimental fun and set out 4 dipsies with big spoons on them. We ran the 3 setting at 46 and 50 and the 1 settings at 31 and 36 at 2.2-2.3mph.
With only 1 hour to go, we ran the spoons for approximately 40 minutes, and then swapped them out to the Ripplin Redfins (shallow lipped crank bait) that I remembered were in the boat... IB Frozen, Chart/Purple Head, Fire Tiger, and Huff Daddy were used. We caught a fish on the Huff Daddy and the IB Frozen colors.
I found those fish hanging on the baits when we brought the lines in to leave, so I am not happy with the tips of the dipsies I am using, because they are not sensitive enough for us to see the hit, or the bounce of a fish on them. I think I'll try my Ugly Sticks or try to find something better. The rods I'm using just won't do.
Dan and Carol were a lot of fun to fish with, and being from Wisconsin, it was like fishing with old friends, and that makes me happy.
Tomorrow, I am fishing with Matt Huelsman and his three boys, who are 10, 11, and 13, I think. I'm not quite sure what time we are launching though. I would like to launch early, but there may be some stormy weather in the AM, so I'll check the radar in the morning, and make a decision then. No need to soak the boys on a Saturday when we can just wait for it to pass.
SATURDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. A chance of showers early.
Waves 1 to 3 feet.
Stay tuned...
Capt Juls
